European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 19, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 b the stars and stripes . Thursday november 19,199a heart surgery death rates vary widely at a hospitals new Orleans a the first Effort by veterans hospitals to assess the Quality of surgical care found that the death rate after heart surgery was four times higher at the worst hospitals than in the Best hospitals. Officials of the veterans health administration defended the care at the 43 a hospitals that do heart surgery. A we re seeing continuous improvement a said or. Galen Barbour the head of Quality Assurance for the a hospitals. Barbour said Hospital services that done to meet Tough a standards arc shut Down six cardiac surgery centers have been closed in the past five years he said. The officials declined to identify the hospitals with the Best and worst records. A in general we try not to expose our hospitals to undue unfavourable attention a Barbour said. Barbour said that identifying the hospitals with the Best and worst records would make hospitals with bad records reluctant to provide data for continuing monitoring of care. In addition officials want to confirm the findings before acting to Correct problems he said. On monday or. Karl Hammer Cister a cardiologist at the Denver a medical Center reported that a death rates after heart surgery varied from 8.8 percent at the worst hospitals to 2.1 percent at the Best hospitals. 0 death rates after heart surgery at a hospitals have dropped 14 percent in the past five years. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the american heart association. Hamm urmeister said his study included estimates of the expected death rates at each a Hospital a As Well As the actual death rates a so that hospitals with sicker patients  be unfairly penalized. Hospitals with the worst records had the least risky patients with an expected death rate of 4.8 percent. The expected death rate at the Best hospitals was 6.9 percent. But the actual death rate at the worst hospitals was at least 1,5 times what was expected. At the Best hospitals it was less than half what was expected. A the excuse a our patients Are sicker does not hold Quot Hamm urmeister said. The study provided no explanation for the differences in death rates Hamm urmeister said. Forty three a hospitals perform about 7,000 heart operations each year Hamm urmeister said. Eighty percent Are bypass surgery 15 percent Are valve replacements and the rest Are other less common operations he said. Charles Kueper left and his attorney. Bruce Cook take a break outside a courtroom where jury selection was being completed wednesday for cancer victim Kuepers suit against re Reynolds tobacco co. Dying Man sues tobacco firm retired Soldier says he was misled about danger Carbondale 111. Apr a trial has begun into a lawsuit filed by a retired army master sergeant that claims a cigarette maker persuaded him to ignore evidence that smoking is dangerous. It is the first trial since the supreme court cleared the Way for lawsuits like those filed by Charles Kueper who is dying of cancer. Opening arguments were scheduled for wednesday in the suit filed against . Reynolds tobacco co., the nations second largest tobacco company and two other defendants. Jury selection was completed tuesday in St. Clair county circuit court. The High court ruled in june that warning labels on tobacco products done to shield companies that manufacture the products from lawsuits based on stale personal injury Laws. Kueper 51, claims he got lung cancer from smoking 11 packs of cigarettes a Day for nearly 30 years. His attorney brute Cook said Reynolds and the tobacco Institute a Washington based Trade association tried to persuade people to ignore health w earnings. Kueper is suing for compensatory damages of $3 million and unspecified punitive damages Reynolds spokesman David in Ishel said tuesday that the supreme courts ruling preempted lawsuits such As Kuepers because it found no proof tobacco companies tried to undermine health w earnings against smoking. A personal responsibility is at the heart of this Issue Quot l Ishad said. If the lawsuit against the company based in Winston Salem n.c., is successful it could boost dozens of other cigarette liability lawsuits pending against tobacco companies anti smoking advocates said. A the supreme court has said the tobacco Industry does not have a License to lie Quot said Richard Daynard a Law professor at northeastern University in Boston and chairman of the tobacco products i Iasi Lite  orders halt to Sale of Dahmer comic Book from wire reports Milwaukee a a judge has ordered an Illinois publisher to Stop Selling a comic Book about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Milwaukee county circuit judge Robert j. Miech on monday ordered Hart Fisher to Stop distributing the comic and to give up an undisclosed amount of profits from sales Fisher 23, of Champaign 111., was sued by eight families of Dahmer a victims who said he violated Wisconsin privacy Law by using pictures for profit without permission. Fisher who uses the business name Boneyard press said tuesday night that he expected the ruling to be reversed. A i think the whole thing is a travesty a he  Fisher said everything in his Book was based on Public records. He said about 11,000 copies have been sold. The cover Price is $2.75. Sea searched for yacht new York a . Navy planes on tuesday joined the search for a Veteran Yachtsman who was More than two weeks overdue in France on a Solo Atlantic crossing. Two Navy p-3 Orion aircraft normally used to track enemy submarines joined the coast guards search 700 Miles Northeast of Bermuda looking for signs of Mike Plant said coast guard Petty officer David Silva. Three coast guard c-130s opened a new search to the Northeast 420 Miles North of the azores. Plant 41, who has made three Solo trips around the world set out oct. 16 from new York to los Sables Jde Yolonne in France in a 60-foot Sloop. He was due in France on oct. 30.graduates More reliable Washington a College graduates Are More Likely to repay their student Loans than classmates who drop out mainly because they have better Odds of finding a Job a study shows. Graduation Lowers the probability of default by 10 percentage Points according to the research outlined m the current Issue of the review of economics and statistics. Quot graduation was enormously important Quot said Terry Seaks an economics professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro who conducted the  guns backed Austin Texas a a state legislator has introduced a Bill that would allow texans 10 carry concealed handguns. Rep. Bill Carterr fort Worth said tuesday that the Bill would legalize what Many texans Are already doing a carrying handguns to protect themselves against the rising level of violent crime. Under the proposal texans older than 21 could carry a gun if they passed a criminal records Check and a background investigation. They also would have to take a 15-hour firearms education course pass a written exam and show they can handle a  painting protested Detroit a the american civil liberties Union has filed suit against a southwestern Michigan school District demanding removal of an Oil painting of Christ from a High school hallway. A ave would be having a different discussion it Hie school Board had a display of world religious leaders but what we have is one prominent picture of Jesus Christ a Howard Simon the Acle Michigan executive director said tuesday. The suit was filed in . District court in Kalamazoo on behalf of Eric Pensinger and his Mother Dott Washegesic. Pensinger is a senior at Bloomingdale Public High school in Allegrii count it Indian tribes counted Washington cherokees and navajos account for a fourth of the american Indian population the census Bureau said tuesday in first count of tribal membership. Most of the 542 tribes counted in the 1990 census have fewer than 1,000 members the Agency said. Only four have More than 100,000 members the Cherokee 308,132 Navajo 219,198 Chippewa 103,826 and Sioux 103,255. The tribe count covered 1.9 million american a indians