News Briefs
News Briefs
Genetic pattern discovery for human chromosome
A group of international researchers says it is close to unlocking the mystery of the human chromosome. The group investigating chromosome 22 plans to submit its work for publication in the journal Nature by the end of this year.
Chromosome 22 contains genetic material involved in the immune response, schizophrenia, heart defects, mental retardation, leukemia, and several other cancers.
Understanding the genetic pattern of the human chromosome will help scientists better understand what can go wrong in the body and how to correct it.
HHS Secretary shouldn’t make medical decisions
The American Society of Transplant Surgeons in Washington, DC, has expressed concern over the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ final ruling regarding the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN).
"The bottom line is that the Secretary continues to insist on having the final word on decisions relating to the allocation of organs to transplant patients," says the group’s president, Ronald W. Busuttil, MD, PhD.
"These are medical decisions," Busuttil explains. "We absolutely believe the Secretary should exercise oversight over the OPTN, but we do not believe the Secretary should be making medical decisions.
"Congress intended in enacting the National Organ Transplant Act for medical decisions to be made by the medical community — not by government appointees — and we are pleased that Congress is in the process of reasserting this important principle as it moves forward with the Act’s reauthorization," he says.
House passes assisted-suicide ban legislation
Senate expected to vote soon
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in late October that would overturn Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act while promoting more aggressive pain relief for people near the end of life.
The Pain Relief Promotion Act would amend the 1970 Controlled Substances Act to make clear that narcotics cannot be used to cause death, no matter what a state law says. The drugs can be prescribed for purposes of controlling pain, even if the medication hastens death by depressing the patient’s respiration.
Similar legislation is expected to be voted on in the Senate before the end of the year. The bill does not repeal Oregon’s law but renders it meaningless by preventing physicians from prescribing the medications.
Proponents argue for better pain control
Lead sponsor of the bill, Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), argued that the bill would promote better pain management while preventing physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia. Opponents of the bill argued, however, that it will have the opposite effect. The bill would deter aggressive treatment of pain by making physicians fear that they could end up in jail for prescribing potent medications, they contended.
Opponents also object to allowing Drug Enforcement Administration agents, who lack medical training, to review how physicians prescribe pain medications.
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