Galveston County Daily News, June 29, 2007 Guest Column by Seymour Fisher, Professor Emeritus, UTMB  I thoroughly enjoyed reading Howard Brody's column "It's hard to base medicine on good evidence," (The Daily News, June 12). I particularly liked his emphasis on some of the inherent difficulties in researchers' passionate pursuit of perfection. I wish, though, that he had had even more space to dwell on the critical role of research staff and, especially, the ethical obligations of a study's leaders. Read More ...  I was appalled at the "innocence" (giving him or her the benefit of doubt) of the University of Virginia's principal investigator in not insisting that the staff understand that they could be the primary confounding influence in the study. Some residents held the random assignment envelopes up to the light to see which treatment the baby was to receive and would then sometimes ignore the predetermined assignment. I was involved for 40 years in the methodology of clinical research (primarily psychopharmacology).