‘Professor Green deserves credit’

Press, 28 November 1987, Page 9

‘Professor Green deserves credit’

PA Auckland A medical specialist says credit should be given to the man at the centre of. the cervical cancer inquiry for his management of women with cancerous conditions. Mr Ronald Jones told the inquiry that Herbert Green’s long-term followup of patients at the National Women’s Hospital was unique. But a lawyer, Mr Rodney Harrison, said consideration should first be given to the ethics of Professor Green’s work, the risk to patients and the absence of informed consent. If any credit was to be given it should go to the women who gave their time, their bodies and in some cases their lives to Professor Green’s research, he said. Mr Jones was commenting on a 1984 paper he wrote with two other specialists which reviewed data from a conservative management

study conducted by Professor Green on more than 1000 women with carcinoma in situ. Of 75 women who continued with positive C.I.S. under Professor Green’s care, 19 per cent developed invasive cancer of the cervix or vagina and one died. Mr Jones said information from that study gave compelling evidence on the invasive potential of C.I.S. The conclusion contradicted Professor Green’s theory that C.I.S. did not invariably progress to an invasive stage. Mr Jones said he believed one should always try to eradicate C.I.S. from the genital tract. That was the principle idea now and in 1966 when Professor Green officially initiated his management study. But under crossexamination by Dr Harrison he conceded that in the majority of some 131 cases looked at, that principle had been

breached. Dr Harrison represents the authors of the “Metro” magazine article which gave rise to the official inquiry into treatment methods at the hospital. Mr Jones said reports on Professor Green’s study were publicly presented many times at medical meetings so the suggestion that it was kept secret was nonsense. However, he said there was opposition from some hospital staff not to print the findings of the paper and a "stony silence” greeted its publication. “But I believe it would have been morally wrong not to publish the material in a major international journal,” he said. He went on to outline the effects of the public inquiry on the hospital which had resulted in many women seeking private medical care they could ill afford because they had lost confidence in National Women’s Hospital.

Staff morale had also been shattered and many years would lapse before the wounds were healed, he said. Talented, highly-trained young specialists were not applying for positions at the hospital. “Those of us involved in this inquiry have had to face the dilemma of choice between loyalty to long-standing and trusted colleagues and to the profession and what must be in the best interests of our patients,” said Mr Jones. The Auckland Hospital Board urgently needed to improve National Women’s public image. "It has been and still is a very good hospital and every effort must be made to erase the blemish created by this cancer inquiry.” He said the inquiry should encourage further research into preinvasive disease and its management using prospective research and further “analysis” of existing information.