Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Doctor Admits Using Illegal Tumor Drug

An internationally known medical researcher provided illegal injections of an experimental drug for 16 brain tumor patients, using them as human guinea pigs, authorities said. Dr. Peter Wiernik admitted his role in the 1987 injections and acknowledged a five-year cover-up in an agreement with federal prosecutors earlier this year. Wiernik, who works at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, was demoted and reprimanded under the deal, but never prosecuted. The unidentified patients, who were terminally ill and have since died, were told about the experimental nature of the drug but not informed it lacked approval from the FDA, authorities said in a statement.