Date: November 15, 2011
Author: Jef Akst
URL: http://the-scientist.com/2011/11/15/chronic-fatigued-researcher-sued/
Rem: See also a report by Hillary Johnson,
http://www.oslersweb.com/blog.htm?post=823082
Chronic Fatigue researcher sued
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A research institute has filed a lawsuit against its former employee,
Judy Mikovits, who claimed to link a mouse retrovirus to chronic
fatigue syndrome.
Just over a month ago, the Whittemore Peterson Institute for
Neuro-Immune Disease (WPI) fired its former research director, Judy
Mikovits, who led the study that identified a link between a mouse
retrovirus to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which has since been
widely discredited. Now, the non-profit institute has filed a lawsuit
against Mikovits, ScienceInsider reported, claiming that she took lab
notebooks and documents from her computer that she had no right to
take and that could hinder the institute's research efforts.
'Without these materials, WPI's ability to continue its important
research on finding a cure for these terrible diseases impacting over
4 million Americans each year is severely hampered,' the complaint
stated.
WPI discovered the missing notebooks after opening a drawer in
Mikovits's desk that was normally kept locked. Mikovits had the only
key, but the institution had the desk's manufacturer send an employee
to open the drawer. Mikovits denies any wrongdoing, according to her
lawyer, who stated in a rebuttal letter that Mikovits was not in her
office when she was fired, and has not returned since.
The courts have already granted WPI an order to temporarily forbid
Mikovits from 'destroying, deleting, or altering' any of the files,
and will hear argument on a request for preliminary injunction on
November 22.
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(c) 2011 LabX Media Group
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