Vital Signs
By Staff Reporter, Mobile Register, Jul. 19, 1998.
DR. MARYELLA SIRMON, an associate professor of
medicine at
the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, addresses
the question of medically assisted death in an editorial in the
July issue of Southern Medical Journal.
Sirmon writes that much debate continues to focus
on such concerns
as aggressive treatment, passive euthanasia (or discontinuance
of treatment) or pulling the plug.'' She cautions that although
specific cases have found their way to the judicial system, this
is a poor forum for resolution of moral issues.
Sirmon urges medical professionals to continue
to advance
the quality of care for and knowledge of the dying patient.
Issues
such as alleviation of pain must remain a vital concern, she
said.
DR. HATTIE MYLES, assistant dean for special
projects and student
affairs at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine,
was awarded a grant of about $104,000 to continue a summer program
that recruits and encourages disadvantaged and underrepresented
premedical students to pursue medical careers.
The Biomedical Enrichment and Recruitment Program
is partially
funded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.
The first students entered the program in 1986.
A student who completes all of the required undergraduate
premedical
curriculum for the College of Medicine receives an acceptable
score on the Medical College Admission Test and completes the two
consecutive summer BEAR programs will be offered conditional
admission into the medical school class at the USA College of Medicine.
DR. DONNA DYESS, associate professor of surgery
at the University
of South Alabama College of Medicine, was awarded a $34,000 grant
from the American Heart Association to study peripheral responses
that occur with congestive heart failure.
Specifically, the research plan will investigate
alterations
in the blood vessel walls of skin and muscle which may limit
edema.
Dyess explained that as the heart begins to fail,
its pumping
action becomes limited. Patients develop generalized edema
in
lung, skin, muscle and other body sites. The symptoms noted
by patients
include shortness of breath, difficulty breathing and swelling
in the feet and ankles.
This article reproduced with special permission
from the Mobile Register.
