Marvin Henderson, writing in
the Winter issue of the Kentucky

Imw Journal, slights that an expert board he established to adjudicate medical malpractice cases.

Mr. Henderson, following discussion of the legal aspects of malpractice cases, concludes that there
are no "cut and dried cases" in

malpractice.

or Wc Can Take That One To The

"

A Malpractice Board

Grocery Department"

cal profession on the defensive so
is often
thwarted in his effort to get expert

that an injured claimant

testimony.
These points lead him to conclude that an expert board should
be set up to hear, and decide,
cases involving a charge of medical malpractice.
We agree.

The author suggests that malpractice cases have increased in
number to the point vyhere it is
becoming a field of negligence in
its own right, and he suggests that
more definite rides need to be
established.

The problem has long been
pressing. Doctors wonder just how
far they may go in treating" a
patient at the scene of an accident or in some other emergency
without permission.

"The fact is simple," Mr. Henderson writes, "a physician who

suits brought by disgruntled patients has made the medical profession touchy and, perhaps, overly defensive on the subject.
Such a board as Mr. Henderson suggests, where cases could
be heard informally in a nonpub-licize- d
atmosphere, would take
much of the stigma from malpractice suits while, at the same time,
assuring that any legitimate claim
would be heard and resolved. Any
case not resolved by this method
could then go to trial.

sued for malpractice, whether to
be found guilty or not, is often,
irreparably, harmed in his career
due to the publicity of the suit
and due to the tendency on the
part of the public to feel that a
suit would not have been brought
if it had not been for a justifiable
claim."
The author also suggests that
the current situation of malpractice
hearings in court has put the medi
is

A

long string of malpractice

Let 9s Put Teachers Back Into The Classroom
great university is emerging
here at Ohio State. The physical
plant has never been in better
shape thanks to Dr. Gordon Carson. And now, thanks to Dr. John
C. Weaver, Ohio State has a chance
to catch up academically.
A

Dr. Weaver is the man who felt
that undergraduate teaching was
so important that he stood up before all the faculty to give them
a scholarly chewing-ou- t.
"You are not reaching enough,"
he told them in effect at the Distinguished Teaching Awards presentation last week. "You should
spend less time in research and
more in the classroom."
The trend toward more research
has increased markedly at Ohio
State in the last ten years. From
1955 until 1958 Ohio State's annual research expenditure remain

ed just under $4 million. Then it
began to skyrocket to its current
$12.2 million.

get master's degrees. Instead they

will go to cities and towns to hold
good jobs and be influential opinion-makers.

Of today's figure more than 90
percent is from federal grants.
Dr. Robert C. Stevenson, director of the Research Foundation,
explains that the increase is beginning to level off because of increased competition from other schools.
The race for research has taken
professors out of classrooms across
the nation. The American Association of University Professors figures average teaching loads have
shrunk from 12 hours a week a decade ago to six to nine hours a
week today.
The immediate result is that
the university's newest students
rarely see a professor and their
fresh minds are molded by the not
quite jelled minds of graduate students.
Of course, some graduates are
competent instructors, but most
have had no training in teaching.
And many seem interested only in
their own studies.
Obviously the undergraduates
are suffering.

They need the vision of a true
liberal education. They need to be
broad-minde- d
and mature because
be the leaders in their
they will
communities. From their vintage
points on the home fronts, they
will fight the cold war not a task
for unchallenged, undereducated
Casper Milkquetoast university products.

Dr. Weaver has the shell of a
plan to improve undergraduate instruction. In his speech last week
he urged faculty members to spend
less time in research and more time
in the classroom. He also promised
to appoint a committee to determine how to measure excellence
in classroom teaching and asked
every department to find ways to
bring professors into freshman and
sophomore classes.
Rut this is just a plan. It is up
to both students and faculty to see
that Dr. Weaver's plan is not washed down the drain of inaction.
There are over 30,000 students
and about 2,500 faculty members
here and both groups seem to applaud Dr. Weaver's idea to do some

thing about undergraduate instruction. Nothing will happen unless
everyone insists on improvements.
You the students and faculty
can do one thing immediately.
Make your gripes and suggestions
known. Talk to your superiors,
your professors, and your administrators. Write letters.
Say something now before it is
too late before the shape of the
coming "multiversity" hardens and
the undergraduate of the future
finds himself studying about the
extinct breed the classroom professor.

The Lantern
Ohio State University

Rites Of
Spring that

the
annual rites of spring have begun
on the Sports Center Field.
Rut then that is natural enough
. . .spring has traditionally been a
period of religious renewal.
One English professor recently remarked, "I played football
in high school, but I never perceived the experience as a mystic
union with the Lord."
We note with interest

Must we still fight the spurt
of the Sputnik that aimed education
at research and little else in the
1950s?

Research is vital. Rut, the students are just as important, perhaps
more so. ". . .What really matters
in higher education is young people
individual minds,"
. . .and their
Dr. Weaver said.
Most undergraduates will never,

The Kentucky Kernel
The South's Outstanding College Daily
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

ESTABLISHED

1894

FRIDAY, APRIL 2,

William Grant,

1965

Editor-in-Chi-

David Hawfe, Executive Editor

Sid Weub, Managing Editor

Linda Mills, News Editor
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Gay Gish, Women's rage Editor
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Blithe Hunsdohf, Feature Editor
Tom Finnie, Advertising Manager

Business Staff

Michael L. Damon, Circulation Manager

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