Access Legal from Shoosmiths has called for greater scrutiny of medical research if public confidence in it is to be maintained.

Associate and medical negligence specialist Phil Barnes said the medical profession must explain how the current controversy has arisen, or risk undermining people's confidence.

His call comes following revelations that NHS patients have been treated with controversial drugs that were the subject of 'fraudulent research' by a leading  anaesthetist.

Intravenous fluid management specialist Joachim Boldt is being investigated after it was alleged he may have forged studies concerning treatments. He has already been sacked from a German hospital following the allegations about his research into colloids.

Boldt's research claimed colloids, which increase blood volume in patients undergoing surgery, were as safe as similar treatments, contradicting earlier studies that had shown them to be more dangerous.

Guidelines for British anaesthetists regarding colloids are now being revised, while Consensus Guidelines on Intravenous Fluid Therapy have been withdrawn.

Phil Barnes said: "These sorts of revelations are going to undermine the public's trust in the medical profession.

"This case highlights the need for medical research to be properly scrutinised by the profession to ensure that it continues to receive support, and before research is used to set guidelines. Where a medical negligence problem has emerged, as it has here, the effect it has had on patients must be clearly disclosed.

"If there are flaws in research, then not only is people's confidence going being shaken, but they are potentially being put at risk too. First and foremost, the system must be concerned for public safety."

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