Panel recommends compensation system for those harmed by medical research

The United States should create a system to compensate people who are harmed by participating in scientific research, a panel of federal advisers recommended Tuesday.

Many other countries require sponsors of studies and researchers to carry insurance for research-related injuries or have other ways to compensate volunteers who are harmed, making the United States an “outlier,” the subcommittee of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues concluded.

“The panel felt strongly that it was wrong and a mistake that the United States was an outlier in not specifying any system for compensation for research subjects other than, ‘You get a lawyer and sue,’” said Amy Gutmann of the University of Pennsylvania, who chairs the commission and served on the subcommittee.

The recommendation came on the second day of a two-day public hearing to air the results of a commission probe into medical experiments that the U.S. government researchers conducted in Guatemala in the 1940s.

The recently uncovered studies involved more than 5,500 men, women and children who were unwittingly drafted into tests involving the venereal diseases syphilis, gonorrhea and chancroid. The tests included deliberately — sometimes grotesquely — attempting to infect subjects without their permission or knowledge.

On Monday, the commission revealed that the researchers had obtained consent first before conducting earlier, similar experiments on inmates in Terre Haute, Ind., and hid what they were doing in Guatemala. This, the commission found, clearly showed that the doctors knew their conduct was unethical.

In the government-sponsored studies conducted in Guatemala between 1946 and 1948, doctors tried to infect prisoners, soldiers and mental patients by giving them prostitutes who were carrying the diseases or were infected by the researchers. The researchers also scraped sensitive parts of subjects’ anatomy to expose wounds to disease-causing bacteria, poured infectious pus into subjects’ eyes, and injected some victims’ spines.

On Tuesday, the 13-member commission discussed the 48-page report outlining the findings of a 14-member international subcommittee investigating whether current rules adequately protect people in medical studies from physical harm or unethical treatment internationally.

The experts in bioethics and biomedical research from India, Uganda, China, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium Guatemala, Egypt and the United States met in London, Washington and Philadelphia and made five broad recommendations.

“The United States should implement a system to compensate research subjects for research related injuries,” said Christine Grady of the National Institutes of Health, who helped present the findings of the subcommittee. “Many countries around the world and some U.S. research institutions have actually moved forward and developed compensation systems.”

One “promising model” for a compensation system could be the U.S. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a no-fault alternative to traditional lawsuits that compensates people injured by vaccines, the panel said.

India and Brazil have bioethics committees that “ensure that research sponsors pay compensation to participants injured in research,” the panel wrote. The University of Washington uses a “self-insured no-fault” system.

President Obama ordered the probe when the experiments were made public in October along with an unusual public apology by his secretaries of state and health and human services.

After filing a report in September, the commission will meet again in November to come up with ways to bolster protections for research subjects internationally and in the United States. It will issue a final report in December. The Guatemalan government is conducting its own investigation, but has twice postponed briefing the commission.

Wellesley College historian Susan M. Reverby uncovered the disturbing experiments while reading papers from John C. Cutler, a doctor with the federal government’s Public Health Service. Cutler participated in the Tuskegee experiment, in which hundreds of African American men with syphilis in Alabama were left untreated to study the disease between 1932 and 1972. Cutler died in 2003.

In the Guatemala case, about 700 of the subjects were treated, but it remains unclear whether their care was adequate. About 83 of the subjects died, but investigators have been unable to determine whether any deaths were caused by the studies.

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source: Washington Post (Stein, 8/30)

City Sanitation Truck Collides with 18-Wheeler

A City of Brownwood sanitation truck collided with an 18-wheeler on FM 45 and Albert Sidney Johnson Drive just after 11:00am Monday morning. Both drivers were able to walk away from the accident.

The 18-wheeler was traveling east on FM 45 as the trash truck was following behind. According to Larry Roberts, City of Brownwood Sanitation Department driver, he was following behind the semi when it unexpectedly made a U-turn. With a fully loaded truck, Roberts stated that he was unable to stop and was still travelling around 40-45 mph when he collided with the semi striking it at the front of its trailer.

“I just thought to myself, this is going to hurt, this is really going to hurt,” said Roberts.

When asked if he believed in guardian angels, Roberts quickly stated, “Yes, and I have several of them looking out for me today.”

Roberts said that he has been driving trucks for over 27 years and this was his first accident. He has worked for the City of Brownwood almost 5 years.

City of Brownwood Solid Waste Manager Tim Airheart stated that after the impact, Roberts was unable to open the door to exit the truck but a passerby was able to open the door from the exterior which allowed Roberts to crawl over the dashboard to get out.

Making U-turns in the roadway, according to Airheart, is a safety concern. Today’s accident is an example of why this maneuver should not be made.

“These trucks do U-turns when they miss the turn to Kohler and it’s a problem,” said Airheart. Both Roberts and Airheart explained that drivers should never make U-turns in the roadway, they should continue until they can turn around properly, making the block or pulling in somewhere to make a safe turn.

The semi-truck, which was empty at the time of the accident, is a leased vehicle with First Place Tansportation, Inc. out of Texarkana, Arkansas.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers along with Brown County Sheriff’s deputies worked the wreck and were investigating the accident.

 

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source: www.brownwoodnews.com (Tipton, 8/29)

More "road gators" during record-setting heat

CENTRAL TEXAS - Drive up and down I-35 and you're bound to see shredded bits and pieces of tires littering the roadway. The dangerous debris comes mostly from 18-wheelers, and the record-setting heat this summer is putting the rubber on the road.

Joe Varner narrowly escaped what could have been a serious accident driving southbound on I-35 when the car ahead of him swerved to dodge rubber debris.

"All of a sudden, the car goes crazy," said Varner. "I'm thinking we're fixing to dodge a wreck. I don't know what's going on. Sure enough, I'm running over a tire."

J.B. Hunt driver Olen Tussey, knows all too well what it's like to be behind the wheel of a truck during a tire blowout. He had one three weeks ago.

"You hear this big giant pop," Tussey said. "It actually blew out my airbag for my air suspension."

The tire on Tussey's trailer was a recapped, or a retreaded tire. Retreads are essentially used tires with new treads glued on. While Tussey and others said they trust retreads as they do regular tires, damaged or poorly maintained retreads are especially dangerous in 100degree heat.

With the asphalt reaching temperatures near 120-degrees, glue between the tire and the tread can heat up and liquify. If the tire pressure is too low or too high, the tread may actually start to break apart. In fact, entire treads can come lose, and TxDOT says that's not uncommon during the summer months.

"The road is staying much hotter for longer and that's had an impact on the tires," said Waco TxDOT spokesperson, Ken Roberts. "As a result, we get a lot more shredded tires or 'gators' on the roadways."

Roberts said TEXDOT routinely sends crews to pick up road debris, but it's hard to keep everything clear on I-35 with the amount of big rig traffic.

"We got an awful lot of trucks, which means there's an awful lot of tires," Roberts added.

A good way to avoid tire blowouts and retread accidents in the first place is to check tire pressure often. Tussey and others recommend tires on 18-wheelers to be inflated to about 100 psi.

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source: www.kxxv.com (Brennan, 8/24)

18-Wheeler Jackknifes On Hwy 46 at Stone Gate Monday Morning

(New Braunfels, TX) -- A jack-knifed 18-wheeler shut down a lane of traffic on Hwy 46 yesterday morning, leading to concerns about a possibly major fuel spill. At just past 9am, a truck contracted to Texas Rock Haulers approached the intersection of Hwy 46 at Stone Gate Drive when the driver found he simply didn’t have enough room to stop and had to make a choice between rear-ending a series of about 6 passenger cars, or steer into a drainage ditch on the side of the road.

KGNB was on the scene and spoke to the driver, who said his choice was clear, and he opted for the ditch.

Firefighters from Station 6 on Stone Gate Drive were less than 100 yards from the accident and were on scene in moments. New Braunfels Police shut down a lane of traffic in that area while a tow truck was called in to get the truck out of the drainage culvert, where it was resting on one of its fuel tanks, which had about 80-gallons of fuel still inside. But the tow truck successfully relieved the pressure on that tank, and the truck was moved out of the ditch with very little spilled fuel.

No one was injured in the wreck, although the driver was visibly shaken following the crash. The scene was finally cleared just before 11am.
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source: www.kgnb.am (8/16)

Rockwall Police Cruiser Video Footage of 18-Wheeler Jackknife

Description according to Rockwall Police:

“One of our police officers (and bystanders) almost got killed by a jack-knifing 18-wheeler. There is a lady sitting in the car and has already been involved in one accident then she gets hit by the 18-wheeler, which also completely destroys our patrol vehicle in the process.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured in this incident.....miracle.....The action comes near the end of the video so keep watching. Obviously, not all dangers to police officers come from people with guns and knives.”

Truck Explosion, Fire Consumes 18-Wheeler On I-20

ABILENE, Texas -- An explosion under the hood of an 18-wheeler caused an accident and fire that consumed the vehicle on Interstate 20 east of Abilene Friday morning.

The incident occurred as the truck was traveling eastbound about eight miles east of Abilene.

The truck jack-knifed as it pulled to the side of the freeway and burned, closing one lane of traffic eastbound between FM 603 and Clyde.

The driver of the vehicle escaped without injury, and no other vehicles were involved. The incident occurred about 6:40 a.m. Friday.

The driver of the truck told KTXS that the truck's starter came loose, hit a battery and caused an explosion and fire that consumed the vehicle.

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source: www.ktxs.com (7/29)