Editor -- Today's Chronicle (September 7) is carrying a news article,
"One Approach to Crack Babies -- Women Paid Not to Have Children."

In my view, this has the whiff of Nuremberg. It is a direct violation
of the first statement in the Nuremberg Code of Medical Ethics that
before any procedure, therapeutic or experimental, "informed, freely
given consent" of the patient is a sine qua non of ethical medical
practice.

Any physician participating in the sterilization of patients is guilty
of unethical conduct, since no addicted patient with the offer of $200
can give meaningful consent.

No matter how laudable the goal, physicians should not engage in this
type of activity.

Dr. Michael J. Franzblau,
San Francisco