Here’s an unusual one. The American Diabetes Association held its annual conference this weekend in New Orleans. Y’know, streetcar rides, great Cajun meals, drunken strolls down Bourbon Street. Also, having police remove some of your most prominent experts and speakers from the event. Yes, this happened, and then at least two group leaders resigned.

On Friday, June 5, at the New Orleans convention center, several members of the association — some of them prominent — handed out photocopies of an April 29 opinion piece from the ADA’s flagship journal, Diabetes Care. The article decried the Trump administration’s attacks on scientific research and funding, including for diabetes. This activity took place shortly before Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, had been scheduled to give a keynote speech, though he canceled at the last minute.

A confrontation with security staff and police (reportedly called in by the event’s organizers) got tense, with uniformed personnel trying to take away the article reprints and eventually escorting the researchers outside the venue, taking their badges, according to The New York Times’ account.

‘Feared Repercussions’

One of the researchers escorted out, Justin Ryder of Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, said they were threatened with arrest. “Organizers told five of those researchers, including several who were scheduled to present this weekend, that they could no longer participate in the conference,” the NYT reported. “Several of the researchers said they believed they were removed partly because the association feared repercussions from the Trump administration.”

One person booted was Desmond Schatz, a past president of the ADA, according to the ConscienHealth website. Another was Steven Kahn, Diabetes Care’s editor in chief and lead author of the article in question.

The next day, Saturday, June 6, ADA leadership issued a long statement in the form of a letter to members “to address the situation directly.” In it, CEO Charles Henderson and Planning Committee Chair Mark Atkinson maintained that the group’s policy requires prior authorization to distribute materials, which wasn’t obtained here. That was the offense — not the viewpoints expressed.

High Emotions

Some people continued distributing even after they were asked to stop, Henderson and Atkinson said. The police weren’t called in — they were already there as part of the planned security. Henderson and Atkinson wrote that they “recognize that emotions are high for many attendees regarding these actions.” They apologized and said they intended to meet with the people involved after the conference.

On June 7, the ADA posted an official, much shorter statement on its website. It emphasized the group’s nonprofit status, which required it to be nonpartisan. This contradicted the previous statement about the ejections not arising from the editorial’s content. Even if the prior-authorization contention is true, the optics aren’t good. This second statement met with derision on Facebook. “Scientific literature isn’t partisan,” one commenter wrote.

Leader Resignations

The blowback from members has been intense. By Monday at least two ADA leaders, Planning Committee Chair Atkinson and President-elect Jennifer Green, resigned over the flap, MedPage Today reported. Yesterday, CEO Henderson issued a video apology and said the group would commission an independent review of the incident.

The crisis could have been handled better. A deeper initial conversation with the researchers handing out the article might have avoided getting police involved. The statements also sent mixed messages, though it’s good that the leadership offered to meet with the researchers, apologized and said they will investigate.

Image Credit: ADA

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter on crisis communications. Each week we highlight a crisis story in the news or a survey or study with an eye toward the type of best practices and strategies you can put to work each day. Click here to subscribe.