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Committee of inquiry into research ethics dispute exonerates U of Ottawa profs

(Ottawa – January 31, 2011) An independent committee of inquiry established by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) to investigate the seizure of the research records of two University of Ottawa clinical professors has issued an interim statement absolving them of any wrongdoing.

Without prior notification, officials with the Royal Ottawa Hospital and the Institute of Mental Health Research entered the office of Dr. Anne Duffy on March 23, 2005 and seized and copied research and clinical files, computer files, and personal documents.

Dr. Duffy and her colleague, Dr. Paul Grof, had been conducting a long-term psychiatric study involving human subjects. Some time after seizing and copying the records, administrators with the ROH and the IMHR alleged Drs. Duffy and Grof had violated research ethics guidelines, including failing to obtain proper informed consent.

However, after reviewing relevant documentation and interviewing a number of research participants, the committee of inquiry found that  the long-term nature of the research makes it impossible to verify with certainty if all research subjects signed a consent form or not.

“What can be verified is whether research subjects knew that they participated in research and whether they had a good understanding of the nature of the research. This seemed clearly the case for all of the research subjects we interviewed,” the Committee finds in its interim report.

The Committee went on to state: “The interviewed subjects all had a very good understanding of the nature and the purpose of the research in which they were involved. They also expressed a strong confidence in the integrity of Dr. Duffy and in the importance of the research she conducted.”

The Committee notes that the way in which the research records were seized and the apparent inconsistencies between the copied materials and the original research files makes it inappropriate to draw any conclusions with respect to the reasons why any consent forms were absent.

Based on their investigation, the Committee concluded that it is unwarranted to allege Dr. Duffy and Dr. Grof committed serious violations of research ethics norms or good clinical research practices.