Doctor faked pain studies

A world-renowned Massachusetts anesthesiologist appears to have perpetrated what may be one of the most extensive cases of medical fraud, faking data and even making up entire studies in at least 21 cases. Scott Reuben, the former chief of acute pain at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., admitted that he falsified data in 10 articles in Anesthesia and Analgesia, as well as an additional 11 articles in journals including Acute Pain, Anesthesiology, and others. The studies all related to Reuben's area of expertise -- multimodal anesthesia, or the combined use of different classes of pain medications. Reuben was one of the leaders in the area. The findings leave the field of multimodal anesthesiology in disarray. "There's no question that conceptually multimodal analgesia is the way to go for postoperative pain management," said Steve Shafer, the editor-in-chief of Anesthesia and Analgesia, but Reuben's studies provided...