The Michigan Daily-Sunday, April 16, 1978-Page 13 CITES PA VUL ON USE, CARELESS S UR GER Y: Widow to sue By JOSHUA PECK with Wire Reports . The widow of a victim caught in the wave of breathi failures at Ann Arbor Veterans Hospital in 1975 is filing a $1.9 million negligence suit against the federalovernment. Q( a Lee Blame, in a suit to be filed tomorrow by local attorney. George Sallade, alleges that V.A. hospital em- ployees "did perform surgery, admin- siter treatment, or more aptly Regents to consd er student rep. plan By MARK PARRENT A proposal which would provide for student representation on the Univer- sity Board of Regents is expected to be considered by the Board at their meeting this Thursday. The proposal, submitted by Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) Student Representative to the RegentsComm it- tee members James Say and Timothy O'Neill, would create a liaison between the Regents and the students of the University. THE PROPOSED representative would not have a vote on the body, but would be able to participate in the Regents' deliberations and would have the same access to material that Regents currently have. The eight Regents are elected, state- wide to eight-year seats each, in which they oversee the administration of the University. They meet for several days each month. Major campus ad ministrative and policy decisions are subject to their approval. The MSA plan calls for the at-large election of a representative by the students, but committee members say they are prepared to offer alternative methods of selection, should the Regen- ts reject their initial one. SAY AND O'NEILL said students do not now have adequate access to the Regents, and that a pepresentative would act as a student adyocate on the body. Many of the student interest grups could funnel their concerns through a student representative, they added. Similar proposals have been brought before the Regents in the past, but each time the Regents have dismissed the idea. Regend Deane Baker (R-Ann Arbor) said he does not support the proposal for several reasons, among them that students are only one "interest" group concerned with the University. "IF ONE interest group were given a special position, then others would ask for it," said Baker. Among the other in- terest groups, he said, are the faculty and University employees. While Baker suggested students could offer their own candidate for a regular elected Regent post, Say said that it would be impractical for a student to try for such a post because during the eight-year term, the student would probably cease being a student. "One of the major differences bet- ween the other groups and students is that the student representative would act as the voice of the consumer," Say said. "The other groups are closer to the employees of the company rather than the consumers of the product and that's the critical difference." Say and O'Neill have done extensive research on student representative plans at other state universities across the country. Say, a second-year law student, said similar plans in other states have worked well over the past several years. "It's obviously well done and well prepared," Regent David Laro (R- Flint) said of the MSA committee's research. But Laro added, "My best guess is that it's going to find difficult times in terms of passage." Malaria has claimed the lives of more people in the world than any other disease, according to the National Geographic Society. mistreatment and grossly ne care to the decedent Bennie eventually contributing to or ac the sole proximate cause or ca his death." SPECIFICALLY, the suit three basic types of neglige medical mistreatment on the pa hospital; causing three se breathing failures, performing and diagnosis negligently and d substandard care to Blaine. Gentacicin, an antibiotic Pavulon, the muscle relaxant ted of having caused the br failures nurses Filipino Narc Leonora Perez were tried fo administered to Blaine severa during his hospital stay. Althou drugs are normally safe when Veterans rgligent moderation, they have been knownt Blaine, cause respiratory failure. cting as According to the court brief, the V auses of staff "owed to (Blaine) the duty( having known the dangers of (Ge alleges tamicin) and its having a toxic effect. ence or Despite Blaine's repeated breathin rt of the failures, "no one at the hospital wa eparate alert enough to connect the dangers( surgery the extensive use of these drugs unt delivery his death was imminent," the brief co tinues. c, and THOUGH BLAINE'S breathin suspec- failures were not directly responsib eathing for his death, they were an importa iso and factor, according to Sallade. r, were The brief charges also that because al times negligence in diagnosis and surgery o igh both , Blaine, additional and debilitatir Hospital to A first operation on July 21, 1975 sup- posedly ruled out the possibility of 'A Blaine having cancer, but this of diagnosis was unsubstantiated. After n- Blaine's death on August 28, a record was filed which indicated that Blaine's ng colon had indeed been cancerous. as BLAINE AGAIN underwent surgery of on July 22, to correct an error made the til day before, according to the brief. n- FIVE DAYS LATER, another operation was performed, involving 'g four different procedures. Two of these for $1.9 million. procedures were necessitated by inadequate work done during the second operation. Blaine underwent a final operation on August 26. This was "totally necessitated by the negligent and careless manner in which the previous three had been carried out," according to the brief. Blaine died on August 28. According to an affidavit signed by Blaine's widow and sister, he was not kept clean. His bedclothes were fouled, as hospital staff rarely emptied and changed the bag used to collect his fecal matter. "On more than one occasion," reads the affidavit, a relative asked that the bag be changed, but the request was continually ignored." On one occasion, hospital staff ignored the cries of alarm by Blaine's wife and sister about the presence of splintered pieces of glass in his bed, ac- cording to the affidavit. "Were it not for the persistence of the patient's wife and sister, the glass might have stayed in his bed until he died." ,a used in sdrgery was necessitated. C ASH Bimbo's Downtown Offers You A New Special Every Day Of The Week-ALL YOU CAN EAT! Adults Chidren 1 t SUNDAY - Italian Buffet .., MONDAY - Spaghetti *.?... with Meatballs $1.25 extra TUESDAY - Barbecue Chicken or Beef Ribs ........... WEDNESDAY - Seafood Buffet ... THURSDAY-Smorgasbord ....., 3.7 2.25 2.50 1.65 Your Discontinued Textbooks are worth real money! 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