Tribute to Charles G. Drake, MD
Charles G. Drake, MD, the 1977-78 AANS President, died on September 15, 1998, of metastatic cancer. Dr. Drake, a 41-year AANS member, was a Professor Emeritus of Neurosurgery at the University of Western Ontario (London).
Dr. Drake earned his medical degree from the University of Western Ontario (London) before completing his residency in general surgery at Victoria Hospital (London) and his residency in neurological surgery at Toronto General Hospital.
An active contributor to organized neurosurgery, Dr. Drake served as Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery (1975-76), as President of the American Surgical Association (1987-87), as President of the American College of Surgeons (1984-85), as President of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (1977-81), as Director of the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons (1968-70), and as a member of approximately 40 scientific organizations.
Dr. Drake is the recipient of numerous awards, including the AANS Harvey Cushing Medal (1988); the Canadian Medical Association’s FNG Starr Award (1986); and the London Foundation’s Ivey Award for Excellence (1986).
A world-renown expert in cerebrovascular surgery, Dr. Drake published more than 200 articles for peer reviewed journals. He lectured and completed visiting professorships at medical schools and clinics all over the world.
On behalf of his contributions to organized neurosurgery and his community, Dr. Drake was recently recognized as a Companion in the Order of Canada — the country’s highest and most prestigious civilian honor.
AMA and Sunbeam Reach Settlement
The American Medical Association (AMA) and Sunbeam Corporation recently reached a settlement in the trademark licensing suit. The $20 million suit was filed by Sunbeam in 1997, when the AMA Board of Directors determined a contract between the two organizations to be contrary to long-standing AMA practices.
Under terms of the settlement, the AMA has agreed to reimburse Sunbeam $2 million for out-of-pocket expenses, including attorney fees, as mandated by the original contract. The AMA also will compensate Sunbeam $7.9 million for damages related to the Board’s 1997 decision not to proceed with the licensing agreement.
“Reaching this settlement was a team effort,” said Randolph D. Smoak, Jr., MD, Chair of the AMA’s Board of Trustees. “It resolves all existing differences between our organizations and closes this chapter in the life of the AMA, once and for all.”
Attack of the Millennium Bug
According to the Senate’s Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem (Y2K), the medical industry is not making significant strides to combat the millennium bug. The bug, which affects computers, devices, and software systems that use only two digits to represent the date, will cause systems on or after January 1, 2000 to mistake the year for 1900. This error could be devastating to the medical industry.
To demonstrate the magnitude of this problem, the Gartner Group, a market research firm, polled approximately 17,000 companies in 75 countries worldwide to get an idea of how firms must act to solve their Y2K problem. They found that most companies spend 10 percent of their IT budget in their first year of tackling the millennium bug, 30 percent the next, and 40 percent the third year.
All told, the health care industry is working far below the average to combat this problem, thereby thrusting the industry into a critical position as we approach the year 2000.
TICLID Warning
According to the Food and Drug Administration, Roche Laboratories recently announced changes to the way ticlopidine (TICLID) is labeled. These changes will more prominently describe an adverse reaction to TICLID, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), and give information about its diagnosis and treatment.
TICLID is used to reduce the risk of thrombotic stroke in patients who have experienced stroke precursors, or who have had a stroke and are intolerant or allergic to aspirin, or have failed aspirin therapy. The revised labeling moves the previously bolded TTP warning into the boxed warning. This change has been made to provide additional information regarding the diagnosis and management of TTP.