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Text File | 1994-02-01 | 36KB | 591 lines

                        OF NOTE...
                        News to Use

Special Legal Edition (41-50)                        December 1, 1993
Earl Appleby, Jr., Editor                            CURE, Ltd.

                               ADA Acts

"For the physically challenged, sometimes it is more than the physique
that gets challenged. Sometimes your sense of pride takes a beating
too. That's how it was for Rick Douglas when he was told that if he
wanted to board a United Express commuter plane recently at Dulles
International Airport, he would have to crawl into it. So he did. Mr.
Douglas, who uses a wheel chair because of multiple sclerosis, dragged
himself up five steps and crawled into the plane...At the other end,
he had to drag himself off...Mr. Douglas...has more clout than most of
the disabled do. He happens to be executive director of the
President's Committee on Employment of Persons with Disabilities. And
the whole sorry episode could hardly have happened on a more
appropriate occasion. Mr. Douglas was flying to give a speech in
Allentown, Pennsylvania to celebrate the first anniversary of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)." (Flattening Obstacles in Lives
of the Disabled, Clarence Page, op ed, Washington Times, 8/6/93)

"Your July 20 editorial 'The Disabilities Act's down side' presents a
distorted and inaccurate picture of the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) and employers' efforts to comply with the law. Contrary to
your assertion, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
has not found employers to be 'newly hesitant to hire the disabled.'
Rather, consistent with the ADA, most employers are earnestly
complying with the law and are beginning to focus on individual's
abilities, rather than disabilities. These good-faith efforts further
the ADA's goals of eliminating discrimination due to unfounded and
misinformed myths, fears, and stereotypes about disabilities." --
Philip Calkins, acting director, Communications and Legislative
Affairs, US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington, DC.
CURE Comment: Why is it that victims of discrimination are always
expected to accept the "good faith" of those with a track record of
discriminating against them? Frankly, we'd be a lot more impressed
with some hard data showing decreased unemployment among people with
disabilities than the standard political rhetoric that we find quite
patronizing. After all, "faith" without "works" is dead. (Employers
Aren't Tied Up by Disabilities Law, Calkins, let-ed, WT, 8/10/93)

                                Body Politic

"During Waco we learned that there were a number of self-destructive
cults in the country and one of them is the Clinton administration.
He's had two good days out of about 260. If this was baseball, he'd
have been sent back to Albuquerque by now." --Mark Russell, comedian.
(The Clinton Camp Drawn and Quarterly, Howard Kurtz, WP, 10/18/93)

                           Courting Disaster

"Times change. First ladies can now aspire to being 'de facto public
officials,' formal extensions of the president, presumably even
getting themselves into positions to be impeached or, if their
husbands are men enough, fired. The US Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia made it official: Hillary, as head of the Task
Force on National Health Care Reform, is the equivalent of a
"government employee." (No salary, but look at the benefits.) She
doesn't have to open her meetings to the public." (First Lady's New
First, Suzanne Fields, op ed, Washington Times, 6/28/93)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have settled a lawsuit accusing
Michael Levey, a California television producer, of making misleading
'infomercials,' including a pitch for "EuroTrym" diet patches hosted
by Michael Reagan, son of the former president. (Producer Settles FTC
Suit Alleging False 'Infomercial' Claims, Ross Kerber, WP, 6/30/93)

"The case began in 1988 when attorney William Bentley Ball of Harris-
burg, PA sued the public school district for refusing to provide an
interpreter for James (Zobrest), a student at Salpointe Catholic High
School. Previously, James had attended the public Arizona School for
the Deaf." (Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District) (Supreme
Court Upholds Religious Rights in Zobrest Decision, Wanderer, 7/8/93)

Target Stores will award $1.3 million to prospective security guards
who took the Rodgers Condensed CPI-MMPI, or 'psychscreen,' between
1987 and 1991 in California. "A number of questions on the test are
extremely invasive on matters of sexuality, religion, bodily
functions, and the like," says Brad Seligman, the Oakland attorney who
filed the class action lawsuit in 1989. (Suit Over Store Test Is
Settled, Martinsburg Journal, 7/11/93)

"I hope that the United States government reflects on its actions and
that this never happens again." --Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain, tho
was released from a US prison last December after a federal judge
dismissed all criminal charges. "Alvarez, whose April 1990
kidnapping...severely strained US-Mexico relations, says he suffers
from heart trouble and psychological trauma stemming from his
abduction and subsequent 32-month incarceration. Alvarez blamed his
father's fatal heart attack last fall to the stress associated with
the abduction....US authorities accused the physician of complicity in
the 1985 kidnapping and murder of DEA Agent Enrique Camarena...The
federal judge who acquitted Alvarez and ordered his release called the
government's case 'wild speculation.'" (Physician Kidnapped by DEA
Files Claim for $20 Million, Patrick McDonnell, LAT, 7/12/93)

Jeremy Rifkin's The Foundation on Economic Trends and the Physicians'
Committee for Responsible Medicine is suing the National Institutes
for Health (NIH) for violating their own rules for protection of
children. The suit filed in Federal District Court in Washington, DC
charges that NIH experiments using genetically engineered human growth
hormone hGH on "short children" between the ages of 9 and 14 exposes
them to greater than minimal risk, while failing to present a prospect
of direct medical benefit. (Lawsuit Targets NIH Child Growth Research,
Robin Herman, Washington Post Health, 7/13/93)

"Dan and Cara Schmidt, the Iowa couple who waged a successful battle
to regain custody of their 2 1/2-year-old daughter, were reportedly
furious...that the child's custodial parents [Jan and Roberta DeBoer]
had allowed her to be photographed by Time magazine in violation of a
court order...In an apparent eleventh-hour pitch to influence the
court of public opinion, the DeBoers spoke to both publications [Time
and People] separately about their pain. The Schmidts refused to
participate in either story." (Photos Fuel Adoption War, WP, 7/13/93)

"The former business manager and the former director of the Eastern
Panhandle Mental Health Center--both charged with obtaining money
under false pretenses--could also soon face charges of embezzlement.
...Embezzlement means that the person in question was legally in
possession of the money and then, after the fact, converted it to his
or her own use. Obtaining money under false pretenses alleges that the
person charged with the crime intentionally defrauded someone else to
obtain the money." (Berkeley Cases Returned to Jury for New Charges,
Kelli Shores, Martinsburg Journal, 7/14/93)

"Dr. Leo Alexander, who researched information on Nazi Germany for the
United States during the Nuremberg war crimes trials, warned just
before his death in the '80s...that in modern America (like Germany of
the '30s) 'the barriers against killing have been going down.'...In
early November, Dr. Jack Kevorkian declared that assisted suicide
should be used for quadriplegics, whom he considered in 'emotional
pain.'... Howard Simon. director of the Michigan branch of the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said it should be an 'option'
for those with a permanent disability...This year, the Michigan ACLU
launched a suit to legalize assisted suicide...The ACLU suit set no
standards of proof assuring that the people involved wish to die and
were not killed against their will...There are many who would be only
too glad to take advantage of this--relatives who do not wish to care
for sick patients, heirs who want their money, nursing homes or
hospitals with prejudices against them. Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger of
Syracuse University...estimates that such policies account for 200,000
to 400,000 deaths each year." (A Clear and Present Danger, Ron Siegel,
op ed, CTC, 7/18/93) Editor's Note: Ron wrote an amicus curiae for the
Handicapper Caucus of the Michigan Democratic party in the ACLU case.

In a 4-to-1 decision the West Virginia Supreme Court returns four-and-
a-half-year-old Daniel Snyder to his mother Gretchen, 43, of Cross
Junction, VA, despite her history of mental illnesses and a suicide
attempt. Diagnosed with manic depression in 1979, Snyder had signed
over temporary custody to her sister Nancy Scheerer in March 1989
after release from her hospitalization following a suicide attempt.
Citing a 1981 US Supreme Court ruling rejecting termination of
parental rights solely on a history of mental illness, the WV high
court finds "little support" for the circuit's ruling that "the
potential for future harm justifies the denial of custody." "Such a
conclusion, while laudable in its obvious intent to protect the
innocent child, infringes too profoundly upon the rights of this
natural parent to her child and is based on mere speculation as to the
future course of the...disorder," the majority decision holds. (Court
Returns Boy to Custody of Mother, Martinsburg Journal, 7/18/93)

"On July 2 the Michigan Supreme Court ordered Robby, 35, and her
husband, Jan, 40, to give up their only child. Specifically, the
DeBoers were ordered to return their 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Jessica,
whom they have raised since birth to the girl's biological parents.
Dan and Cara Schmidt...by August 2...One of the harshest critics was
Barbara Schlicht, a former girlfriend of Dan's, who is also the mother
of Amanda [Dan's 13-year-old daughter]. Since her birth, Dan has had
virtually no contact with Amanda...In Barbara's view the Michigan
decision amounted to 'court-sanctioned child abuse.' 'He wants that
child back and wants to make a family,...but he doesn't give a rat's
butt about Amanda.'" (Battle over Jessica, Bill Hewitt and colleagues,
People, 7/19/93)

"The [California state Supreme Court's] first right-to-die decision...
came in the case of Howard Kelly Andrews, a prisoner at the California
Medical Facility in Vacaville. In May 1991, Andrews...jumped or fell
from a cell tier at Folsom prison...He was permanently paralyzed from
the shoulders down. [The] ruling affirmed lower court rulings over the
past decade on the right to die and emphasized it was not limited to
patients who are terminally ill or suffering excruciating pain."
(Court Rules in Favor of Right to Die, Washington Times, 7/28/93)

Kimberly Chandler, 27, who fatally shot her three children, ages 7
months to 7 years, was found not guilty by reason of insanity by a
three-judge panel, which "accepted the reports of psychologists who
diagnosed her as suffering from depression and paranoia. She will
remain at a maximum security psychiatric hospital until doctors say
she no longer is mentally ill. Police say she bought a pistol with
welfare money and shot her child and a neighbor's child. They said she
threatened to kill the children earlier because she couldn't take the
stress of being a single parent." (Woman Who Killed Her Kids Found
Insane, Washington Times, 7/28/93)

"According to an Associated Press story, the Kentucky Supreme Court
ruled July 15, that a lady in coma, Martha Sue DeGrella, 44, could be
killed by starvation and dehydration. Not unexpectedly, the language
of the court attempted to cover up what it was really allowing...In a
feat of semantic gymnastics it went on to say that 'nothing in this
opinion should be construed as sanctioning mercy killing.' Having said
this, the court ruled that you could stop giving this lady food and
water, knowing full well that within approxinmately ten days after
they quit feeding and giving her water she will die as a result of the
agonizing process of dehydration and direct starvation. This is a sad
day for Kentucky. It certainly sets a precedent for killing other
helpless patients." (Euthanasia in Kentucky, Right to Life of Greater
Cincinatti Newsletter, 8/93)

Sigfried Cruz, 40, of Clarksburg, WV, files a $6 million lawsuit
against the West Virginia University College of Law charging his test
score should not have been a deciding factor when he was denied
admission in 1990, and again in 1991, because it was not "a good
indicator of what a disabled person can do in school." Cruz says he
was rejected because he is Hispanic and disabled. (Disabled Hispanic
Man Sues Law School, Martinsburg Journal, 8/11/93)

Lawyers for 14-year-old Kimberly Mays, who seeks to sever ties with
her birth parents, tell a Sarosota judge that Kimberly's mother is
like an "obsessed stranger stalking her prey" and that granting her
visitation rights will destroy Kimberly. Lawyers for Kimberly's
natural parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg, counter the Twiggs have a
God-given right to see their daughter, mysteriously switched with
another infant at a rural Florida hospital in 1978. (Lawyers in 'Baby
Swap' Case Conclude Their Arguments, William Booth, WP, 8/11/93)

Christian Scientists David and Ginger Twitchell were convicted of
involuntary manslaughter in the 1986 death of their two-year-old son
Robyn, who died from a bowel obstruction after they relied on
"spiritual" in lieu of medical healing. "In a 6-1 decision, the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned the verdict on a
narrow point of law. The justices said the Twitchells 'reasonably
believed' they could rely on spiritual treatment without fear of
criminal prosecution because a church publication the father had read
suggested as much. The argument should have been presented to the
jury, the court said...[leaving] it to prosecutors to decide on a
retrial...Between 1980 and 1990, seven Christian Scientist parents
were prosecuted on charges ranging from murder and manslaughter to
neglect. Five were convicted, one was acquitted, and once case was
dismissed." (Parents Cleared in Court, Martinsburg Journal, 8/12/93)

"Q. Why does California have the most lawyers and New Jersey the most
toxic waste dumps? A. Because New Jersey had first choice. Gags like
this get Michael Scanlon Jr. fighting mad. The American Bar
Association's new...consultant has heard just about every snide lawyer
joke making the rounds--and he is not amused. 'Some cross the line
from humor into bashing,' he says. 'And when something does cross the
line, we have a right to speak out.'" (First, Kiss All the Lawyers,
Andrea Sachs, Time, 8/16/93)

Dr. Jack Kevorkian is charged with violating Michigan's law banning
"assisted suicide" by Wayne County Prosecutor John O'Hair. "The man
who has become known as 'Dr. Death' all but invited the prosecution
when he called a news conference August 5 and described in detail how,
a day earlier, he had helped Thomas Hyde [30] commit suicide by
inhaling carbon monoxide in the back of Kevorkian's van...Kevorkian's
lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger, said he welcomed the prosecution as an
opportunity to demonstrate the law was the product of 'the religious
nuts and lunatics we've elected' to the state legislature." CURE
Comment: It is not surprising that a doctor who has no respect for
life has a lawyer with no respect for law. But does O'Hair? Fieger's
"opportunity" is anything but heaven-sent, as the purported
"prosecutor," a public advocate of legalizing "assisted suicide,"
"expressed sympathy and even admiration for Kevorkian's goals."
(Kevorkian Charged in Assisted Suicide, Edward Walsh, WP, 8/18/93)

"In an unusual criminal prosecution, a California district attorney is
arguing that a woman who died after an alleged rape was murdered
because she lost her will to live. The 79-year-old woman died last
year, about a month after the alleged assault, of congestive heart
failure and renal failure. A 19-year-old man...was subsequently
indicted in February on first-degree murder and sexual assault
charges." (Murder Charge in a Case of Rape Stretches Limit of Legal
Theory, Junda Woo, Wall Street Journal, 8/23/93)

Having ordered the Christian Science Church to pay $5.2 million in
damages in the death of Ian Lundman, an 11-year-old diabetic boy, who
did not receive medical treatment, a Minneapolis jury adds another $9
million in punitive damages in a suit brought by Ian's father Douglas
against his former wife Kathleen, her husband William McKnown, the
church and church officials. According to one juror, the issue was not
religious freedom but whether the boy had any choice in determining
medical care that could have saved his life. (Church Damages
Increased, Washington Post, 8/26/93)

Larry Melton and Charles Squires have disabilities and have been
unable to find work. Until recently they lived at the Federal City
Shelter in Northwest Washington. The shelter, which is run by the
Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV), moved to evict the pair
after they criticized shelter policies on WPFW-FM. The evictions have
been upheld by a federal judge and CCNV director Carol Fennelly says,
"Now they'll both be out on the street." ABLEnews Editor's Note: I
don't know how "non-violent" that is, Carol, but it sure is
"creative!" (Judge Says CCNV Can Expel 2 Men Who Criticized Shelter,
Michael York, WP, 9/2/93)

A Montgomery County, MD judge freezes the assets of Rockville
accountant Thomas Karam and his wife in connection with a $15-million
civil lawsuit by Fairfax Anesthesiology Associates Inc. who charge
that Karam moved some $13 million of its money, repaying all but $2.5
million--a charge Karam's attorney Richard Hibey says his client
"adamantly" denies. (Doctors Sue Accountant in Case of Missing Funds,
William Powers, Washington Post, 9/3/93)

Donnell Robinson, the Prince William toddler whose violent death last
May sparked reviews of Virginia child abuse laws, was shaken so hard
that blood vessels in his eyes burst, as his brain was whiplashed back
and forth with five times the gravitational force that would cause a
jet pilot to blackout. Craig Futterman, a pediatrician who treated
Donnell in Fairfax Hospital's emergency room, testified the 2-year-
old's injuries could only have been caused by "shaken baby syndrome."
Fatai Olatoni "Tony" Okedji, the 28-year-old boyfriend of Donnell's
mother, Bevene "Clare" Adams, has been charged with second-degree
homicide. The toddler's babysitter charges Prince Williams officials
were not aggressive enough in handling her abuse complaint against the
pair filed three weeks before Donnell's death. Okedji faces a maximum
of one year imprisonment and a $2,500 fine in an earlier assault on
Donnell, described by defense attorney's as "a disciplinary beating,".
('Shaken Baby Syndrome' Cited in Death, Spencer Hsu, WP, 9/3/93)

"We're certainly concerned for anyone who believes they've been harmed
by our product. However, there's a growing base of scientific
evidence...consistently showing that there is no link between silicone
breast implants and disease. We believe women who have had breast
implants should be reassured by this." --Kara Kuchinic-Wittenberg,
spokeswoman for Dow Chemical Company, on suit by 22 women claiming
multiple health problems, including breast tenderness, arthritis, skin
disorders, increased risk of cancer, and hair loss. (WV Women File
Suit Over Breast Implants, Martinsburg Journal, 9/9/93)

"Americans want quality health care. To achieve that goal, to assist
the president and Mrs. Clinton in this effort, we must make sure we do
our part...to eliminate excessive costs and delays in setting up an
efficient, effective health care system." --Attorney General Janet
Reno, announcing new guidelines by the Department of Justice to let
health care providers know if they can enter mergers and joint
ventures without violating federal antitrust laws. Mrs. Clinton,
visiting the Justice Department, applauds the DOJ action. Dr. James
Todd, AMA executive vice president, finds it "a good first step," but
calls for further relaxation a federal antitrust laws. (Health Care
Industry Gets Government Antitrust Help, Jerry Seper, WT, 9/16/93)

"Setting a cap like this is a little like a man or woman bringing home
a paycheck but not knowing how many children he or she has to feed."
--Sybil Goldrick, co-director, Command Trust Network, on global
settlement proposed by silicone breast implant manufacturers. CURE
Comment: This is CURE's criticism of global budgeting and spending
caps under so-called health care reform. ($4.75 Billion Proposed for
Breast Implant Cases, Sandra Boodman, Washington Post Health, 9/21/93)

"The stocky, middle-aged man had been referred to me for psychiatric
treatment as part of a court-ordered rehabilitation program designed
to curb his domestic violence...'Take my daughter,' he said with
pride. 'She knows right from wrong now. When I call her she's already
petrified when she gets to my chair. She's in tears before I even
touch her. If I just use a certain tone of voice, she'll start
trembling.' Before he spent 15 minutes in my office, I knew I disliked
him intensely...If I had been introduced to him in...a social setting,
I would have done my bet to avoid him. As a psychiatrist, however, I
couldn't avoid him. Moreover, I knew I would have to forge enough of a
connection with him and delve deeply enough into his life to try to
help him. The empathic imperative is both the heart of effective
psychiatric practice and one of the most emotionally draining aspects
of practicing psychiatry...We are routinely called upon to summon a
regard even for those who have no regard for us, themselves, or
others." --Keith Ablow, MD, medical director, Tri-County Mental Health
Centers, Lynn, MA. (Personality Conflicts, Ablow, WP Health, 9/21/93)

"John and Mary James," a suburban Maryland couple were about to drop
their suit against a fertility specialist for using his own sperm to
father their two young children, after a federal judge ruled they
could not use pseudonyms when the case went to trial. But an appeals
court is asking the judge to reconsider. "They want to sue Cecil
Jacobsen. They feel they've been wronged. But more than anything else,
they want to protect their children, and if the court had not granted
then anonymity, they would not have gone forward with this case." --
William Snead III, the couple's attorney. (Judge to Reconsider Plea
for Anonymity, Bill Miller, Washington Post, 10/6/93)

"As the US courts prepare to deal with challenges to bans on
physician-assisted suicide, Canada's high court has set a precedent by
upholding such bans. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops...
said they particularly appreciated the (Supreme Court's) 'strong
statements on the protection and sanctity of human life and concern
for the most vulnerable. To accept killing as a private matter of
individual choice is to diminish respect for all human life, to dull
our consciences, and to dehumanize society,' the bishops said." (Right
to Suicide Nixed by court, Our Sunday Visitor, 10/17/93)

"We don't have much time. I don't think that Jack has long to live.
He's not doing well. He's very haggard, very cold. To me, he is very
weak. He didn't have a lot to start out with."  Geoffrey Fieger, Dr.
Jack Kevorkian's lawyer on his infamous client's juice-and-water-only
"hunger" strike. CURE Comment: We would agree that a doctor who kills
his patients is "very cold;" a counselor who encourages those
depressed by ailments and abandonment to embrace self destruction as
the solution is "very weak;" and an advocate of draining the blood
from comrades on the battle field "didn't have a lot to start out
with;" but what is truly reprehensible is puppet master Fieger
describing his marionette's pseudo-martyrdom as "exercising his final
autonomy to live or die as a slave." (Kevorkian's Release Demanded,
Martinsburg Journal, 11/7/93)

"I think they've reduced the issue of suicide and assisted suicide to
a hysterical bunch of rhetoric that has no meaning. If I can get him
out of jail I think my $2,000 is well spent."  John DeMoss, the
attorney who posted cash for Dr, Jack Kevorkian's $20,000 bond. On the
day he was released, Kevorkian who claimed he was disappointed to
leave jail said he expects to return as a result of his role in the
death of an Ann Arbor, MI woman in his Royal Oak apartment. (Kevorkian
Freed After Non-Supporter Posts Bond, Martinsburg Journal, 11/9/93)

                            Heart Stoppers

"Ultimately, Marcia Rimland saw death as the only protection for
herself and her 4-year-old daughter. 'Please forgive me,' said her
suicide note to her two grown children. 'I have no choice.' She was
certain--dead certain--that her estranged husband had been sexually
abusing their daughter Abigail. But Abigail's father, and a judge,
said that the abuse never occurred, that the child was coached, that
Rimland was overly protective--or vengeful. When [Family Court Judge
William Warren] ruled that Abigail's father, Arie Adler, could
continue to visit Abigail, Rimland brought a final, horrific end to
the dispute." (Fear of Sex Abuse Leads to Child's Murder, Mom's
Suicide, Martinsburg Journal, 7/12/93)

"Ken Yuasa admits he used healthy Chinese for practice surgery during
World War II, removed parts of their brains, and even shot prisoners
in order to demonstrate how to remove bullets. As a Japanese army
doctor, Yuasa said, he tested the effectiveness of anesthetics on two
healthy farmers and practiced a tracheotomy. His colleagues cut their
arms, legs, and intestines into pieces, and then stitched them back
together again. After the surgery practice, the doctors killed their
'patients,' strangling one with a belt when he survived the injection
of an anesthetic into a vein...Hundreds of other doctors and nurses
conducted similar experiments in Shanxi Province alone, he said. 'Most
never have recognized their crime because it was 'justice.'"...Yuasa
said...the Japanese conducted mass medical experiments on thousands of
captive, otherwise healthy subjects. Most notorious is Unit 731,
which...killed at least 3,000 Chinese, Russians, Koreans, and
Mongolians in top-secret experiments that involved injections of
various germs, such as anthrax, typhus, and dysentery; human
vivisection; and shrapnel-induced gangrene. Many of those who survived
the experiments were executed later so they would not talk." (Doctor
of Death, Mari Yamaguchi, Washington Times, 9/18/93)

A special section of the Summer 1993 Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare
Ethics is devoted to neonatal euthanasia. "Quite possibly as a natural
outgrowth of the euthanasia movement there," the editors observe,
"concerns about incompetent patients qualifying for the 'kindness' of
euthanasia have led to reports of active involuntary euthanasia, not
only of adults but of handicapped newborns." (Infanticide Rampant in
the Netherlands, NRL News, 9/30/93)

Among the 34 states with the death penalty, only Maryland uses the gas
chamber exclusively. Virginia uses an electric chair, while the
District of Columbia has no death penalty. Maryland's gubernatorial
commission says a lethal injection option will bring Maryland in line
with other states, and Gov. William Donald Shaefer's spokesman Page
Boinest says he supports lethal injections as more "cost-efficient."
Gary Bair, the commission's chairman, agrees it is "less expensive."
But Diann Rust-Tierney, director of the Capital Punishment Project of
the American Civil Liberties Union, says execution by injection
"raises some thorny ethical questions for members of the medical
profession, since it involves medical technology." CURE Comment:
Traditionally the AMA has found physician participation as executioner
unethical. CURE opposes capital punishment by lethal injection because
it blurs the role of doctor and executioner. (Maryland Panel Urges
Lethal Injection, Richard Tapscott, Washington Post, 10/6/93)

                             It's the Law

"Each small step can make a difference. To all Americans I say 'Don't
be fearful, don't be afraid of what it takes to comply with the ADA.
Be reasonable, be thoughtful, and be caring, and you can comply." --
Janet Reno, Attorney General. "Meanwhile, Health and Human Services
Secretary Donna Shalala announced that Bob Williams, an advocate for
the disabled who was born with cerebral palsy, was chosen to lead the
federal Administration on Developmental Disabilities...Williams, 36,
comes to HHS from the United Cerebral Palsy Associations Inc." (Reno
Checks Out Businesses, Morning Herald, 7/27/93)

                             Mal-Practice

Conventional wisdom among physicians notwithstanding, poor patients
are not more likely to sue doctors for poor practice. According to
Harvard researchers, the poor and near-poor are only about 10% as apt
to sue for malpractice, even when they are victims of serious,
ngeligent injuries, since they have less access to legal
representation. Older patients are also less likely to file
malpractice suits. CURE Comment: By eliminating or restricting
contingency fees, malpractice tort reformers would compound the
discrimination poor victims of medical negligence face by virually
eliminating their slight access to competent legal counsel. (Poor Are
Less Likely to Sue Their Doctors, Sandra Boodman, WP Health, 10/26/93)

                            Under the Dome

"Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL) has withdrawn as a sponsor of a key
abortion rights bill, further complicating the measures prospects in
Congress and setting off race and class alarms within the abortion
rights movement...The bill, known as the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA),
would ban most state restrictions on abortions...The National
Organization for Women (NOW), which asked Moseley-Braun to drop her
name from the measure, does not support the bill because it  believes
the legislation does not protect teenagers and the poor...A House
staff member who works on abortion issues put it more bluntly: 'We
have a real danger of making FOCA the white women's Freedom of Choice
Act or the rich women's Freedom of Choice Act.'" (Senator Drops
Support for Abortion Rights Bill, Kevin Merida, WP, 7/10/93)

"Mayor [Sharon Pratt] Kelly is taking a lot of heat for proposing
changes in local law, including modification of the provision
entitling the mentally ill to treatment 'in the least restrictive
environment.' That particular legal right, which a federal judge
interpreted as being implied in a congressional statute 17 years ago,
would be altered to give the city discretion in determining when and
to whom which mental services should be provided." CURE Comment: The
same city officials already found derelict in their care for mentally
ill citizens by the courts? Meanwhile, mental health advocates charge
"the proposed changes will take the city back to that unhappy era when
mentally ill patients were warehoused in hospitals or cut adrift in
the streets with nothing in between." (Caring for the City's Mentally
Ill, editorial, Washington Post, 7/12/93)

"Public interest has focussed on the uses of DNA testing in bringing
criminals to justice...It is an equally valuable tool in establishing
innocence. There is still scientific controversy about the technology,
especially the probabilities of one person's DNA being identical to
another's. Testimony has ranged from 1 in 500 to 1 in 739 billion.
There is also concern that some testers may not be sufficiently
trained and some labs not consistently accurate...Sen. Paul Simon [D-
IL} and Rep. Don Edwards [D-CA]...have offered identical bills to
create an advisory board to recommend standards for testing methods
and for labs and analysts...Sen. Simon is working toward its inclusion
in Pres. Clinton's expected crime package. But omnibus bills,
especially those that contain highly controversial measures such as
habeas corpus reform, the death penalty, and gun control, tend to get
bogged down. The DNA proposal is too important to be lost in the
shuffle. It should be part of any package that is passed, or it should
be considered on its own and approved." (Standards for DNA Testing,
editorial, Washington Post, 9/3/93)

"Maryland is not now a suicide haven, and I want to work with
interested members of the legislature and others to keep it that way."
--Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., urging the General
Assembly to follow the majority of states in enacting laws outlawing
assisted suicide. (MD Law Sought on Assisted Suicide, WP, 9/9/93)

According to testimony before the House Subcommittee on Regulation,
Business Opportunities, and Technology, pressing problems facing the
tissue transplant industry include: poor tracking of transplant
recipients, inadequate testing of donors, improper removal of tissue
from donors (i.e., without family approval), use of transplants
without recipient knowledge, and import of tissue from unknown foreign
sources. (Congress Looks at Tissue Transplants, Sally Squires,
Washington Post Health, 10/19/93)

"Whatever Charles Foster can't give his son, Douglas...he can always
give him the look. I first saw it two weeks ago, as Foster, 37,
watched Douglas bouncing on his mother's lap. The child, 5, couldn't
stop laughing....Many loving parents stare at their kids that way.
Foster's look only seemed striking because he and his wife, Marcy, are
white and their adopted son is black-or as Dougie himself describes it
'brown.'...Always controversial, transracial adoptions are getting a
closer look, thanks to the Senate's consideration of a bill that says
race can't be the sole consideration of in children's foster care and
adoption placement....Critics, such as the National Association of
Black Social Workers, say such adoptions wouldn't be necessary if
agencies tried harder to find black adoptive parents. They fear that
black children raised in a white milieu may not appreciate their
heritage, culture, and themselves as African Americans." (A Rainbow
for Dougie, Donna Britt, op-ed, Washington Post, 11/2/93)

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