LOS ANGELES
UCLA officials admit to selling cadavers
Officials at the University of California, Los Angeles,
acknowledged yesterday that parts of bodies donated for medical
research there had instead been sold, and apologized for a failure
in oversight.
Donors’ families, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit against the
school, claiming the director of the university’s Willed Body
Program had been selling body parts illegally for years with the
knowledge of other UCLA officials. UCLA has denied knowing about
the sales.
The director, Henry Reid, was arrested along with another man
accused of helping to sell the body parts. UCLA officials admitted
yesterday that some body parts were sold to companies, but said
they were only used for medical research. They promised to revamp
the cadaver program.
“These alleged crimes violate the trust of our donors,
their families and UCLA,” said Dr. Gerald Levey, dean of
UCLA’s medical school. “We are investigating how our
policies failed to detect these employees’ illegal
activities.”
About 175 people donate their bodies each year to the university
for use in anatomy classes, officials said.
WASHINGTON
High court refuses to hear Boy Scout appeal
The Supreme Court refused yesterday to hear an appeal from the
Boy Scouts over what the organization says is discrimination
because of its policy against hiring gays.
The case revisited the gay rights fight surrounding the high
court’s ruling four years ago that the Boy Scouts have the
right to ban openly homosexual scout leaders. This time, the
question was whether states may treat the Scouts differently from
other organizations because of that policy.
The Scouts asked the justices to hear a case from Connecticut,
where officials moved to drop the group from a list of charities
that receive donations through a state employee payroll deduction
plan.
That’s unconstitutional discrimination, the Boy Scouts
argued.
“To exclude the Boy Scouts from a forum based on the
values they hold and the conduct they require of their members is
to exclude Boy Scouts based on viewpoint and identity,”
lawyers for the Scouts argued in their Supreme Court appeal.
WASHINGTON
Attorneys ask court to hear alcohol ban
In a case that’s getting more complex than an aged
cabernet, attorneys are asking the Supreme Court to consider
whether states can continue to ban direct shipments of alcohol from
out-of-state vineyards.
Yesterday, the Washington-based Institute for Justice asked the
Supreme Court to consider overturning a ruling by the 2nd U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals, which recently upheld New York’s
ban on direct shipments of alcohol to individual consumers. The
institute is representing a small Virginia winery that wants to
sell wine to out-of-state buyers.
The request came days after 36 state attorneys general filed a
brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn a 6th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals ruling that declared Michigan’s ban on direct
shipments unconstitutional.
NEW ORLEANS
High drug doses may prevent heart ailments
How low should cholesterol levels go? For victims of recent
heart attacks, the answer appears to be rock bottom.
A major study released yesterday found that especially
aggressive treatment with statin drugs, intended to drive
cholesterol far below current standards, prevents new heart
problems and saves lives.
These drugs are already a cornerstone of cardiac care, routinely
prescribed for heart attack victims. However, the new results
suggest doctors should opt for high doses of the most powerful
brands to give recently discharged heart patients the best chance
of survival.
WASHINGTON
DNA database helps crack 11,000 cases
The FBI’s DNA database, filled with genetic samples from
prison inmates nationwide, has helped local authorities identify
suspects in more than 11,000 cases in what is becoming the 21st
century equivalent of fingerprinting.
The database, known as the Combined DNA Indexing System or
CODIS, has helped solve two “cold” murder cases in
Kansas, identify the two-decade old remains of a missing California
child and capture a sexual predator who terrorized young boys in
Houston.
Just as important, police and lawyers say, it has freed
prisoners wrongly convicted of crimes and helped detectives quickly
eliminate wrong suspects, saving manpower chasing false leads.
— Compiled from Daily wire reports