RE:  Indemnification/Insurance

 We would not enter into an agreement with a commercial sponsor who did
 not indemnify us "except in cases of institutional negligence".

 Otherwise, our institution's insurance (which has a sizable
 deductible which is self-insured) covers our investigators as long as
 the agreement for the study has been signed by a designated
 institutional official.  If an investigator signed an agreement with a
 commercial sponsor on his/her own, with no institutional approval,
 his/her malpractice insurance coverage would be void.

 The community members of our Human Studies Committee are registered as
 official hospital volunteers to assure their coverage under the
 institution's liability policy.

 Diane C. Gilbert, CRA
 Director, Research & Training Development
 Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital
 Boston, MA  02114

       xxxxxx@a1.mgh.harvard.edu