Editing Scientific misconduct (section)

===Consequences for science===
The consequences of scientific fraud vary based on the severity of the fraud, the level of notice it receives, and how long it goes undetected.  For cases of fabricated evidence, the consequences can be wide-ranging, with others working to confirm (or refute) the false finding, or with research agendas being distorted to address the fraudulent evidence.  The [[Piltdown Man]] fraud is a case in point:  The significance of the bona-fide fossils that were being found was muted for decades because they disagreed with Piltdown Man and the preconceived notions that those faked fossils supported.  In addition, the prominent paleontologist [[Arthur Smith Woodward]] spent time at Piltdown each year until he died, trying to find more Piltdown Man remains.  The misdirection of resources kept others from taking the real fossils more seriously and delayed the reaching of a correct understanding of human evolution.  (The [[Taung Child]], which should have been the death knell for the view that the human brain evolved first, was instead treated very critically because of its disagreement with the Piltdown Man evidence.)

In the case of Prof. [[Don Poldermans]], the misconduct occurred in reports of trials of treatment to prevent death and myocardial infarction in patients undergoing operations.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Vogel|first1=G.|title=Suspect Drug Research Blamed for Massive Death Toll|journal=Science|date=30 January 2014|volume=343|issue=6170|pages=473–474|doi=10.1126/science.343.6170.473|ref=Science2014|pmid=24482457|bibcode=2014Sci...343..473V}}</ref> The trial reports were relied upon to issue guidelines that applied for many years across North America and Europe.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Cole|first1=G. D.|last2=Francis|first2=D. P.|title=Perioperative beta blockade: guidelines do not reflect the problems with the evidence from the DECREASE trials|journal=BMJ|date=29 August 2014|volume=349|issue=aug29 8|pages=g5210|doi=10.1136/bmj.g5210|url=http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5210|pmid=25172044|s2cid=13845087}}</ref>

In the case of Dr Alfred Steinschneider, two decades and tens of millions of research dollars were lost trying to find the elusive link between infant sleep apnea, which Steinschneider said he had observed and recorded in his laboratory, and [[sudden infant death syndrome]] (SIDS), of which he stated it was a precursor. The cover was blown in 1994, 22 years after Steinschneider's 1972 ''[[Pediatrics (journal)|Pediatrics]]'' paper claiming such an association,<ref name="aappublications646">{{cite journal |author=Steinschneider A |title=Prolonged apnea and the sudden infant death syndrome: clinical and laboratory observations |journal=[[Pediatrics (journal)|Pediatrics]] |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=646–654 |date=October 1972 |doi=10.1542/peds.50.4.646 |pmid=4342142 |s2cid=8561269 |url=http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/50/4/646}}</ref> when [[Waneta Hoyt]], the mother of the patients in the paper, was arrested, indicted and convicted on five counts of second-degree murder for the smothering deaths of her five children.<ref name="amazon1997">{{cite book |author1=Talan, Jamie |author2=Firstman, Richard |title=The death of innocents |publisher=Bantam Books |location=New York |year=1997 |isbn=978-0553100136 }}</ref> While that in itself was bad enough, the paper, presumably written as an attempt to save infants' lives, ironically was ultimately used as a defense by parents suspected in multiple deaths of their own children in cases of [[Münchausen syndrome by proxy]]. The 1972 ''Pediatrics'' paper was cited in 404 papers in the interim and is still listed on PubMed without comment.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Prolonged apnea and the sudden infant death syndrome: clinical and laboratory observations|date=2013-03-25 |pmid=4342142 | volume=50|issue=4 |journal=Pediatrics|pages=646–654 | last1 = Steinschneider | first1 = A|doi=10.1542/peds.50.4.646 |s2cid=8561269 }}</ref>{{original research?|date=October 2024}}