The U.S. Food and Drug Administration secretly monitored the personal e-mail of a group of its own scientists and doctors. The monitored employees were ones who had warned Congress that the agency was approving medical devices that posed unacceptable risks to patients.
The surveillance took place over the course of two years. A group of six of the monitored scientists and doctors have filed a lawsuit against the FDA.
According to the Washington Post:
“Information garnered this way eventually contributed to the harassment or dismissal of all six of the FDA employees, the suit alleges. All had worked in an office responsible for reviewing devices for cancer screening and other purposes.”