An investigation by Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington found “a number of serious questions” about a study by a former surgeon at the hospital evaluating the use of a bone-growth protein in soldiers with leg fractures.
Army documents show investigators concluded that the former Walter Reed surgeon, Timothy R. Kuklo, forged his purported co-authors’ signatures on the study and that the number of injured soldiers differs from the Army’s records of its wartime casualties. Hospital officials said the study was based on “falsified information.”
Dr. Kuklo’s research, published in August and since retracted by the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, seemingly showed advantages in healing of leg injuries when doctors used the bone protein, called Infuse, from Medtronic Inc. Dr. Kuklo is a consultant for the Minneapolis company; Medtronic said he didn’t have any company affiliation at the time he worked on the study. The company declined to disclose any other information about his consultancy.
