Whistleblowing Doctors Win Rights

Federal doctors can be whistleblowers, too, the Merit Systems Protection Board has ruled. The decision stems from the case of Jonathan Fishbein, a National Institutes of Health researcher who was hired under special Title 42 provisions that allow agencies to pay top salaries to attract doctors. He was later fired after raising allegations of sloppy research practices that he said could endanger patients. An administrative judge ruled that federal whistleblower protections did not apply to Title 42 employees, but the MSPB reversed that ruling. Fishbein, by the way, recently was reinstated and settled a lawsuit he had filed over his firing.