Ex-Researcher Pleads Guilty in Patient’s Death
A former cancer researcher pleaded guilty in Albany to criminally negligent homicide in the death of a patient enrolled in a clinical trial at an upstate veterans’ hospital.
Paul Kornak, 53, also pleaded guilty to felony counts of mail fraud and making a false statement, admitting he forged medical records of dozens of patients at the Stratton Veterans Affairs Medical Center to make them eligible for drug studies and falsely claiming to be a doctor.
The homicide charge stemmed from the death of 71-year-old James DiGeorgio, an Air Force veteran who died in 2001 shortly after participating in a drug-research program for stomach cancer.
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