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JOEL ZACKS, M.D.

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EXCELLENT CHOICE FOR THE BUSY
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COMPLETE EYE EXAMINATION INCLUDING

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second opinions

cataract and glaucoma evaluations

Low Vision Aids

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Children are constantly growing
We felt we should do the same.

Announcing the newest members of
the Pediatric Associates of Farmington,
Anna M. Tahhan, M.D. and Silvia B.
Operti-Considine, M.D. These two
physicians not only come from noted
medical schools, but they have also
completed their residencies in one of
Michigan's premier hospitals—Children's
Hospital of Michigan.
Finishing in the top third of her class
at Wayne State University School of
Medicine, Dr. Tahhan went on to become
one of the Chief Residents at Children's
Hospital of Michigan. Dr. Operti-
Considine fulfilled her residency at both
St. Joseph Mercy Hospital and Children's
Hospital of Michigan.
Call for an appointment and join us in
welcoming our newest family members.

THE DETRO T J EWIS H N EWS

Wayne State University

32

Children's Hospital
of Michigan

Pediatric Associates
of Farmington
it

23133 Orchard Lake Road Suite 100

Anna di Tabban, did).

and Silvia B. Operii-Conoane,,ILD,

(810) 477-0100

Next time you feed your face, think about your heart.

Go easy on your heart and start cutting back on foods that are high in saturated
fat and cholesterol. The change'll do you good.

U American Heart Association

than 100 primary-care physi-
cians, to the HAP health-care de-
livery system, enabling HAP
members to use Sinai Hospital
and its outpatient medical
centers throughout the metro De-
troit suburbs. Sinai and HAP ex-
ecutives say the network will
benefit all parties involved.
"The Health Alliance Plan-
Sinai network strengthens our
provider system and offers HAP
members more choices in south-
eastern Michigan," said Roman
Kulich, HAP group vice president
and chief operating officer.
Phillip Schaengold, Sinai pres-
ident and chief executive officer,
says the network falls in line with
the hospital's long-term plan of
preparing for health-care reform.
As changes take place, the
health-care market is likely to fa-
vor strong HMOs.
"Welcoming HAP patients into
the Sinai system will fulfill our
vision of developing a unified ap-
proach to delivering services
through a managed-care plan,"
he said. "We were impressed
with Health Alliance Plan's ded-
ication to quality, as recognized
by their NCQA accreditation
(from the National Committee

WE'RE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE

for Quality Insurance)."
Based in Detroit, HAP is a 30-
year-old enterprise affiliated with
the Henry Ford Health System.
It serves 2,500 employer groups.
HAP will work with Sinai on
a "capitation" basis, whereby
HAP gives the hospital and its
affiliated physicians a fixed
amount of money to take care of <
patients.
"It's our obligation to manage
those dollars," said Jerry Bass,
Sinai chief financial officer and
executive vice president of fi-
nance.
Mr. Schaengold and Mr. Bass
said the network was made pos-
sible by the year-old PHO, which
combines hospital facilities and
doctors under one administrative
umbrella, easing the process of
networking with institutions like
HAP.
Dr. David Siegel, HAP med-
ical director and vice president
of health and medical affairs, wel-
comed Sinai into the fold.
"Sinai
physicians
are
renowned in the medical com-
munity as outstanding clinicians,
educators and researchers," he
said. "We're pleased they've
joined HAP." 111

Orthodox Living Will
Reflects New Realities

W

hen the Orthodox Jew-
ish group, Agudath Is-
rael of America,
unveiled its path-break-
ing "Halachic Living Will" four
years ago, public reception to the
idea was overwhelmingly posi-
tive.
The document, developed in
a climate of changing legal and
moral standards regarding med-
ical intervention for the serious-
ly ill, was seen as a critical tool in
protecting the religious rights of
observant Jews in this sensitive
area.
But when it came to actually
filling out the living will — which
assures a person that should he
or she become incapacitated,
medical decisions will be made
according to Halachah (Jewish
law), by a rabbinic expert of their
own designation — people did not
rush forward immediately in the
large numbers that might have
been expected.
"It was a little bit like the 'in-
formation superhighway' idea,"
says one Agudath Israel staffer
who has been involved with the
documents dissemination. "Peo-
ple knew vaguely that this was
something that would become im-
portant, but they weren't ready
yet to see how it would directly
affect them. Besides, who likes to
think about filling out a will?"

Several powerful trends and
factors in society, however, ap-
pear to be changing all that, ac-
cording to David Zwiebel, general
counsel for Agudath Israel, who
put together the team of attor-
neys and halachic authorities
who developed the form back in
1990, and is now watching the
number of requests for it to take
off.
The entire issue of life and con-
flicting attitudes about its termi-
nation has been constantly in the
news of late, he notes, Wide pub-
lic attention was drawn, for in-
stance, to a federal court opinion
issued in Washington state re-
cently, which declared that the
notion of personal autonomy im-
plies a constitutional right to sui-
cide for people who are terminally
ill. Later, in relevant counter-
point, front-page news coverage
was assigned to a story reporting
on a New York State task force's
recommendation against allow-
ing doctors to assist seriously suf-
fering patients who wish_ to
commit suicide.
But sometimes, curiously, it
can be simply a specific news
event that starts people thinking,
Mr. Zwiebel says.
"The widely reported fact that
former President Richard Nixon,
for instance, left instructions that
he did not want doctors to take