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Show T Sunday, October Billions spent on disabled children By JENNIFER DIXON Associated Press Writer - WASHINGTON The federal is government spending billions of dollars on disability benefits for children with no requirement that the money be spent to help them improve and become productive adults, investigators say. The Social Security Administra-- tion spent $4.5 billion last year on payments to 770,000 children with disabilities. More than half had mental impairments, according to the study by the inspector general at the Department of Health and ' ' ' ' . Human Services. The study, obtained by The As- sociated Press, did not address allegations by educators and lawmakers that parents are coaching their children to misbehave in school so they can be declared eligible for a $446 monthly check from Supplemental Security Income. The report, however, illustrates t ;the policy questions that Congress must address if it believes SSI should do more than simply mail children checks to with no strings attached. "If Congress intended that the SSI program provide only cash assistance to children with mental impairments, then the program is successful," said Inspector Gener-- ! al June Gibbs Brown. "However, if Congress intended that the SSI program should help children overcome their disabilities, and grow into adults capable of engaging in substantial gainful activity, changes are needed." said Sen. Herb Kohl, the study underscores the need for "urgent, fundamental reform" of SSI. "It's outrageous that we spend billions of dollars on SSI payments to children without bothering to check how or even if it's helping them," said Kohl, who sought the study. "This should not be a windfall for parents, it should be an aid program for people who need it," added Rep. Rick Santorum, who helped push a handful of SSI R-P- reforms through Congress this year. The number of children on SSI has been growing rapidly since 1990, when the Supreme Court ordered Social Security to make the disability criteria for children less restrictive. In response, the agency began low-inco- " j evaluating children with mental and behavioral impairments based on their ability to function in an ' manner. ' ' Critics say that decision has allowed children with mild disabilities to get on the rolls and has encouraged coaching by parents. iIiiTj:SuiKil 30, 1994 THE DAILY HERALD, Provo, Utah, - PagfrAlf Examiner's office removed eyes of dead without OK Never." By WALTER F. ROCHE JR. Knight-Ridd- body. "I think I would have Gary Wilson, a Newspapers er - victim of child abuse, died in 1988. The boy's father was charged in his death. Records show that the boy's right eye was PHILADELPHIA Without seeking permission from families of the dead, the Philadelphia medical examiner's office permanently removed eyes and optic removed from his body and sent from the medical examiner's office to the Scheie Institute. Towanda Bright, the victim's mother, said city morgue officials never talked to her about taking her son's eye. "I don't remember being told anything about his eyes," she said. nerves from 19 dead infants and most of them young children abuse victims as part of a study. According to a published scientific report, the study, which covered a period ending in August 1990, was a joint effort of the city medical examiner's office and the Scheie Eye Institute in West Philadelphia. The report was by two city medical examiners and two physicians from Scheie. th Records and interviews also indicate that another participant Anin the study was gelica Esquilin, the victim of what Common Pleas Court Judge Lisa A. Richette described as "the most hideous case of abuse you've ever seen." The published report on the study specificaj'y cites the case of a with injuries similar to those Angelica suffered. Richette found the baby's adoptive mother guilty of murder in 1989 and then arranged for the child's burial. "We just want to do this private, little thing and give this baby a dignified burial," the judge said in September 1989. The study involved three categories of children: nine who died from blunt trauma to the head, four victims of shaken baby syndrome and six victims of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. City officials would not identify any of the children, but the Philadelphia Inquirer was able to obtain records that identify some of them. One child whose eyes were third-degr- re- moved was Garner, who died at St. Christopher's Hospital on Nov. II, 1989. The mother's boyfriend was charged in his death. Records show that Kareem's eyes were sent from the medical examiner's office to the Scheie Eye Institute shortly after his death. Marva Garner, the child's grandmother and legal guardian, Ka-ree- m ee In an interview last week, Richette said she had heard nothing about the child's eyes being used for a study. She said the very thought of that "gives me a chill." "Oh, my," Richette said. "I can't imagine why." She added that there had never been any doubt about the cause of death. "Why would anyone want to putter in a study?" said in an interview that she had never been told about Kareem's involvement in the study. If she had been asked, she said, she would have said no. "They asked me about transplanting his organs, and I said definitely not," she said. "They never asked me about his eyes. Joseph Brennan, the funeral director who prepared the child for burial, said he did not recollect whether the child's eyes were present when he picked up the remem- bered if they were missing," he said. Dr. Allen Chandler, medical director in the city Health Department, said he believed that the removal of the eyes was not a research project but a legitimate part of the autopsies on the 19 children. Chandler said he had not seen the published article on the eye study. "I don't think this was research," Chandler said. "This was applied forensic science." He added that officials in the medical examiner's office did not believe that permission from next of kin was required. Chandler defended the eye and e removals, stating: "If the procedures were not optic-nerv- done, one could say the autopsies were not complete." City officials also cited the fact that two similar studies were conducted in Los Angeles and Texas. Chandler acknowledged that removal of the eyes is not a standard procedure and that there is a way to examine the optic nerve without removing the nerve and eye. But he added that, at the time of the study, it was not known that removal of the eye was not necessary in many cases. The disclosure comes at the same time that six lawsuits are pending against the city medical examiner over an arrangement under which 26 brains were provided to the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. The suits, brought by the relatives of those whose brains were removed, charge that the city had no right to send the brains to Penn without the permission of family members. In those suits, city attorneys have stated that the brains were sent to Penn as part of legally authorized autopsies. They say permission was not needed. , Recently city officials ac- . knowledged that there was anoth-iner ongoing research project volving cadavers. Undei that study, 38 bodies have been taken from the morgue to a private imaging facility where CAT scans and MRIs have been performed. That study also is being done without the permission of next of kin. The purpose of the eye study was to compare the brain and nerve damage suffered by the shaken children with the damage suffered by children who had'vis-ibl- e head injuries. The study on intracranial damage and optic-nerv- e hemorrhages in ,tbe three study groups. optic-- The study concluded that the victims of shaken baby syndrome, despite the absence' of visible injury, suffered fatal damage similar to the victims of bla'rrt trauma. Those injuries were riot present in the six SIDS victirns in the study. "Our observations, as wells others, suggest that pure shaking injury may indeed lead to fatal intracranial injury," the article states. The results of the study were published in March in Ophthalmology Magazine. In that article, the authors, including Philadelphia Medical Examiner Hafesh Mirchandani, described how they removed the eyes from the chil' dren, all under age 3. "The globe and attached optic nerve were removed and fixed in 10 percent formalin solution for at least seven days," the article states, adding that the specimens were later sectioned and mounted on slides. 7 mm ooo i&niHttttQr4imi& ooo 3&? y - iiiiuifiiNtanBt ' . A-- Vote- it -- a u 4 4 i i 4 i - ; - mm PJiinvTo ksboke b amiCOSTS. Oil voub HUBS r f -r on Wttitusn you're JmiHiiuj Inese on, Work Coirienarion 66rA 99 I G0U age of H"u und o off 'f"; Hauls 1 I l.lali will Idle an l insiiranri: in 199.3. rosl eonlml programs, together we've reduced ureidenls Mijiiifirantlu, over I In; past two ajjresivc ye.ar, Wliirli translate osl an: down Ci lo lower premiums overall. rus-lome- we ran do for you. To find on I more, aver- lo effective arridenl prevention and and total meJieal And what we're doinq now for our rail us al After all. our vile and sound lliinLint) is fjood for far more llian fasliion. Workers Compensation Fund of Utah A . L Paid By Utahm For Responsible Term UmlU-Ro- b Bishop, Chairman -- - ll |