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Pretzel Logic
After 12 years marketing and selling plastic-producing chemicals, Joan Pastor wanted to do something to help people. In 1993, Pastor quit the field and entered Widener’s nursing program, graduating one year later.
In 1995, armed with her nursing degree, she took a position as a research nurse at the Veterans Affairs medical center in West Philly.
Pastor was hired to assist a clinical study of a drug being tested for its ability to fight congestive heart failure. It was an opportunity, thought Pastor, to aid men and women who served their country.
After about a year, her hopes began to sink. Pastor accused a colleague of sexual assault. Her relations with the project head, Dr. W. Bruce Dunkman—a nationally known clinical trial expert—became increasingly strained.
Pastor says that in February of 1997, after she complained to personnel about the sexual assault, Dunkman “would pound on desks” and “yell at me.” (Dunkman was not the colleague she had complained about.)
Around the same time, Pastor says she became increasingly concerned about her exposure to the radioactive materials the VA was using in its studies. According to VA records, Pastor filed a complaint to the human resources department. She also contacted Ann Lovell, the VA’s radiation safety officer. Lovell launched an investigation into Pastor’s initial concerns and found what was potentially an even bigger problem.
The men and women who were undergoing the beta-blocker test in Dunkman’s research—part of a nationwide test involving more than 2,500 veterans—were being exposed to far greater levels of radiation than they were told about in a written consent form.
Dunkman told the volunteer subjects that the technisium being injected into their veins during the required three heart scans gave off the same amount of radiation as 17 chest X-rays.
Lovell checked that figure with the Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education. She found that the volunteers were actually being exposed to the equivalent of 878 chest X-rays during the three heart scans.
On April 25, 1997, Pastor wrote a letter to VA officials pointing out a possible radiation dosage discrepancy in Dunkman’s study.
Three weeks later, Lovell reported the results of her investigation into radiation exposure at the VA.
“I have serious concerns that the Consent Form contains inaccurate statements. I do not believe the radiological risk is accurately conveyed. I do not believe… subjects had enough information to make informed decisions to give valid consent.”
Lovell’s report also raised questions about why the study didn’t get the proper VA approvals needed for radioactive experiments on human subjects.
“I am deeply appalled by the apparent lack of regard for… radiological safety for human research subjects and apparent attempts to side-step controls.… “
The Food and Drug Administration, which oversees drug tests, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the use of radioactive material, began investigations, which are ongoing.
In late 1997, Ann Lovell filed a federal whistleblower complaint against the VA. She reached a confidential settlement and left the VA in March, 1998.
On Jan. 30, 1998, Dunkman’s records were subpoenaed by the Justice Department.
Dunkman was ordered not to accept any more subjects pending outcome of the Justice Department investigation. The department’s press office did not return calls before press time, but according to Pastor’s attorney, the investigation was still open as of November.
With no new subjects, Dunkman’s funding dried up. On March 26, 1998, Dunkman asked the VA if he could fire Pastor. Initially, the VA held Dunkman off, but on May 15, 1998, Pastor was terminated.
She too filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), claiming that “management retaliated against… Pastor by creating a hostile work environment… she felt physically threatened by her supervisor… she was twice exposed to nuclear material, the second time appeared purposeful… ultimately, Ms. Pastor was terminated upon short notice… “
No one from the VA is allowed to comment, according to the VA’s spokesperson. Dunkman did not return a phone call to his office, nor did his attorney, Christopher Petrillo.
In a deposition, Dunkman states that “Joan was a very difficult person to work with,” got into arguments with other VA personnel, “called in sick… went home early… I did not know how to deal with this.”
In his deposition, Dunkman repeats the assertion that Pastor was ultimately dismissed “because I ran out of money and it was the Hospital Director’s decision.” Still, he states, “Her lack of performance in the last year and a quarter was sufficient grounds for dismissal, in my opinion.”
This week, on Thursday, Feb. 18, the MSPB will begin its hearing into Pastor’s whistleblower complaint.
It will be held in Room 300 of the U.S. Customs House.
It is a hearing with national implications, considering that the beta-blocker study is taking place at 89 other facilities in the U.S. and Canada.
Pastor’s whistleblower complaint—which raises many questions about clinical research—comes on the heels of a St. Petersburg Times investigation into charges that a VA researcher in Florida injected 11 people with “an unapproved radioactive drug,” a series of stories that sparked massive outrage.
A feeling shared today by Joan Pastor.
“I went into nursing to help people,” says Pastor. “That is when I realized, here we were, exposing them to radiation without their consent. It was crushing.”
