Medical Staff Faces Criminal Charges For Polish Bird Flu Trials

Three Polish doctors and six nurses are accused of killing homeless people in their nation following a medical trial of a vaccine for H5N1 bird flu. The nine could be criminally prosecuted because of deceiving those dead.

21 people died after they received £1-2 thinking they would be getting a standard flu shot. Investigators found that the dead were being used as human guinea pigs to test the anti bird-flu vaccine. Authorities have not proven a direct link between the deaths and the actions of the medical staff yet. That hasn't stopped Poland's health minister, Ewa Kopacz from saying that those involved should not be allowed to return to their positions.

"It is in the interests of all doctors that those who are responsible for this are punished," the minister added.

There is also some question as if the pharmaceutical companies running the medical trials were deceived. Those accused of the deception say that those who were tested knew that they were involved with a trial using the anti-H5N1 drug and volunteered willingly. Poland's health care service already has a bad reputation. In 2002 it came out that sme ambulance medics were getting kickbacks for dead patients from funeral companies. It was revealed that those medics outright killed some of their patients.