Sunday, March 28, 1976 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five' FEATUR Life andeatcommitteedeterminespatient statu ES S (Continued from page 3 But there is a limit to how much a doctor can do for a pa- tient. Sometimes, doctors decide to withhold treatment when the chances are slim that it will do any good and may actually be dangerous. "You can't really put your finger on a moment when a de- cision is made to let a patient die," Saper says. "The doctor and the family decide what should be done to help the pa-. tient. All the doctor can do is, for example, say, 'Look, there's an 80 per cent risk that the sur- gery won't be successful.' Or with a patient with a tumor you could say, 'There's not much, chance that the surgery will' prevent the tumor from coming back, but maybe without an op- eration he'll live for six months.' "J HAVE TO consider my res- ponsibility to the patient," he says. "Am I killing him by using a treatment with a small chance of doing any good and a good chance of doing harm? "There can be no regular pol- icy for deciding that," Saper adds. "The procedure is no dif- ferent than that for minor prob- lems. If you have a wart on your leg and it's benign, maybe we'll decide that since there's no risk we'll leave it alone in- stead of going through the pro- cess of removing it, which may prove a risk." There are some comatose pa- tients-like the famous Karen Quinlan-who hover near death but show flickers of life, such as mild EEG activity. They generally die after a relatively short time, according to brain death committee mem- ber Dr. Kenneth Kooi. Kooi, an EEG expert, says that only a small number of comatose pa- tients are treated at 'U' los- life, but with virtually no hope pital. "Many of those," he re- of recovery. A respirator has marks, "die in a matter of months. Some are maintained in the hospital, and some reach a point where they can be taken care of in nursing homes. SUT," HE GOES ON, "there is a small number who' just hover-who remain in a vegetative, comatose state." Quinlan, the young New Jer- sey woman who took a near fa- tal mixture of alcohol and bar- biturates, is just such a case. For months, she has been in a coma, exhibiting faint signs of DN studis sir kept her alive. Last fall, Qumlan's parents filed suit in a state court ask- ing that Karen be allowed to die. The court ruled against the parents. But the case is now on' appeal. Should a New Jersey; court rule in favor of euthana- sia for patients such as Quinlan,; a precedent will be set opening the way for the practice across the country. "The concern that I have in these cases is that families can be left destitute," Kooi says. "All of their resources can be lost in the medical expenses of these patients. There does seemI to me to be a need to have gov- ernment support, some recogm- tion that this is a natural dis- aster." RECORD PRODUCTION RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The record production of 1975 will burden producers of major food crops during 1976, according to extension economists at the North Carolina State University.: They say supplies of most! crops increased in 1975, causing, a drop in prices and farmer pro- fits. Smnlies are expected to re- main high during 1976, result- iHg in a continuing price-cost seee. When Buck Thornburg won wit' Marybelle York at Garden State racetrack on Dec. 2, it marked his 2,000th winner. Ted Simmons of the St. Louis Cardinals had 16 game-winning runs batted in last season. iAPER NOTES that if a pa- Burke sometimes participates tient runs out of money, that with the physicians and the! is never seen as a reason for -family in making decisions on.I letting him or her die. how to treat dying patients.1 "I'm involved in getting the is-l "The hospital," he says, "nev- sue talked about," he says. "WeI er stops care for a patientdbe- talk about the different ways cause they can't pay. The doc- you might go about handling theI tors never know whether they situation. pay their bills. I couldn't care E 4 less about the payment when "(hCCASIONALLY, d 0 ot o r s I'm at the patient bedside." just want to sit down and' etalkabout a difficult problem. A trend is now growing to- And the decisions can be agoniz-. ward more honest confronta- ing. They're not talking about tions in hospitals with the prob- abstract cases-they're talking lem of death, according to Dan about what's happening down- Burke, director of the Univer- stairs on the ward. sity's Program in Health and "Sometimes, the family is so Human Values. Burke, an Epis- distraught that to ask them to! copal minister, teaches medical participate in making a decision and nursing students. is inhumane. Therefore, we "I'm concerned with getting have to take it upon ourselves. an input of moral philosophy in- "In making decisions," he to medicine," Burke says. "We'- continues, "we are all haunted ve come to a kind of a cultural by the classic case of the per- crisis point about the meaning - of life and death. We've dealt with it by means of avoidance. Dr. Paul C. Ulan People tend to say, 'Leave the'OPTOMETRIST children out of it, far heaven's OPTOE TIs sake.' So people are able to Fusl Contact Lens Service die, survive, or grieve welL" Optical Lab ------545 CHURCH, 769-1222 son who shouldn't have gotten well-who was apparently dead -but who later walked out of the hospital. These miracles do happen-that is, miracles in the sense that antibiotics are mir- acle drugs." These "miracles" take place occasionally. More often the comatose patients die, as Marla did after a few weeks of treat- ment. But some patients live on with little chance of recovery, unconscious or in severe pain, and doctors are not legally per- mitted to hasten their deaths. But the Quinlan appeal could change all that. EXPERIMENTAL AND COOPERATIVE COMMUNITY WORKSHOP Two-hour workshop for any- one interested in discussing the. possibility of forming a small experimental, inten- tional, or cooperative com- munity. includinci both single people and families, open to students, faculty, and staff aas well as people outside the university community. F o r more information and time and p 1 a c e of workshops, Slease call persistently 995- 2898. (Continued from page 3 conceivable that this could be a! cherichia coli (E. coli), the technique like we've never seen most extensively studied species before." of bacteria. The altered genes "We're dealing with the pos- of the DNA ring will eventually sibility of an irreversible acci- replicate and change the genetic dent," Schwartz cautions. We've zharacteristics of the E. coli go to know. more about what the just as if they had been there hell we're doing." all along. Jackson acknowledges that! The controversy over recom- estimates of risks must be binant DNA research began based, at least for the present, when it was still a fledglng on the results of specific experi- science, in 1971, as scientists ments held under specific cir- realized dangerous organisms cumstances. But he urges oth- could be devoloped if safety ers to try to base their deci- measures were inadequate. One sion on the information scien-' hazard, they decided, was that titsts have gathered: "Let the mutant bacteria could escape critics go look at the facts," from the laboratory and infect Jack sa s "Those of us who persons in the surrounding com- acksontsts Thosed opuswh munity. The danger is particu- are scientists are used to prov- larly important because E. coli, pbing (arguments) in a very which is easily airborne, thrives public way. We publish in jour- in the human gut. At an inter- nals that anyone can go out national meeting of 160 scientists and read . .. and decide wheth- in Asilomar, Calif. in early 1975, er or not it is true." the ban on five types of re- The majority of Committee combinant DNA research was B, the University's recombinant set. DNA research policy group, Later, a committee was form- mentions a number of other ed by the National Institutes of possible benefits in its report, Health (NIH) to draw up guide- released last week, which en- lines for safe pursuit of the dorses most forms of the ex- research. Preliminary reports periments. Bacteria could be detailing laboratory standards used as factories for production for various classes of recom- of insulin, growth hormones, the binant DNA studies have been missing factor in the blood of released, but the final version hemophiliacs, or specific anti- is pending. bodies, the report contends. CRITICISM at the University "Other potential applications of sprang up late last year DNA - combining have been when Jackson and others in the suggested: defense against al- Microbiology Dept. asked the lergic disease, the loss of im-1 University Board of Regents for munity, or the rejection of funds to cover the renovation transplanted organs." of laboratories for recombinant But the sole dissenter within DNA research. It surfaced in Committee B, History Prof. a series of noon-hour panel dis- Shaw Livermore, took quite a cussions and prime time public different view of the research. forums (where some scientists Livermore wrote a low-keyed, were loudly hissed) during Feb" concise minority opinion which ruary and early this month, un- was placed in the rear of the precedented for a research is- 54-page committee tome; it op-! sue so technical. poses recombinant DNA experi- Although recombinant DNA ments not for the hazards but research and its hazards have on moral grounds. become an issue at many insti- - tutions, "the degree of contro- * mNM*m" *** versy seems to be unique to' Michigan," according- to Jack- HELP SUPPORT son. "Certainly the amount of openness and public debate isA completely unique." OUR ADOF'TED Jackson, who works in a crowded laboratory on the sixth MALAYAN floor of the Medical Science II Building and is teaching a SUN BEAR. course this term on the prin- ciples and applications of re- combinant DNA methodology, Put our has taken part in the public de- bate more than anyone else, Quarters critic or supporter. His principal strength in the in controversy has been his per- sonal command of the intrica- cies of microbiology, knowledge "W ildlife" that has helped him discredit opponents by poking holes in technical portions of their ar- at the guments. His principal weak- ness is his obvious vested in- terest that the experiments be Crss Moose condoned. Crs Eye Mo s [ACKSON AND HIS colleagues, says Mathematics Prof. Art 613 E. LIBERTY Schwartz, "have a stake in the research going ahead. It is very ************ * *** LECTU RE PROF. EMIL FACKENHEIM outstanding nhilosooher of the Holocaust WILL SPEAK ON "This Moment in Jewish History: A Theological, Philosophiscal, and Mythical Understanding of the State of Israel and It's Positions in the World." At 8 p.m.-Sunday, March 28 at HILLEL 1429 HILL ST. "iT SHOULD not demean rman," Livermore says, "to say that we may now be unable: tomanage successfully a capa- bility for altering life itself. We have benefitted remarkably from a vast increase in human power over the past few cen- turies. Yet 1 am both admon- ished and sustained by the ris- ing voice of those observers who tell us that human coping is being sapped by an increas- ing incapacity to assert a sense of control over the changing terms of contemporary life. "Moral decisions," he contin- ues, "cannot be tested by quantifiable, 'scientific or even logical modes of proof. I have tried to look into the faces of those who might be immediate- ly helped by this research, but also into the faces of those who might be overwhelmed by the capability of having basic forms of life altered." Somewhat harsher in their criticisms are the few that sug- gest recombinant DNA metho- dology will inevitably be ap- plied against humans, rather than for them, perhaps toward the creation of a genetically "permanent servant class." Sinister motives are also often alleged by Science For The Peo- ple, a national organization of radical scientists, based in Bos- ton, which contends the bene- fits of the experiments will ac- crue only to scientists and cor- porations, not the general citiz- enry. Its local chapter has a six-member study group press- ing for greater community in- volvement in the decision-mak- ing of genetic engineering. Benefits. Costs. The measure- ments are exceedingly difficult, and yet a sizeable number of persons at the University have a f:iund something - perhaps faith --- on which to base a pro- or-con position. All along, re- combinant DNA was an unlikely topic for major debate. Mole- cules are rarely salient factors in the average person's daily life, plasmids even less so. It does not even involve large ex- penditures of tax dollars, or delicate foreign policy. It takes strong concentration and delib- erate effort to understand the issue. For a complicated issue in microbiology, many persons have now taken the effort to ef- fect a major change in the pro- cess of research. Summer Roundtrip NEW YORK to LONDON $265 MAUSTRESERVE 65 DAYS IN ADVANCE Call TOLL FREE 9 to 9 4800) 847-7196 NOVA CHARTER CORP.I ITHACA, NEW YORK I d TV, " _. Why S:ct e te 112kY? THE DAILY IS A GREAT PLACE TO: * meet other good people " drink 5c Cokes * learn the operations of a newspaper " write stories * see your name in print earn a little money Come on down to 420 Maynard anytime and join the business, news, sports or photography staffs! Daily!~ r- COMING-TUESDAY, MAR. 30 (1975) THE GENTLEMAN TRAMP MIDWEST PREMIERE! The Life and Times of Charles Chaplin. Music by Chaplin. An affectionate tribute to Charlie including scenes from 17 of his greatest flms, newsreels, stills, and DONA CHAPLIN'S home movies. The definitive new biography of this great film artist. Narrated by W. Matthau and Sir Laurence Olivier. FIRST TIME N ANN ARBOR! in AU D. A, ANGELL HALL at 7:00, 8:45, and 10:30 ON TUES. NIT. $1.25, kids 75c And science may never the same again. be Have some fun-Join the D p AM ,vy %Z s.? z _ F < > ' a ;, s, ;;Q ", 1 e<. r a" .. ... , (ti.,r t F F! 4 ,° Republicans won't e n f o r c e housing codes-thats why! 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