So this story is pretty scary, even though it seems harmless at first.

Everyone likes receiving accolades for their hard work, whether it is in something as simple as the weekend softball game or after a huge business presentation or giant discovery. It's tough, and down right awkward and confusing, to receive accolades for something that you have no idea about.

Enter Dr. Romney C. Andersen, a Walter Reed Army Medical Center surgeon. Last summer, Dr. Andersen was congratulated on a very successful study that he conducted. Or supposedly conducted.

What really occurred was the theft of Dr. Andersen's name by a discredited researcher and surgeon , Dr. Timothy Kuklo, who conducted an unapproved study but used Dr. Andersen's name in order to get it published.

According to the article in the New York Times, episodes like the one involving Dr. Kuklo, show "how medical journals may fail to conduct adequate due diligence on the studies they publish -- information that other doctors rely on for guidance."

Again, this is a pretty scary story with fairly severe consequences. If physicians and hospitals cannot trust studies, what are patients supposed to trust? Physicians, surgeons, doctors and nurses all rely heavily upon the outcomes of research and studies because those outcomes create the basis of evidence-based medicine which further establish best practices. If our best practices are based off of faulty or inadequate research, what hope for trust does that give our patients?

To read the full article, click here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/06/business/06surgeon.html?_r=1&ref=health