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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 2, 1995)
EDITORIAL Clinic merger deal limits care options When doctors with Eugene Clink voted to merge with iV.iceHe.dth, the corporation that owns Sat red Heart Medical Center, tale lest week, they did so for their mutual benefit. However, their patients may be the tines to suffer, as medical options and the diversity of med ical providers become fewer in the near future, While not immediately threatening, it ts troubling to sue that, one by one, doctors and medical prat tir es in Eugene are al! slowly bet tuning part of the same organi zation, lust in March. 52 doctors from the Oregon M<-d it al Group decided not to merge with Peart-Health. How over, wmi ione. economic circumstances may dictate iiitin* mergers, Peat oHoaltii may one day have a near-medical monop oly over hugeno. It's true that integrating the ivugone Clinic into Peat olioalth will have bene fits As part of a larger orga nization, doctors will bo Tlh merger m ill ma.it likely have benefits far dorian ami /Vat ellealth. bm the prognosis for fmtients is Mill mu main able to work more effectively with each other to help ■ and will lave i> itl their disposal. It may also help to lower costs for patients. However, potential drawbacks remain. As a Catholic hospital and health system, Sat red Heart prohibits cer tain nicil a at | in i< i ■ i i u! i • s hum iak mg pl.u e within the hospital, such as abortion and ariilit i.d insemination With the Eugene Clinic becoming part of the Peace Health system, many have stated that these procedures will now he unavailable from the Eugene Clinic doctors It is w«U wdhin tin* rights of Peacellealth, as a free c orporation, to determine what medical procedures will or will not be* permitted inside its buildings Peace!health shouldn't bo fore ed to allow abortions to lake plat •• with in its facilities. Unfortunately. the fact is that fewer options will be available to patients seeking an abortion or artific ial insemination. As would be expected with a monopoly, options tor health cure are (recoining fewer and contro versial procedures will bec ome unavailable, While Sac red Heart Medic nl Center and its affiliated organiza tions are ext client medical institutions, a variety of med ical groups are needed to fully serve the needs of the Kugune-Springfiuid community. Like it or not. Peacoliealth, with its local affiliate Sac red Heart Medical Center, is becoming the main med ical provider for Eugene. Unfortunately, the Eugene Clin ic \ merger will come with disadvantages for patients While certain medical procedures will become less available with the merger, Eugene residents will find wavs to get tiie medical services that they need and desire with some work and a bit of patience. The merger will most likely have benefits for doctors and Peaceflealth, but the prognosis for patients is still uncertain For now, patients will just have to learn to live with the shrinking health care options in Eugene. Oregon Daily PO &0* JIM UfGVit OfttGON VKi t ** < 0^ f mn*&d r» putiKiNil &#*’> Mpn4ty S^oogf* f r^ay !N» a*.#*** ><w* And TuMdify Thursday cktf^tg l*X* twmms* t*y iN» Origon 0a^ I n'e^afctJ PufcfcSJNrtj Co i-x . <tf ih« Urwv*rt*ty tH Outgo*. fcua*ro», (>O0c*n lh# Cm#* Am &p©-fa'«Rft :?>Ckft>IWVilKN'!Jf O* m« lMry«tf S>ty OHvceft A* Su4# 300 ol Iht f *t Memorotf Urnon mxJ •-* A mombe* o» tfv« A*aoc«*i<*J P>eu ?N> it p-vyftte propAty TNs ur»Uwdu* rftfliOMtf O' wt« of piApcwi *s prOMCutabto iditor-*ivChi*l Mly Solo Fdilof tai Editor N*w* Art Editor Fr*«i«nc« Editor l/«¥ta i no** MotJtxe Mooveis „k*ff PAfrUty to*' l (PKK rVXmXA Sport* Editor Gr»m Khri; Supplement* Editor 7Hu*i Wight Editor Potncfc M^tprd associate Conors u - :x> iwr-.' ■ r--: « . >•% v-i r r c t jsivos Cow»-*v. ■si's Cft&een H*gh&r l dU-a? <wAdm*i> atf* aftcv» News Sun ',’rvp a-.;,;-, rV f jtv e A;*'» t. •' - 1 '.i 4 M ■' • * Kk-* $wv .»• !hii IAvl*?V M.H! 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K - W>"-4. fcjfxv-- *V'l - i e» ZiXiv General Manage/ -ii> JWJ Adverting DtrtcUx W\*.% Production Manage M ' ^ H Advertising Aj -.« A A;- u |k •.;.»»•% M,i ? ?c<‘i >v« N•--■> *«*> . * «*•■«-•-• , M..-»•«!••=•' *.%.»• ».* Mt V*1 !.’•’• M?*«~ sleet* r Wn>rf> Classified itarfcy Mrxtvri1 Ui .>7^ Ky«# ()«vt* >, Seflen Distribution: Jc7mi t, -9, t e*«wx: R#h / Grfiikam Business *.»*’ . ■ .»•!> n v d> Co ' * y Production Dc*va McCotO .v!\ ..•••.- •■ v\x" ,.» m’ •• Sh#*’U At^n TyaGauttney Brad >0*» M>*yMcCania Jervstar Dayton Ye* Oftkc# *4*4513 Classified Advertising M6-U43 -Equal jufna?” THAT’S A-HOTHfcP QUOIA^ ■ OPINION Hemp legalization going to pot Kkivn UpmUK #r'n""\r«>):,,!l is kcmwn lor its i»*f( is! wavs. I fiim .1 ballot tors to kill their patients to tost ing tht* abortion pill, it's no sis ret where we often stand In the tradition of non right ways, some in this state are pushing lor the legalization of something that grows under the right lighting and out of the eyes of law enforcement. This, of course, is none oth er than hemp. The stuff that future former presidents and current former Supreme Court nominees sucked up (Sorry. I don't buy the inhale line.) If you listen to the propo nents of the legalization of the stuff, you'd think hemp was the i ure all to any ail society might even think il has. That's right folks Hemp c an can cure brain tumors, sick le cell anemia, the common cold and ear wax build-up. You could also build tanks, construct stealth bombers and reconstruct the Eiffel Tower if you had to with cannabis plants. The stuff could fix our economy, end poverty and bring peace on Earth. Obviously. I’m kidding about the economy. But those in favor of weed decriminalization would have us believe that the hemp seed is the "most nutritionally complete food source on Earth.” Yet even if this were true, my response would be, so what? The biggest problem we should have with the stuff is the message it sends out when we start talking of legalizing .1 dn it: The generation that raised the one I'm a part of was ven much a user of pot As men tioned before, even our Pres ident did. Pot was a drug that gained widespread accep tance This casual relationship with the drug has given rise to these ideas of legalization beyond just a few users. I bugs, in < use we've for gotten, art? the s< ourge uf six i ety. The effects they've had on America can be characterized as nothing less than tragic. A foreign power«Quid not equal some of the horrors that have been wrought here in the United States Reckoning Drugs, the Cities, aiu] the American Future by Elliott Currie points out, "The drug crisis is responsible for most of the rise in AIDS among children in the entire industrial world. In a:t pen ent of pedi atric AIDS cases by the end of 1990. the children had contracted the disease from their mothers — most of whom had been infected through IV drug users " The book points out how drugs contribute to youth delinquency. It cites a study among low-income delin quent youths in Miami. Ninety-two percent of the Hispanic delinquents. 88 percent of the black delin quents and 77 pe: ant of the white delinquents reported having berm regular users of crack cocaine at some point. More than one-fourth of the white users said they had used crack daily over the past 90 days. 1 could go on. But most of us should know why drugs are not good, to understate. And, drugs Include grass, mv friends. I can understand how some resent having a reefer lumped in with drugs such as cocaine or heroin. M.u i|u.in.t (iut’Mi'! have th«* same potency that these drugs have. But they still do have some of the side effects that a drug does such as memory impairment and may produce hallucinations, according to the book Drugs, Society and Human Behavior by Kay Oak ley and Cltarles ksir. But what kind of message does it send to have the stuff legalized? kids who have heard nothing but “Just say no,” now can say "Just say maybe." If we're talking about legal izing Mary Jane now. what will it be in 25 years? LSD? PGP? And will we be looking to cocaine and heroin as pos sible options then? Will we. by then, have some new designer drugs so potent that they will pale in comparison? The point is that just because bud doesn't seem that bad when compared to other drugs, it doesn't mean we should just up and legalize it. The most prevalent drug in today's society is alcohol. Alcohol ravages this country in the way of drunk driving and abuse in homes among other travesties it produces. It could probably be classified as more harmful than dope. But because it is so ingrained in our society, outlawing it causes some of the problems we had in the earlier part of this century during prohibi tion. Because marijuana use is still not ingrained in society, we should keep it that way Legalizing it would not help that problem Finally, it should be reiter ated that legalizing herbs will likely put us on a slippery slope toward more drug legal ization. Knowing drugs' travesties, none of us should want that — no matter what state we live in. Brian Womack is a columnist for the Emerald
