News in brief - Jan. 6, 2003

AMA wants new immunity legislation - AMA concerned about effect of law on medical education - Minnesota makes organ donor decisions binding - Ore. governor apologizes for eugenics - Dr. Eisenberg posthumously honored by Joint Commission - Australia passes law allowing embryonic stem cell research

AMA wants new immunity legislation

The American Medical Association will formulate and support federal legislation that gives physicians immunity from malpractice lawsuits if they are volunteering their services during state or national emergencies.

Delegates at the AMA's Interim Meeting in December 2002 called for national legislation after realizing that some states do not have laws that make "Good Samaritan" physicians immune from lawsuits. Physicians were concerned that a federal law doesn't exist and that physicians who cross state lines to help in disaster situations could be putting themselves at risk.

AMA concerned about effect of law on medical education

The AMA will continue to evaluate and oppose federal regulations on the pharmaceutical industry that would hurt residents' and fellows' education and research opportunities allowed under the AMA ethical guidelines on gifts from the pharmaceutical industry.

At the AMA's December 2002 Interim Meeting, residents and others said the OIG Compliance Program Guidance for Pharmaceutical Manufacturers could reduce the number of legitimate and beneficial programs that pharmaceutical companies fund if the money was considered illegal under federal anti-kickback laws.

Minnesota makes organ donor decisions binding

A new law went into effect in Minnesota that makes an individual's recorded decision on organ donation legally binding. Family members would not be able to overrule the patient's decision.

"We will maintain the same level of support for donor families," whose consent was required until now, Susan Mau Larson, a spokeswoman for LifeSource, told the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune. LifeSource is the region's nonprofit organ procurement organization. "We would still work with the family, but we would honor the donor's wishes," she said.

Since March, Mau Larson said the organ waiting list for the Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and western Wisconsin region had grown from 2,020 people to 2,345. She added that about 40% of the drivers in this region check off donor designations on their drivers license, but only about 60% of the families agree to the donation.

Ore. governor apologizes for eugenics

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, MD, formally apologized late last year to the more than 2,600 people forcibly sterilized during the state's eugenics program. The program was in place from 1917 to 1983 and had sought to discourage those with "bad genes" from reproducing.

"Oregon has made remarkable progress in treating citizens who suffer mental illness or disabilities, but even as we celebrate the progress we've made, we must also acknowledge the realities that darken the history of our state institutions," Dr. Kitzhaber proclaimed.

"The time has come to apologize for misdeeds that resulted from widespread misconceptions, ignorance and bigotry. ... The time has come to apologize for public policies that labeled people as 'defective' simply because they were ill and declared them unworthy to have children of their own."

"To those who suffered, I say: The people of Oregon are sorry. Our hearts are heavy for the pain you endured."

According to Reuters, Oregon was one of 33 states that legalized eugenic sterilization and is the second to apologize for it. Virginia did so last May. Reportedly more than 60,000 Americans were sterilized under eugenics policies, which were upheld by a 1927 U.S. Supreme Court decision in which Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote : "Three generations of imbeciles are enough."

Dr. Eisenberg posthumously honored by Joint Commission

The late John Eisenberg, MD, was posthumously named the individual winner of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' Ernest A. Codman Award in recognition of how he "brought unprecedented national visibility to the role of researchers in reducing medical errors" while leading the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The Codman Awards, named for the "father of outcomes measurement," honor individuals or groups who use performance measurement to improve the quality and safety of health care.

"Ernest Codman's focus on assessing and improving the 'end results' of health care was a guiding inspiration to Dr. Eisenberg's leadership of AHRQ," said Acting Director Carolyn Clancy, MD, in a news release. "Dr. Eisenberg worked tirelessly to ensure that the research sponsored by AHRQ was translated into improved health care and resulted in measurable positive outcomes for patients."

Before he died in March 2002, Dr. Eisenberg led the federal government's response to the 1999 Institute of Medicine report on medical errors and the AHRQ's grant program to support patient safety research.

Other 2003 Codman Award winners included: Sinnissippi Centers, Dixon, Ill. (behavioral health care category); Children's Hospital San Diego (hospital category); Marwood Nursing and Rehab, Port Huron, Mich., ( long-term care category); and Greater Dayton Area Hospital Assn., Dayton, Ohio, and Iowa Health Systems, Des Moines (co-winners, multiple organization category).

Australia passes law allowing embryonic stem cell research

By a 45-26 vote on Dec. 5, the Australian Senate approved a bill allowing stem cell research to be conducted on some 70,000 embryos created for fertility treatment. The country's House of Representatives had approved the bill in September.

Because states are responsible for health care policy, Reuters reports that Australia's six states will now draft stem cell legislation of their own, based on the federal template.

Australia's embryonic stem cell law is seen as a middle ground between the U.S. policy limiting research to stem cell lines created from embryos that have already been destroyed and the United Kingdom policy that allows embryos to be created for research purposes.