Law and the Life Sciences: Psychosurgery: Procedural Safeguards

Abstract

the Commission's initial report on psychosurgery in August 1976, was anticipated. Headlines in Science noted, National Commission Issues Surprisingly Favorable Report (October 15, 1976), and in the Nation, Congress [sic] Endorses Psychosurgery (October 23, 1976). Since an endorsement of psychosurgical procedures was not what the Commissioners had in mind, the report was reconsidered at subsequent meetings, and has undergone significant revisions during the past six months. The Commission's final report on the subject was issued on March 14, 1977. Certain provisions are unlikely to please either avid promoters of psychosurgery or those favoring a complete ban; nonetheless, it is a reasonable response to a highly complex problem, and its basic approach is likely to gain general acceptance. Briefly, the Commission found that psychosurgery is an experimental procedure, that in certain cases it could have a therapeutic effect, that a potential subject's status should not de facto prohibit him from undergoing psychosurgery, and that procedural safeguards could and should be set