While University of Nebraska Medical Center officials say that Dr. LeRoy Carhart doesn't receive any payment for providing fetal brain cells from abortions for research, his volunteer faculty position gives him added professional credentials. The sole link between Carhart and the NU Medical Center, university officials say, is that he provides the fetal brain cells for research into Alzheimer's, AIDS-related dementia and other brain-related diseases. For that reason, Carhart received the volunteer faculty appointment in October 1997, said Tom O'Connor, Medical Center spokesman. As supplier of the Medical Center's fetal tissue, Carhart makes "a valid contribution to the academic enterprise," O'Connor said. Carhart, who has a Bellevue abortion clinic, has developed a method of isolating brain cells that he uses in supplying the Medical Center with fetal tissue, O'Connor said. For a time, Carhart listed his unpaid faculty position on his Internet resume. The resume said he "holds a current faculty position at the University of Nebraska Medical College, Omaha, Nebraska." A recent check of the Web site showed that Carhart had removed any mention of the faculty position. Carhart remains on the Medical Center's volunteer faculty, O'Connor said this week. Carhart also gained professional recognition by being listed as one of nine authors of an article describing the Medical Center's HIV-related research using fetal tissue. The Journal of Virology published the article in the April 1998 issue. Although all physicians who perform abortions generate controversy, Carhart has become more of a lightning rod than most, partly because he has successfully challenged Nebraska's law prohibiting the procedure called "partial-birth" abortion by its opponents. O'Connor said he doesn't know what value Carhart attaches to his status as a volunteer faculty member. Through a receptionist at his Bellevue abortion clinic, Carhart declined an interview and referred all questions to O'Connor. NU officials have said that Carhart is not teaching at the Medical Center and is not caring for patients there. Disclosure of the Medical Center's use of aborted fetuses for research - and Carhart's role in providing fetal brain cells - has prompted strong public reaction on both sides. Critics contend that research use of fetal tissue from elective abortions is morally repugnant and might encourage women to have abortions. Supporters contend that it makes sense to use fetal brain cells that otherwise would be destroyed. No evidence exists that using the fetal tissue for research encourages abortions, they say. The NU regents voted 7-0 last Saturday to support brain research that uses fetal tissue. The debate has prompted the Medical Center to change some procedures and has led NU officials to announce formation of an advisory committee. Anti-abortion leaders have repeatedly voiced suspicions that Carhart is being paid for supplying fetal tissue. In a written statement, the Washington-based Traditional Values Coalition said this week that the NU Medical Center was "buying body parts from an abortionist." Asked for proof, a coalition official failed to provide any. Andrea Sheldon Lafferty, the coalition's executive director, said that elsewhere in the United States abortion providers receive "site fees" or other remuneration such as transportation costs. "Why else would he do it?" she asked, referring to Carhart. University officials repeatedly have denied that any money has been paid to Carhart, even for expenses. Again this week, O'Connor said that Carhart doesn't receive any monetary compensation or fees. "We're not paying in any form," O'Connor said. Even so, said State Sen. Paul Hartnett of Bellevue, "by granting him faculty status, which he has been quick to capitalize on and publicize, the university is enhancing his professional credentials." In a letter to Medical Center Chancellor Harold Maurer, Hartnett asked that Carhart either be removed from the unpaid faculty or be hired as a paid staff member through the normal process. State Sen. LaVon Crosby of Lincoln, in a letter to NU President L. Dennis Smith, said the university should end Carhart's faculty status. Carhart might use it as a credential to market fetal tissue to other institutions, she said. O'Connor said he doesn't know whether Carhart has any arrangement to provide other institutions with fetal tissue. Federal law prohibits the sale of human tissue, including fetal tissue. National Institutes of Health guidelines allow for the recovery of "reasonable expenses" for the retrieval, storage and transportation of such tissues. Nationally, there have been allegations that loopholes allow some individuals or groups involved in providing fetal tissue to make a profit. The scientific article listing Carhart as an author said the Medical Center's research using fetal brain tissue was supported by federal grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Charles A. Dana foundation and University of Nebraska Biotechnology start-up funds. Don Leuenberger, Medical Center vice chancellor for business and finance, repeated previous statements by officials that the fetal-tissue research is financed entirely by federal grants and not by state tax funds. The reference to the Dana foundation and to NU Biotechnology start-up funds applies only to money going to the general operation of Dr. Howard Gendelman's unit at the Medical Center, called the Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders, Leuenberger said. Gendelman is the lead researcher for the project that uses fetal tissue. NU Biotechnology start-up funds come from a share of medical fees paid to NU Medical Center physicians, from royalties and license fees paid to the university and from private gifts, Leuenberger said. Leuenberger and O'Connor said they are uncertain why Carhart was named to the volunteer faculty in 1997, rather than in 1993 when the Medical Center began the fetal cell-related research. Following normal Medical Center procedure, Dr. Samuel Cohen, who heads the Department of Pathology and Microbiology, recommended Carhart's appointment to the unpaid faculty. Carhart, 58, learned how to perform abortions during medical school at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital in Philadelphia in the 1970s. He served as chief resident at Atlantic City Medical Center in 1977 and 1978. He later became an Air Force surgeon. He has said that he decided to perform abortions mainly because of the women he saw suffering from back-alley abortions during his residency. He became a part-time provider for an Omaha abortion clinic in 1988 and opened his Bellevue abortion clinic in 1992. Although Carhart's clinic performs "partial-birth" abortions, those procedures are not used to obtain fetal cells for the Medical Center's research, O'Connor said. Carhart challenged the Nebraska law prohibiting such abortions and won the right to continue them when a federal judge blocked state officials from enforcing the law. A federal appeals court panel later declared the state law unconstitutional. Carhart has been called an abortion "circuit rider," someone who travels to other cities to perform abortions. In 1997, he was licensed to practice medicine in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Kansas and Wisconsin. He said then that he was performing 80 to 100 abortions a month. He has said he decided to become a full-time provider of abortions after arsonists burned his horse barn in Sarpy County in 1991, killing 17 horses. Because of a letter he received afterward, he believes it was the work of abortion opponents. No one was ever charged in the fire. He has declined to discuss the precautions he takes as he travels, except to acknowledge that he doesn't use his own name when he stays in hotels. Glue has been put in the locks of his Bellevue clinic, forcing patients to wait while locksmiths are called. Carhart was the subject of a 1993 misconduct complaint by the State of Nebraska. The state alleged, among other things, that Carhart fell asleep while injecting a patient with anesthetic and on two occasions performed an abortion while talking on the telephone. Carhart contended that the proceeding amounted to a persecution by state officials opposed to abortion. In a settlement approved by the State Board of Examiners in Medicine and Surgery, Carhart did not admit wrongdoing. He agreed not to do any of the things of which he was accused. No disciplinary action was taken against him. Carhart and his wife, Mary, have two grown children.
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