Front Street Weekly; 216

It. Tonight we'll examine legislative charges of bureaucratic malpractice in Oregon's treatment of injured workers leaving the scene rather early that there's a high probability they're going to get pushed into some kind of dream that doesn't have a job at the end. It's very humiliating and demeaning. Coronary artery disease is the number one killer in America. Death and Life are very personal experiences. And you may read about it but until you feel that it's just an incredible experience. We'll look beyond the stereotype of bureaucracy and meet some workers who make their careers within the system. I don't like the control part of it I don't like. The notion that. There is a hierarchy of control and people kind of get in line down the line and

everybody operates in their single corner rule. I call private eyes and they read an action packed life of excitement and suspense. Or do they. If I broke down a door like a private investigator does on television or race through the streets shooting guns and crashing and I'd be arrested. Good evening. Welcome to Front Street Weekly. In addition to those stories we'll discuss why there has been a rise in civil suits in the state's courtrooms. Kevin has our first story on the problems of injured workers or a gun as we know is a great place to live. But historically it has been a dangerous place to work. Our primary industries have a high number of workers hurt or killed on the job. Oregon's system of compensating and caring for injured workers is expensive controversial and currently under fire in the legislature. Reporter Jeff Young looks at an agency causing a large part of that

controversy. Part of what we're paid for when we go to work each morning is the risk we take while doing our jobs. Though many of us shuffling papers in the comfort and safety of an air conditioned office. Others use their backs or run the machines of industry. Generally. They know the risk. And sooner or later they generally get hurt. You know depending upon the extent of their injuries. They may become a client of the state's system of worker's compensation. If that happens they are given a number. Of file. And information over a sure and some money. And like over 30000 other workers a year. A series of appointments with their doctors caseworkers and insurance agents. They've become part of a system that spends a half billion dollars a year on injured workers. Workers are paid by their employers insurance company while they recuperate. And if

their injury is serious and permanent then they also receive a cash settlement to compensate for lost earning power. The fact is that while they rest suffer or contemplate the future they're costing someone money while off the job. Since 1976 the worker's compensation Department has operated a facility to rehabilitate them physically and to assess their chances of returning to their job or perhaps being trained for a new one. If within 120 days of their injury they haven't returned to work in the physical therapy program or have demonstrated success in retraining for a different job will most likely be referred to this facility. The Callahan center cost the Worker's Comp system five and a half million dollars. Its facilities are lavish. The staff is large and the annual budget for us nationally accredited program runs just over three million dollars. But

workers usually don't hear the place until they receive a letter in the mail. What specifically did the letter tell you. Do. Tell me to report to the Callaghan's on the second day. Are my benefits would be. That. You told her that. It was in a letter that I got from the insurance company and I've never heard of anything like that in my life. I just. I couldn't believe it. The workers compensation Department is very serious about the help that fills the Callaghan's center offers the injured worker. Attendance is more than encouraged. Statute requires that we inform the patient that failure to appear will result in action patient and we need to inform them in jeopardy. You'd see a lot more complaints if we failed to inform and then suspended. You would be deluged. So we have a statutory requirement to inform people that they're in jeopardy. It shouldn't offend anybody who plans on attending.

It's just less and less like saying welcome you're in you're in jeopardy. OK. I have no control. The legislature has said that if you do not attend. You. You will lose your benefits. Or compensation Department employee Mike Caulkins separate neurological damage on the job and was himself referred to Kelly. Says the mandatory attendance rule fosters a less than positive environment. There. Are a lot of rookies would get me to one side over coffee or at lunchtime. And discuss. The problem. That they were having. And they were frightened very frightened. They had been told if they didn't cooperate their. Income would be cut off. That they. Wouldn't be able to go to their doctor anymore. I'd say nine out of 10 injured workers that I've talked to have had a negative experience as a

result of the Callaghan's Center. First of all they don't understand why it exists why they're being asked to go there. Too many fear that in the examination process that takes their physical and mental that in effect the personnel there become investigators for the insurance carrier or the employer who is trying to close down a claim. And in fact it would appear that the number of claims that are close based upon the findings reached at the Callaghan's center have increased in the past year or two and this may be contrary to the opinion that injured workers own physician as to whether or not that person is recovered or is able to go back to work or the kind of work that that person can do. I think the concept of the Callaghan's center is probably a good one initially to try to do a better job of diagnosing and helping with treatment of injured workers to get them back to work. See if they maybe needed to be scheduling some retraining but somehow it's gone very much awry. The workers told

initially you have to go or you're going to lose your time was payments even though you haven't been told by your doctor that you're ready to go back to work yet they get out there and they get run around through tests that they can't see much meaning for They've been going to see rather early that there's a high probability they're going to get pushed into some kind of training that. Doesn't have a job at the end. It's very humiliating and demeaning. There's an atmosphere that hangs over the place that the workers who are injured are somehow trying to beat the system or live off the system workers compensation department administrator Roy Green says some workers may be tempted to abuse the system. Greenfields although most cooperate rules are necessary for those who wouldn't. Can the system afford to allow a worker. To not cooperate in his own improvement. And I believe very strongly that the system can afford it. They ever get tough you have

to be tough. That toughness also seems to apply to the center's approach to physical therapy. Basically what the caller said it was to institute a medically supervised. Increasingly resistant set of exercises that a worker does two or three times a day. So that as the body or that part of the body builds up it becomes stronger while a worker is in where it hurts it hurts. To. Use those muscles. Most of those are muscle strength to use those muscle causes pain. Now it's not intractable pain but it does hurt. But the problem is if they are ever going to get better and they're going to have to go through some sort of a program of that sort.

Were they hurt. Some patients say they were hurt too much and the pain did not produce healing. They injured my back. I had injury once at work. Missed one day at work. They injured it there. I went to backtrack. He says. You're not doing it. I went back the next day. I said I'm not doing this exercise any more. My hands dropped. This is strange because of it. I can get up. If I do something right they match. Just like this this man says that in addition to his injuries suffered on the job. He was diagnosed by the Centers having a coronary disease. He claims that although a series of rigorous exercises were prescribed including work on a treadmill the heart problem wasn't brought to his attention until it was too late. After my 15th day there I had a minor stroke on the freeway coming

from the Callahan center after I'd spent the day there. I went back the next day. I told him about it. They sent me to a doctor here in Salem. And since then I've had five minor strokes. Now obviously that you commuted to and from the center. Yes. Every day. Yes. They knew that you had a serious heart condition. Yes they did. And yet it was OK for you to go out driving your car. It was all right for me to be driving my car to drive. Drive 80 mile round trip again. Back and forth between saying in the county. Without my knowledge. I did not know it my first time that I knew it when I had it is when they put me in a hospital. You're getting in our car again. At that time they told me that I could have a major stroke at any time. Virtually everyone we talked with had at least one horror story. Every agency seems to generate at least a few. But the consistency of it

bad experiences are Calahan is documented by the governor's task force and worker's compensation report of 1980. Of patients surveyed 67 percent read at the center either harmful or at least unhelpful in their recovery. Only one in four. So the center's assistants help them. The report also listed relations with the outside medical community as a key problem. Impression has been that that the Counihan center has not benefit benefit patients. I personally have yet to see a patient. That's been benefited by the Calahan center. Because it's something inherent with their procedures their mode of operation structure. What is it. I don't know the answer and honestly I've not been there so I have not seen that either. But the response of patients my private patients that I've had about the Calahan cinereus they are not complementary that it's basically a big joke.

Others find it less amusing. When we first visited the Calahan center a few weeks ago. This man was storming into the administrators office to complain about the treatment he felt his wife was receiving. I see what you like and what I'm going by what I see what you don't know anything about what I did. My wife came in here have near ready to go back to work she was almost normal. You damn near got ready for a wheelchair. That's your opinion. That's not my opinion that's a fact set right now and. Actually it's a fact. Are you a doctor or a you think I don't know what it was or not. She was damn near good. What you come here. If she sticks around to be a paraplegic for Christ's sakes. I haven't commented. He was set up as our event. What was that it's neither. It's neither a bizarre event or common it's it does happen. Not routinely but occasionally something we have to deal with and it's an outgrowth of

a number of things. It's an out of frustration I think number one. Figure number two. I think last but not least is some injured workers have their own agenda and it may not be returning to work. We ask no more of you than we would that your employer would ask if you could in a day's work for a day's pay. That's all we ask for and that's part of the preparing people to return to work. Getting back to work ethic that saw this program as a last resort. They say they can't drop out of this program and go somewhere else continue to collapse. No. So in a sense they are trapped they are trapped. I didn't build the trap the legislature did. Not only did the legislature build the trap they are now part of it. Although they approve the legislation necessary to build the Callaghan's center. They now may have limited power to modify its operations. The center is funded through an assessment of Oregon employers

limited general revenue funds are used for its operation. If the center is to change it will be because Governor or a teacher decides to work with those outside the executive branch who are critical of the center. Coronary artery disease is the number one health problem in the United States. More and more Americans face the trauma of heart attack and stroke. February is heart month from straight examined why Heart disease is the number one killer and what treatment methods are available. In this story we show the actual open heart surgery of three patients performed in Oregon. A few scenes may be difficult for some viewers to watch. The heart. One of nature's miracles. The chambered muscular organ that contracts rhythmically due to its unique muscle tissue through its contraction. It

pumps blood throughout our bodies. Poets write about broken hearts usually defining our reactions to lost love but a broken. In this case diseased heart has a far different meaning for the cardiologist the doctor who deals with diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. And for the cardiac surgeon the specialist who operates to repair damaged hearts because of the catastrophic rise in heart and blood vessel diseases. There is a growing concern on the part of the medical community to inform people about ways to prevent these diseases. Cardiac surgeon Dr. Albert Starr explains a considerable amount of fat around the heart. And this is just a sign of the times. You know people are basically over nourished and this is one of the problems Dr. stuff when he has a heart attack or a heart attack is an interruption of blood supply to a important area of heart muscle that produces death that muscle who gets a heart

attack. Anyone can get a heart attack but it most often occurs in people who have hypertension overweight maybe diabetic heavy cigarette smokers over nourished. Most people are either unaware of the causes of heart disease or think they are immune to having a heart attack. Attorney Ferris buth was no exception. And I had I guess a certain arrogance about my physical fitness being far above. Men of my age and I will be 60 in another week. So I didn't feel I was a candidate for a heart attack but discovered he too would be a heart attack victim. When you have a heart attack it seems like every pore of your body is as big that simply turns out water an instant. I was absolutely dripping wet. And then I felt like an elephant was standing and putting pressure on the middle of my chest right in my heart. And I managed to make the bed. And then when you have the. Tremendous pressure of pain

around your heart your arms and legs sort of go up almost twitching as if an epileptic seizure. How has this changed your perception about life. Suddenly. Human relationships become much more important. And the idea of. Money hard work becomes less important. Now I'm getting back to my old feeling of optimism where I know I've got to go out and earn a living and be a good lawyer and make money. But I will never ever be the person I was before. Although medication and a change in the patients lifestyle can sometimes be the best treatment for a heart attack victim. Incredible advances in surgery techniques in the last few years now offer hope to patients who don't respond to the traditional methods or who need actual heart repair. Front Street met three people needing heart surgery and followed each through the surgery itself. Reuben frightful age 76 had his first heart attack years ago.

I had one in 60 and I also had one. I'm 62 and I also had one in 79. But you never had surgery. No. Why was that. Well it just seemed more a mild mild attack on me as you anticipate this surgery and just a little while now. Are you afraid. No not whatsoever. Maybe some of them do but I never did. Even when I did my heart attacks I never even was worried or anything like that. Nine month old Elizabeth Young was born with a condition commonly referred to as the blue baby syndrome. Her parents Judy and Dan have faced the fact she must have corrective surgery. Diane when did you discover the baby had this problem. From birth we knew that she did have the problem. And but we didn't know about the complications until about seven months. You know something we've kept. A tight rein on as far as follow through. But it definitely

is going to have to be taken care of surgically. Do you have any fear at this point. Oh certainly there's always fear that's more of an anxiety. But today with the new techniques and the. Gist of the time of the age it's it's it's really good for it. We want to be happy. We want her to have every advantage and. That's why we're in surgery right now. Machinist Larry Vandyke is 37. He learned two weeks ago his diseased heart made him a walking time bomb. How do you feel at this. I mean you get any idea what caused you to be here. Too much smoking. Are you afraid of the surgery right now. No. Yesterday was when I had my doubts. Shaking. And. Sliding. But what steps lead to heart surgery and how did Friday's young and Vandyke find themselves on the

operating table. Dr. Michael bird your cardiologist. When is surgery generally indicated. I would say it's generally indicated when. Patients experience symptoms. Which are relieved by. Medications. Once you come in on the criticism that has been made by some. That there are doctors who are too quick to suggest surgery. I think with any new procedure that. You've got a lot of initial enthusiasm and. I think what's happened now is a bypass surgery has been around long enough and the indication certainly amongst cardiologists and people who are close to the surgery are. Pretty well understood. At what point does the cardiologist recommend consulting with a surgeon. He would he would call a surgeon if in his view the patient paid for an operation. That is they don't they don't always make the decision

themselves and then call us and say we want you to do such and such operation on this particular patient. They would like to explore the possibility of surgery and so they would they would call us to see a particular patient for that kind of exploration. There are two important diagnostic tools to help the cardiologist in determining whether to call for the surgeon. One is the stress test which assesses the flow of blood to the heart. It checks for blockage and detects heart areas not getting enough blood. From street past that test. So that's pretty good stuff. No major heart disease. Let's get. Another diagnostic tool is the arterial gram or angiogram was where dyes injected into the heart and then the heart just photographed. Dr. William Symm QOF cardiologist administers the angiogram to his patient. He explains the test results he's in the hospital. He was placed in bed rest and started on the appropriate medications in anticipation of being the ground.

And once the bring him confirms that there was severe narrowing of almost every vessels supplying his heart. He was in contact with the surgeons in order to. Plan. Bypass surgery. So clearly that bypass surgery is indicated in this case. There's just about no question. That bypass surgery is. The only appropriate way to go. Here in the monitor room at St. Vincent Hospital. We're watching LARRY tonight who is behind us he appeared for surgery coronary artery bypass graft. It will do four or five depending on the need. Once the surgeon get see a. Sample of the tragic consequence of coronary artery disease affecting more and more young people. We see a lot of young men in this age group with severe Kiner disease. Now this patient is a heavy smoker. He's very much overweight. He's not been on an exercise program.

He's big and he looks ferocious but he's really out of shape. What are you doing with him. Well what we're doing is that he has fortunately disease confined to the corner arteries he has not had any major heart attacks and he's come in at the ideal time for correction. And you've got a nice little piece of vein it's an excellent excellent segment. He has beautiful arteries for bypassing that is. The arteries are diseased. It's true. But the disease is confined only to small segments of the artery at the very origins that we plan to hook in to five of his arteries first using the downstream vessel first and then placing the other end of the grafts on the aorta. We see this problem more commonly in heavy cigarette smokers. It is it's unusual to have to operate on someone under the age of 40. Who had not a heavy smoker. Elizabeth Young presents a different need. To Dr. Starr. She is on the operating

table not because of her lifestyle but due to a birth defect. This is a nine month old little blue baby. And this is a congenital defect which is really progressive with time now that we were able to operate on very small infants sometimes even in the first day of life. We can get her heart back to normal so she can grow and develop normally. Dr. Starr operates on 76 year old Reuben bridle who because of his age has a higher risk factor. Star completes a triple bypass graft as well as a valve replacement. He explains the next phase of heart patient care immediately following surgery. Now the patient is is in cardiac recovering and it becomes the responsibility of our excellent nursing staff in that area. The anesthesiologist will relate to them the status of the patient. All the medications that we received in the surgery many will be continued by the nurses and the cardiac recovery when the patient has a tube in his throat. He's on a respirator.

The heart is monitored constantly. Tubes for draining excess blood from the chest. The patient is sort of in a holding pattern with lots of experienced people around him. Moving him towards a safe landing so to speak. While each patient is carefully monitored in cardiac care recovery. For the surgeon remains the happy task of informing his patients families of the surgery is very very strong way and there are no complications no heart block or any other problems. OK. We will talk to you later. OK. Thanks. For Judy and dad. It is an immense relief and an emotion filled moment with the great great fanfare last night. Are you. Following the period spent in cardiac care. Heart patients are returned to pre-surgery rooms and daily grow stronger towards their goal of hospital discharge and normal lives

and heart disease diagnosis and care as well as lifesaving surgeries are ongoing daily missions for both cardiologists and cardiac surgeon. You do surgeries several surgeries a day. Five times a week. Does this surgery for you ever become routine or ho hum. Never never do. They never do because I'm constantly aware that this is a person under these drapes and that what we're doing is so important to them that we can't take it lightly as routine as it may seem to us. For them it cannot be taken lightly. Despite the advances that have made open heart surgery more routine heart disease remains the primary cause of death in this country. Although new medications are also available. Still many Americans will face the fact of living with a diseased heart. Changes in diet regular exercise no smoking and a less stressful

lifestyle are essential components in warding off America's number one killer. Most heart disease is easier to prevent and to cure. The dictionary defines bureaucracy as administration of government following inflexible routine. But whether we perceive it as a wasteful unresponsive Giants or a provider of essential services the impact of bureaucracy on our lives is pervasive. More and more of us are employed in a bureaucratic setting at some time. All of us deal with those in the bureaucracy. So we will look behind the impersonal face of the bureaucracy and not the careers of those with leadership roles in government agencies. We'll examine why some find this work challenging and rewarding and others equally competent choose to drop out of the system. Director Susie Greivis of reality. Would have applied for a permit

paying a parking ticket for filing our taxes. We have all had experiences confronting bureaucracy which reinforce our negative view of the system. What comes to mind when you think of bureaucracy the government. Unfairness needless red tape and government offices and trying to get things done that paperwork gets. What. The. Bureaucrats do. Not a. Waste a lot of time and money to help society stay stabilized. It really doesn't do anything that's helping to get anything really accomplished. People think of bureaucrats as being so. Imaginative

and wasteful. I came into the bureaucracy through politics and I've gained a great deal of respect for it and I have no qualms whatsoever about saying yeah I'm a bureaucrat and I'm a good one. There's a certain. Stigma associated with being a bureaucrat which I don't think. I or probably most of the people buying they'll suffer from. I do believe that it's important to be an advocate of whatever it is your corporation or your organization is involved in. At Bonneville we have a different mission and role that our agencies serve and I think is very important to be effective within Bonneville. That one is an advocate of that mission and I certainly am on again. I'm very proud of our agents and on what it has accomplished. I've asked myself that question why in the world. Can't I live in such a group and the organization in bureaucracy. I don't know the full answer to but I guess some of the things that are clear to me

are that I don't. I don't like the control part but I don't like. The notion that. There is a hierarchy of control and people kind of get in line down a lot and everybody operates under a single rule. Tom Higgins held several positions in the Carter administration. Finally a senior staff member of the White House. Here's an example of those who come to their top positions for political appointment. Higgins has served as director of the county Department of Human Services for two years. The most important thing I think to a wife that gives you a great deal of satisfaction is a feeling that you really are part of something larger than yourself and that doesn't make me or anybody is involved in some of those special or out of the ordinary but public service does in fact give you the opportunity to touch other people's lives in a way that can be of benefit to their lives. And so as a consequence it's it's incredibly rewarding. Shirley Miller chief of the branch of wholesale rates for Bonneville Power Administration worked her

way up through the ranks this career servant who worked for Bonneville right after graduating from college and has served 15 years with the agency. I think it's been to my advantage to stay and stay at Bonneville during my entire career. I've sort of been pushed along. So I've been comfortable in the positions that I've moved into. I have enough knowledge of what's going on that I'm not taking a big risk they're not taking a big risk in promoting me. So Simon has been ripe for me to succeed. I feel like I was a failure when I left the city. I think that failure was a failure of us to kind of match up. You know. Like. That city was plodding along toward. Wherever the hell it was going on and I wasn't with that at all. Ernie Bonner is the president of sunlight energy systems solar energy firm. After serving as director of planning for the city of Portland for five years Bunner chose to leave this key administrative post for the private sector.

There are a lot of things that will go on there. Budget matters where you get creamed by the city council are disappointing work by members of the staff or. Somebody from the community saying you know who the hell are you and why and why in the world did you do that. How could you possibly do that something like that all of which could just say I don't believe I'm here. If I had to stay another year I would have been less and less able to do the things you just got to do as a man in a position like that prosecutor leadership which is positive. You know come on and let's all get together exhortation things like that. You can't do that when you're getting more and more convinced that things don't go anywhere. I think we have to be able to work within the confines of the bureaucracy somewhat comfortably in order to be effective. Because if you can't then you're going to be constantly trying to effect change. Change is very difficult to accomplish in a bureaucracy so you will end up

being very frustrated and therefore an effective individual. I do feel that I have impacted my job and that's one reason why I enjoy my job as much as I do. I'm very happy that I have managed to move into a position that by Bill that allows it to be influential in the agency's decision making process I'd much prefer reading things. I work for other people there are other people who work for me and it's true it's better to have other people working. There's no question about it. Being a woman with some power is different than being a man with some power and you have to deal with it differently when you are one. I have always been very careful about how I view power and it's because of being very sensitive to being a woman in a managerial position supervising mostly men. They don't view me as a threat in the same sense that they might on a woman in particular who has an aggressive attitude and is out to

prove that she can do exactly the same thing that a man could do in her situation and that she deserves the same kind of treatment as a man does. Instead I try to influence their thinking by the way in which I relate to them says that they can begin to appreciate the fact that women can be. Successful and effective in situations where they formerly thought only men could be. Best guys stop the city because I want to go do something else. I wanted a little bit more control over what I did. And so. Now I have more control I have absolute control over her face. No articulation of labor. I mean I do everything like I'm going out and put the battery in I had to get recharged for the left track I be taping. I do the books. I do the sales. I have a guy who comes and helps me have time to pretty much I have to do everything. With the city. And I left there I really did not have any hope of. Was going

to get done. Now you have some hope. You know like this is going to be a successful business. We're going to make money and stuff like that. So I have you know periods of time now and I think you and I have a lot of hope about what's going to happen. Either I was making three times as much money there as I'm making today. Top positions in the public sector invariably do not pay as well as the private sector and that's why some people not so say when we talk about you get a good salary I get a good salary you know but frankly I also run you know a 35 million dollar year operation. If I were running a 35 million dollar year operation with 600 employees in the private sector. I'd be making more money. I'm not in it for the money and I'm not complaining. But if you ask me why a lot of good people won't do this stuff. That is one of the reasons bureaucracy has a bad reputation. In large measure because it's visible. It's what people see.

It has the same frailties the same inefficiencies the same lethargy but also the occasional touches of nobility and dedication and grace. It's it's a very human institution and it works about as well as we work. What do you think it's like to work for the bureaucracy. Boring very boring people defer decisions they pass things on to someone else rather make the decision themselves. And I guess I'd just like to get more action oriented when I think about doing something I want to just do it instead of just. Wait around. If you expect a large organization by virtue the fact that it's large and saying well funded and so what the big do a lot you are bound to be disappointed. Down today because that is almost exactly the kind word ization that will not do a lot. I mean they may have a lot of resources and stuff like that. But it will not go this way or that way easily.

It basically will just go wrong. It will just sit there. I think I'm fairly good at moving moving things toward a goal toward them toward their completion. There's so many variables and the public sector that don't exist in the private sector but nevertheless decision making can be done just as fast if not faster in the public sector. If you've got good leadership I have found that as I've gotten into higher positions within by that it's become necessary for me to be much less shy and retiring in order to be effective as a young child and all through my early adult life I was a very shy almost introverted personality. And in the last five to 10 years I have changed tremendously as an individual and one area that I have made great strides in is becoming an assertive individual. I have had comments made to me by people that I work for now jokingly telling me that I'm a pussy and broad and that

they're going to have to watch getting pushy brides and then higher management positions because it really causes a lot of trouble. So in that respect I feel I really have achieved a lot in terms of battling to what's necessary to be successful in my job. I got some some advice. When I was thinking about leaving from. The chairman of planning commission at that time. So he was aghast that I would just wave and he said it's the you got to remember Neal the iron law when walking. He says we just don't take your hand off one stride until you get together. He never struck. I don't know what it is I like the challenge but I felt the challenge would be good for him. I'm a much happier person much much happier. I like this a lot. It's a good thing that. That is working.

I like it. Like much in life. Bureaucracy is far more complex than the stereotypical images we hold of it certainly the inside reality is different from that which we experience as citizens dealing with it from the outside. The motivations and rewards of people attracted to the bureaucracy are as diverse as the numbers who work within it and whether you can personally relate to a choice of a career in the bureaucracy or not. The trend in the American workforce is away from solo entrepreneur businesses. Now more than half of all working Americans are involved in large service related organizations. It seems that no matter what the complaint people are running to court with their grievances. We've become a

sewing society in the state of Oregon there has been a 60 percent rise in civil suits over the past 10 years cases being brought to court include not only medical malpractice and bankruptcy but also sexual harassment personal injuries and an assortment of outrageous claims. For example a nine year old girl in Indiana filed a lawsuit because she didn't find a prize in a crackerjack box. Experts cite many reasons for this rise in litigation. Among those are a poor economy and an increase in the public's awareness that the courts are available to handle these problems. The suing binge is causing additional problems however. With the added legal costs comes a rise in insurable rates and taxes which is then passed onto the consumer. The power of the judiciary seems to be on the rise as judges are constantly expanding the rights of the individual. Tonight we will focus on the increase in civil suits in the state of Oregon where the US is. Multnomah County Judge Charles Cookham the presiding judge of the Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge

Crooker mother. Too many frivolous suits being filed today. Has been there are. Sort of a national phenomena we're not the only place that gets them and I. Noticed an article in the USA Today last week. Where a young lady by the name of Loretta Martin in Billerica Massachusetts says appearing in Playboy magazine is her ambition and she wants her high school yearbook to say so. School officials say they don't care if she does pose. They just don't want her ambition her ambition listed in the yearbook. She has not discussed the ambitions with Playboy but has contacted the American Civil Liberties Union. And that probably means a frivolous lawsuit in Massachusetts. Are we getting too many lawsuits is there too much litigation at this point in terms of Multnomah County. Well I'm not sure what you mean by too much. I know that there is a marked increase. 1972 we had fifty three hundred cases filed this year 1982 eight thousand So that's

a considerable increase a considerable increase indeed is there some kind of a demography is there some reason in your view why we are getting this tremendous glut of litigation. Oh I think it encompasses a number of factors. There's a marked increase in the number of lawyers. The numbers doubled in a 10 year period that I'm talking about here from about 3500 to 7000. It becomes more popular I think television popularized is going to court. There is much greater awareness by the public of their rights. There's been an increase in certain types of litigation fostered by legislative action. Let's look at those one by one for a moment let's talk about lawyers and with us in the studio is Mr. Jim Rice who is a Portland attorney with the firm of Wolfe Guthrie rice and Gordon. Mr. Royce either too many lawyers filing too many suits today. I don't think there are necessarily too many lawyers and with regard to filing suits there always has to be the underlying act before someone even comes to a lawyer. I don't believe lawyers initiate the

litigation. There are outside acts that start in essence. However what is happening is is that we have a tremendous number of lawyers about 7000 of them here in Oregon as I recall. That's correct. And at the same time we are having as Judge Cookham points out almost double the number of civil suits that we have had in the last 10 years. And what's accounting for that in your mind. I think there are several factors. The judge pointed out for example that legislation has increased the amount of legist litigation in certain areas for example the change in the bankruptcy act recently. I've seen statistics that indicate bankruptcies are way up on account of that. There have been changes in rights for individuals for example in the area of civil rights years ago. Women are minorities that may have been discriminated against. Today I think they're standing up and they are taking their cases to lawyers and asking the courts to resolve these disputes. In essence the court is really between the arbitrator than the morals and the values of the society. That's what happened in Judge Cookham apparently so people seem to be confident that the court can do all sorts of panaceas for them. I'm. Sure a lot of

them get sadly disappointed with the outcome but that's the anticipation. Let's turn to this factor of legislation if we may again look at that more closely. We've talked about the legislation having to do with the discrimination. There is also a whole plethora of legislation now available in the area of consumer rights. Now is that a factor in your view in terms of litigation. That is we have unfair trade practices which are spelled out by the legislature. We also have the area of product liability where a manufacturer or a seller can be held liable if an individual is injured by a product. That's an area that's grown over the years and more and more that type of litigation is coming to the court system. Have you found yourself judge Crockham that these kinds of cases are appearing in a greater number in your own court. Yes I can see a shift away from certain types of cases and an increase in others. The normal old fender bender with some soft tissue damage has come way down in the total number of cases and the new things consumer legislation has increased to those

cases the discrimination area is becoming what I might say is popular if there is such an appropriate term there are a number of other areas that we hardly scratched the surface on. Ten years ago that are coming to the forefront. So there are some positive aspects to the nature of what is happening with regard to litigation. Well certainly if there weren't I'm sure most of us wouldn't be around at this stage of the game. I mean that in terms of discrimination in terms of consumer protection these are useful kinds of things. That's correct I believe there's an underlying social policy there that's been enunciated by the legislature and the courts and the lawyers are in effect enforcing those goals. Is there not another factor involved and that has to do with the nature of the society and the change of radical change in society in the last 15 or 20 years. In the sense that the bond that used to hold people together. Let me put it another way to you it used to be a stigma to go to court. Just to get stigma to be divorced. Is this. This is no longer the case. I think that's correct. I also believe that's correct. What. What's happened. I think the breakdown between if you live in a small town

perhaps are reluctant to sue some other person in a small town or even if your injury was in a neighborhood in a larger city this neighborhood in this small town both are changing both in size and also in compositionally of shifting populations. And I think those old boy if these are really been destroyed there's another factor. I see a lot the ferment of the late 60s and the 70s where protest was the order of the day. Protest has been channeled into the courts and I think that that really creates a lot of these things that we didn't have before. So we've now the focus essentially And as you have said we have to assume that the court in some ways is kind of a Valhalla is going to be able to pass on any of these kinds of thing. On the one who picks up the bill for this incredible amount of litigation which is going on not only in Oregon but across the country basically the taxpayers do because our court costs money to operate. Our court is not a revenue producing court like some other courts that have parking tags and traffic and things like that. Every time somebody

comes in and files a case we lose money. So in essence you are really not a profit maker. Well that's exactly right. They're not a profit. Who else has to pay for gym. The clients themselves often have to pay then. And that also reduces cases when someone comes and explains their situation to me. I may explain that it's going to cost several thousand dollars to even get the case into court. Expert witness fees can be very high whether they're a doctor and a personal injury case or take the product liability case and you not only have the medical doctor but also engineers you can only have five or $20000 in expenses just to get the case before the jury and you may still lose. There is yet another factor however and I think Chief Justice Berger touched on it at the federal level. I wonder if it's true at the local level is the court system really capable of handling this incredible rush of litigation. Probably not when the taxpayers and the legislators do not want to fund it fully and funding it means not only operating capital and personnel but the construction the capital investment for courthouses and

areas to try the cases. And so we're seeing a. A response to that by a lot of ideas of diversion taking cases out of the formal courtrooms setting and disposing of them as expeditiously and as inexpensively as possible. That brings us to one of the solutions which has been advocated in several apparently has already been instituted in several states which is the concept of arbitration. You want to just talk about that for a moment. It's an alternative to actually going to a jury where the court system steps in and imposes arbitration where an arbiter selected the rules of evidence are less stringent. It is cheaper and quicker to get your case into court and to get your dispute resolved. And even then if you're unhappy with the result you still could proceed to a jury trial. It's also done by contract many times in the area of uninsured motorist coverage with insurance companies and also among corporations often they'll Institute right into the lease agreement that if there is a dispute arbitration or resolve it. Where is Oregon with regard to arbitration judge.

We don't have any firm statute to take care of what we're doing right now. We have set up a program in a county. Where the parties may apply for arbitration diversion and then we put them into that system. Those are cases where they agree that the recovery should not exceed $15000. We've gone to the legislature and have asked that they enact some statutes that would. Formalize this and that we could then have some sort of a penalty if you are elected out of arbitration you'd have to better yourself or pay the piper. Private Eyes we know them from television and movies but are they really like that. Our next story takes a look at how real private eyes operate. Since the early 40s. They have been portrayed as the tough guy got the bad breaks fighting for what's right and there's probably a little more on. The silver screen and force and

sleazy second floor offices were blinking street lights always illuminated those rock hard features that made us feel safe. It was someone you could count on to do the right thing not be easy but I think. Life was passed in our company. It was guns and cars and booze and broad. Actions speak louder than words cause might was right. One foot in the gutter and one foot in the grave we loved him. Private Eye. You're a private eye. You. Can look for somebody. Up How come out. How about when they get to they got some clients and started making money. All those fancy apartments and fancy clothes never changed one thing. It was still guns and cars and booze and broads and fighting for right. Because we were like them. And when

they were private There's only one thing wrong with our image of the rough and tough keepers of justice. Life ain't like that. It seems real but I don't even call themselves private. Private investigators and they don't drive big expensive cars and they don't have friends here. So what's it like to be a real private investor. We did some private investigating of our own the following goods on all. We've got to obey all the laws of the place. We were we've got laws that we can just go out commit a crime in order to do surveillance or. Break the law in order to get evidence. We're. On the same jurisdiction of the police as far as the laws failed. We just can't break the law. However we. Probably can get away with a lot more stuff than what the police get because they're afraid of lawsuits. We cannot violate somebody's privacy trespass on their property like and break down doors and search their houses and

offices like you might see on television. However we can observe people. Surveillance along as we we're not obvious in what we're doing. Try not to be obvious and that has gone through the Supreme Court as what a private investigator can do and it's pretty well documented as to what a private investigator can and cannot do. If I broke down a door like a private investigator does on television or raced through the streets shooting guns and crashing and I'd be arrested and thrown in jail. The work performed by private investigators has been called dirty work because it can involve custody of children. Divorce actions and serving papers. Is it still that way we are asked to work. Dirty work. No long as you're helping somebody out how can you possibly consider that dirty work. It's not my responsibility meaning I do not. I'm not the judge and jury as to who should have the trial or who who has the right for the divorce or we should have this or that. I am

not responsible for that. I present the evidence as fairly as I can. The judge makes a decision the jury makes in this is. This is the judge. The attorneys use this information and how it's presented. I can only give you facts and they damn well better be truthful and accurate. So let's see they don't live in the fast lane and solve exotic cases. There's not a beautiful woman at the end of each solid caper. The fancy cars apartments and offices don't exist. And a lot of the work is tedious and routine. So what gives. Why do it. Well I enjoy doing it because I feel I can help people. That need the help where they can get help from the police or. The district attorney's office for even probably an attorney is a thrilling part to it. It's different from what anybody else does. But I think the most enjoyable thing is having all your plans come out right. When

there is a person for example when someone is steaming from a business coming you know. Or you've set up your scenario so you can catch that person then he actually comes and you put him on film. There is a thrill to that actually. All your planning and everything you've done is come out right. Is. It your secret dream to be one of those glamorous people that adorn our TV and movie screens. Maybe you should reconsider because as far as we can tell it's not a life of guns and cars and booze and broad. Gosh. Darn

it. And that's all the time we have tonight. Until next week good night. You. John