Two doctors are accusing the Geisinger Health System of coercing patients to take part in genetic studies, PennLive reports.
It notes that Neelkamal Soares and Shibani Kanungo, who are married, made the accusation as part of a wrongful termination suit. Kanungo says she was told that her metabolic patients were expected to participate in research, while Soares says that he'd raised concerns about including patients in research without their consent. He adds that the mother of one of his patients told him that she felt pressured to sign a consent form and was given the impression that if she did not, he would not be able to treat her child. Soares also says that he was told that his consent rate was 75 percent and that he had to increase it, according to PennLive.
The couple also alleges that as they raised concerns, Geisinger made their jobs more difficult and eventually fired them, it adds.
"These allegations are baseless, as is the lawsuit filed by these two former employees who were separated from Geisinger for legitimate business reasons completely unrelated to the false claims raised in the complaint," Geisinger spokesperson Michael Ferlazzo tells PennLive.
Kanungo previously filed a wrongful termination suit against the University of Kentucky.