News Scrapbook 1989

San Diego, CA. (San Diego Co.) San Diego Union (Cir. D. 217,089) (Cir. S. 341,840) JUN 5 - 1989

Son Diego, CA. (San Diego Co.) San Diego Union (Cir . D. 217,089) (Cir . S. 341,840) JUN 4 - 1989

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Sunday, June 4, 1989 dvocacy group to focus on handling of child abuse By Daniel C. Car og, If Wrll r ?':) SACRAMEN O - San Diego these trends. San Diego retailer Sol Price, a Weingart director, helped land the foundation grant, said Peterson.

itself in ads By Rod Riggs ._/ Starr Writer t/!37 mallest of fliree major tradi- tional universities in San Diego, the University of San Diego has recog- nized a need to market 1lself. ''We're not a UCSD with its science and r !lrch. We are not a compre- hensive um ·ersity, like San Diego State. People have a less precise idea of USO and what a liberal arts insti- tution is," said USD pt.blic relations director Charles J . Reilly. USD's move for public awareness is amplified by preparations to raise $47.4 million for general programs and to expand its law library. "When you plan to raise money, people have to understand what the institution is about," Reilly said. To put the message across, he added, "we decided to explore the advertis• ing vernacular." USD began cautiously. A urvey of 80 colleges and universities got 42 re- sponses. More than half of the insti· tutions used ad campaigns mainly for recruiting; 41 percent for posi- tiomng, identity or image; 38 percent to advertise events; 13 percent to so-· licit gifts; 10 percent to announce fund rai ing. USO trustees approved the cam- paign, which was developed in-house with guidance from a committee of advertising professionals. "Institutional advertising is ve y ml)ch in its experimental phase with us," admits USO President Author E. Hughes. "As one who was apprehen- sive about the advertising, I was disabused of the notion that they have to be in poor taste." USO trustees appear as advocates for the institution in the four-ad se- ries published in San Diego maga- zine, Performing Arts and On Air.. Trustee and shopping center devel- oper Ernest W. Hahn is shown with the headline: "A City that's One of a Kind Deserves a University that's

County's y tem for handling child· abu e r •ports will be the subj ct of inten ivc crutlny by a new tate- w1dc pubhc-mtere t group form d to h Ip protect children from neglect, it wa announced. "We hop to bring more of a focus on childr n' problem ," said San Diego attorney Paul Peterson, acting chairman of the board of the n wly formed Children's Advocacy In ti• tu . Th r earch and advocacy group, which h o!)<'n d off1c in San Francisco, Sacramento and San D1 go, 1 th brainchild of Robert J, ellmeth. director of the Um er it of San D1 go's C nter for Pubhc n- terest aw.--- "lt' something I wanted to do for a long time," id Fellmeth Tu day. Children repr ent "the one interest group that I the lea t rcpre nted," he said Fellmeth aid state government ha not done nough for children m the 1980 The number of children hvmg m poverty ha doubled, aver- a c birth weights have decreased while infant mortahty rate have gon up, and repor of child abuse have r n 365 perc nt, th group re- ported. The in titute received a 400,000, two-y ar grant from th Weingart Foundation of Lo Angele to under• t ke I gl lattv lobbying and legal advoc.acy effor aimed at reversing

Other in titute board members are Dr. Birt Harvey, president-elect of the American Academy of Pedia- trics, Dr. Quynh Kieu, a UC Irvine professor of pediatric ; Lo, Angeles Deputy District Attorney Thomas A. Papageorge; former State Bar Presi- dent Sam Williams; Los Angeles Su- perior Court Judge Leon Kaplan; and Gloria Perez Samson, principal of National Ci v Junior Hi h .hool Fellmeth • aid one of the group's first tasks will be to launch a study of how child abuse reports are han- dled by government offic1als who receive them. About 72,000 such com- plaints are being filed each year in San Diego County, with 500,000 ex- pected statewide. Fellmeth said the institute will carry out a "bottoms-up" examina- tion of how effectively San Diego County government agencies are dealing with the surge of complaints and recommend reforms in how such ca cs are proces ed. Failure by authorities to deal ap• propriately with a valid child abuse report could endanger children's lives, while overzealous re ponses to false reports could needlessly disrupt their live , Fellmeth said The institute will examine the causes of a lack of affordable child care available for parent , with an emphasis on how such services are affected by licensing rules

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Print ads signal a new marketing approach for the University of San Diego.

One of a Kind." For trustee Joanne Warren, the headline reads, "A City that Dares to Dream Deserves a Uni- versity that's Ready to Lead " Mon- signor LB. Eagen, also a trustee, ap- pears in an ad headed, "A City that's Destined to Soar Deserves a Univer- sity that's Grounded in Tradition." This month, Kim Fletcher, chair- man of Home Federal Savings, will be quoted, "A city with a drive to prosper deserves a university with a zest to participate." Hughes said he had received posi- tive comments and no negative com- ment about any of the ads. "I know all our trustees who've been in the ads have received comments on them because I've been with them,"

he said. USD campaign director Tim Wil- lard said the ads produced "very pos- itive comments" and tangible re- sults. "We got two gifts of $25,000 each on the strength of the ads and other publicity surrounding the campaign - gifts from people who knew about the university but who were not so- licited," he said. "Also, some previ- ous donors to the campaign have in• creased their giving. Who can say whether it's directly a result of the ads?" Willard believes the ads "have helped to clarify our image in the community" with the additional ben- efit of keeping the volunteer leaders of the campaign "focused." /

San Francisco, CA (San Francisco Co.) San Francisco Banner Daily Journal (Cir. SxW. 1,500) JU 6

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Daily Transcript (Cir. D. 10,000)

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I ' : ..Eelltneth W tches ;;2JfS- The Starr of Doctor Discipline Fight By TOM DRESSLAR and alcohol abuse among California 1 Da,i:,Joumal Siad R,pq,t" doctors. J SACRAMENTO _ The legislative CJli_lA even convinced the Los Ange- bat~c .t~ refonn the state's system for les Tunes to pen an editorial that took disciplining bad doctors starts today. the association's side without even Some may forgive California's law- talking to Fellmeth. yers if th~y do not have complete sym• . CMA wants to retain the peer re- pathy with the CalifoPflia Medical View system, and has shown almost no As_soci~tion's complaints that they are interest in compromising on the issue. bemg picked on by Robert Fellmeth, di- ~bout the only major issues on . rector of the Center for Public Interest which CMA agrees with Fellmeth is i;t~l.Vfl.iVersify,j;,.fSaifP/egd'lirla th ?t th e bp3fd n~.ec;ls more resources .~f~ ~llfo~'Uli-4,dbg: " , ., . to reciut:e the lnvestlgatlve•backfog,1,, r aliifost lwo 'Yws, Fellmeth cru- ~ut \ht# have thre:it~ed ·t6 kilH,oth ( saded to overhaul tne State Bar's at• bills if SB 13.30 authorizes a fee hike torney discipline system. , more than necessary to pay for in- 1Appointed by state Attorne)Llzener- creased investigators. •al John Van de Kamp to monitor the In keeping with his character, Fell- bar's system, Fellmeth Issued scathing meth has not taken the criticism lying reports describing the structure as down. sl?w, secretive, lenient and plagued He has called association officials' wit~ backlogs. He blasted the "peer Position on the fee issue "hYPocrisy reVJew" sy1tem, under whi h voluit- cubed." And he contends CMA's ef- t«:e.r lawyers ruled on cases, as 100 soli- fort to discredit the report amounts to c1tious of attorneys and too a campaign of distortion characterized unconce~ed with consumer interests. by "non sequituritis (and) brain He sa,d attorneys had to fork over dyslexia." more annual dues to beef up and Fellmeth also contends CMA's op- streamline the system and replace the position to his proposed structural re- v~l~ntee~ lawyers with professional ad• fonns conflicts with the best interests mm,strative law judges. He lobbied for of its constituents. increased reporting of incidents of al- On page 27 of the April report Fell- leged malpractice to allow the bar to meth said "· • • the American M'edical dete_ct possible problems with lawyers. Association it~elf recognizes that drug His efforts culminated in the enact- abuse, alcoholism, and otherinfinnities . ment of a landmark reform law auth- bo th mental and physical render 10-15 o:ed ~Y Sen_. R9.!?_ert Presley, D- percent of practicing physicians 'unlit Riverside, which took effect this year. t? practice medicine.' Hence, Califor- The statute contains most of reforms ma h~s.between 7,000-10,000 licensed pushed by Fellmeth, including adminis, physicians who are unfit to practice trative law judges to replace the volun: medicine under AMA standards." teer lawyers. CMA has attacked the statement on . In_ addition, the staffing in the inves- sever:al fron_ts, accusing Fellmeth of t1gative and prosecutorial branches of alanmst tactics. Perhaps the most in- ~he _system has ~een increased, result- teresting example was a May 4 letter mg m a substantial decrease in the case to F~llmeth from AMA Executive Vice backlog. ' President James H. Sammons, which And lawyers paid a heavy price. This was funneled through CMA •s San year, the annual dues for most sky- Francisco office and read to the BMQA :oc~eted from $270 to $41 7 under leg- hoard at a recent meeting. 1sl~t_1on authored by Assembly Speaker The letter, which misspelled Fell- Wdbc..}lrQ}Yn, D-San Francisco. me th •s name before it was actually In April, Fellmeth issued another re- sent, at ~ st charges Fellmeth's fig. port. This time the target was the state ur~s az:e. incorrect and do not reflect Board of Medical Quality Assurance's sci~~trfic research or the AMA's doctor discipline system. . ' position. Hi~ findings were familiar. The But the fourth paragraph appears to bo~d s system was slow, secretive, suppo_rt Fe(l~eth's contention. "Re- lcment and backlog-ridden. Dominated sponsible chmcians and researchers in by panels of doctors, it was too so~liCJ:;··:....-1t~h~ea,.fillle11.ld.iz:_biceid. lt,,ie... ve ..... tho1.a. t_t":he,,,,m .. o..,s,,,t::rre=iiliiiia:isbliee:.... tous of phy i · s, e id. forthe general population - that is, IO The peer review system, Fellmcth f al recommended, should be replaced with ~rcent O I adults will have difficulty a Medical Quality Court composed of WJI~ a!co~ol or drug!!..at some point in ALJs. the_ir lifetimes. Then! is no reason to BMQA should receive more reports ~heve that _the incidence in the physi- of alleged malpractice, he said. It ~l~::'e~~~.'? 110 n would be substantially ,_.......,,..,.,d_..r.e r 0\l'U! ~au~--""-------- ----------

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Doctor Discipline Reform Battle Begins in Earnest ' ' Continued From Page 5

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CMA also has taken exception to the April report's statistics on fnalgactice settlements and judgments. e associa• lion contends malpractice judgments do not, per se, reflect faulty practice. In a May 8 commentary printed in the San Diego Union, CMA President Wil- liam G. Piesled III said, "The suggestion is made (in the report) that there were 715 malpractice suits (in 1987-88), but only 12 physicians disciplined by the board. Aside from the fact that the num- ber of disciplined doctors was understat- ed by more than 100 percent, the report mixes up two phenomena. "The reasons for filing a malpractice suit are many and varied. Seventy-five percent of obstetricians are sued at one point in their careers. Does this mean that 75 percent are incompetent? I doubt it.,, Fellmeth used Plested's comments as an example of what he calls CMA's dis• tortion of his report. First, he noted the report said there were 715 malpractice settlements or judgments of $30,000 or mer!! in 1987- 88, not 715 suits. Second, he said the re• port did not say only 12 doctors were discipliIJed, but that only 12 were publicly disciplined by BMQA for gross negli- gence or incompetence. In a May 31 interview, Fellmeth said, "There's a terminal (brain) dyslexia afoot in that organization.'' He added CMA officials are afflicted with "a new disease - non sequituritis." The major issue in the reform debate is whether the pee review system should remain intact. , •. Under the current system, discipline cases can be resolved informally through a "stipulated" agreement for discipline reached between the doctor and the board's Division of Medical Quality. If not, they are decided eitjier bY.:~n ALJ or

a regional panel of doctors. Those deci- sions are reviewed by the DMQ, com- prising four physicians and three lay persons. Appeals of DMQ decisions go to the superior court, and can proceed through the appellate courts to the state Supreme Court. Fellmeth proposes a more streamlined system less controlled by doctors, with cases first heard by a medical quality pan- el of administrative law judges. In an ef• fort to address the CMA's concern about peer review, SB 1434 will be amended to require that the judges have both law and medical degrees. The medical quality panel's decisions would be appealed to the appellate courts. The result, Fellmeth contends, will be faster disposition of cases, less solicitude of peers, and enhanced public protection. But CMA contends· doctors are best qualified to judge their peers on ques- tions of practice. "Obviously, we feel most strongly about physicians staying in the process," said Swartz. She added - the current system allows people in the community and ALJs to participate in de• cisions on discipline cases. But Fellmeth said the majority of cases resulting in fonnal charges do not involve medical questions that require expertise on the part of the trier of fact. Instead, he contended, they involve other issues like alleged criminal activity. Plested contended the reforms of the bar's attorney discipline system still al- low lawyers to judge lawyers. "It's in- teresting (Fellmeth) should not feel doctors should not have the same ~I.le of ,treatment." / F,,/."f7 In the May 31 interview, Fellmeth said, "Judgesjudge cowboys . Judges judge everybody. That's a totally silly ar- t " gumen. _;/

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On the tenth floor of the Cali- fornia First Bank Bldg., which no longer officially exists, members of the r'inancial Analysts Society of San ~•ego will listen to a pres- entation by FHP International Corp. at noon tomor~ The firm

. "R,esist all urges to do anything 11-revers1ble, risky, or potentially COSIiy," bays John A. Jastremski of Shearson Lehman Hutton. '·Don't buy a boat or invest in $ MoneyMinders by Herbert W. Lockwood

your brother-in-law's new busi- ness. Even things that may seem quite sensible, such as paying down, or paymt off, your home mortgage may not prove to be the best move." Put the money in the bank, he advises. Don't put the check in a d,...,wer for a few weeks and lose in- terest. Many people do this. Put the '.noney in &hort-tcrm, government- insured certificates of deposit, or three.month treasury bills. For large amounts, some banks and S&Ls offer CDs with terms shorter tban three months. the most common parking place is a money market account at a bank, brokerage house, or mutual fund. For an i,x, Ira measure of safety (but a lower yieldl, some money marlte.t funds invest only in U.S. securities. One extremely liquid vehicle to avoid especially 1f you tend to be short 0 ~ discipline, is your checking ac- count," Jastremski said. "Go see an accountant," he ad- vised. ··Most lump-sum payments, wh<:_ther they're from a pension phi n, a stock sale or a severance payment, have serious tax implica- tions. If you're under 59\~, you face potentially stiff penalties if within 60 days you don't 'roll over' the

is a health maintenance organiza- tion th at provides prepaid medical and dental care through its wholly owned subsidiary, FHP, Inc. Speuker will be William R. Benz FHP CFO. ' • • • Deborah L. R-;,gers has been promote_d lo senior manager, Com- prehensive Professional Services department at~house. Rogers specializes in audit e_ngagements in lhe real estate and financial services industries Rogers is a San Diego State Uni: versity graduate with a bachelot·'s degree in accounting; she joined PW in 1981. * • •

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Susan A. Dean has been prn- mot~~ to manager, uccounti 11 g und auditing services with tlie c, . . , ~an Diego ollice of Price Waterhouse Deal j~ined the firm five yem·s ag,; foll~wrn_g graduation frnm the U.!!,v!lr~!.Y of San Dieg-o with a degree 111 accounting.

The CPA firm of John C. Fit- zgerald has relocated its offices from Mission Valley t.o 7733 Palm St., Lemon Grove. The firm does professi~nal tax planning and preparaL,on, auditing, and accoun-