European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 14, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday january 14, 19s7 the stars and stripes Page s 4 a hospitals halting heart surgery concern Over death rates prompts move Washington a the veterans administration said monday it is closing heart surgery units at four a hospitals following a system wide review sparked by concern Over death Rales and Quality of care. Cardiac surfer will be permanently halted at a hospitals in Brooklyn. ., Easl Orange no. Long Beach calif., and Washington . A administrator Thomas Turnac signed an order approving the closings on Friday spokeswoman Donna St. John said. Patients will be transferred or referred to other a hospitals for surgery. In cases of emergency the a will pay for surgery a i another private or Public Hospi Tal she said. The closings reduce to 41 he number of a Hospi tals nationwide whew open heart surgery will be per formed. Heart surgery Ai East Orange and Washington was halted last year because of concerns about death Rales and Quality of care. Heart surgery at the other two units will be phased out this year. Is John said the decision 10 close the units was based on a re View and recommendations made by a special advisor committee formed in 1985. Is. John said he a took into consideration mortal Ity rates the number of cases handled per year Cost efficiency and projections of the number of veterans to be served in the future. The study panel recommended that the a permanently close heart surgery units conducting fewer than 150 operations a year and where mortality Rales were greater than j percent. According to the a. The four units had the follow ing records in fiscal 1986 Brooklyn 100 heart operations were performed and there was a 7 percent mortality rate. East Orange 15 heart operations were performed before in was closed in May and there was a 20 percent mortality Rale. Long Beach 78 heart operations were performed and Here was a 6.4 percent mortality Rale Washington before heart surgery was suspended in september there were 96 heart operations and the mortality rate was 10.4 percent. The a operates the largest Hospital system in the country with 172 hospitals and hundreds of clinics and nursing Homes for veterans of military service. Its hospitals admitted 1.5 million patients last year and 18 million were treated As outpatients. Face in the clock clockmaker Edward f. Schmidt or let mass., removes the hands from an 1899 clock on the Church on the Hill in Lenox muss.  clock is being overhauled As part of Hie Church s 5140,000 Preslor Liim. Marine held in spy Case could get death Penally Washington up the Marinc corps will begin an administrative procedure next month to determine if a Marine who served As a guard at . Embassies in Moscow and Vienna should be charged with espionage a Marine spokeswoman says. If convicted of espionage. Sol. Clayton 3. Lon Trec 25, could gel the death pen ally. Lonetree faces charges of espionage conspiracy to commit espionage failing to report Contact with citizens of communist controlled nations and unauthorized removal and disclosure of classified information. Lone acc is the Only american suspected in the Case. A military magistrate last week or dered Lon Trec held until a hearing Al which a judge would decide whether to Forward the Case to a court martial or dismiss charges. No formal charges have been filed yet against Lon Clicc who was placed in confinement when he was returned to the United states from Vienna on . 31, Marine spokeswoman capt. Linda West Ern said. Army lob shows big improvements in identifying Vietnam is remains by Norman Black a military writer Washington an army Laboratory criticized last year for some of its work in identifying the remain of miss ing servicemen from the Vietnam War has made significant improvements and is Well on 1 he Way to re establishing its credibility a panel of outside experts has concluded. All of us agreed that the army has made significant improvements in its identification procedures and in i tie facilities and operation of the  wrote or. Ellis r. Kerley. He is an anthropology professor Al the University of Maryland who led a three Man review team. We believe that there is a dedication to making the Central identification Laboratory one of the finest identification facilities in the  the other two members were or. Wil Jiam r. Maples of the University of Flor Ida s Florida state museum and or. Lowell lev inc. A forensic of oncologist in Huntington station.  The Arm Laboratory located in Honolulu is the facility to which remains recovered from Southeast Asia Are taken for identification. In 1985, after some family members of missing american servicemen expressed doubts about the identification of their relatives the army commissioned Kerley s team to conduct a review of the Laboratory s work the team subsequently questioned the Laboratory s identification of 13 sets of remains recovered from a crash site in Laos. The experts found nothing to indicate the lab had incorrectly identified the remains but Felt there was insufficient evidence available in some cases for the army to make a positive identification. The team also found a need for several  at the facility including More personnel and equipment strict delineation of the professional personnel who perform dental and anthropological identifications and participation by lab oratory personnel in professional conferences and seminars. On monday the army said it had asked the same team to make a follow up evaluation and a second review had been conducted last october. The army said the experts had offered some More recommendations for improving the lab s operation following last fall s Survey but on the whole praised the army for improving its facilities procedures and personnel. In a report written by Verlcy the Leam said in had examined in depth 75 re cent cases of identification by the Laboratory. We did not find any wrong or mis  among the Caw reports Hal we reviewed it said. In no Case could we say thai the remains were not those of the person  the team did recommend some continuing improvements in equipment available to the Laboratory s workers however which the army said in was pursuing. Gop club founder Dies Hallowell Maine a Mari on e. Man in founder of the National federation of Republican women s clubs has died. She was 86. Lonetree has been in custody since late december when he acknowledged his involvement to . Officials in Vienna she said. The los Angeles times reported sat urday that a government source said the Case against Lone Irce involved a major Kab operation and called it i very serious breach of Security. Lon Trec is suspected of having worked with a woman believed to be a Kab agent to provide the soviet secret police with extensive top secret information from the embassy in Vienna and perhaps from he embassy in Moscow government sources told the times. The newspaper quoted its sources As saying Lonetree had Access to extremely sensitive material As Well As the keys to safes where classified documents were kept. A Safe at one embassy was opened and its contents were taken one source said. Lone Irce served As a guard Al the embassy in Moscow from sept. 27, 1984, to March 10, 1986. Western said and Al the embassy in Vienna from March ii to . 31 of last year. Sands of time in the stars and stripes 40 years ago . 14, 1947 six survivors of the crash of a Byrd expedition plane in the Antarctic were Down to safety after spending two weeks huddled in the wreckage of their two engine plane. Three men died in the Accident. 30 years ago today. Jan. 14, 1957 Tallahassee fla., bus Drivers began assigning Riden to seats As the City s transit service muted operation following an 11-Day shutdown caused by racial violence. Driven were to consider weight distribution and the need to prevent violence when seating passengers. 20 years ago foe a. Jan 4, h67 the threat of Vio Lence was reported hanging Over peking China As Mao tsp Tung rallied his Force in a bitter Power struggle. 10 years ago today. Jan. 4. 1977 a ballistics expert testified in the Aspen colo., manslaughter trial of Singer Claudine Longel that a grease covered firing mechanism on the ,22-Calibcr pistol in question could have caused the weapon to fire accidentally. Longet claimed she shot her Lover pro skier Vladimir Sabich by Accident