Erasmus University, Rotterdam sacks Professor of cardio-vascular medicine for scientific misconduct

Don Poldermans

Don Poldermans

Universities in Holland are having a torrid time with another dismissal for scientific misconduct, this time at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. But the seriousness with which investigations are carried out and the speed and decisiveness with which Dutch Universities act is quite impressive.

Professor Don Poldermans, MD, PhD, is was  Professor of Medicine and head of the section perioperative cardiac care of the Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Dr Poldermans received his medical degree at the Erasmus Medical Centre in 1981. He is a fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and an honorary member of the Dutch Society of Anesthesiology. He is active within the Departments of Anesthesiology, Internal Medicine, and Surgery of the Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Dr Poldermans is actively involved in patient care, education, research, and administration. He supervised 26 PhD students, all working on cardiovascular research. He has published more than 600 manuscripts in several peer-reviewed Journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, JAMA, Circulation, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Dutch News:

Erasmus University in Rotterdam has sacked a professor in cardio-vascular medicine for damaging the institution’s academic integrity and for ‘scientific misconduct’, the NRC  reports on Thursday.

The professor is accused of faking academic data and compromising patient trust, the paper says. In particular, he failed to obtain patient consent for carrying out research and recorded results ‘which cannot be resolved to patient information,’ the university said.

Don Poldermans has spent years researching the risk of complications during cardio-vascular surgery and has some 500 publications to his name.

A spokesman for Poldermans told the paper he admitted not keeping to research protocols but denied faking data.

Last month, Tilburg and Groningen universities said they planned to take legal action against behavioural science professor Diederik Stapel after an investigation showed he had faked research data in at least 30 scientific papers.

According to Elsevier, an investigation committee brought the fraud to light. It found that Poldermans had taken blood samples and heart echoes from patients without their permisssion and has reported results which cannot be traced to any patient.
“Patients were not physically harmed,” emphasizes Dean and Director Huib Pols. He said he was deeply shocked by the case. Patients who participated in the latest survey receive a letter of apology from the hospital.
Related: Diedrik Stapel faked at least 30 papers

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3 Responses to “Erasmus University, Rotterdam sacks Professor of cardio-vascular medicine for scientific misconduct”

  1. Unknown's avatar Poldermans misconduct report finds lack of patient consent, sloppy data collection and data fabrication « The k2p blog Says:

    […] Over the weekend Erasmus University published their executive summary ( in Dutch) of the investigation which resulted in the dismissal of Professor Don Poldermans. […]

  2. Eric Christensen's avatar Eric Christensen Says:

    What the hell is the matter with ERASMUS Medical Centre anyway.
    I have learned that some little xxxx of a Scientist,Ron Fouchier, motivated by rabid scientific curiosity no less has,with Yank funding,created an extremely virulent pathogen that could be duplicated by psychopaths and sociopaths and pose a real threat to human health worldwide.Sometimes little Scientists remind me of kids playing in the mud.Fouchier`s conduct was,to say the least,reckless and irresponsible and he should have had enough basic intelligence to recognize the many negative implications inherent with his so called “work” and his insatiable curiosity.Personally, Ron the Scientist,needs his bare ass kicked and rearranged for his blatant stupidity and cavalier posturing.I would hope that in the future,ERASMUS MEDICAL CENTRE, gets it`s damn act together or will go out of business entirely.Poldermans is a disgrace and so is Fouchier.
    (Gratuitous language deleted – ed)

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