Джон Пол Иоаннидис написал открытое письмо министру здравоохранения Дании за неувольнение Питера Гоче
November 16, 2018
Ellen Trane Nørby
Minister of Health
Denmark
Re Peter Gøtzsch, Nordic Cochrane Centre, Rigshospitalet
Dear Minister:
I write this letter to express my unconditional support for maintaining Professor Peter Gøtzsche as chief physician
at the Nordic Cochrane Centre in the Rigshospitalet, which I am aware that Cochrane rules allow even
though he is no longer a member of Cochrane.
I am a tenured professor at Stanford University and the current rate of citations of my work in the scientific literature (>3,000 times per month) is the highest among all physicians in the world and among the10 highest across all scientists in the world. I have unconditional
admiration for Peter Gøtzsche. Peter is undoubtedly a giant, one of the greatest scientists of our times and one of the most influential, impactful, and useful voices in medicine at large. I cherish enormously his contributions. I believe he is the most recognizable and prominent scientist that Denmark currently has.
His dismissal from the Cochrane board two months ago came as a total shock to me. The possibility of compounding this shock with his dismissal also from
the Rigshospitalet would deal a severe blow to medicine, democracy, freedom of thought, and justice.
I do not agree with Peter Gøtzsche on everything that he says and publishes. I have found myself several times
on the opposite side of multiple arguments. However, I believe that basic respect for scientific discourse requires that you do not eliminate your opponents through administrative machinations. Ousting Peter from the Rigshopitalet damages the reputation of Denmark as a free country. Conversely, supporting him will demonstrate forcefullyng that not all is lost for human dignity.
I trust that you will decide not to be on the wrong
side of history and that you will take pride that your ministry continues to support one of the greatest investigators of our times.
Sincerely,
John P.A. Ioannidis, MD, DSc
C.F. Rehnborg Professor
in Disease Prevention
Professor of Medicine,
of Health Research and Policy, and
(by courtesy) of Biomedical Data Science
Stanford University School of Medicine
Professor (by courtesy) of Statistics
Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences
Co-Director, Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS)
Director, PhD Program in epidemiology and clinical research
