One of the most important success factors for physicians and medical researchers is information about other cases. Collecting data from various healthcare institutions and about different patients helps physicians put their own cases into perspective. Researchers can use data collections to assist their work in identifying the contagious nature of various illnesses and in identifying potential vaccines and other necessary treatments. When the underlying data is affected by potential corruption, the information not only becomes worthless, it may become dangerous.
One of the most prominent companies to enter the data gathering field is a Chicago firm known as Surgisphere. The firm was founded by Sapan Desai, MD, a physician who is linked to a number of data gathering firms. Surgisphere owns a database that it calls Surgical Outcomes Collaborative. This firm asserts that it has collected information about COVID-19 patients from 671 hospitals on six continents. Many researchers are expressing doubts about the accuracy of the information in the SOC database, especially since both Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine recently retracted studies based in part on SOC data.
Surgisphere’s founder has been connected with other medical research firms that have left shadowy trails in the medical community. For example, the company claims that it had research partnerships with both Stanford and Harvard, but both schools have denied any such connection. More than one research physician has voiced the opinion that information provided by the Surgical Outcomes Collective was “literally fabricated . . . out of thin air.” A microbiologist who investigates medical fraud looked at slides of tissues used by Surgisphere in research about rodents’ ears and said that the slides appeared to have been digitally duplicated to achieve the desired result.
Any doctor who knowingly prescribed treatment based upon information obtained directly or indirectly from Surgisphere would be liable for any damages caused by a poor outcome. Anyone who is suffering from a poor result from treatment may wish to consult an experienced medical practice attorney for advice on making a claim for damages against the physician who is believed to have used information provided by Surgisphere.
