To address these and other concerns, RDE systems were invented so that physicians, nurses, and study coordinators could enter the data directly at the medical setting.

"They were pushed to go up there," said Susan Lester, the former study coordinator who blew the whistle on Dr. Fiddes.

If he approved of her, Ms. Carlon, a certified respiratory therapist, would become the research site's latest study coordinator.

He buzzes his study coordinator.

To learn more, talk with study coordinators and your insurer.

The study coordinator taught patients how to administer the study drug subcutaneously themselves.

Few employees other than the study coordinators - mostly women of limited financial means - were aware of the magnitude of the swindle.

Dr. Fiddes would meet with patients in his first-floor office, then refer them to the study coordinators on the second floor.

Like every other study coordinator who passed through Dr. Fiddes's research center, Ms. Carlon found herself being pushed to break the rules.

She also provided the names of study coordinators who knew that testing data were being manipulated to enroll larger numbers of patients.