The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

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ending these are the top news headlines soviet dissident ahmed jama sharansky was released by moscow and flew to an emotional welcome in israel president reagan said he was encouraged by moscow's actions the presidential commission on the challenger tragedy zeroed in on the safety of the rocket boosters us observers advise president reagan not to conclude marcus have won the philippines election details of these stories coming up in our new summer jam after the new summer ale as a racket as a full report on the shuttle hearing two of the official us observers give their impressions of the philippine elections soviet expert dmitri simes analyzes the sharansky for the spy swap and officials of the american bar association and the american medical association they'd malpractice set accu funding for the libya has provided by kpmg whether it's telephone information systems long distance services computers at and saying funding also was provided by the

station and other public television stations and the corporation for public broadcasting it was like a scene from a cold war spy movie avatar sharansky the soviet human rights activists released after nine years in prison and as a spy walker freedom across the dominican rage in berlin is release was the highlight of the complicated exchange in which five alleged east bloc spies were traded what sharansky for three westerners held in the east germans gave a short man standing in the middle of the group stood at the eastern end of the bridge for a few moments talking to officials who had arranged the exchange then richard burt the us ambassador to west germany escorted him across the bridge to birds limousine sharansky was dressed in clothes several sizes too big however it look cheerful and talk with the ambassador and an animated manner and there he was driven to berlin airport that his wife in frankfurt and together they flew onto a rousing welcome in tel aviv and utterly sharansky

arrived in the land he had waited so long to see to be greeted by the israeli prime minister shimon peres off the cabinet and dozens of excited friends and supporters his face was the emotion of a rival has touched the israelis for them sharansky is first and foremost a jew and he unlike many russian jews who managed to leave has come to israel the welcoming a member of their family members and then the man and the experience as an evidence about that i don't have that the house of this today as a movie and that is saying now i have no illegal about what happened in the world during these years but i know i won't go

badgers initial plans of aging the virus and they're nowhere well how strong was that patrons and well i'll follow that examination nevertheless as they come as with all new immigrants sharansky was handed his papers of citizenship from being in the morning a prison of the soviet union by evening he was a citizen of israel this evening sharansky was born on israeli shoulders to the western wall of the second temple also called the wailing wall in jerusalem a place were most jewish visitors go to pray because it was jammed with cheering chanting crowd that turned the occasion into a welcome from an entire nation president reagan talked by telephone what sharansky and said he was delighted that he had joined his wife in israel at his news conference the savings to reagan was asked whether sharon's is really signaled a change in soviet policy towards others who want to

leave i don't have any way to him to determine whether what their motives are and doing this i only know the sensory geneva meeting there have been not only the us but others released more so than in and integrate many years i'm encouraged by this because i did talk at great length about matter of human rights and the general secretary and all we can do is hope that this is a beginning a sign towards going to continue to take place president reagan today turned the filipino election flawed by fraud and violence he said it was sending diplomatic troubleshooter for the arab league to the philippines to assess the situation with the reagan issued the written statement and took the action after getting a report from the american observers of the election they told the president to be wary but it was still possible there could be a credible result at his news conference this evening the president was asked about his reaction to the report yes they told me in

just an inherently remarks and they have a plan that they're not going to issue the official report yet but they told me that they're that there was the appearance of fraud and yet at the same time said that they didn't have any hard evidence beyond that general motors so they're going away and we don't want to i have the same relationship with the people of the philippines that we've had for all that these historic years as the president to your previous answer on the philippines election left the impression that no matter what goes on an election united states will accept the outcome you mean to say that in an unprecedented role is going to be accepted by the united states it is there right it is their son where we stop i said that we're going in the filipino people need to make this

decision is unfair election and we'll wait and see what the final cut of the tariffs and meanwhile the turmoil on the wrangling continued and the philippines over the one incumbent ferdinand marcos or challenger corazon aquino the national assembly met again to start canvassing the vote but they finally broke up after seven hours of argument and no vote counting there to meet again tomorrow the presidential commission investigating the challenger disaster zeroed in on today and questions about the safety of the rocket boosters nasa said it was still considering a broad range of issues including the solid fuel boosters the press accounts of targeted as the chief suspect in the disaster once malloy solid rocket booster project manager said erosion on the rings that sealed johnson the rockets on an earlier flight was not seen as disturbing from a standpoint of safety but richard clarke a nasa budget analysts said he was concerned about their safety because he'd seen reports of problems during nineteen eighty five and we sail the beyond

offering problem and i think it was our impression from the office space flight was a potentially major budget that there was a list of budget threats that was pretty much every month the o ring problem or orange are a problem was on that list sometimes it was first on a list sometimes it wasn't about think that mr hurt but there was no question that the problem was they considered a potential budgets for a month after month from the summer now and into the fall the chairmen of the commission former secretary of state william rodgers plays nasser for its cooperation with the investigation is said the agency asked me to have a public session today to make clear that nasa was not trying to push anything under the rug somebody turned extra strength tylenol into a killer again a twenty three year old pete still new york woman died after taking tylenol capsules laced with cyanide and purchased it in a super market and a and p immediately pull the painkiller off its shelves

nationwide this after knowing afternoon police said the poison was put in the tabloids after they were shipped by the manufacturer last august they said the poison was so strong it would've eaten through the capsules within ten days no other batches and they increased or anywhere else have turned up traces of poison it was three years ago that seven people died from cyanide poisoned tylenol in chicago that case remains unsolved arrow error of the charter company involved in the crash that killed two hundred forty eight us soldiers a new finland filed for bankruptcy today the company cited mounting problems following the crash in december and filed for protection and reorganization under chapter eleven of the bankruptcy code that would let it continue operations one reorganizing all regular commercial flights were cancelled today and four hundred of arrows five hundred employees were furloughed and i complain sir summary of the news of this day now we go on to more on the shuttle commission hearings the return of us observers from the philippines to swap for anatoly sharansky owner berlin bridge

and the debate between the doctors and the lawyers over malpractice we begin our focus actions tonight with the investigation into the cause of the shuttle challenger disaster special presidential commission held a second public hearing today after a spate of press reports raising detailed questions about the failures in the solid fueled booster rockets correspondent elizabeth bracket attended the hearings richard cooke budget analyst for nasa told the panel he became aware of nasa engineers concerned with the proper seal of the joints of the solid rocket boosters we began to repair budget documents for nasa and it became apparent to me you know but there were some real concerns with during problem with this type of concerns from a engineering standpoint

which is i understood it from what i discussed with people had flight safety implications and potentially major budgetary concerns because with something like this as i understood it if you fix something like this you've got quite a range of cost implications of some simple you might be able to absorb it in your budget if it's a major redesign are re engineering we've got a rep for federico to go out and cast new survey segment something that you might have a major budgetary yet and you got to come up with the money and at that time the us or the budget and development development sun is pretty much lining up passerby roman was coming who was following the shuttle disaster cook were a psychic memo to his superiors lou retton another moment connect with it and yes i get that heat of the moment

i did write another memorandum and what i was saying essentially was but given all the information that was coming in awe i felt at that time that number one it had not been demonstrated what causey and if you have reason to think the efforts would not be made that fits into its investigative the you know in fact i knew that that across the strait they were doing the same analyses we review when we do explain again why you're at the moment to document what i thought were all the budgetary implications of situation only but that it was an important book to read analysis

as wellness about water at the moment it doesn't sound as if your own budgetary considerations in mind that sounds the family but i just wanted you haven't updated the spill commission or you wrote it is ironic because i thought that it was a serious situation but i didn't think that until these various issues were resolved within the surveys that i had been involved oh that they had overtaken terror before the show as we continue the man who received cooks memo his supervisor at masses budget else's branch told the panel that many of the concerns and cooks memo had been investigated i get the feeling that that the head maybe the memo overstated via the concerns but there were quite a few actions being taken within the program offers to resolve the issue and that there were extensive reviews going on as there are in an almost any technical type of reviews so i was satisfied that it was in the

property but you know it was being handled properly still the bulk of today's testimony focused on the possible failure of the seals and the all reins in the joints of the solid rocket booster there are four sections of the solid rocket booster they are joined together when the solid rockets are assembled at the kennedy space center the segments are sealed with the use of tidy one in steel pins and two synthetic rubber o o rings lawrence malloy solid rocket booster project manager for nasa told the panel that there has been a history of problems with the owings erosion has been found on the first oh rain and so it has been found behind the first or rain and again an improper seal even more critical he rosen has been found on the second or rein in the joint between the rocket and its motor but more i testified that none of that erosion has occurred on shuttle

flights over the last year we haven't seen any anonymous or ocean for about a year during cid been up for very well the last time we've seen erosion on our range was the general last year before but to lori's dates were disputed by cook it was my understanding but there was at least some erosion going on in nineteen eighty five in iran's i understand and colors of fire called argument from august nineteenth documented in summery pop i have discussed henri the primarily the case your process expressed area banners and that day dunham design analysis task force as not concluded that the failure of that we've discussed hero the scenarios about this goes here is the calls of the fifty one l is that however the joint also has not been eliminated as a hero

falls as a factor in the accident and of course the media analysis saying the family shows coming from inside of the solid rocket motor but we are not yet determined lewis's across an effect the commissioner little testimony today on the impact of the cold weather on the day the ill fated shuttle launch that testimony is going to come when the commission trials of the kennedy space center in florida for its next full day of hearings this thursday it was clear that some commission members were very interested in hearing about the impact of the cold temperatures on launch day commissioner and physicist richard fineman wanted to know what happened to the party of the joint when he was exposed to cold temperatures i put in ice water and i discovered that when you put some pressure on it so why do it maintains it doesn't stretch back it stays the same dimension in other words for a few seconds at least more

seconds there's no resilience in this particular material when it's a temperature of thirty two degrees the commission expects to hear much more about whether when they visit the launch site on thursday so the common the newshour the report of the us observer team in the philippines election an analysis of anatolia sharansky his release from the soviet prison and a debate between the nba and the ama on medical malpractice those who officially observe the philippine election on behalf of the united states' reported and today we will be hearing from two of the twenty members of the delegation in a moment the number one of social audience with president reagan who appointed the group in the first place he got his report this morning from delegation leader senator richard lugar of indiana the senator told around election could still bring

reconciliation between the two candidates and between the two organizations counting the vote nobody has lost there's been no declared winner there are two sets of counts that show two letters at this point and i think that's important for the president recognizing forty job of us to recognize who are very powerful as a commission not to make a judgment about the election does not completed one president marcos was asked his press conference whether art commissions and i was mentioned specifically by name thoughts about this election might lead them to lay aside indicated given thought to be out all week we're not going to be allowed to leave the election is not over and in our judgment the best hope for people is that a continued to a credible conclusions some might say were the regularity of out there were there was there fraught there

was the question at this point is this was in retail with a full sail without the magnitude that the election results will people might get frustrated more more difficult question as you proceed to the overall and i think that it is possible technically if you reconcile the nonprofit years and the drama like figures as tibby the case they are one and the same pieces of papers six copies each of them on i think to match him up you can get the same results and that is likely to lead to more credible result on the trail two other members of the un's own of the observer team are with us now from los angeles congressman jerry lewis republican california a member of the house appropriations for operations subcommittee and allen weinstein chairman of the center for democracy at public policy institute affiliated with boston university with weinstein do you agree with senator lugar that it is still

possible for there to be a credible result of this election absolutely the counters not over if we've seen anything in the last three months in the philippines it is the continuing presence of the unprecedented and the unpredictable and i suspect we'll see more but mrs aquino says she will not accept any results other than her own legend there are others who say that president marcos would never accept any results other than his reelection and one day before laughter kamel uk announced it was suspending its quick count and as quick out to still continuing i think we're going to hear a number of statements inevitably in the heat of the soap particular moment made by every actor in the process and i think we simply have to proceed on the assumption that the counting will continue and therefore our process of observing election election should continue as the lowest you do abide by that assumption as well and i certainly do is very clear that the president asked us to the little pings to raise the flag in support of the free election process that process is still going on i think it's really very

important for us to realize that even in very close elections here called combatants on both sides argued till the last moment indeed it's amazing almost that a country the size of the philippines within asia would have this national action it's a critical step towards democracy and affected free prophecies yeoman beginning with you mr weinstein senator lugar said the question there is no question there was fraud and abuse the only question is whether with wholesale retail what is your sense about that well i i think that associate myself with senators points we have both witnessed various points and heard reports of examples of practices that could be described as trotter regularity the election process is not over with and obviously until it's entirely over there will be no way of completely assessing whether of the fraud that existed had a determining affect on the election what's the worst case of fraud that you've heard about why you're well heck it

from some of the reports we heard about the hell let's take the voting period first we have examples apparently of much a lower vote numbers and even in some places such as the metro military the metropolitan military eighty five percent voted nineteen eighty four election that figure is considerably lower this past election senator lugar i visited a number of polling places were up to half the people nominally or future of unregistered most polling places were simply not register and you're not registered elsewhere so they could not vote by the end of the seven am to three pm voting period during the vote counting carrie that i think we have seen various instances and heard a number of reports of others from for example your workers or computer operators earthy election committee headquarters who walked off their jobs on the grounds that that the honest results they were punching end of the computers were not appearing in the tally board now these are allegations and obviously have to be looked into

but i returned to the point that at this stage in the game without in any sense intruding in for the full of intellectual process that's the filipino people and determined that our role is as observers in our observations are not complete where would you rate a wholesale retail it's very clear that the election process is still going on we heard almost everywhere about the transfer of cash for example do pressure people go in a certain direction and yet none of us actually observe any instance of that i'm sure that there were irregularities i clearly it's at a level that it were unable to measure yet it's very important for us to realize that the philippine people have been our allies almost four ever and they need to be confident in the process of free elections themselves they should make that final judgment not americans and spent a few days there and suddenly become in some experts but what about that you all are as the next

person you like it or not their cars but they're what about the point that senator lugar has raised several times while he was there the city's comeback is that the real place in mr weinstein just mentioned where the smoke now that is an opera to where the opportunity for real fraud abuse could be happening you agree with that there's not any question that the source of the count is a problem are also is not any question that the bulk of the president's supporters marcos' support comes from the rural areas and and their process these aren't nearly as official as ours so the two kind of go hand in hand and indeed laid a foundation for possible abuse at the same time to make a final judgment about that will go way beyond that which we have observed important point i think to remember is that marco's has allowed the genie out of the jar that is three national elections for the presidency it'll be very difficult to get that back in the jar another point about the slow cut if i could run on the natural

borders the seinfeld that organization national citizens' movement for free elections and fielded five hundred thousand poll watchers throughout the philippines and eighty percent of the precincts where they were allowed to go the natural board has as i understand it mrs aquino leading with about sixty to sixty five percent of the vote by very significant margin so slow count notwithstanding of electoral irregularities fraud notwithstanding well we see or we see at least on an apple cut one result we see a different result on the couch and out of the official election commission known as college in the philippines and of course the athlete the formal vote count not to confuse the issue further but the formal vote count is being done in the national assembly which is known as the bob kasten for your viewers who find a strange word in there the ag's iran and they are in the process with opposition people quite vociferously are in the minority voters a third of them and as i say this is an unprecedented situation and i don't think the curtain has been run down necessarily on what we'll have what about the role of the reagan administration as for yesterday the president

and the administration said pretty much that accepted the fact or implied that they were prepared to accept the fact that marcos had been reelected congressman murtha member of your committee immediately criticize that said that learning to be saying that the president late this afternoon issued statements and election was flawed he appointed philip of bieber longtime the un troubleshooter go there juana what's going on the duties atlanta for iraq but firstly welcome the leaves involvement in this is very important that credible people from united states are further be a ball dr weinstein known as that accurately there's not any question that while there are problems it is very important that we remain as observers it's significant for us to realize that the philippine people are involved in this credibility it's as if they believe that their elections can be held for probably at the national level they're on the road to democracy and to often united states doesn't place its voice and its support behind the growth and change in that

process moving in that direction of the president's one of the gemstones of of president reagan's policy has been has democracy initiative a bipartisan democracy initiative that involve itself in latin america led to the casino commission of the things i'd be very surprised if the president were willing to place in jeopardy a solid record of achievement around the world and enhancing democratization because especially given the fact that democracy is now split the support for democracy is spreading like wildfire throughout the philippines election process has indicated that i think he adds he's on the right track of but if i could say well one thing about that and i are observers took time out while we were there in our quest to visit the young american cemetery and you know a beautiful place on the cemeteries can be described as beautiful on a hilltop overlooking the city seventeen thousand more than seventeen thousand american and filipino soldiers who died during the second world war to bring about democracy in the philippines and elsewhere world record for the privilege of walking

along one that heroes of that war and since then and i think the point has been signaled first sufficiently not only by the president but by the leadership of this country across party lines across ideological lines that we are concerned with supporting the democratic process in the philippines were not taking sides among the candidates we're looking very alert lee at the question of where the process is conducted fairly incredible and i think we should do so to leaned across and most likable very much part of the nfl assurance history reads like a novel a prisoner exchange on the berlin bridge another pot the tumultuous welcome in israel is drummer born and suffering but behind the human story is a political one want to release of this prominent prisoner tells about us soviet relations and the state of play between the new gorbachev regime and the reagan administration youre to provide some background is dimitri simes now a senior

associate at the carnegie endowment and washington and himself a soviet jew who emigrated in nineteen seventy two in moscow he had worked for the soviet institute on the usa and canada pesticides ones that the soviets were willing to release sharansky well i think that was the show runs through of in jail for nine years so the sorts of human wave that point it is quite clear as far as the sonnets are concerned that no soviet jewish activist known dissident would believe that it is a kind of safe to become a spokesman for the dissident community and that was missed the showdown skid row in nineteen seventy six nineteen seventy seven before he was arrested our second lesson quickly and they're dealing with the new image mikhail gorbachev was trying to create for the soviet union a country which is more open minded the country which is willing to be flexible on the eve of the new found that with ronald reagan but others

say that the slaves i'm concerned they made a mistake i think that there is at least the showdown skid unconditionally and if they do it will be perceived as a major waterloo gesture but that effect that showdown skew was released in the context of the spy exchange and the thing that i love with the same time if there were much of unknowns that country's soccer would have to stay in court and would not leave the soviet union icing some call it utilized what the kind of audit of mileage mr gorbachev would expect from the decision not to comment your firstborn you're saying that they didn't lose any this isn't getting soft on dissidents in the soviet union jewish or otherwise because everybody knows the price insurance he has paid for his distance automotive research he was in jail for nine years and the horrendous conditions you're the money from the strikes now if you also ride the concert for several months the news of the deal was in

the makings of a preventable walesa and the va didn't and nicely but i think every jew and dissonant and more school no food but you look up and there was the showdown skid and what the horror of course there's been talk a recruit's armor her israeli relations do you think the us release and indicates any news summary of policy on georgia i don't think so i go with the misery recently and got the chance to talk to the president and i was interested to learn that during the last year they sent eleven messages does a solid leadership indicating interest in and correlations interestingly enough the soda did not acknowledge a single on that published along and the occasional for victory in world looked or because of course they were quite upset with offended there were excluded from feminists in europe and they were grateful fall the mine that they continue to give something to the jerusalem but they did not acknowledge humans at the immigrant and they did not so the thing the president do you think now that

in gorbachev's new diplomas say that this gesture whatever effect it may have never met her first answer that this just it tells is anything about what his behavior maybe on arms control and other issues of interest to us i was asked ms to gorbachev's performance for about eleven months he was in his office for eleven months and among friends i'm terribly impressed with his creativity and i think that she is imminent origination and when i would say of political current rate his predecessors and the pastor would sing it in and one saying the us will be in the senate and there's less is a man who consistently there look at his arms control proposals what was important for the soviet union was not the current one hundred sixty to obscenity to french and british nuclear systems what was important what a win win the new version of the system and what your forecast right on that she's in serious no nonsense man i'm

impressed with you know this improvement considerable improvement in the conduct of the summit foreign policy was not an age when you major changes in the substance of senate foreign policy is in the united states in the third world is the nature of the sample with it except conducted much better what's the lesson insurance fees released for western diplomacy for the way the west can get more soviet dissidents released or three wasn't it is quite clear that without public pressure politically fairness intended done with is a quote a clear that if you want to say a specific thing to do you have to be prepared to work quietly and interviews a service some credit if your list of the sorts of the glass is not awful lot of empty and a marginal concessions in may visit them at a discount and then of course there's no incentive for them to do these people a chance to a lot of allies in the white house is like a little piece of them on the person who's received a lot of white house one liners and there was surprise

but also gratified that you and visit with ms dibble much of some credit he lectured on ski out and letting that someone that i sing because this mission let's talk about another very prominent soviet dissident who's in exile in forced exile in gorky the physicist andrei sakharov the mccourt you earned from the associated press this evening they said that brought ken vogel the east german attorney who who was instrumental in negotiating his release told me an ap sakharov has a good chance to the exchange to its the response abroad to the agent exchange of tuesday is seen as a positive by the soviets when you think about that you think has a good chance of soccer up in exchange to even though murder charges of what he said well let's face it all it isn't a show from mr gorbachev to say never let alone a politician says never beginnings maybe and appropriate

circumstances ah let me just a minute of the night and seventy four when mr solzhenitsyn was released rather than for the fewest in whiteness the solution to the white house and she was criticized for that but that isn't mr ford focusing its affiliates and to the best of my knowledge was in the senate so assured by the administration and that was the solution needs an old liu was a senate language would not be exploited for political reasons and according to their citizen <unk> was not unlike that was unable was us to be saved in the same fashion and as in that there just look what do that his administration believes this exchange as an accomplishment this list of where much of the police and credit it made copious to soccer in the long run the tucson sector into another lounge shot was fired today in the battle between the lawyers and the doctors over medical

malpractice judy woodruff as a full report on the front judy the american bar association today flatly rejected calls by doctors put new limits on malpractice awards doctors' groups throughout the country had been demanding the changes as awakenings the malpractice crisis which they say has become an unbearable burden for many positions but the lawyers group meeting in baltimore today said there was no justification for any new laws giving doctors a special bright some states though already have such a law we see how it's been working in one of those dates california in this report by doug foster a public station kqed san francisco nearly fourteen million americans will end up in the hospital this year many in desperate need of skilled medical care more than twenty thousand patients or their survivors will file malpractice claims against their doctors in california with the largest number of doctors nationwide major efforts have been made to

control the cost of malpractice lawsuits some of those attempted solutions are now drawing mixed reviews ten years ago california passed a micro the medical injury compensation reform act the law was designed to curb rising malpractice insurance premiums but it's assumed that the war would be found unconstitutional but the california supreme court upheld its key provisions and the us supreme court refused to hear an appeal although some attempts are still being made to overturn the law key provisions now in effect included a lid of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on the amount malpractice victims can receive in general damages non economic categories such as pain and suffering the law also places limits and how much plaintiffs lawyers can earn in malpractice cases a lot was tied up in court for nine years and so its full effect is only been felt within the past year the number of malpractice verdicts in california has actually declined since passage of the law insurance

premiums continue to rise the doctors believe the situation would be far worse without the law our premium rates would be infinitely higher than they are now if it had not been for the presence of the law even though it's been handicapped been hobbled by these various attempts to to undermine destroy its provisions those who want to undermine the law believe that it is unbalanced a situation already waited in the doctors favor terry jordan is one example i think this is a terrible tragedy and the tragedy for harry jordan a former insurance broker occurred in november nineteen eighty two at long beach community hospital near los angeles jordan was rushed into surgery for removal of the cancerous right kidney but surgeons took out his healthy left kidney instead i listened to home town near that they had done this terrible thing and one adopters were crying and i thought i was stalker

crime went for a walk the world we have to do now that doctors could do very little a once vigorous man was left in severe pain with little chance to live out this year initially the hospital in jordan's doctors refused to settle the case so jordan pushed ahead with a taxing trial and a jury awarded him five point two million dollars that because california supreme court had upheld the malpractice law the judge was forced to slash jordan's award jordan's lawyers appealed the decision and attorneys for the defense recently settled out of court for one million dollars rather than risk the possibility of having the entire law thrown out on yet another appeal of malpractice lawyers say jordan deserve much more when we talk about large projects what we're talking about are people of suffered devastating injuries there is no doctor there is no insurance company executive there is no plaintiffs' lawyer who would trade places with these people and i thought a lottery doctors

insist that they did not intend to quash legitimate malpractice lawsuits but they insist on defending the state's now practiced law for leaving their profession has been plagued by a flood of lawsuits with little or no merit system for somebody for three weeks with a cop and you're balanced levels for her on the trigger and wondering whether the trigger for people that's not the best way to describe it i mean you know i sat there and listened to the opposing attorney tom he'll tell what a horrible doctor i was in an uncaring person and persona can think of almost anything i'd rather do dr jerry kaplan is a surgeon and director of the burn center at alta bates hospital in berkeley eight years ago a woman kaplan was treating for severe burns unexpectedly died there's no expectation that part of the problem of patients can be doing very well and two minutes later the dead or conversely sometimes can be a desk jar and twenty four hours later were great kaplan was upset about the sudden death the woman's husband

was angry he sued in the case dragged on for five years of kaplan's defense was successful it was also expensive and time consuming advocates of the law say its lawyers who really hit the jackpot winning large contingency fees out of proportion to their work but lawyers counter that proving malpractice is a burdensome task now made even more difficult by the california law the fact is doctors do when a trial more than two thirds of the time so lawyers say the restrictions on fees make malpractice a losing proposition here all malpractice cases are very complex and working on those cases it takes so much time to develop a case like that that with the current fee structure and they are limited means a recovery i can keep my doors open but the courts didn't realize when they

decided that this was constitutional it like i don't understand how we missed it was that the real victim in this is going to be the person who was victimized by malpractice because assuming it goes the way it's been going in the state there will be no more malpractice suits two of the leading players in the national malpractice battle are with us tonight actor james ammons executive vice president of the american medical association and william falls grab president of the american bar association all gradually begin with you do you agree with that last comment in that report that the danger there is a danger of no more malpractice suits if we have the sort of limits that the state of california has imposed no i don't think so i think that their claims will continue an experience indicates in california that that's exactly what's happened what the legislature is done there and put an arbitrary cap on the rights of the citizens who are injured to recover regardless of whether the case is notorious or not why did the aba do what it did today and

honestly opposing anyone the aba today when on record as opposing the package of legislative initiatives of the american medical association and the reason i did that is because that legislative package asks that a group of people in this country be exempted from certain operations of art or negligence law i'm subject to those laws you're subject to the laws laws they're asking that the doctors not be subject to those laws that pakistan has no actually not a tip that's astounding as a matter of fact it if you just go back and look at her nineteen seventy seven report that the american bar association itself the bill you'll find that most of the things that are in our proposal we're also in their nineteen seventy seven report they've called for a study again the day they call full force studies since nineteen seventy seven and haven't done danielle we have said that the world put a cap on

recovery we've said that there should be some reasonable cap on payments offering which is a catchall phrase we've never said that people should be denied any recovery for economic a lot we want people who have truly been injured to be taken care of this is not just a doctor's problem you can hardly turn on the television you can hardly pick up a newspaper today if you don't find that doctors lawyers and so all professional cities towns municipalities churches ministers everyone is losing their liability coverage know losing it because of these incredible judgment they're losing it because of these fantastic judgment in some cases and what's happening in medicine is that doctors are beginning to limit their practice eliminate the high risk patients are going to be denied care and it doesn't have to have it is to fall directly here we sang the doctors aren't the only ones who faces problem but as a

result of the doctors are having the closing doors well he's right and if there is a problem of the port system it affects everybody and that's exactly what we're saying let's take a look at the system if it means adjusting i wonder just and for me i want to just in for you and a lot of justin for the doctors but i don't want to hurt the doctors up and say somehow you're different you don't get then there are the brunt of the system the way everybody else that's what doctors and lawyers are different and i'll argue that that the legal profession is as different in this arena as is the medical profession the medical profession stands out from the others in the sense that there is a doctor patient relationship that is being destroyed so that there is a question of confidence competence there is a question of care i will argue for him that his clients have the right to have that same kind of ply attorney really someone has your point we're not asking for exclusive premieres the only thing is that we say in our proposals that are aimed

right at bachmann we say that the state board of medical examiners should be an advantage that disciplinary action against those who need discipline should be an advantage for other packages now let's get rid of the bad guy but nobody wants to get rid of the bad actors more than we do it on an empty only difference between what we're saying for us all we're saying for the lawyers what we save everybody else in the country we want is reasonable what is what he's saying but let me put this in perspective the tort law has grown up over three hundred four hundred years it's not for lawyers it's not a law for lawyers it protects people what the torch was all about is as a person as a leader that persons entitled to be compensated for their injury if it's caused by the negligent action of another person who's speaking for those people that's what i would say oh well let's begin for the injured party that you saw on that what the person who lost the cancer enters guy would not argue with you and mom about that moment on the two

norwood we argue with you for a moment about anyone who have been legitimately at the end we have exactly the same concern about that that he does that everybody in this country but there are some things that are wrong with the tort law if that isnt true blue why did you write a nineteen seventy seven report you said in seventy seven and they set in nineteen seventy seven that there were about so many things that were wrong with a broad law we happen to agree with that and sovereign collateral so it's a lot of technical terms a warming what's your view when we agree with you and they're all in their life you really don't believe is a very wrong with a carload wanted direct descendants of reports some reason for is not an issue what is the assembly goes at a major legislative progress report what we're doing is taking a look at the whole court system at the same time that were opposing the ama

we've gotten action commission headed by dean mccain the new york university law school which will be making recommendations in the years or as a boycott examine start and what you liked us there's no rush to judgment yes yes and procrastinating for with this since nineteen seventy seven and there is a need for action and it again it is not just a profession it everyone but in the profession money for a bit of knowledge you and i are going to pay for this year in balking liability for mr foster let me ask you is one that's on his malpractice awards are not the answer what is the answer i can answer that question jerry that's being studied that that's what we're looking at what i can tell you is a system of compensation has grown up over the decades it's worked reasonably well it's protected the people that you don't throw away a system a lot that's developed over those numbers of years just in the world at the click of a fan but they

did take it very slowly be careful with that because there are a lot of people are hurting their lives and we don't want to cut them off unnecessarily and that's what they're asking is getting our chief justice of the supreme court himself has said that there needs to be changes in the portal because the torture grown up over a period of years does not make them immune to it certainly does not make the perfect he says he didn't know what the needs are for change well we think we do and a lot of other people do too and has a lot of turning out that there's a gentleman take it to the legislatures and say you know what my question is if there's a general need for change why not wait for that change with their five seven for them to do their first ad the way ahead and subtract nineteen seventy seven now some like nine years ago they thought was thirty nine years ago they still mr marshall special legislation be written four doctors now it can see that's the

great fellowship the only thing that is special for doctors in our poll that has to do with a disappointing doctors forcing review of doctors for carbon strengthening a licensing board that's the only thing that's different she has to fall spratt that is not true or as true that the recommendation is that for doctors all imitation being put on pain and suffering for doctors the punitive damages be eliminated mammal circumstances for doctors the phase of lawyers be rebuilt nowhere in the proposal do you say manufacturers use the drug companies' use the lawyers engineers nobody else is true i'm sure but that growth well what we're proposing is not a language lesson there is a gross misunderstanding of what sen hatch tears in his bill that is a gross misunderstanding of what is happening around the country we want to be frank we want those same limitations to

apply for you as well as for us california lettuce i just love that well but that is why the way that that particular statute was writing and you know and i know that in the fifty states that the larger the lottery for changes in the lives the seventh twenty eight lenny turns another when the last few weeks we've seen more militant action by fact as we've seen doctors in massachusetts slowing down saying they won't take any new patients we've seen doctors in georgia are watching the state capital is this a new trend oh i think it's well it's not exactly new to and twenty five percent of all the doctors in florida or delivering babies about three years ago you just saying that new york state a year ago last year men or new york state to neurosurgeons an orthopedic surgeon who refused to do surgery nasa to so we can say more than yes you certainly are you going to see and we already are saying doctors who are stopping certain portions of their practice as a twenty five percent in florida you know

that before you persona of the graduating medical students in new york so i need to get an opportunity at what our lawyers and retaliate one thing of course that we're going to study the problem we're looking out we're gathering facts i have no idea whether there's anybody in the united states of having to deliver a baby without a doctor because of medical malpractice we found no evidence of that anywhere in this country we have to feel like they are waging war on hiroshima that we hear again as a false wrapped up examines the pleasures know how well lori gordon is the filipino latinos eight hours a day so

there at this event and utterly sharansky was released by moscow and flew to an emotional welcome in israel president reagan said it was encouraged by the soviet action in free insurance get the presidential commission on the challenger tragedy zeroed in on the safety of the rocket boosters president reagan sent special ambassador for the arab league to further assess the philippines election result imagine and iran was in amman i found it well thank you and goodnight funding is provided by at and see whether its telephone information systems long distance services computers at unseating funding also was provided by the station and other public television stations and the corporation for public broadcasting era right

since then many thanks the power is by