“Well, four years later, I still felt healthy. Nothing had happened. Every day, I was waiting for lightning to strike, but it never did. But Dr. Gross kept saying I had to come back for more tests, more tests. By then I had moved to San Diego, and I wanted to have my tests done there, and sent up to him. But he said no, I had to do the tests at UCLA.”

“Why?”

“He said he preferred his own lab. But it didn’t make sense. And he was giving me more and more forms to sign.”

“What forms?”

“At first, they were just consent forms to acknowledge that I was undertaking a procedure with risk. Those first forms were one or two pages long. Pretty soon there were other forms that said I agreed to be involved in a research project. Each time I went back, there were still more forms. Eventually the forms were ten pages long, a whole document in dense legal language.”

“And did you sign them?”

“Toward the end, no.”

“Why not?”

“Because some of the forms were releases to permit the commercial use of my tissues.”

“That bothered you?”

“Sure. Because I didn’t think he was telling me the truth about what he was doing. The reason for all the tests. On one visit, I asked Dr. Gross straight out if he was using my tissues for commercial purposes. He said absolutely not, his interests were purely research. So I said okay, and I signed everything except the forms allowing my tissues to be used for commercial purposes.”

“And what happened?”

“He got very angry. He said he would not be able to treat me further unless I signed all the forms, and I was risking my health and my future. He said I was making a big mistake.”

“Objection! Hearsay.”

“All right. Mr. Burnet, when you refused to sign the consent forms, did Dr. Gross stop treating you?”

“Yes.”

“And did you then consult a lawyer?”

“Yes.”

“And what did you subsequently discover?”