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Show Alo ‘The Salt Lake Tribune NATION/WORLD Thursday, November17, 1994 Too Drunk Is Defense In Canada Assault-Case Decision Outrages Women THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TORONTO — A Montreal man pulled a 65-year-old woman from a wheelchair and sexuallyassaulted her. One courtrejected his defense that he was too drunk to know what he was doing, and he was convicted Then the Supreme Court of Canada ruled. Drunkenness. it said, can be usedas a legal defense for sexual assault. The court on Sept. 30 ordered that the given a newtrial. uling shocked many Cana- dians. and outraged women’s rights groups. Andthefallout has just begun. Last month, an Alberta court acquitted a manof assaulting his wife. citing the Su- preme Courtruling Justice Minister Allan Rock wants to ensurethat such offend- LumpectomyIs Preferred Breast-Cancer Treatment NEWSDAY WASHINGTON — New data from breast-cancer studies show that a woman who discovers the disease early and gets a lumpectomy has a survival chance at least as good as — and possibly slightly better than — a woman who gets a mastectomy. Pittsburgh’s Nat Adjuvent Breast 1 Surgical ‘Bowel Pro- ject. Thefraud,involving somefalsification of enrollmentdata, raised questions about the breast project’s conclusion that lumpectomy, with follow-up radiation treatment, produced survival The new information was reported Tuesday at a National Cancer Institute conference called to assessthestate of breastcancer treatment in the wake of rates just as good as the more drastic mastectomy. Tuesday, scientists said that conclusion was upheld by reports from a number of othertrials around the world, as well as an audit of the breast project's original lumpectomytrial. “The conclusion of the 1990 consensus conference [that lumpectomywaspreferred to mastectomy] appearsto stand onthe basis of these data,” said Dr. William Wood of the Emory University School of Medicine, noting that the reaudited lumpectomy trial even showed a “‘significant survival advantage” for lumpec- fraudulent reports by a doctor tomy over mastectomy. In fact, lumpectomy patients were less likely to have a recurrence of the disease in the chest wall — an especially deadly form of the cancer — suggesting that retaining the breast may have a protective effect. Some women who had lumpectomies did have cancer recurrencesi: the breast, but they were less deadly and could usually be stopped with a follow-up mastectomy. takingpart in the large-scale 1985 trial evaluating the etfectiveness of lumpectomies. The trial was conducted by the University of “Lumpectomy and radiation mightevenbea little bit better,” said Karen Antman,a breast surgeon at Columbia University and a member of the panel of top breast-cancer researchers con- done better than mastectomy.” In another study by the NCIin vened by NCI. “Certainly, there Bethesda, Md., 19 women with jumpectomy had local recur- was nothing said today that suggested thatit’s worse.” The studies showed that lumpectomycarries a slightly higher risk that the tumor will recur in the original area, but all agreed that the recurrence did not have any effect on ultimate survival. Thelatest data from the oldest lumpectomytrialone conducted in Milan,Italy, that now has 18 years of follow-upillustrate the point. In that study, 14 patients who had a breast-conserving rences, compared with 10 recurrences with mastectomy. But only one lumpectomypatient had disease that had spread into her bones and liver — whereit becomes fatal — compared with six of those with mastectomies. In thatstudy,as well as others, there was an indication that saving the breast may help protect patients from developing cancer in the chest wall, which is almost alwaysfatal. A patient who has a lumpec- treatment known as quadrantectomy had recurrences, compared tomy“faces no greaterlikelihood, to just eight recurrences among women with mastectomies. But only four of the 14 women with conserving treatment have died, and probably less of a chance, of having uncontrolled chest wall disease,” said Joan Jacobsen, the principal investigator. The trend in the studies rein- while five of the eight with recur- rences after mastectomy died. “Eighteen yearsout,it’s hard to see any difference in survival,” said Jeffrey Abrams, senior investigator with the NCI. Hesaid that for patients who had cancer in forced Fisher’s original theory that breast cancer may spread throughout the body very early, perhaps beforeit can even be detected in the breast, so that drastic surgery like mastectomyis un- lymphnodesas well as the breast, CubansResort To Eating Cats THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PONCE, Puerto Rico — Cuba’s economiccrisis is so severe that people are reduced to eating cats, the leader of a Cuban animal protection agency says. “You won't see cats in gardens andis very hard to find stray cats roaming the streets because people are hunting them for human consumption,” said necessary. breast-conserving treatment “has ers pay the price, despite their state of intoxication. He has suggested creating a newcategoryof crime called “criminal intoxica- tion There must be accountability for behavior while drunk, Rock told a convention of criminallawyers during the weekend. He introduced a discussion paper which seeks to rewrite parts of Canada’s criminal code, including the question of intoxication. It would create a new category of crime for those who claim they were too drunk to know whatthey weredoing. The offense wouldbe called ‘criminal intoxication leading to harmful conduct.” A subcommittee of the House of Commons already has backed that idea Many Canadians. however. opposeit. “We don’t want to see drunkenness madea crime,” said Sunera Thobani, president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Woman, one of Canada’s principal women’s rights organizations. “We want to see the focus on the crime against women.” Thobani called the Supreme Court's ruling ‘a very bad decision in law. Intoxication and alcohol do not cause sexualassault on women.” By shifting the focusof the law to drunkenness, the crime against womenis made invisible,she said. Rock is seeking input from “T Want A Private Practice Doctor.” “T Like The Convenience Of My FHP Medical Center.” groups throughout the country beforeacting. Legislation will not be proposed until spring at the earliest Onedifficulty involves sentencing. Some people have suggested that defendants who were drunk FHPGives You Both Choices. receive lesser penalties Thelegislation could limit the Supreme Court’s decision to very limited situations, or it could simply maintain the status quo. Women’s groups fear that the court's decision will institutionalize the intoxication defense, leading to moredecisions such as the one in Alberta. “Our concern is not only how law courts will use it, but how it will influencepolice in the laying of charges,” said Thobani Valley Health Plan in West Choosing FHP as your health partneris smarter than That's fe a limited time GLASSACTwill pa’ your insurance Geatetble up to $100. Approved by all Insurance companies. Fast, Free mobile service from ‘Ket5 to Provo. Glass Act 533-8844 ADivision of the A-1 Quality Glass Group. Tees ZCMI SHOE CLINIC SPECIAL 2.95 aad WOMEN’S THIN RUBBER HEELS x Valley City will all be part of ever. Because as your true the FHP provider network, partner, only FHP offers you a with more choices to come. health care choice. You can It’s just another way that FHP choose to receive care from is bringing more choice to your own FHP primary care health care. Whichis exactly doctor at one of seven conven- what you'd expect from your ient medical centers across the health partner. Wasatch Front. Or, you can Private practice option available now choose one of over 250 private practice physicians. Whicheveroption you pick, you'll still get all of the great benefits that FHP offers. Beginning January 1, 1995, the Salt Lake Quality Physicians Network, St. Mark’s Hospital, and the Pioneer for commercial HMO groupsonly. ee vena Restrictions apply to Medicare is ‘ beeel and Medicaid members. teas «Proce Sees aS ge rerenrsenca come Nall Cael aayOZ Your health partner. For life For further information call FUP Member Services: In SEC 855-1281 or SO0-365-15: | Nora Garcia, head of the private Cuban Association for the Protection of Animals. “Thefew catsthatareleft must be placed in cages or locked up inside homes.” Garcia traveled from Cuba to attend the 14th Symposium of the Animal Protection Federation held in Puerio Rico. She did not say whencateating took off, but travelers to Cuba say it has emerged within the past yearorso. |
