Herb Green
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2008-04-06T23:46:43Z
Art LaPella
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{{For|people with similar names|Herbert Green}}
'''George Herbert "Herb" Green''' (1916–2001) was the doctor at the centre of the [[Cartwright Inquiry]], a commission set up to examine claims that he had been illegally experimenting on patients without their consent between 1966 and 1987. The inquiry found that he had conducted a study between 1966 and 1987 in which the cases of women with major cervical abnormalities were followed without definitive treatment, in an attempt to prove his "personal belief" that these abnormalities were "not a forerunner of invasive cancer."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.womens-health.org.nz/cartwright/cartsummary.htm |title=Cartwright Inquiry - Summary of findings and recommendations}}</ref> According to Judith Macdonald, a researcher at the University of Waikato, Green was strongly opposed to abortion,<ref name="Macdonald">{{cite web |url=http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/mcdonald%20paper.pdf |title="The Hidden Bits": Understanding Cervical Screening |last=Macdonald |first=Judith |format=PDF |pages=2 |accessedate=2007-03-05}}</ref> and his distaste for anything that reduced a woman's fertility was evident in his discussions with patients and his avoidance of the treatments available at the time (hysterectomy or cone biopsy).<ref name="Macdonald"/><ref name="obit">{{cite journal |url=http://www.ranzcog.edu.au/publications/o-g_pdfs/OG-2000-2003/OG-Sept-2001.pdf |format=PDF |title=Obituary: Dr George Herbert Green |journal=O&G |year=2001 |month=September |volume=3 |number=3 |pages=223 |accessedate=2007-03-05}}</ref>
After Green retired, a paper<ref>{{cite journal| last=McIndoe| first=William A. |coauthors=McLean, M.R., Jones, R.W., Mullins, P.R. |title=The invasive potential of carcinoma in situ of the cervix |journal=Obstetric Gynecology |year=1984 |volume=64 |pages=451–458}}</ref> was published in 1984 discussing the outcome of Green's management of his patients. This paper came to the attention of [[Phillida Bunkle]] and [[Sandra Coney]], who published an article entitled "An Unfortunate Experiment" in ''[[Metro (magazine, NZ)|Metro]] Magazine'' in June 1987.<ref name="Heslop">{{cite journal|url=http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/117-1199/1000/|title=‘All about research’—looking back at the 1987 Cervical Cancer Inquiry|last=Heslop|first=Barbara|journal=New Zealand Medical Journal|date=[[6 August]] [[2004]]|volume=117|issue=1199}}</ref> (The full phrase "an unfortunate experiment at National Women's Hospital" first appeared the year before in the ''New Zealand Medical Journal'', in a letter from Professor David Skegg.<ref name="JonesFitzgerald">
{{cite journal| last=Jones| first=Ronald |coauthors=Fitzgerald, Norman |title=The development of cervical cytology and colposcopy in New Zealand: 50 years since the first cytology screening laboratory at National Women’s Hospital |journal=New Zealand Medical Journal |date=[[2004-11-26]] |volume=117 |number=1206}}</ref>) The main media then used the term "unfortunate experiment" extensively.{{Fact|date=March 2007}}
The judge in the case, Dame [[Silvia Cartwright]], ruled against Green, although he was never tried on account of being declared mentally and physically unfit to stand trial.
Defenders of Green allege that the flaws in his experimental methods were common among researchers in New Zealand between 1950 and the mid-1970's. These flaws included ignorance of the need for a [[hypothesis]] to be falsifiable and the lack of peer-review prior to the beginning of experimentation.<ref name="Heslop">a</ref>
Green graduated from Otago Medical School in 1945 and retired in the early 1980s, before the publication of the article in ''Metro''. His specialities were [[gynaecology]] and [[obstetrics]] and he wrote a textbook on the subject that underwent several revisions. He died in 2001.<ref name="obit"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/425826/32216|title='Unfortunate experiment' doctor dies|publisher=[[Television New Zealand]]|date=[[March 8]] [[2001]]}}</ref>
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*{{cite journal |url=http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/117-1199/1000/ |title=‘All about research’—looking back at the 1987 Cervical Cancer Inquiry |last=Heslop |first=Barbara |journal=New Zealand Medical Journal |date=[[6 August]] [[2004]] |volume=117 |issue=1199}}
**Response, and rejoinder: {{cite journal |url=http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/117-1202/1084/ |title=Looking back at the 1987 Cervical Cancer Inquiry |author=Auckland Women’s Health Council |journal=New Zealand Medical Journal |date=[[24 September]] [[2004]] |volume=117 |issue=1202}}
*[http://www.womens-health.org.nz/cartwright/cartwright.htm Cartwright inquiry], Women's Health Action Trust
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[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:New Zealand doctors]]
[[Category:University of Otago alumni]]
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