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Letter to Northwestern University Presenting Results of a National Poll Question Related to the Unethical FIRST Trial Comparing Standard and Long Work Schedules for General Surgery Residents

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View letter enclosure (Public Citizen Report: Bipartisan Consensus: The Public Wants Well-Rested Medical Residents to Help Ensure Safe Patient Care).

View press release.

Public Citizen and the American Medical Student Association urged Northwestern University to immediately take whatever actions are necessary to terminate the FIRST trial. Allowing the continued unwitting enrollment of tens of thousands of patient subjects in the trial, in the face of national poll data showing that the vast majority of the adult public would want to be informed of this experiment if they were admitted to one of the experimental-group hospitals, would constitute an egregious, knowing disregard for the basic ethical principle of respect for persons.

View our other work related to the unethical FIRST and iCOMPARE trials.