Doctors plagiarize text in article "Ethical Issues in Surgical Treatment and Research"

Following along the lines of Penn State business school applicants who plagiarized text from an article on "Principled Leadership," some doctors have been snagged for unattributed copying in their own passages related to "Ethics": "Ethics and End-of-Life Issues" (pp. 357-379) and "Ethics and Research in Surgery" (pp. 379-398).

The Montreal Gazette reports on the incident in an article titled Top Canadian doctor's report retracted due to plagiarism concerns

The journal which retracted the copied work is Current Problems in Surgery, put out by Elsevier. The paper has some midwest connections: The article titled "Ethical Issues in Surgical Treatment and Research," was co-authored by Rene Lafreniere of the University of Calgary, Alberta surgeon Dr. Wayne Rosen (who also teaches at the University of Calgary), Dr. Peter Angelos, at Northwestern University in Chicago, and philosopher Timothy Murphy of the University of Illinois.

The copying was uncovered NOT by editors or referees, but by a student. The student contacted the original author, who in turn complained to the journal's editor-in-chief (Samuel Wells) ultimately leading to a retraction.

The editor INITIALLY had described the article:

the "excellent" report "should be required reading for all health care providers, but especially for medical students and house officers, who are in such a formative part of their careers."


***Of the Penn State business


Penn State B-school applicants plagiarize essay on principled leadership