UCI Medical School Will Be Target of Probe

UC Irvine’s College of Medicine will be the target of an investigation by the state Legislature, according to state Sen. Jackie Speier.

The Daly City Democrat, chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Government Oversight, said her panel would hold a hearing and call upon UCI officials from the president’s office and accounting office to “tell us why these incidents are happening and what they’re going to do to resolve them.”

According to Speier’s office, the investigation is needed because of the spate of scandals plaguing the medical school over the past few years that in her view indicates a problem with UCI’s internal audit practices.

Those started with the fertility scandal of the mid-1990s, in which doctors implanted the eggs of some women into other patients without the women’s permission.

In addition, a lab researcher at the UCI Chao Cancer Center was investigated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year for taking an unapproved drug across state lines to treat a young girl who was dying. The research project there was shut down.

The most recent scandal has revolved around the school’s Willed Body Program, which is the subject of a criminal investigation by the district attorney’s office after allegations surfaced last fall that the program’s former director made a profit from the sale ofdonated body parts.

Speier said the hearing will force UCI officials to explain their audit practices to the Legislature.

“The accounting and auditing practices at UCI are inadequate,” Speier said. “UCI has been plagued with scandals dating back to the embryo tragedy. It has taken extraordinary amounts of taxpayer funds to settle the lawsuits from that scandal. There will be lawsuits that will emanate from this recent scandal at the Willed Body Program.”

UCI has taken steps to conduct internal investigations as well.

For example, an advisory committee of medical leaders from around the country has been assembled by UCI’s chancellor, Ralph J. Cicerone, to investigate the medical school’s internal workings and file formal recommendations about improvements.

UCI Executive Vice Chancellor William Parker said Tuesday that the university has received no information about the specifics of the state inquiry, but added, “We would cooperate fully with any inquiry conducted by the state Legislature. We are always seeking advice from the outside.”

According to Speier’s office, no date for the hearing has been set.