Tales of two doctors, at FDA and federal health services, who saw themselves as whistleblowers

The New York Times reports on how the Food and Drug Administration created an elaborate surveillance operation in response to the complaints of a particularly "caustic" agency scientist. In a separate story, the paper examines how the federal health service reassigned a psychologist who told his superiors that a North Dakota Indian tribe was ignoring an "epidemic" of child abuse.

The New York Times: Caustic Crusader At Center Of FDA Scandal
This month, F.D.A. officials came under fire from Congress after disclosures that they had begun a surveillance operation monitoring the e-mail of Dr. Smith and four other employees as they wrote to their lawyers, lawmakers and even President Obama. Dr. Smith's scorched-earth tactics had so unnerved managers that they, too, resorted to extreme measures, and the monitors ended up producing a sort of enemies list of 21 agency critics, including Congressional officials, academics and journalists (Lichtblau and Shane, 7/30).

The New York Times: Psychologist Who Wrote Of Abuse Is Punished
A federal health services psychologist who told superiors that an American Indian tribe was ignoring widespread child abuse on a North Dakota reservation has been reprimanded and reassigned, according to federal officials and documents.The psychologist, Michael R. Tilus, director of behavioral health at the Spirit Lake Health Center on the Spirit Lake Indian reservation, describes himself as a whistle-blower. He wrote in an e-mail to state and federal health officials this spring about an "epidemic" of child abuse on Spirit Lake, which is in a remote area of northeastern North Dakota. ... The Spirit Lake reservation has been buffeted by accusations of child abuse and neglect during the past 15 months (Williams, 7/30).