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Bioethicists Call For Probe Of 'U' Patient's Suicide

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Eight bioethicists at the University of Minnesota are asking the university regents to appoint a panel of experts to investigate the suicide of a young man in a university drug trial in 2004.

They are asking for another look into the death of Dan Markingson, who killed himself while in a psychiatric research study sponsored by a pharmaceutical company.

The Federal Drug Administration reviewed the case in 2005 and cleared the university and the company, but the bioethicists say in a letter that it was not enough.

The want an impartial panel to probe financial conflicts of interest, the design of the study and how the mentally ill man was recruited as a test subject.

The regents meet Thursday and Friday, but the professors' request isn't on the agenda.

(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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