Retrolental Fibroplasia: A Modern Parable – Appendix B
Appendix B
Cooperative Study of Retrolental Fibroplasia
Coordination Committee
The Coordination Committee was composed of:
V. Everett Kinsey, Ph.D., Chairman
Kresge Eye Institute, Detroit, Michigan
Richard L. Day, M.D.
Babies Hospital, New York, New York, and later, State University of New York College of Medicine, Brooklyn, New York
Franklin M. Foote, M.D.
National Society for the Prevention of Blindness, New York, New York
F.M. Hemphill, Ph.D.
School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Arnall Patz, M.D.
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
Clement A. Smith, M.D.
Boston Lying-In Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Harold Tager
U.S. Public Health Service, N.I.H., Bethesda, Maryland
F. Howell Wright, M.D.
Chicago Lying-In Hospital, Chicago, Illinois
Dr. Harry H. Gordon, a leading authority in the care of premature infants, declined an invitation to serve on the planning committee. Moreover, he was unwilling to have the Harriet Lane premature infant nursery at Johns Hopkins Hospital participate in the proposed study because he believed that the existing evidence was “sufficiently suggestive to warrant recommending use of as little oxygen as necessary to raise premature infants.” His experience with changing policies of oxygen therapy while he was at Colorado General Hospital in Denver from 1947-1953 (p 41) suggested that restriction of oxygen was not associated with an increase in mortality of premature infants. Dr. Gordon respected the views of others who disagreed with him, but he believed that the proposed study should be undertaken only by those who were unable to accept the available evidence. He remained in touch with the planning committee and contributed suggestions concerning the final protocol of the national trial.