FOSTER'S COMMENTS ON MED SCHOOL ACCREDITATION RAISE QUESTIONS

"'We have a responsibility in training residents to maintain our 
accreditation.  Very difficult job.  I maintained an accredited residence 
program for 17 years.' -- Dr. Henry Foster, NIGHTLINE, February 8, 1995."

"Indeed, it must have been a very difficult job, for Meharry Medical College's 
residency program in obstetrics and gynecology lost its accreditation in 1991."

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 1995 -- The Family Research Council (FRC) issued the 
following statement:

In his appearance on ABC's NIGHTLINE program on Wednesday evening, February 8, 
Dr. Henry Foster implied that his and Meharry Medical College's involvement in 
an experiment with an abortion-inducing drug was necessitated by his 
responsibility to maintain the accreditation of Meharry's residency program in 
obstetrics and gynecology.

In raising this matter, Dr. Foster has added yet another complication to his 
already troubled nomination to the position of Surgeon General.

"We have to train our residents, all residents, how they manage the 
complications of abortion.  That's a part of keeping our program accredited."  
-- Dr. Henry Foster, NIGHTLINE, February 8, 1995.

Dr. Foster offered his concern over accreditation as the reason for seeking a 
grant in 1980 from the Upjohn Company to participate in a field test of 
Upjohn's experimental abortion drug.  Even if the accreditation requirements 
were a factor, the solicitation of this particular grant was purely voluntary 
on the part of Dr. Foster and Meharry, and any attempt to shift responsibility 
elsewhere would seem to be disingenuous.

Dr. Foster noted that 20 percent of all universities (presumably including 
Meharry) survive on grant funds and that this project involved a grant.  
Perhaps, then, he solicited this grant for the sake of the financial health of 
his institution, rather than to meet some accreditation standard.  Even in 
that case, however, it was completely discretionary on his part to seek this 
grant and participate in this research when there are hundreds of other grants 
and research projects available.

The actual accreditation standards from the Accreditation Council for Graduate 
Medical Education require that:

"Resident education 1/8in obstetrics and gynecology3/8 must include, but not 
necessarily be limited to the following:

1. Obstetrics

a. The full range of obstetrics, including high-risk obstetrics and medical 
and surgical complications of pregnancy."

Arguably, this standard could be interpreted as requiring training in the 
management of complications resulting from botched abortions, although 
abortion (or any euphemism for abortion) is not mentioned at all in the 
accreditation standards.  Even under this reading of the standard, however, it 
would be clearly unethical for the program to arrange for a botched abortion 
in order to give the residents a training opportunity.

Ironically, on the very day after Dr. Foster made these remarks, USA TODAY, 
the nation's most widely circulated daily paper, carried a front page article 
on the subject of abortion training in residency programs. A color chart 
showed that in 1991 only about one-eighth (12.4%) of the residents in 
obstetrics and gynecology received routine training in abortion.  For nearly 
one-third of the nation's obstetrical resident physicians, abortion training 
was not even offered.  Obviously, then, the accrediting agencies do not 
require abortion in obstetrical residency programs nor do they pressure 
medical schools into participating in abortion drug experiments.

"We have a responsibility in training residents to maintain our 
accreditation.  Very difficult job.  I maintained an accredited residence 
program for 17 years." -- Dr. Henry Foster, NIGHTLINE, February 8, 1995.

Indeed, it must have been a very difficult job, for Meharry Medical College's 
residency program in obstetrics and gynecology lost its accreditation in 1991.

Loss of accreditation is obviously a major blow to any educational 
institution.  For an educational administrator, it is the ultimate failure.  
There may be any number of reasons why the program lost its accreditation, and 
it would be unfair to lay responsibility for this solely at the feet of Dr. 
Foster.  Nonetheless, this is a serious negative on his record.  This is the 
equivalent to a businessman having been head of a corporation that went 
bankrupt.

The inescapable conclusion is that Dr. Foster's record as an administrator is 
not a successful one, and this adds one more reason to question his 
suitability for the post of Surgeon General.

-0-                         2/13/95

/CONTACT:  Kristin Hansen of the Family Research Council, 202-393-2100