breach of contract

I am a doctoral student and have been working on my dissertation for over 1 ½ years. I am working with a hospital which awarded my dissertation funding (~ $50,000) to do a research study. The hospital has a signed contract saying that they would support my study; with staff and financially till its completion. About 2 weeks ago they pulled my funding and there has been a breach of contract. The reasoning for denying continual funding was given to me as a "new policy" that the hospital has placed into effect that says they will no longer fund research that uses healthy participants. I am dumbfounded by this because wouldn't there be any grandfather clause which would allow me to complete my study? Furthermore, they have no issues or problems with my study, except for this new claus. I have spent hundreds of hours, not to mention taken out thousands of dollars in loans to stay in school and to complete this study. If they did not want to fund this study they should have told me 1 1/2 years ago and not have me invest my time and money. I am only 4 months away from graduating and now I am being told that because my research will not be complete, I cannot graduate. This means starting over for another 2 year looking for a new dissertation research and taking out more loans. I also know that those who have denied to continue funding have no idea on how this affects those involved. I have spent so much time with this research because this is my future career as it is to give me a doctorate degree when I have completed my dissertation. Now I have been pushed back another 2 years and financially as well. I've gone through sever depression and have sought out psychological counseling because of the traumatic event. Is it possible to file a lawsuit against the hospital for a breach of contract? I cannot get back the 1 ½ years I have committed to this research based on the contract that I had. As well, I have taken out thousands of dollars in loans which I now have no degree to show for it. There has to be some accountability for this breach of contract not to mention the ethical and moral effects it has.

Any advice or information would greatly be appreciated.

Thank you.
State: CA

You might want to read the fine print of the contract. I'm finding it common that with the funded research positions, they will put a clause in about payment being contingent on funding available. If the funding runs out, expires, or is otherwise revoked they are free to release you without repercussions. And employment law may not be able to help you because a) you're probably not really an "employee" per se and b) the aforementioned clause probably exists and you probably signed for it without reading in detail.

There might not be a grandfather clause because perhaps the new policy is based on a broader funding issue. I.e. if they continue to do such and such research, all government funding will be pulled.

Please contact your thesis advisor to see what you can salvage. You've already committed 1 1/2 years to this research, are you saying that *nothing* can be used?

I wish you the best of luck. It's a tough spot, and I can at least sympathize as my major has been cut from my university's offerings. So close, but so far away....

Again, this is my opinion which you may wish to review with a local lawyer. I am not a lawyer, but in my course of employment (payroll) I have seen some of these contracts and they're pretty in depth as to the releases.

Good luck!!!

Yes, I did read the fine print. Went thru it with a comb, if you will. The reason this came up is that each year we need to submit an update to IRB (internal review board of ethics). If there was no need, I doubt that this would be a problem. I think what be-gets me is that this policy would have affect 90% of all research because just about every study uses healhty participants for controls and comparison. And yet I know only of my study that they targeted by using this policy.

There is no issue about available funds because the money was already granted and I had spent about a 4th of it for the study already. I'm just saddened because of the contract that we had and for them to do such a thing as "string me along" for so long and then to cut me off. Again it's not because of anything I did or any problems in my protocol.

As for looking at what I already had done and collected. I've tried that. We tried every angle to use what we have for the 1 1/2 years, but nothing. In order for this to have results, we need to complete it with the number of people we had set out to examine.

Thank you for your support and suggestions. I feel like I'm in limbo at the moment. Just the thought of starting over and investing another 2 years and taking more loans with nothing to show for the first one really makes me angry and I feel I need to be reimbursed for the lost time and money invested. (although I don't know if there is any way around this) The question becomes is there any legal channels to do this?

Check out your local bar association to see if anyone offers free contract consultations. If not, you've already invested enough time, money and energy where a fee-based consultation might save you more in the long run.

Without seeing the body of the *specific* agreement in association with local laws, I doubt anyone will be able to give you the answers you seek on a message board. You're probably better off with local attorney review.

Best of luck!!!