European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 2, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes sunday August 2,1987 James Kilpatrick give service members the right to sue . Forty years ago More or less bad things happened to Rudolph feres Arthur Jefferson and Dudley Griggs. All of them were in the army. Feres died in a Barracks fire at Pine Camp. . Jefferson Wen through an abdominal operation flawed by serious malpractice. Griggs died for want of proper treatment by army surgeons. All three figured in lawsuits brought at the time against the United states government. The suits sought damages above and beyond the compensation Given them under Federal Law. The question was whether the Federal tort claims act of 1946 Etca permitted servicemen to sue the government. Speaking for a unanimous supreme court in 1950, Justice Robert Jackson ruled that military personnel May not bring suit for injuries that arise out of or Are in the course of activity incident to this is the feres Doc with few exceptions the supreme court has adhered to Jackson s reasoning Ever since. Now the feres doctrine is under double attack. It barely survived this past term of the supreme court dissenting in a 5-4 Case in May Justice Antonin Scalia termed the feres Rule clearly and in the House of representatives congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts has introduced a Bill to permit men and women in the armed forces to sue for malpractice by service doctors. The Justice department opposes Frank s Bill but the measure strikes me As altogether fair. The armed services have attracted some first rate physicians the level of medical care on the whole is regarded As Ellen Goodman reasonably High. Bui the armed services also have attracted some second rate doctors who could t Hack it in civilian practice. There is no valid reason at least none that i can see Why a Soldier or Sailor who suffers from botched surgery should not be Able to sue As civilians can sue. Justice Jackson himself seemed a Little Uncertain in his 1950 opinion. He found no legislative record to guide the court in construing the Etca. If we misinterpret the act he remarked at least Congress possesses a ready the ambiguous language of the Etca sought to make the government liable in the same manner and to the same extent As a private individual under like Jackson reasoned that no private individual could be legally analogous to a Soldier in the army for no one has Power to mobilize a private army. Be sides said Jackson the Law makes no sense if it results in suits brought by military personnel subject to frequent transfers under the applicable tort Law of the state in which the injury occurs. Anyhow he noted the government maintains a system of compensation that is fair and efficient. Military discipline would suf Fer if troops could sue their officers for wrongful acts. To justices Scalia Stevens Brennan and Marshall this reasoning is specious. They Are ready to junk the feres doctrine altogether or at least to poke holes in the Rule that would give men and women in service a better break. That is rep. Frank s idea also. Go Back to the Case of Arthur Jefferson. Eight months after his operation at an army Hospital in Maryland Jefferson had to have a second operation. To their Surprise and Chagrin surgeons found in his stomach a Towel 30 inches Long by 18 inches wide marked medical department . Army " Jefferson received Lump sum compensation of $3,645 at the time. The court estimated that Given his life expectancy he would receive instalments totalling $32,000 before his death. It was t much. Frank s Bill would let malpractice plaintiffs go to court under of Tea. Frank s Bill would not address the indefensible dam age inflicted by the army upon master sgt. James b. Stanley. He was one of a thousand soldiers you May recall who in 1958 were gulled into experiments with out their consent to determine the effect of Ltd on humans. Neither would it help the widow of it. Cmdr. Morton Winfield Johnson a coast guard helicopter Pilot who died it is alleged when Faa controllers erred in supervising a Rescue flight in Hawaii. The supreme court applied the feres doctrine to both cases this past term. Something is sorely wrong Here. The Origi Nal feres plaintiffs of 1950 suffered damages that had Little to do with the Peculiar circumstances of military service. A defective Furnace led to feres death. In competent surgery figured in the other two cases. The congressional budget office estimates that Frank s Bill would Cost the taxpayers no More than $25 million in Etca damages a year. It would be Money fairly spent. C Universal pros Syndetic time to Bridge the sex scandal gender Gap g i a self appointed watchdog of sexist language and literature called this morning in especially High dudgeon. This person mind you has made an Avo cation of catching every missing pro noun. Use the word he when you mean he and she and this committee of one is ready with the gun Dorless judgment get the unisex cuffs. Today he she we will keep this andro Nous said that i was on his her Black list. I had blown years of credits by the use of the word even worse i had written about politicians penchant for Pec Dillos in the exclusively he Man vernacular. I had listed the charges against for Eisenhower Juk Gary Hart. Where were the charges against women not a bad question. But i Don t think it s a matter of semantics or a sexist plot to discriminate against in favor of women. There just in t a Good gender free equivalent for the word Wom Wordsmith Bill Safire recently went through an entire Rolodex of alternatives seductress hominid or Guma Nizer Man eater before settling on philanderer and suggesting that when a woman runs for the presi Dency she can say i m not a Philan but philanderer just does t have the same juice. Maybe in the end there in t a fit Ting female verb because there in t the female activity at least at the same High political level. The women who historically have garnered reputations for frivolous and arid sexual behaviour Catherine the great. Elizabeth i did t have to worry about getting elected. More recently the political women who be been damaged by the men in their lives followed More traditional Pat terns. Bess Myerson s troubles in new York could be traced in part to choosing or. Wrong. Peggy heckler suffered be cause of a divorce proceeding in which she was pegged As mrs. Cold. As for Geraldine Ferraro s woes. I give you the words at a recent political roast uttered by Gloria Steinem what has a. Set it Khz the 1988 camrm6n the women s movement Learned from her candidacy for vice president never get Why Haven t there been any Maniz ing scandals about political women theories Range from woman s nature Toher nurture. Ruth Mandill of the Center for american woman and politics speculates that political women arc still in the Pioneer stage and pioneers May be less willing to take risks in what is Al ready a very sensitive situation. It s not that i be never heard of women having an affair but they lend to be very very the cliche of womanizing Mandell adds conjure up the image of the older powerful men and Young attractive women he s admiring her for looks she s admiring him for there Are very few images in society at Large let alone in rarefied politics of older powerful women and Young attractive men. Male Power May be the great aphrodisiac to women but it does t seem to work in reverse. Ethel Klein a political scientist at co Lumbia University suggests that women in general grow up associating sex with danger Long before they even get into politics. We re brought up to understand that we re very vulnerable in terms of pregnancy even rape and certainly in terms of the double Standard of society. Professor Klein also does t think Many High status women wish to prove it in the bedroom i Don t think that getting men on their backs is the Way most women feel i could t find anyone nol even my self who would argue the higher innate morality of women in politics. I Don twant it to seem like women Aren t subject to flattery and temptation says Man Dell. We May be dealing not Only with pioneers but a first wave who put their personal life on hold women who had to be twice As virtuous and who veal ways Felt watched. If that s True it May just be a matter of time until we catch up. Or catch Down. The gender Gap in womanizing the word and the deed May come Down to numbers. I think we just have too Small a Sample says Kathy Bonk of the National Organiza Tion for women s Legal defense fund. It s hard to know How women in High office will behave when she says Alyou have to go on is about 26 people s when Mork women get to High political Power will they be different will we have equal ratios of Mam i is among the crowd this is the $64 Mil lion Dollar says Bonk asking with a touch of irony. Will we know women have made it when we have our first scandal c Washington Pott the opinions expressed in the column and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no nay to reconsidered As representing the la a of the Stan and strip or the United slates gout Nicot
