NATION

National Catholic Reporter, Sept 29, 2000 by Teresa Malcolm

Bioethicist named in gene therapy suit

Ethicist Arthur Caplan has been named among the defendants in a suit filed Sept. 18 by the family of an Arizona teenager who died from gene therapy last year.

The director of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania was named along with the research team in the experiment involving 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger of Tucson, The Washington Post reported. The complaint was filed a year and a day after he died on Sept. 17, 1999.

The suit, filed in state court in Philadelphia, was based on charges of serious lapses in science and regulation concerning the experiment that aimed to give corrective genes to people suffering from a rare liver disorder.

Caplan declined to comment on the suit. His inclusion in the complaint suggests that other ethicists could be subject to suits over the philosophical guidance they offer researchers.

The suit argues that the defendants, including the biotech firm Genovo Inc., acted fraudulently, recklessly or negligently in recruiting and treating Gelsinger. His family seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.

Attorney Alan Milstein, who is representing the family, said Caplan helped the researchers write the informed-consent form that was supposed to explain the risks to experiment participants. "The informed-consent document in no way informed Jesse and his family as to the true nature of the risks," the lawyer said.

In a written statement, the university admitted there were "weaknesses" in its research program but said "the university continues to believe that these weaknesses did not contribute to Jesse's death," the Post reported.

The school is negotiating with the Gelsingers about a possible settlement.

Iraqi archbishop visits U.S., protests sanctions

Archbishop Gabriel Kassab of Basra, Iraq, is urging the American people to pressure their leaders to bring an end to the U.S.-led sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations.

During a visit to Baltimore, he said sanctions are causing unspeakable suffering among his people -- causing 5,000 children to die every month from a lack of food and medicine, and creating a debilitating climate of hopelessness.

"As a witness, I saw in many hospitals not even a syringe available to give shots," said Kassab, speaking Sept. 14 on the steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in downtown Baltimore.

He was joined by Baltimore Cardinal William H. Keeler and Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton of Detroit.

"There were even some operations done without anesthesia," the Iraqi prelate added. "This all comes from the sanctions. Therefore, in the name of humanity, we are asking you to help us in lifting the sanctions in Iraq."

Kassab is a Chaldean Catholic who was named archbishop of southern Iraq and Ur by Pope John Paul II in 1995. Joseph Kassab, his younger brother who is a physician in Detroit, provided translations from Arabic for his brother's statement.

The archbishop noted that schooling in his country has been destroyed in the nine years since the sanctions were imposed. Children have had to leave education centers to support their families through begging and "other unacceptable things," he said.

"It is the people and only the people who are suffering from the sanctions," Kassab said.

Kassab planned to visit Ohio, New York and Michigan to raise awareness about the sanctions against Iraq.

`Romero,' `Insight' priest-producer dies

Paulist Fr. Ellwood "Bud" Kieser, the producer and priest renowned for his "Insight" television series and the 1989 film "Romero," died Sept. 16 of blood clot complications following surgery for colon cancer. He was 71.

"Fr. Kieser's contribution is unique," said Fr. Frank Desiderio, Kieser's assistant and likely successor at the Malibu-based Paulist Productions. "No other Catholic priest has made such a lasting contribution both as a producer and a pastor to the entertainment community. He was a true son of St. Paul."

Kieser had planned to retire from Paulist Productions in September 2001 but continue his work on the Humanitas Prize, which he established in 1974 to honor quality film and television scripts.

"Insight," the half-hour weekly, commercial-free drama focusing on God and humanity, won six Emmy awards and ran in firstrun syndication for two decades. Catholic actors Martin Sheen and Bob Newhart both played God on the show. The series is still seen on the Odyssey cable channel.

Kieser produced two theatrical films: "Romero," starring Raul Julia as Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, and, in 1996, "Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story," which starred Moira Kelly in the title role and her "West Wing" co-star, Martin Sheen, as Catholic Worker co-founder Peter Maurin.

An evening funeral Mass was scheduled for Sept. 22 for Kieser at St. Paul the Apostle Church in the Westwood section of Los Angeles, with burial Sept. 23 at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, Calif.

Catholic activists urged to work for moratorium

Catholic social justice activists are being asked to wage a fall campaign calling for a moratorium on the death penalty.