Second Medical Journal Says It Received Letter From US Prosecutor

U.S. Attorney Edward Martin Jr. has contacted medical journals over alleged bias.

Ed Martin speaks at an event in Washington on June 13, 2023. Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP Photo

A federal prosecutor sent a letter to another medical journal, the New England Journal of Medicine, the journal said on April 23.

The journal received a letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, a spokeswoman told The Epoch Times in an email.

Dr. Eric Rubin, who works at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is the journal’s editor-in-chief, responded to the letter by telling the office that the journal “publishes evidence-based scientific information that physicians can trust in delivering high-quality medical care.”

Rubin wrote that the journal’s editors, all practicing physicians, “recognize our responsibility to doctors and patients” and “use rigorous peer review and editorial processes to ensure the objectivity and reliability of the research we publish.”

He concluded: “We support the editorial independence of medical journals and their First Amendment rights to free expression. The Journal actively fosters scholarly scientific dialogue and remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting authors, readers, and patients.”

The spokeswoman did not respond when asked about the contents of the letter from the U.S. attorney’s office, which is headed by Edward Martin Jr. and has not returned The Epoch Times’ requests for comment.

Martin recently sent a letter to CHEST, another medical journal, the publishers of the journal told The Epoch Times in an email on April 21. In that missive, which was published online without permission from the publishers, Martin wrote that he has become aware that “more and more journals and publications like CHEST journal are conceding that they are partisans in various scientific debates—that is, that they have a position for which they are advocating either due to advertisement (under postal code) or sponsorship (under relevant fraud regulations).”

He requested answers to a series of questions, including how the journal’s leadership assesses their responsibilities to “protect the public from misinformation” and whether the journal accepts articles from competing viewpoints.

Martin is the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. President Donald Trump has nominated him to keep the position permanently. The Senate has not yet voted on the nomination.

The New England Journal of Medicine is among the scientific publications that have criticized Trump. In an editorial in 2020, during Trump’s first term, its editors said that “when it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time,” Trump and other political leaders “have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent” and urged people to vote in the 2020 election in a way that would “render judgment.”

Several other journals, including Nature, endorsed Trump’s opponents, Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024.

Critics of Martin’s letters include the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which on the social media platform X accused Martin of “abusing his authority to try to chill protected speech.”