European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 29, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday november 29, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 7self-health plans state Laws not tied Washington apr the supreme court ruled tuesday that self funded employee health care plans which cover some 9.5 million american workers Are not subject to state insurance Laws and regulations. The 7-1 decision in the Case of a seriously injured Pennsylvania teen age girl is a Victory for employers with such plans but could be a significant setback for employees covered by them. A for the Pennsylvania teen Ager it May mean having to surrender More than $50,000 she won in a lawsuit Over the Accident in which she was Hurt. Self funded plans Are those in which All benefits Are paid directly by an employer and not purchased through an Independent insurance company. The More common a insured plans purchased through insurance companies Are subject to state Laws and regulations. But tuesdays decision Drew a distinction Between those and self funded plans. The Illinois based fac corp. Has a self funded plan for its employees and their dependents. That plan paid for a substantial part of the More than $178,000 in medical expenses incurred by Cynthia Ann Holliday since a january 1987 automobile Accident in Indiana county a. Holliday then 15, suffered permanent injuries when the car in which she was a passenger crashed. Her father Gerald is an fac employee. Holliday sued the cards Driver Robert Lyons in state court. Under a settlement Holliday a financial receipt was limited to $49,875.50 plus interest. When fac sought to recover some of its expenses by claiming the lawsuit settlement funds Holliday successfully invoked a Pennsylvania Law that prohibits such action. Most states have such Laws aimed at protecting the supreme court Roundup winnings of people who successfully file personal injury suits. Fac then turned to a Federal trial judge for help contending that a Federal Law the employee retirement income Security act of 1974 Eri Sawas meant to be the sole Means of regulating its health care plan. Fac said the Federal Law preempted the prohibitive Pennsylvania Law. The trial judge and the 3rd . Circuit court of appeals ruled against fac. But tuesdays decision reversed the lower court rulings saying fac was right in its Contention that the Federal Law superseded any state regulation. The justices sent the Case Back to the lower courts where presumably fac will be Able to recover the Money Holliday won in the lawsuit against Lyons. In an opinion by Justice Sandra Day of Connor the court said a in View of Congress Clear intent to exempt from direct state insurance regulation erisa employee Benefit plans we hold that erisa preempts the Pennsylvania Law a Justice John Paul Stevens was the sole dissenter. Justice David h. Souter who joined the court after the Case was argued last month did not participate in the decision. Pm cd a Appeal to the nations highest court has been supported by the . Chamber of Commerce the self insurance Institute of America and numerous self funded health and welfare plans. In other matters the court a gave Federal Energy regulators More authority to set electric rates for millions of Homes nationwide by ruling 8-0 for the Federal Energy regulatory commission in a dispute from Ohio. A heard arguments in a Case to be decided by july sparked by a Rhode Island colleges dismissal of a nursing student because she was too fat. Army denies claims of atrocities Montgomery Ala. A army officials said there was no evidence to support a former senators allegations that atrocities were committed by . Forces when they ousted Manuel Noriega from Panama last year. Col. Joseph s. Panvini director of Public affairs for the . Southern come in Panama called allegations that . Forces paid $6 per body and buried slain non combatants in mass unmarked Graves a absolutely  he said there was no evidence to support other claims made by former sen. Donald Stewart of Alabama. Stewart said about 100 panamanians he spoke with told a Story after Story of innocent citizens including children and the elderly being killed and buried in mass Graves. He said official casualty figures appeared to be far Short of the actual numbers. A there has been no attempt on the part of the . Government to hide the reporting of panamanian fatalities As a result of operation just cause a Panvini said in a letter responding to the allegations. A Panvini is saying things contrary to what the people in Panama told me a Stewart said in a Telephone interview. A if they done to have anything to cover up an investigation will reveal that. I would love to know it Wasny to  photos released by Nasa show 1981 pictures taken of the Hubble telescopes secondary Mirror left and its flawed primary Mirror. Hubble Mirror flaw suspected but not reported probe finds Washington a technicians suspected a problem in the manufacture of the Hubble space telescopes main Mirror but never told anyone investigators said tuesday. The manufacturer Perkin Elmer did not assign its Best people to the Telescope construction and a there was a surprising Lack of participation by optical experts with experience in the manufacture of Large telescopes a the investigators final report added. Nasa released the study by a six member panel. One flaw the panel found echoed a finding of the investigators of the 1986 challenger space shuttle Accident. The Hubble report said the management Structure at Perkin Elmer raised a a Strong blocks against communication Between people doing hands on work and higher level experts. In the after Nath of the challenger disaster a Lack of communication Between engineers and upper management was cited As a contributing cause. The Telescope launched last april from the space shuttle discovery cannot be focused properly because its primary Mirror is too Flat in the Center. The investigators quickly determined and reiterated in their final report that an optical test used in the manufacturing process was not set up correctly. The report said there were a Clear indications of the problem from auxiliary optical tests made at the time but that a both indicators of error were discounted at the time As being themselves  it said the distortions in the Mirror were seen during tests but that the manufacturer believed the test was not reliable. Cryosurgery offers new Hope for liver patients. Or it a. A.  r____1 t a a a j Llu a/xl1nnn.ni> Hla a a a a a n t i a a Iiller in Minrul. Chicago apr a procedure that freezes cancerous tutors by using ultrasound guided probes offers Hope to people who otherwise would be certain to die of liver malignancies a radiologist said tuesday. Of 30 patients who underwent the treatment six Are free of disease said or. Gary Onik of presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh. The technique called cryosurgery has the ability to destroy tutors next to major blood vessels without destroying Normal tissues nearby Onik reported at the 76th scientific Assembly and annual meeting of the radiological society of North America. It offers Hope to patients whose cancer is caught before it involves the entire liver he said noting that radiation and chemotherapy Are ineffective treatments for liver cancer. A everybody we worked on by definition  be helped any other Way a Onik said. The patients who Are now disease free after undergoing the procedure have survived an average of 29 months with the longest survival five years he said. Survival for the other patients has averaged 22 months and two of the patients whose cancer has come Back Are still alive he said. That is considerably longer than the projected survival of six months to nine months after diagnosis among comparable liver cancer patients who done to have cryosurgery Orick said. He and his colleagues also Are testing ultrasound guided cryosurgery for prostate cancer and among seven patients who have undergone it so far no complications have resulted Onik said. The technique involves making an incision into the patients Abdomen and using ultrasound to find the cancerous lesions in the liver. A surgeon then inserts a probe into a lesion and freezes the lesion with liquid nitrogen. Ultrasound is a radar like technique in which High frequency sound Waves Are sent into the body to form an image. He said his work with ultrasound and cryosurgery follows Success with similar techniques in Japan and China