The scientific community has been struggling for a decade to prove that it can handle its own misconduct cases effectively. This month, however, that effort may have suffered a quiet setback. With little fanfare, a Federal Court jury in Baltimore ruled on May against the University of Alabama, Biriningham (UAB), and four of its researchers, who were accused of making false claims to the government and stealing intellectual moperty. What made the case so remarkable was that the plaintiff, Pamela Berge, a former Cornell University epidemiologist, never filed charges with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Research Integrity (ORI). Instead she went straight to the courts, where she won a verdict that could cost UAB and the four researchers nearly 2 million dollar.
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