Medical journal admits dozens of case reports were fictional
A Canadian medical journal has issued corrections to 138 case reports published over the past 25 years after revealing that the cases described in the articles were fictional, reports a Qazinform News Agency correspondent.
The journal Paediatrics & Child Health, published by the Canadian Paediatric Society, added correction notices clarifying that the clinical cases used in its Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program series were created as teaching examples rather than real patient reports.
“Based on the New Yorker article, we made the decision to add a correction notice to all 138 publications drawing attention to CPSP studies and surveys to clarify that the cases are fictional,” said Joan Robinson, editor-in-chief of the journal. “From now on, the body of the case report will specifically state that the case is fictional.”
The issue gained attention after a New Yorker investigation highlighted a 2010 article titled Baby boy blue, which described an infant allegedly exposed to opioids through breast milk while the mother was taking acetaminophen with codeine. One of the article’s coauthors later acknowledged that the case was invented.
David Juurlink, a professor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of Toronto who has studied the claim for years, said the report had influenced medical discussions despite its questionable basis.
“The Baby boy blue case is the most compelling published description of neonatal opioid toxicity from breastfeeding,” he said. “And it is wrong.”
Juurlink argued that the correction may not be sufficient. “The paper should obviously be retracted,” he said. “It’s a fictional case portrayed as real and its scientific underpinnings have collapsed.”
The journal explained that fictional cases were originally used to protect patient confidentiality and illustrate common medical conditions. However, critics say readers were not clearly informed.
“Readers of primary source peer-reviewed medical scientific journals have an absolute right to believe that the article being read is as accurate as possible,” said former JAMA editor George Lundberg. “‘Alternative facts’ have no place in a medical or scientific journal.”
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Chinese researchers created a new imaging system that enables long-term, high-resolution imaging of the mouse brain in a non-invasive manner, penetrating the intact scalp and skull without the use of contrast agents.
