European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 27, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes sunday. September 27.1987 James Kilpatrick is unfairly prohibited from malpractice suits their names arc Robert j. Longo Robert be Rawls and Timothy j. Adkins. You May never have heard of them but their names ought to ring loudly in the Heads of the department of defense. At three suffered from medical malpractice at the hands of them Hilary establishment. Because they were on Active duly they could not sue for the damages they otherwise might have won. Army it. Rawls and Marine sri. Adkins died As consequence of their treatment in military facilities. Army spec. 4 Longo was left a cripple. Their stories Are briefly told in a report of the House judiciary committee endorsing rep. Barney Frank still to right a longstanding wrong. The Bill would allow members of the armed Force son Active duty and full Lime members of Ibe National guard to sue the United slates for damages resulting from personal injury or death arising from medical or dental malpractice. Specifically the Bill would apply Only to negligence in a fixed medical facility operated by the govern ment. It would not apply to injuries or death in com Bat. For reasons that strike me As specious the Keagan administration opposes the Bill. One argument is that military discipline would break Down if service personnel on Active duty were permitted to sue their Superior officers a second is that such suits would have to be filed under widely varying state Laws thus producing widely varying awards. A third is that ensling Law already provides for compensation in cases of alleged malpractice. Opponents also predict that courts could be clogged by the thousands of suits that might be brought. In its report of aug. 9, the judiciary committee dismissed the objections out of hand. Military discipline and morale probably would be improved by Frank s Bill the threat of a malpractice suit might have prevented the three blunders the committee cites. As for varying state Laws the government manages to live with the problem if it is a problem in suns that now can be brought by military dependents and Federal prisoners. Under the pending Bill any awards granted i civilian litigation would be reduced by the amount of the government s compensation. Finally if military Medicine is so awful that thou Sands of malpractice claims would be filed it is even later than most observers think. Consider the three cases. Longo was admitted to an . Rosenthal vul1ur0 Mal proce army Hospital suffering from a painful Lump in his thigh for three months he was treated for a simple muscle  it was t a muscle tear it was cancer. The tumor spread to his lungs. At Long last the malignancy was discovered and removed but Longo was left at 23, with. 100 percent disability and the continuing pain of fibrosis. If he had been a service dependent he might have sued but because he was on Active duly he had no Legal recourse. Rawls died because of medical neglect of a staph infection which damaged his heart  the infection probably resulted from a puncture wound in his foot caused by a Nail in his army boots. Four times Rawls sought treatment from an army Hospital. He was running a temperature of 105 degrees. This made no impression. Ultimately he went through two open heart operations. He did not survive the  Ond. Rawls was 25. Adkins had a tooth extracted at the denial clinic of the Marine corps air station in Beaufort . An infection developed. He died 16 Days later. The department of defense asked its inspector general to investigate. The conclusion Adkins had suffered from follow up care that was  the committee report adds laconically that sterilization areas at the clinic were modified As a result of sergeant Adkins  it makes no sense to discriminate against members of the armed forces on Active duty. Two thirds of the individuals treated at military medical facilities Al ready have a right to sue under the Federal Tor claims act. Only those who Are actively serving their country Are denied equal Access to the courts. Frank s Bill now languishes on the Calendar of a Busy House. It ought to be taken up promptly. In october1985, the House voted 317-90 in favor at Frank s proposal but the Bill died in the Senate. Try again while Congress Dawdle others Are suf Fering the same Fate unfairly imposed upon Longo Adkins and Rawls. Syndi Ciu do reforms mean soviets Merit Trust now is an excellent Lime for Ameri cans to begin thinking and talking about a question Centra to . Security and foreign policy How can we decide whether the soviet Union is embarked on permanent re forms that would allow us to enter a new Era of Trust and cooperation in our relations with Moscow what the russians do inside their Bor Ders is their business except when they violate International agreements such As the . Charter provisions on observing human rights. But How we react to what they do is our business it affects not Only what we think about the rus sians but what we think about ourselves. So we should decide for ourselves what we can reasonably expect from the soviet Union. The purpose is not to draw up a shopping list of demands. It is to create oar Awn guidelines to help us figure out whether Mikhail Gorbachev s Glass St is permanent and growing or still rests atop a system that can destroy it at any time. That will allow us to decide if the Lime has come to support Gorbachev with economic and political capital As we Are so often urged to do. Gorbachev raised the Issue by making changes that do not restructure soviet political society but do introduce fresh air and the Hope of More winds of change to come. He recognized the economic disaster of the soviet system told his people about the failure and is trying to work up and out of it. This is exactly the time for americans to Start serious Public Exa Nina a of How to judge where the soviet Union is going. We Are choosing a new president who will have to draw up his own Crite Ria voters should know what they Are. We Are also taking an arms reduction step that is not overwhelmingly important militarily but May bring larger Steps. This could mean a permanent end to fear of War. Or Are Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger right to warn that we Are destroying the balance that has helped us avoid War and thus increasing the danger of War and there is this to think about the soviet Union achieved military Equality with the United states More than a dec Ade ago. Now it is presenting itself As a country wiping out the tyranny of the past and therefore also As the political and moral equal of America. If that is so America s great asset of being seen and seeing itself As the Flag Carrier of Freedom against despotism will logically diminish. If it is not so to accept Egal Ilaria. Ism will not Only give the soviet Union an undeserved status but distort our concept of ourselves and the partic ular Quality of american values. Some guidelines for americans 1. Soviet willingness to reduce its conventional strength in Europe so that the removal of the nuclear deterrent will not leave the soviet Union in a position to use it superiority in manpower and Battlefield weapons. That would present the permanent threat of a War the West could not win. Moscow ays it is ready to Deal seriously on conventional arms and should be taken up on it now. 2. Soviet adherence to International agreements ., Helsinki that guarantee human liberties including emigration religious worship and express Ion As rights and not permissions granted. The fulfilment of human rights treaties which includes emptying toe Camps for political prisoners will be a clue to the likelihood of fulfilment of life or death disarmament treaties. 3. Soviet political and military liberation of Eastern Europe. If glasnost is deep and lasting Moscow need no longer fear that Freedom in Eastern Europe would infect the soviet Union. Moscow should be held to the same Standard the United states maintains in its relation with its neighbors. We would not permit foreign armies in can Ada or Mexico. But we do not Garrison our armies in Border countries or try to Rule diem from Washin Siop. Eastern Europe cannot be an anti soviet base. But a soviet Union building democracy inter Nally can safely allow Eastern Europe to determine in own political system. 4. Rapid movement toward dismantling the police Power Structure of soviet society. The Kab is often represented a the West at a threat to Gorbachev. Per haps it will be one Day. Right now he commands it. As Long As Kab Power u the dominant soviet political reality go Vincnt can be hailed or reverted by the Kab or Gorbachev himself. Before Gorbachev took Over it would have been ludicrous to suggest these guidelines seriously. Now they ire critically important As signs of where he it going and whether and How fast we should be going with him. Vol. Ten