As one of the many frustrated participants in the pre-release briefing for the recently published Canadian Adverse Events Study,1 I am writing to express the strongest possible objection to CMAJ's misguided policy whereby the lay media are given access to the content of medical research articles without the same privilege being extended to the stakeholders most involved. Worse, we were advised to ask the media for the material! I also seriously question the exclusion of regional health authorities and institutions from advance notification, given that they will be on the firing line when the research paper shuffles belatedly into public view.
What a mess you've created!
Robert A. Burns Registrar College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta Edmonton, Alta.
Reference
- 1.Baker GR, Norton PG, Flintoft V, Blais R, Brown A, Cox J, et al. The Canadian Adverse Events Study: the incidence of adverse events among hospital patients in Canada. CMAJ 2004; 170 (11):1678-86. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]