TO THE EDITOR:
I am a retired physician and have been auditing courses on campus for several years.
I was shocked to read the unsigned editorial (“Prostate debate”) in the Oct. 1 issue of The Daily Tar Heel supporting the establishment of a free- standing, very narrowly focused “prostate center” in Raleigh. The argument was based on the high mortality rate of prostate cancer in North Carolina, and the large black Raleigh population which has a higher incidence of the disease than males generally.
The above points are granted, but to place a single disease-oriented, publicly-funded “prostate center” away from a major research oriented medical center, with its multiple areas of expertise from the basic sciences to the clinical specialties of all sorts, would be a major mistake.
I hope that this is not just another profit-driven idea that plagues our dysfunctional health care system generally. It has that smell.
Thomas R. Sawyer, M.D.
Fearrington Village resident
