Consent

A bill to require a patient's permission before the state collects information on medical treatments died last night in a House committee, as legislators brushed aside arguments about the possible loss of privacy.The bill died in the House Environmental Matters Committee on a vote of 8-9, effectively concluding the issue for the remainder of the General Assembly's 90-day session.The bill would have required a patient to consent to having data about his or her treatment submitted to state agencies that monitor health care costs and availability.

A delicate compromise between the medical society and state regulators has collapsed, with the board of the doctor group rejecting modifications in the state's data collection program.Earlier this month, the Health Care Access and Cost Commission approved additional confidentiality protections on the data it collects, largely following a proposal from the medical society, the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, or Med-Chi.But the medical society's board rejected the compromise Thursday night.

For the first time in a half-century, new federal regulations allow investigators to enroll patients in some medical research studies without their consent.The Food and Drug Administration regulations, which took effect Friday, apply only in carefully circumscribed situations.The patients must have a life-threatening condition, such as a severe head injury, and must be unable to say whether they want to be part of a study. They would be selected only if it was not feasible to obtain consent from a relative.

A 19-year-old man who surrendered to Southern District police Saturday was arrested and charged with raping a 13-year-old girl on the porch of an abandoned house on Route 214 near Riva Road in Davidsonville, police said.Jeremiah Paul McGee, of the 4900 block of 47th Ave. in Hyattsville was charged with rape.The girl from Tracey's Landing told police she and a man were at the abandoned house with several other youths drinking alcohol.The girl said she and the man had sex on the porch of the house with the girl's consent, but when the girl's brother arrived, he and the man began to fight, police said.

Boston. -- In America, it's become the sound-bite lecture, the bumper-sticker sermon, the generic sexual advice offered to young girls everywhere. Just say no, they are told, just say no. It sounds like the easiest thing in the world.But sometimes, if you back up and widen the lens, you can get a better look at that world. You can see just how easy it isn't.This is what happened in Beijing. The international community assembled for the women's conference finally agreed that a woman's human rights included her right to be free of sexual ''coercion, discrimination and violence.

A Baltimore medical equipment company that wants to market an innovative vest for reviving heart attack victims hopes to begin testing it on people by early next year.The testing would be made possible by federal regulators, who have proposed allowing doctors to test such innovations on emergency patients without first getting their consent.The proposed change to the so-called "informed-consent provision" -- published in yesterday's Federal Register -- could have implications nationwide for dozens of medical companies and researchers who are developing new drugs and devices for emergency care, said medical experts.

When last heard from, before this weekend, Chris Sabo was dTC on a mission. He wanted out of the dugout, Baltimore, the American League and his role as an occasional designated hitter -- in that order."

IN the early 1930s, Head Play had something in common with the 1994 Kentucky Derby troublemaker Ulises, who held up the race when he refused to enter the starting gate.In 1930, the electric gate was brand new, and during his schooling, Head Play simply refused to be led into the machine. In fact, he detested the contraption so much that he tried to kick it to pieces every time he got within reach.To protect both horse and machine, starter Jim Milton ordered Head Play placed outside the gate when he got to the races in 1932.

The beginning of the video snoop can probably be dated to 1948 when a man named Allen Funt hid a camera, tricked people into amusing and sometimes embarrassing situations, then -- after revealing himself and obtaining their consent -- broadcast the results on that fledgling medium, television.Today, Allen Funt -- whose "Candid Camera" show went off the air as a regular series in 1978 -- says this about the ever-increasing intrusion of the video camera into daily life: "It's a subject that I'm so confused about."

ARLENE BUTZ and Dr. Nancy Hutton could not have guessed at the results of their three-year study of babies at risk of catching AIDS from their mothers.Not the research results. Those are yet to be determined.It's the Christmas trees, the warm dinners, the child-care arrangements and the taxi fares.It's the bonding among the care-givers and the care-takers, women from radically different backgrounds and circumstances.It's the realization that as horrible as AIDS is, other problems -- such as finding a place to live -- overshadow the disease in many families.

The state's highest court ruled yesterday that a man can be charged with rape if he ignores a woman's calls to stop - even if she had previously consented to sex. With this expansion of the legal definition of rape, Maryland joins seven other states whose courts have determined that a woman can revoke her consent after intercourse begins. "This goes to the heart of women's autonomy," said Lisae C. Jordan, legal director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, which filed a brief in the matter.

Maryland's highest court heard arguments yesterday in a case closely watched by national and state women's groups regarding whether consensual sex can become rape if a woman says no in the middle of the act. Representing the state, Assistant Attorney General Sarah Page Pritzlaff urged the Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court's decision issued last year. She argued that when force is applied, the act qualifies as rape even if there was initial consent. "It's rape when the woman says, `I've changed my mind,' and the man continues to use force or threat of force," she told the judges.

BOSTON -- I'm glad I didn't fall for the latest Internet hoax. MarryOurDaughter.com? Hello? Did the millions who clicked onto this site actually think there were parents out there putting a bridal price on the head of their 15-year-old Ashlee ($37,500) or 16-year-old Kristin ($49,995)? The hoax proved to be the brainchild of John Ordover, a Brooklyn man practicing his viral marketing skills. It was Mr. Ordover who hyped this site as an "introduction service assisting those following the biblical tradition of arranging marriages for their daughters."

Tiger Army -- Music From Regions Beyond (Epitaph) After two albums of full-on psychobilly stomping, Tiger Army found its voice with number three, 2004's III: Ghost Tigers Rise, a collection of dark and delicate tunes that valued mood over aggression. Perhaps because of the band's heightened profile, singer and guitarist Nick 13 has decided to shuck the nuanced sound he was beginning to cultivate and create the biggest-sounding follow-up possible. In that sense, Music From Regions Beyond is a success.

It could be anything from pain to fear of HIV to a change of heart: A woman's "yes" turns to "no" during sex. But what if her partner persists? Maryland's two largest women's advocacy groups have urged the state's highest court to say that consensual sex can become rape if a woman says no at any time - a conclusion reached by courts of seven other states. The organizations are supporting a Maryland attorney general's office request last month that the Court of Appeals overturn a lower court's recent decision.

As Election Day approaches, American soldiers are trailing in the polls. The Iraqi polls, that is. According to a recent survey by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, more than 60 percent of Iraqis approve of attacks on U.S. forces and more than 70 percent want those forces out within a year. Most believe that the U.S. presence is provoking more conflict than it is preventing. The Bush administration's stated policy is to "stay the course" and secure Iraqi democracy.

The rape trial this week of Lamar Owens, Navy's star quarterback in 2005, will probably focus on the strict and antiquated definition of rape under military law, several experts said. The statute - which requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that rape was committed "by force and without consent" - makes it harder for prosecutors to win convictions in rape cases, which prompted Congress to reform the statute in 2005. But the new law, which creates degrees of rape and drastically revises the definition of consent, will not take effect until October 2007, too late for several courts-martial coming up this summer involving U.S. Naval Academy personnel.

Citing what they said was "outrageous" conduct by the FBI, lawyers representing two former lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee urged a federal judge yesterday to dismiss spying charges against the defendants, who are due to stand trial next month. Attorneys for Steve J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, who stand accused of discussing U.S. government secrets about Iran as part of their work for the lobby, said FBI agents acted improperly in their investigation of the case.

WASHINGTON -- In a conversation taped by an investigator, standout Navy quarterback Lamar S. Owens Jr. tearfully apologized to the fellow midshipman he is accused of raping after admitting that he had sex with her in her Naval Academy dorm room. On the tape, played by prosecutors at a hearing yesterday to determine whether there is enough evidence for a court-martial, Owens was emotional and apologized often, at one point saying: "I'm so sorry. ... I woke up the next day and I called you, and I wanted to kill myself and I still feel like that."

Since I run the sales and pur- chasing department, I have been using my personal e-mail account to correspond with customers who need information right away. I admit I also use the Web for personal business. But the boss also uses his personal e-mail account to forward not only sales leads but jokes as well. So it seemed hypocritical when he approached me one day and told me I spend too much time on the Web handling personal matters. I agreed not to send personal e-mails and do personal Web searches on company time.