Ted Kennedy Goes Under the Knife

A week after the announcement that he has brain cancer, Senator Ted Kennedy will undergo surgery this morning in an attempt to remove the malignant tumor. There had been speculation that Kennedy might avoid surgery since the tumor is in a sensitive part of the brain that controls language, a crucial chunk of gray matter for a politician and orator. Bolstering that impression, early releases from Kennedy's doctors discussed a treatment plan of radiation and chemotherapy, but didn't mention surgery. But after a weekend meeting with cancer experts from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, Kennedy apparently decided to take his chances with the scalpel. Now, as the nation waits for news, attention has shifted to the surgery's risks and possible outcomes. Experts say that the risk of damaging healthy brain tissue that controls speech and motor functions must have been outweighed by the possibility of ...