Dr. Felix Monteverde was a long-time member of the Great Eastern University faculty, but until recently his research had never required the use of laboratory animals. Because of his relative newness to working with the IACUC, and in part due to his loathing of anybody or anything that might put constraints on his research, he had earned himself a reputation of being somewhat of a troublemaker for the IACUC.

Monteverde submitted a protocol for a mouse study and it was reviewed at a full committee meeting. After the meeting, he called the IACUC office and was told that the protocol was approved and a formal approval letter would be sent by email the next day, as per the standard policy of the IACUC. Monteverde was delighted that for the first time one of his protocols was approved without a need for revisions, and a few days later he began his study, using previously printed cage cards and mice that had been bred on a different IACUC-approved protocol. But there was no approval letter and Monteverde soon found himself in trouble with the committee.

Monteverde learned from a friend in the IACUC office that his new experiment was noticed by an IACUC member who had a contentious relationship with Monteverde. This person thought it strange that Monteverde’s study was able to start so soon after the IACUC meeting and reported this to the IACUC chairman. The chairman discovered that the approval letter was never sent due to a mistake by the IACUC office. He contacted Monteverde, who explained that he thought the study was approved and the approval letter was just a formality. He said he did not intentionally try to circumvent any federal regulation or IACUC policy.

At a hastily convened full committee meeting, the member who had reported the incident reminded the committee members that this was not their first run-in with Monteverde and that all investigators had been given written information that included the need to have a written approval from the IACUC office before beginning any research. He then moved to permanently suspend Monteverde’s protocol, and after some discussion, the motion passed unanimously. Monteverde was furious when he learned of the committee’s action and that the vote to suspend his protocol was unanimous. He wrote a scathing letter to the IACUC chairman and the Institutional Official, claiming that the committee’s action was illegal because it violated its own policy by not sending the approval letter the next day and by allowing a member with a clear conflict of interest to participate in the discussion and vote to suspend his protocol.

What is your opinion about the committee’s actions and how would you act on Monteverde’s complaint?