Group pushes for rules on unused embryos
Thousands of unused embryos are posing an ethical and legal dilemma for health care providers in the country, warns the president of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. Mary Hammond, MD, of Cary, NC, says national guidelines are needed for the disposal of embryos.
She refers to a recent controversy in Britain when 3,000 abandoned embryos were destroyed by government order. No federal laws require disposal of U.S. embryos, and Hammond points out that thousands of embryos have been stored since the 1980s.
Hammond’s group is developing guidelines that would ask patients to state in advance what would happen to their embryos at a later date if they lose touch with the fertility clinic or refuse to pay storage fees. t
Supposed whistleblower doctor sues hospital
A doctor is suing M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, contending that his rights were violated when the hospital did not renew his contract and suspended his clinical research privileges. He says the action was punishment for blowing the whistle on unsafe radiation treatment that resulted in the deaths of 15 patients.
Huibert Vriesendorp, MD, is a radiation oncologist who says he informed hospital officials in 1991 that, of 40 charts he reviewed after patients received total body irradiation, 15 suggested the patient died from too much or too little radiation. Along with the hospital, his suit names four physicians, alleging they conspired against him. He is seeking monetary damages only from the physicians.
Hospital officials say they know of no evidence to support the charges but are investigating.
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