Gentry Locke Partner John R. Thomas quoted in Boston Globe and Retraction Watch on Recent Brigham and Women’s Hospital Claim
April 28, 2017 – Gentry Locke Partner John R. Thomas, Jr., who represents clients with whistleblower, qui tam claims and False Claims Act litigation, was quoted in two recent articles discussing the recent settlement between the U.S. government and Brigham & Women’s Hospital, resolving allegations that the hospital fraudulently obtained federal grant money.
The Boston Globe article, entitled, “Partners, Brigham and Women’s to pay $10m in research fraud case,” is available in a PDF or online here.
In addition, Thomas was quoted in a Retraction Watch article entitled, “Harvard teaching hospital to pay $10 million to settle research misconduct allegations.” The full article is available here; John’s observations and his quote are noted below.
Harvard teaching hospital to pay $10 million to settle research misconduct allegations
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and its parent healthcare network have agreed to pay $10 million to the U.S. government to resolve allegations it fraudulently obtained federal funding.
John Thomas, a partner with Gentry Locke who represents whistleblowers who raise allegations of misconduct, told us that other cases have settled for large amounts – such as a recent settlement with Columbia University for $9.5 million. But there are other elements that make this latest announcement noteworthy, he said.
Specifically, most settlements involve some “black and white failure” in research administration, such as misrepresenting a researcher’s qualifications on a grant, misreporting effort, or conducting the research at a different facility (such as the Columbia case), said Thomas. The latest decision, in contrast, “goes to the science itself.”
As a result, he said:
“This demonstrates the government is still willing to step in even when it’s not an administrative issue, even when it goes to the merits of the actual misconduct allegations. I think it shows that when the government awards grants, one of the things it’s intending to get is good and honest science. The science matters.”
