Psychiatrists Sanctioned over Consulting Fees

By Liz Kowalczyk

Boston Globe Staff

Concluding a three-year investigation, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School sanctioned renowned child psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman and two colleagues after finding they violated conflict of interest rules.

In a letter to coworkers yesterday, Biederman and Drs. Thomas Spencer and Timothy Wilens said the hospital and medical school “have determined that we violated certain requirements’’ of the institutions’ policies.

They did not specify the nature of the violations. But in 2008, Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, accused the three doctors of accepting millions of dollars in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to 2007, and of failing for years to report much of the income to university officials.

Officials at Harvard and Mass. General released the letter to the Globe, but would not answer questions about the probe. Biederman, Spencer, Wilens, and their lawyers did not return phone calls and e-mails. Grassley’s office did not return calls seeking comment.

Physicians are required to disclose payments from pharmaceutical and medical device companies so that hospital and university officials can police potential conflicts of interest that may create bias in research or in the treatment of patients, or the appearance of bias.

Grassley’s investigation sparked the Mass. General and Harvard inquiries.

The three psychiatrists apologized in their letter for the “unfavorable attention that this matter has brought to these two institutions.’’ They called their mistakes “honest ones’’ but said they “now recognize that we should have devoted more time and attention to the detailed requirements of these policies and to their underlying objectives.’’

They said the institutions imposed remedial actions, requiring them to refrain from all paid industry-sponsored outside activities for one year, with an additional two-year monitoring period during which they must obtain approval before engaging in paid activities. They were also required to undergo unspecified additional training and suffer “a delay of consideration for promotion or advancement.’’

Physicians said it is difficult to know if the sanctions are appropriate without knowing the Harvard and Mass. General findings.

“It’s hard for me to make that judgment, but this all sounds like a little slap on the wrist,’’ said Dr. Jerome Kassirer, a Tufts University School of Medicine professor and outspoken critic of close ties between the drug industry and physicians. He pointed out that Biederman is a full professor at Harvard Medical School, so it’s unclear how a delay in promotion or advancement would affect him. Also, Biederman severed his industry ties soon after Mass. General and Harvard began their separate but coordinated investigations.

The rest of the story can be found here.