Mistakes Were Made
The papers offer a mixed bag of Sunday stories, with no direct overlap among
the three front pages. The New
York Times lead summarizes a report documenting mistakes in Veterans
hospitals from June 1997-December 1998, and tracks the ensuing drive to conduct
similar studies in other U.S. health-care systems. The Washington Post details
the start of an investigation into a Dec. 6 air traffic control glitch that
nearly caused two passenger planes to collide. The Los Angeles Times runs a
local story about the state's failure to crack down on fraud in its Medi-Cal
system. In an unprecedented front-page address to its readers, the LAT
takes responsibility for violating the hallowed "separation of church and
state"--the code that prevents journalists from maintaining a financial or
personal interest in the stories they cover.
The Department of Veterans Affairs report enumerates more than 3,000
mistakes made in V.A. hospitals from June 1997-December 1998. Seven hundred of
these cases resulted in the patient's death. The study, the first of its kind
by a U.S. health-care system, found that doctors committed a range of errors,
including operations on the wrong body part or patient, the NYT reports.
Spokesmen for the health-care industry concur that the frequency of errors is
probably no lower in other hospital systems. The National Academy of Sciences,
which recently called for similar studies in hospitals nationwide, reported
last month that between 44,000 and 98,000 people a year die from mistakes:
That's higher than the number of people who die annually on highways or from
breast cancer or AIDS.
The Post and NYT report that U.S. security agencies are
watching with increasing vigilance potential New Year's Eve hot spots. The
former fronts news that all 301 ports of entry into the country have been
placed on high alert after an Algerian man was arrested Tuesday for smuggling
bomb materials from Canada. Although the headline, "US Borders on High Alert,"
suggests the story might be about Customs Service preparations against future
smuggling attempts, the story explores the suspect's alleged ties to Osama bin
Laden. The equipment confiscated by customs officials seems to match that used
by others linked to bin Laden. Tim Weiner writes in the NYT that U.S.
investigators have helped pin down at home and abroad people suspected of
plotting violence over New Year's. An aside halfway through the piece likens
FBI agents, scanning the Internet for hacker assaults and political extremists,
to "ancients searching the skies for a sign."
A WP front-pager and a quirky NYT Magazine spread examine just
how low Web "retailers" will go in the name of establishing a loyal customer
base. The Post story anoints Familywonder.com discount-king: The site,
an online warehouse of things to buy children, promised last week to send $20
to anyone who answered a survey and purchased at least $20 worth of
merchandise. With the help of a toy industry guru, the NYT calculates
that Etoys.com would lose $41.97 on a sale totaling $68.97. These sites are
jockeying to build "brand names in the new millennium" (NYT), by hotly
pursuing tactics that "would be, in any normal business, ruinous"
(WP).
Russians go to the polls today to elect a new Duma. The NYT describes
the campaign as "a barroom brawl, a chairs-over-the-head affair" that the
disgruntled public nonetheless took seriously. An adviser to Moscow Mayor Yuri
Luzhkov (Kremlin foe) told the LAT that the Kremlin's campaign for Duma
seats "makes Richard Nixon's presidential election bids look clean." The two
Times es see the election as an "unofficial Presidential primary"
(LAT); Russians will elect a new president next summer. By contrast, the
Post 's David Hoffman presents a closer look at the Duma's structure and
how a change in the party composition (i.e., fewer Communists) might result in
action on market reform and tax law.
The Clinton administration may force the usually independent Export-Import
Bank to drop $500 million in loan guarantees to a Russian oil company known for
questionable practices, according to a Post front-pager. At issue: The
administration is debating whether it is worse to give loans to an operation
generally thought to be shady, or risk jeopardize already strained relations
with the Kremlin. Isn't this thinking similar to the logic faulted in a number
of "Who Lost Russia?" articles that have appeared in recent months?: Fear of
something worse around the corner persuades the administration to live with
known evils. Candidates Bush, McCain, and Bradley have all suggested that the
administration stop the loans, the Post reports.
Under the headline "To Our Readers," Kathryn M. Downing and Michael Parks,
the LAT 's publisher and editor, explain that the paper shared with
Staples profits generated from an Oct. 10 Sunday Times Magazine devoted
to LA's new Staples Center. The two-column text comes about a month and a half
after Downing asked forgiveness from an irate staff. Tomorrow, the paper will
print the results of media writer David Shaw's investigation into the matter.
Below their note the paper runs its statement of principles: "Our mission is to
provide the news, information, analysis and commentary [readers] need to lead
successful lives and to be effective citizens in a democracy."
