COMPETITIVE imbalance among football teams at Oahu's private high schools was a matter of concern before Damien Memorial High School announced it would forfeit both of its games against powerhouse St. Louis High in the upcoming season. No quick solution of the problem is likely, but the move should accelerate efforts to avoid in the future what Damien's president understandably regarded as potentially dangerous mismatches with legal ramifications. Against St. Louis,
Damien plays it safeThe issue: Damien Memorial High
School forfeits its football games
against St. Louis because of player
safety and legal liability.Damien's decision puts pressure on the athletic league of private high schools to take action before other member schools take similar precautions. O'Donnell mentioned safety and liability concerns as the reasons for forfeiting the two games. Damien's choice is now part of the legal playing field.
Unlike public high schools, private schools can provide inducements that amount to athletic scholarships to promising athletes. That, combined with an excellent coaching staff and a magnetic recruiting network, has produced a football buzz saw at St. Louis that is among the best in the nation. It is a dynasty that shows no signs of ending and may become even more formidable as student-athletes regard it as a boost in obtaining athletic scholarships.
In college sports, hundreds of schools tailor their programs according to the desired level of competition and promise of profitability, regardless of school enrollment. Competition is enhanced at the professional level by draft systems that benefit less successful teams. Those systems work, but they offer no practical guidance for achieving parity among private high schools in Hawaii.
St. Louis has outscored Damien in the last six football seasons by a total of 415-7. Last season, St. Louis clobbered Damien, 49-7 and 84-0, reflecting greater physical risk than embarrassment.
"I'm afraid kids are going to get hurt in meaningless games," said Gregory O'Donnell, Damien's president. "I'm interested in the health of the kids, the well-being of the student-athletes. I don't want to put them into a game that's a foregone conclusion, and this is a year that we're particularly young and small; we're going to have five seniors."
A new rule limits each of the six teams in the private Interscholastic League of Honolulu to 65 players. St. Louis' and Kamehameha's rosters have approached 100. However, smaller rosters are not likely to help and could even add to lopsided scores, eliminating the use of lesser players by runaway winning teams in the final minutes of contests. Coach Lee's proposal to allow St. Louis and Kamehameha to field two teams each -- rejected by the league last month -- seems to be a more logical improvement.
ADVERTISING cultivates consumerism, critics say, convincing people to want what they may not need. This may well be true, but with advertising sometimes comes the worthy byproduct of information. AMA proposes to ban
drug advertisingThe issue: Some doctors say that drug
companies are misinforming the public
and interfering in their relationships
with patients.The American Medical Association is considering a proposal that the Food and Drug Administration ban prescription drug ads from television, newspapers and magazines, a move that may violate free speech rights and could cut off information to patients.
Proponents of the ban contend that drug companies are not spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year touting their products to help patients, but to increase their bottom lines. The ads are some of the most evocative and emotionally appealing, and delude patients into believing the drugs have miraculous effects, some doctors say. Doctors are put in the position of having to defend themselves if they do not think a particular drug is best for the patient, undermining a physician's credibility and interfering with the doctor-patient relationship.
The solution, however, is not to choke off the drug companies, which are simply exercising their right to free speech. Doctors should be able to convince their patients that they are prescribing the best medicine for them, and should welcome discussions with them about health care needs. Patients are often more attuned to their bodies than doctors, and may be more alert to new drugs or new methods of treatment because they have more at stake.
The AMA's proposal argues that the ads in their brevity can be deceptive. Again, it is the physician's duty to supplement information about a drug, such as side effects and applications.
Doctors opposed to the ban say the ads may encourage the ill to seek medical attention. Ads for antidepressants, for example, may remove the stigma associated with the condition and help people realize they need not suffer.
The AMA's proposal comes on the heels of a new advertising campaign by Planned Parenthood of Chicago to promote an online prescription service for morning-after birth control pills.
Illinois officials are evaluating the service because it may violate state medical practices, but Georgia has been advertising similar online service since it became available last summer. Planned Parenthood officials there say the Web site provides information to women who may want to consider their options.
The central issue in both these matters is information. Doctors should understand that the more people know about health care alternatives, the better. Information should be generously given. The days of "doctor knows best" are long gone.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, President
John Flanagan, publisher and editor in chief 529-4748; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.com The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (USPS 249460) is published daily by
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