The Star-Democrat from Easton, Maryland • Page 14

By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer CHICAGO (AP) Imagine being in a car crash, lying unconscious and bleeding in an ambulance. With no blood on board, para- medics give you an experimental substitute, but even at the hospital, you get fake blood for several hours before doctors try the real thing. Medical ethicists say a study that is doing just that on hundreds of trauma patients without their consent should be halted. a renewed attack on research that began in 2004 after Northfield Laboratories got federal approval for its study of the blood substitute Polyheme. Debate was reignited by a Wall Street Journal story last week that suggested the company tried to hide some crucial details about another blood substitute study back in 2000.

The Journal reported that 10 heart surgery patients in that Polyheme experiment had heart attacks, while other patients given real blood did not. The Evanston, company halted that study and published the full results, but Northfield Chairman Dr. Steven Gould says there were no attempts at secrecy. Gould said Tuesday that Poly- heme cause the heart at- tacks or disproportionately more deaths. He said the study was stopped, not for safety concerns, but because enrollment was declining and the company wanted to focus on trauma research.

The current study should never have begun, said Nancy M.P. King, a University of North Carolina ethicist who co-authored articles for an ethics journal. She and colleagues wrote that real blood be withheld from people who need it without their consent. is a serious ethical flaw in this complicated and novel says the article to appear next week on the Web site of the American Journal of Bioethics. Finding a viable blood substitute would revolutionize emergency medicine and could potentially save millions of lives.

The idea is to create a product that works like human blood but could be carried in ambulances and given quickly to people of any blood type. Baxter International Inc. halted research on its contender in 1998 when more than 20 patients given the substitute died. Northfield now seeks to lead the race and says Polyheme fits the bill. It is made by extracting oxygen-carrying hemoglobin from human red blood cells.

Unlike saline fluid, the standard pre-hospital trauma treatment, Polyheme has some of tissue-nourishing properties, Northfield says. The previous study from 1998 to 2000 involved hospitalized patients with defective heart arteries who consented to get Polyheme. stock sank nearly 28 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported there were 10 heart attacks among Polyheme patients. Company stock rebounded later that day and closed up about 2 percent Wednesday, but still nearly 13 percent lower than before the report. In the current study, which began in 2004, trauma victims get Polyheme or saline fluid on the way to the hospital.

Once there, Polyheme treatment continues for up to 12 hours, while those on saline get blood transfusions. More than 600 patients at 31 trauma centers in 18 states are enrolled in the study, and preliminary results are expected later this year. The ethicists say the problem with the study is when the patients arrive at the hospital. Testing Polyheme against blood should be done separately in patients who can give consent or who have family members who can consent, wrote King and University of Hawaii ethicist Ken Kipnis and Philadelphia anesthesiologist Dr. Robert Nelson.

REGIONAL THURSDAY, MARCH 2,2006 A14 THE STAR DEMOCRAT The Star Democrat offers 10 lines of an obituary free of charge for the first day it runs in The Star Democrat Families who wish to include more information than can be presented in 10 lines may do so for a nominal fee. For more information about placing an obituary in The Star Democrat please consult your funeral director. OBITUARIES OBITUARY POLICY Surcharges (incl. 2.29% Federal Universal Service (varies quarterly), 5 Regulatory and 40 and others by area) are not taxes (details: 1-888-684-1888); taxes and our surcharges could add to to your bill. Activation $35.

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Offer ends BUY ONE CAST RAZR LOWEST PRICE EVER! In Loving Memory of our Beloved Carrie Virginia Dennis Aug. 1, 1915 March 2, 2005 Oh mother dear, been one year.A year today since that sad, sad day.There’s not a time that we think of you, Your lovely smile, things you would say and do.Who could have known that Monday morn our lives would soon be ripped and torn. We always thought you would come back home.It was not to be, we all felt so alone.Our mother, teacher, friend and much more is gone from us and we still mourn.We were so fortunate to have had you all those years.The memories will never disap- pear.We love miss you Mom every day.These feelings will never go away. Missing loving you always, Emma, Dottie, Gloria, Joan, Diane, Charles, Arthur Lois J. Conger CAMBRIDGE Lois J.

Conger, 79, of Chestertown died Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006, at Chester River Hospital Center. A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 4, at Heron Point in Chestertown. Interment will be private.

Lorraine P. Diamond CROWNSVILLE Lorraine Phipps Diamond, 71, died Feb. 24, 2006, at Fairfield Nursing Center, Crownsville. Visitation will be from 6 to 9 p.m. March 3, at the George P.

Kalas Funeral Home, Edgewater. Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. March 4, at St. Cemetery, Annapolis. Cecil O.

Echard CAMBRIDGE Cecil O. Echard, 95, of Cambridge died Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006, at Dorchester General Hospital. Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 4, at Thomas Funeral Home, Cambridge, where friends may call one hour prior.

Burial will be at East New Market Cemetery. Constance N. LeCates EASTON Constance N. LeCates of Easton passed away Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006, at Memorial Hospital at Easton.

She was 74. Born Feb. 26, 1932, in Salisbury, she was the daughter of the late Clarence James Sr. and Martha Janie Parker Nibblett. A graduate of Wicomico High School, she moved to Talbot County in 1952, where she worked as a seamstress for several different companies until her retirement.

Her husband, Harvey Lee LeCates, whom she married Feb. 2, 1951, died Nov. 6, 1998. She was a member of St. United Methodist Church, and while her sons were growing up, was active with Cub Scout Troop 190.

She loved gardening, raising flowers and working in the yard. Mrs. LeCates is survived by her five children, Harvey LeCates and his wife Sherry, Gary LeCates, Bruce LeCates, Stephen LeCates and his wife Mary Kay, and Robert LeCates and his wife Stacy, all of Easton; two sisters, Shirley Elliott of Salisbury and Natalie Renshaw of Allen; two brothers, Clarence Nibblett Jr. and his wife Billie of Texas and Samuel Nibblett of Salisbury; 11 grandchildren; two great- grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by a sister, Libby Carey; and two brothers, Fred Givanes and Earl E.

Nibblett. Services will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 4, at Fellows, Helfenbein and Newnam Funeral Home P.A., Easton, where friends may call one hour prior. Interment will be private. Memorial donations may be made to Talbot Hospice Foundation, 586 Cynwood Drive, Easton, MD 21601.

See www. fhnfuneralhome.com. Betty H. Majors CAMBRIDGE Betty H. Majors, 76, of Hurlock died Tuesday, Feb.

28, 2006, at Dorchester General Hospital. A graveside service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 4, at Elliott United Methodist Churchyard. Margaret E. North CAMBRIDGE Margaret E.

North, 87, of Cambridge died Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006, at Chesapeake Woods Center in Cambridge. Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, March 3, at Curran-Bromwell Funeral Home P.A., Cambridge, where friends may call one hour prior. Burial will be at Dorchester Memorial Park.

Florence A. Reinhardt EASTON Florence A. Reinhardt, Donahue, of Easton, formerly of Sykesville, died Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006. She is survived by a daughter, Florence A.

Reinhardt of Amsterdam, Holland; three sons, Robert E. Reinhardt Jr. of Hampstead, Charles T. Reinhardt of New Windsor and James H. Reinhardt of Easton; two sisters, Mary Claire Hanley and Kathryn D.

Greybosh; four brothers, John, Gerald, Patrick and Dennis Donahue; and 12 grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Edwin Reinhardt. Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 4, at St. Episcopal Church in Ellicott City.

Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 2, and from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 3, at the Slack Funeral Home P.A., Ellicott City. Interment will be at Mt. View Cemetery.

Willie Rollins GRASONVILLE Willie Rollins, 77, of Grasonville died Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006, at Memorial Hospital at Easton. Services will be at 1 p.m. March 3, at John Wesley United Methodist Church, Carmichael, where friends may call three hours prior. Interment will be at Maryland Veterans Cemetery, Hurlock.

John T. Smallwood GRASONVILLE John Turner Smallwood, 69, of Grasonville died Feb. 28, 2006, at home. A memorial gathering will be from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. March 3, at Fellows, Helfenbein and Newnam Funeral Home P.A., Chester.

The service will be at 11 a.m. March 9, at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Easton. First skin patch to treat depression wins approval with warnings By ANDREW BRIDGES Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) The first skin patch to treat depression won federal approval Tuesday, providing a novel way to administer a drug already used by disease patients but that belongs to a class of medicines that is rarely a first or second choice antidepressant. The Food and Drug Administration approved the selegiline transdermal patch, agency spokeswoman Susan Cruzan said. The drug will be marketed as Emsam, said Somerset Pharmaceuticals which developed the drug, and Bristol-Myers Squib which will market it in three sizes as a once-a-day treatment for major depression.

believe Emsam will help physicians treat their patients living with this illness through a new and unique delivery sys- said Peter Dolan, chief executive officer of Bristol-Myers Squibb. Selegiline, approved in pill form by the FDA in 1989 to help treat is a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, or MAOI. Typically, doctors prescribe MAOIs for depression only if patients respond to other antidepressants, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors like Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil. Although health officials say MAOIs are safe when used correctly, the drugs can cause dangerous interactions, including sudden and severe rises in blood pressure that can lead to stroke and death, when patients consume food or drinks that contain a substance called tyramine. The substance is found in draft beer, red wine, fava beans, salamis, aged cheeses, soy sauce and other products.

Bristol-Myers and Somerset said Emsam patients, when using the six-milligram or lowest strength patch, have to watch their diets. That represents a over other MAOIs typically taken in pill form, said Dr. Steven Galson, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. However, patients using the larger nine- or 12-milligram versions of the Emsam patch still must adhere to the same dietary restrictions that have made many doctors reluctant to prescribe MAOIs. The Emsam label will carry a long list of foods, drinks and other drugs that patients must avoid while using the drug.

The warnings are typical of all MAOIs. The FDA also will require the drug to bear a so-called warning of the risks of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children and adolescents treated with antidepressants. The drug is meant for use only by adults. Ethicists blast study testing fake blood without consent.