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US could ban patents on medical procedures

Judge William Sessions of the US district court in Burlington, Vermont, ruled against Dr Samuel Palin of Sun City, Arizona, who claimed that he had invented "no stitch" cataract surgery in 1990 by making a frown shaped cut on the patient's eyeball and had obtained a patent on the procedure. He later sued some Vermont eye surgeons who performed the operation and said that he planned to seek royalties for millions of no stitch cataract operations.

Ophthalmologists countered his claim by pointing to articles in medical journals that showed that other doctors had used slightly different techniques to remove cataracts without stitches being needed to close the incision before Dr Palin's development.

Judge Sessions declared Dr Palin's claims invalid and forbade him to enforce any patent claim against any doctor or medical centre. The defendant in the suit, Dr Jack Singer of Hanover, New Hampshire, said, "Physicians need to be able to practise medicine without the fear of a patent infringement suit hanging over their heads."

US doctors have begun to seek patents on medical and surgical methods and several patents are issued every week. Dr Palin's lawsuit was the first effort to collect royalties. Medical organisations, including the American Medical Association, have pointed out that these patents drive up the cost of health care and are unethical. About 80 countries, including Britain and France, prohibit them.--CHARLES GENE-McDANIEL, freelance journalist, Chicago

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