Legal spat over prayer study ends

The ongoing linkurl:legal battle;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54035/ between a fertility researcher who published a controversial 2001 linkurl:study;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11584476&dopt=AbstractPlus linking in vitro fertilization success to prayer and University of California, Irvine professor Bruce Flamm, who has been openly critical of that study, appears to be over for now. Los Angeles Superior Court judge James Dunn dismissed t

Written byBob Grant
| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share
The ongoing linkurl:legal battle;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54035/ between a fertility researcher who published a controversial 2001 linkurl:study;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11584476&dopt=AbstractPlus linking in vitro fertilization success to prayer and University of California, Irvine professor Bruce Flamm, who has been openly critical of that study, appears to be over for now. Los Angeles Superior Court judge James Dunn dismissed the linkurl:suit;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/53709/ today (Apr 21) on the grounds that an linkurl:opinion piece;http://www.obgynnews.com/article/PIIS0029743707702021/fulltext that Flamm wrote in __Ob. Gyn. News__ was not defamatory, as the lawyers for the fertility researcher, linkurl:Kwang Yul Cha,;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/53166/ had claimed. "[Dunn] basically said the comments were factual when I made them," Flamm said, referring to statements he wrote about Cha and his coauthors in his March 2007 opinion piece. Flamm said that he and his wife received the judge's decision with a "great sigh of relief" today in court. "It's been a real nightmare," Flamm said of the lengthy legal battle. The judge linkurl:threw out;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53876/ the suit last November, but linkurl:reversed;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54217/ that decision in January. According to Flamm, this dismissal is definitive, and the case will only continue if Cha decides to appeal the decision. Cha's legal team has 60 days to file an appeal. "My wife and I will be waking up everyday hoping we don't get that letter," Flamm said. Neither Cha's lawyer nor his spokesperson replied to a request for comment before this blog was posted. Even if the case is finally over, it has curtailed Flamm's critique of Cha's work, and may cast a shadow on the peer review process in general, said Flamm. "I wouldn't be honest if I say that this didn't scare me," Flamm said. "Is it going to chill my criticism? At this point, I don't plan on writing any more articles on [Cha's study], so perhaps it is." Dunn, in a document that Flamm faxed to __The Scientist__, quoted defense lawyers in the case, writing that "lawsuits such as this one can chill the exercise of free speech and healthy debate within the medical peer review system." "I think that's true whether I win or lose," added Flamm.
Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

  • From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.

    View Full Profile
Share
Image of a woman with her hands across her stomach. She has a look of discomfort on her face. There is a blown up image of her stomach next to her and it has colorful butterflies and gut bacteria all swarming within the gut.
November 2025, Issue 1

Why Do We Feel Butterflies in the Stomach?

These fluttering sensations are the brain’s reaction to certain emotions, which can be amplified or soothed by the gut’s own “bugs".

View this Issue
Olga Anczukow and Ryan Englander discuss how transcriptome splicing affects immune system function in lung cancer.

Long-Read RNA Sequencing Reveals a Regulatory Role for Splicing in Immunotherapy Responses

Pacific Biosciences logo
Research Roundtable: The Evolving World of Spatial Biology

Research Roundtable: The Evolving World of Spatial Biology

Conceptual cartoon image of gene editing technology

Exploring the State of the Art in Gene Editing Techniques

Bio-Rad
Conceptual image of a doctor holding a brain puzzle, representing Alzheimer's disease diagnosis.

Simplifying Early Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis with Blood Testing

fujirebio logo

Products

Labvantage Logo

LabVantage Solutions Awarded $22.3 Million U.S Customs and Border Protection Contract to Deliver Next-Generation Forensic LIMS

The Scientist Placeholder Image

Evosep Unveils Open Innovation Initiative to Expand Standardization in Proteomics

OGT logo

OGT expands MRD detection capabilities with new SureSeq Myeloid MRD Plus NGS Panel