University Daily Kansan
Thursday, July 8, 1976
3
Comment
Women lose ground in VD case
BY BECCI BREINING
Associate Covering Editor
Venercell disease has made its court debut.
In Park County, Wyo., a jury of four women and two men recently found a New York socialist-turned-rancher, Pony Duke, guilty of giving a woman gorilla torture. He has been jailed in damages, and although a woman won, the issue of women's rights suffered a setback.
The lawyer for the 35-year-old secretary proved three things to win the landmark decision. First, he proved that the defendant was the source of House's infection. Second, he proved that the infection left her permanently in pain and with only a 12 per cent chance of having children with it. Third, he proved that the jury that the defendant was liable for House's health problems because he knew he could be carrying nerve disease.
The woman's lawyer likened the risk of contracting gonorrhea to the risk of being hit while crossing a street. People should be free to engage in sexual activity without fear, just as they should be able to cross a street without fear, he said.
BUT THE lawyer pressed for more than basic rights. Unfortunately, he argued his case from the standpoint of women's rights.
Because VD symptoms are hidden in women until advanced stages (in men they are immediate and in dramatic), women should have special care said the lawyer. The lawyer said he hoped the case would "serve to stop the suffering of women everywhere from this kind of degradation."
Clearly, the term "women's rights" was abused. A woman can give VD to a man just as easily as he can to her. Regardless of symptoms and when they occur, the issue isn't one of women's rights. It's one of human rights.
To think that the law should provide women protection from "the ravages of D" and not give the same consideration to female gender, recognize gender. That's why it's social.
It seems the lawyer molded a popular cause to suit his needs. He disguised the case in a cloak of women's rights, and the predominantly female jury bought it.
It's unfortunate that a significant cause
suffered at the hands of someone who contorted it in order to pocket his share of a 7-factor compensation. Women's rights are under attack in many parts of the treatment of their cause, especially in court.
HIT HAS been said there is no justice for women as long as laws are made and administered by men. That is wrong. There is no justice for women as long as laws are made and administered by men (and women) who believe in legalism deserve different legal considerations.
The lawyer for Housen might have taught him he was doing woman a favor. He did only that and then left.
Karen DeCrow, lawyer and president of the National Organization of Women, has said that women fare miserably under the POCA framework "for them". The VD case is evidence of that.
Some people may be shocked that such a case has made an appearance on our blog, and the doodles. Others, who are merely amused, may get upset by getting a cold from a drinking glass?
British journal says England should be state
LONDON (AP) — Britain's respected Economist magazine, its stiff upper lip twitching with a hint of laughter, published yesterday a "declaration of dependence" proposing that Britain become the 51st State of the Union.
In a paraphrase of Thomas Jefferson's 1778 document, the usually staid economics and current affairs journal catalogued the sins of the British government:
"They have erected a multitude of new offices and sent out swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. . .
They have reduced the value of the point to just about 1,766 dollars, which is an exaggeration.
The item endured with the declaration "that this island is, and of right ought to be, the fifty-first state . . . of the United States of America and Britain."
Lest anyone in economically troubled Britain take it as a real call to rebellion, the Economist prominently subbed the piece: "Here's an only just tongue-in-cheek document disgruntled and rebellious Britons might like to sign."
United Tribes aids 80 students
About 80 University of Kansas students received financial relief this summer through a United Tribes of Kansas program, which is sponsored throughout the state by the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA).
Nanette Robbideaux, of the Office of Native American Alliance, said yesterday, "The purpose is to provide persons with jobs and to help them continue with school."
The 10-week program is federally funded through Title I and Title III, national higher
education acts, and is designed to provide campus offices with additional staff members. The program, in its first year, runs from June 5 to August 13.
"WE MOSTLY have minorities who are working at such sites as libraries, stadium maintenance, the Affirmative Action office, language labs and Building and Grounds," he said. "The program specifies that employment must be at nonprofit businesses."
Malpractice . . .
From page one
ance until last Thursday when the legislation became effective.
Dunn said proponents of "going bare" failed to state potential risks.
During 27 years of practice, he said he had never been sued. He said he had carried maipractice insurance intermittently during that time, usually when frightened peers told him he ought to be insured or when premiums were low.
"In a judgment against the person without assets, his house and furniture could be sold or his income could be garrisoned long as it takes to pay off the judgment."
Insurance companies are not "losing their shirts as they claim," he said.
Doctors ought to spend their time and expense bringing insurance companies to account rather than trying to remake the legal system, Dunn said.
"The amount of premium money in a given year in Kansas so far exceeds the total payout for settlements and judgments," Dunn said.
A New York insurance company, he said, claimed it had lost millions in a year, but an examination of its books showed the money was being managed of its investment portfolios.
"Either the doctors are being robbed or they are being murdered by nudginess of psychiatrists in other states."
"Either the doctors are being robbed blind in Kansas or they are paying for the negligence of physicians in other states," Dunn said.
Events
TOMORROW: INCOMING FRESHMAN ORIENTATION will be all day for Liberal Arts and Sciences, STAGE BAND CONCERT at 7:30 p.m. in Swarthout Recital Hall. SUA FILM, "Deathrise 2000," will be shown at 7:30 p.m.
Transportation has changed...
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