At Wayne State University in Detroit, dogs are subjected to painful, deadly heart failure experiments that have been conducted since 1991 without contributing to any improvements in human health. During that time, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has given more than $15 million to the lead experimenter. As a physician, I find this unacceptable. 

Thousands of pages of veterinary records released to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine reveal troubling occurrences at Wayne State. For example, in 2019, dog #2002, a hound mix, underwent two invasive, experimental surgeries. Staff cut open her side and chest and inserted six devices around delicate arteries. Then, they "tunneled" cables and wires under her skin and out through incisions between her shoulder blades. 

Just 7 days after the second surgery, dog #2002 was struggling to breathe due to a buildup of blood around her lungs, and she was euthanized. A necropsy report later revealed that one of the devices implanted by Wayne State staff had caused a hole in her aorta, which led to massive internal bleeding. The bleeding caused a hemothorax, which is when blood accumulates in the chest cavity. 

Instances like the one described above are not isolated. There is a clear pattern of dogs suffering and dying in troubling ways at Wayne State. And this only continues because NIH keeps funding it. Heart disease is the leading cause of death nationwide and in Michigan. NIH and publicly funded medical institutions like Wayne State have a duty to address such dire health problems, but these cruel dog experiments are not helping. 

Please join me by calling on NIH to stop funding these experiments!

Jennifer Giordano, DO
Farmington Hills, Mich.