European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 23, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday. January 23, 1966 the stars and stripes Page 5 Billig Recruiter is convicted on 5 of 7 counts b Norman  k Washington Iarj one or two Navy officers charged a ii Misco Ndue in ramming ii Mir Geun whose alleged Bung Ling led la the death of five patients was Amu cd on five of seven founts by i Mili Larj Cui irl Imir Lial. Cmdr Reginald Newman 5.1. On fun Coda ivies found guilty by a seven Mcm bar panel of officers of one count of dereliction of duly. In counts of milking raise official statements and to counts of perjury. Newman who h is. Served in Ilie Navy Lor Ujj years was i filled in two of her perjury in tints me is the former head of medical programs for inc in vol recruit in Ennid. The charges against him stemmed from  role in recruiting or. Dor nil m. I whig Inlo the Navy ind his testimony before an investigative Board about whether he with held  information Riboul till log s record. Under military Law Ilie same panel thai convicted Newman will determine his san Lenee in deliberations Marling wednesday lie could receive up to 2d1/ years in Pris on. The Newman verdict Al killing ache just outside Washington came us Billiu s own court martial continued no Ilie Washington Navy Yard. Billig Farmer a Lilc of cardio lip Radii surgery a Lite belch Dii naval Hospital is charged with five counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Dan los of patients in i9s3 and 19s4 upon wham he performed open hear surgery. He i also charged with 24 counts of dereliction of duty and faces a maximum of 21 years in prison if convicted on All counts. The Navy has acknowledged Hal Billig was recruited into the service despite poor Lye sight and questionable medical credentials. Newman and another officer. . Cmdr. Jerry d. Penn have been identified by the Navy As he two men most responsible for Trillig s recruitment. Penn also faces charges of derelict Ion of duty perjury and making false official statements but Liis court martial has not started. Newman is the firs officer to be convicted in the fillip Case. Seven other offi cers hive received various types of administrative censures and an eighth received a punitive letter of reprimand after appear ing before an Admiral s must a Type of non judicial hearing. Doctor testifies surgeons error caused patient s death Washington a a cardiologist testified tuesday that Navy surgeon Donal Nillia without ques Tion caused a patient s death by wrongly tying off a coronary artery during heart bypass surgery at Bethesda naval Hospital. Billig a commander is on trial before a nine officer court martial on charges of involuntary manslaughter in1 the deaths of five patients and dereliction of duly because he allegedly operated on 24 others without supervision. Cmdr Bruce k. Lloyd chief cardiologist at both Coda. Testified thai by tying off the left Anterior descending coronary artery of retired Navy Polly officer Joe Estop Billig caused Estop to suffer a fatal heart attack. Estop 6 1, died five Days after the surgery on oct. 18. 1984. "1 think without question that led to a myocardial infarction Lloyd said. Survival was not possible his postoperative risk should have been no greater than 2 percent  said in the Estop death is Well As in four others Billig is charged with involuntary manslaughter by culpable neg  earlier the Secretary of the cardio thoracic unit at by Thesda testified Hilwig came to her one Day depressed Anil upset and asked her to destroy All his operating room records. He was completely out of character said Sondra Gelz. It looked to me like the fight was out of  get was vague about the Lime when Billig made his request but it appeared to be in the period late i9h3 when Billig had told the Hospital s executive officer capt. Leon Hodges that his wife was threatening to Tell the Navy that his medical credentials had been lifted earlier at a Hospital in new Jersey. Hodges testified last week that when Billig gave him that information he in effect ordered that Bilting do no More heart surgery and int his background be investigated. He told me to gel rid of the operating notes Gutz said tuesday. He repented you should not be keeping operating notes " such notes arc a record of Steps a surgeon takes during a particular operation and get said they were kept in various archives including the Hospital s cardio thoracic unit where she worked. I said it was t a Gix id move it May come to haunt us Gutz testified. My impression was someone told him to get rid of anything we had and not to keep anything that came  she said she told Billig i Don t think i should do it. But i la do what you Tell me  she said the shredder in her office was not working and housekeeping got rid of them for  the Secretary said Billig told her to resume keeping records in Early i9u4. New York City official says he lied about kidnapping new York a a top City official has admitted he lied when he told police that near fatal cuts to his wrist and ankle were inflicted by kidnappers. He said he concocted the tale because he Felt embarrassed and disgraced about slashing him self. Queens Borough president Donald Munes whom police found wounded after stopping his weaving ear in Queens Early Jan. 10, appeared Pale and drained tues Day As he spoke from his Hospital bed. The Democrat apologized to police prosecutors and his family and said there were no assailants and no one but me is to  Manes 52, said he told the Story of being abducted and Cut by two men hiding in his car because he was confused and embarrassed and Felt disgraced by what i bad done to  Manes did not discuss his reasons for culling himself. Bui his lawyer Michael Armstrong said Manes had concocted inc Story because he fell he d be disgraced by people learning about the fact that he tried 10 take his own  Armstrong said part of the cause could rest with a combination of Manes blood pressure Medicine and a crash diet he had begun. Doctors have said the mixture is enough to cause severe psychological alterations in anyone and even hallucinations Arm Strong said. Doctors have indicated that that very Well could have been a contributing  police interviewed Manes briefly in the Days after the incident Hen said Al a news conference last week that they did not be Lieve Manes Story and had concluded his wounds were self inflicted. Manes a popular and usually ebullient politician did not take questions after read ing his five paragraph statement Al new York University medical Center the Queens county democratic Leader shed i talc Light on his motivations Anil did not discuss his political future. The fact Hal i came to be in a slate of mind permitting me to do such a terrible thing to myself is very painful for me to Deal with he said. I have talked of my reasons such As they arc with my wife my family and the psychiatrist in this Hospital who is now helping me. Of course i also had to discuss the mat Ter fully with my  he said. I Don t want