That kind of error can mislead doctorsdangerously by suggesting that a disease is veryrare when in reality it is not, Scatena said.
In addition to the three articles that Scatenauncovered, the Faculty Conduct Committee alsofound an instance of plagiarism in a fourtharticle.
In that article, Frazier cited a sourcecorrectly, but failed to bracket an extractionfrom the text in quotation marks. While Scatenacalled this "clearly wrong," Ramona said that thiserror was "some-what trivial."
While colleagues are so far not calling forHarvard to reinstate Frazier, who was nearingretirement age, they say the incident marks a sadending to a distinguished career.
"Harvard has to stand for academic standards.It has to be seen in light of other things. TheMed School acted strongly to make sure that itheld its integrity," said Dr. Larry I. Benewitz,psychobiology professor at McLean Hospital.
"At the same time, Frazier's years of serviceare overshadowed by this. He was treated ratherharshly. There might have been alternatives."