Whistleblower Leads to $302 Million Fine Against Quest Diagnostics

(by L.A.S)
(Not sure if I ever referred to this case before, but it bears repeating anyway.)
The New York Times reported in April of this year that Quest will pay a fine of $302 million as a result of a defective test kit produced by its subsidiary, NID. NID produced a kit that was supposed to detect levels of parathyroid hormone. However, the kit produced such inaccurate and unreliable lab results, that doctors complained.
Shockingly, there are no standards regarding how reliable a lab test has to be, nor testing to ensure that it is reliable. To put it another way, there is no standardization and no FDA approval needed.
A California businessman and biochemist named Thomas Cantor tried to blow the whistle with detailed complaints about the test, but was rebuffed. He later hired some attorneys to help him.
Cantor will receive a share of the settlement amounting to about $45 million, which he states he intends to donate to drug research.

The NY Times article is here: www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/business/16tests.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss