The ethics committee was in agreement that the patient should be operated on, given his emergent status. Initially, he was too medically unstable, and for three weeks was in an intensive care unit until his condition stabilized to the point that he could tolerate the surgery. He became sufficiently stable to permit surgery and both of his heart valves were replaced. He did very well after surgery. His pitting edema and jaundice reversed, and he was discharged after a week to the care of a relative. He received follow-up care in the hospital's cardiac clinic and was provided needed medications. He stated his intent to return to his home country once he recovered from the surgery.

The Central and East European Association of Bioethics, CEEAB, was founded in the Hungarian city of Pecs, on 6 February 1999, at a meeting of scholars from Croatia, Hungry, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Russia. The meeting was supported by the Soros Foundation and the Albert Schweitzer Institute for the Humanities.

In a new and important book entitled The Managed Care Blues and How to Cure Them, a lifetime consumer advocate and a surgeon who witnessed the excesses and unaccountable errors of his colleagues under fee for service explain with deft hands the promise of managed care, its problems, and solutions to them. Walter Zelman and Robert Berenson show empathy for the consumer backlash, provider resentment, and the patients' rights movement that has spawned a thousand bills to prevent possibly unethical actions. Yet they believe these efforts to regulate managed care are misdirected and will prevent it from realizing its potential.

This section is meant to be a mutual effort. If you find an article you think should be abstracted in this section, do not be bashful—submit it for consideration to feature editor Kenneth V. Iserson care of CQ. If you do not like the editorial comments, this will give you an opportunity to respond in the letters section. Your input is desired and anticipated.