TREATMENT DECISIONS CAN'T BE MADE ON MORAL REASONS

Dear Editor:

I would to make an observation regarding the comments of letter writer
Sheryl Arthur Haney (Consequences of Substance Abuse May 9). In
discussing how other so called medical professions operate triage
procedures in Texas hospitals she states the questions they ask are
"Were drugs or alcohol involved?"

If the answer was yes, these patients, were sent to the back of the
line, in the computer main-frame list, at the Triage Unit Command
Control Center of Houston. The next question, and my favorite, "Are
children involved and were they wearing their seat belt?" These people
were moved to the head of the list, for immediate emergency room care
to the nearest hospital.

Doctors are not granted the authority to save or condemn patients
based on their beliefs that the reason the person was injured was
morally justified. Any health care professional who engages in such
practices could be subject to legal charges and conviction if a
patient in greater need of medical care were "moved to end of the
line" and subsequently died or suffered otherwise as a result of this
malpractice.

DAVID LANE

Santa Cruz, Calif.