MARCH 26, 1981 30¢ PER COPY B'nai B'rith Names Rhode Island Miriam Hospital Defends Man to Anti-Defamation League WAS HI NGTON -Leste R A
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• R. I . Jewish Historica l As s o ciation 11 1 3 0 Ses s i ons Stre e t P ro v ide n ce , RI 029 0 6 Support Read Jewish By More Than Agencies 40,000 With Your People Membershi p THE ONLY ENGLISH-JEW/SH WEEKLY IN R. I. AND SOUTHEAST MASS., VO LUME LXVI II , NUMB ER 18 THURSDAY MARCH 26, 1981 30¢ PER COPY B'nai B'rith Names Rhode Island Miriam Hospital Defends Man To Anti-Defamation League WAS HI NGTON -Leste r A. Macktez of Last summer Macktez was e lected to the Cardiac Surgery Program Cranston has been appointed to the B' nai B' nai B' rith Board of Governors, the hospital. " B' rit h I n t e rnat ional Anti-Defamation organization's highest policy- making body. Patient Care Improved, Among the defi cie ncies in the program League Commissio n by Jack J. Spitzer, B' nai Macktez1 who is in the trave l-incentive which led to the d ecision to suspe nd surge ry, B' rit h president . business, has been a leader in B' nai B' rith Mortality Rate Down, the lette r states, was lack of a cohesive team . since he was the teenage president of his Trustees Say Instead, the hospita l had eleven cardiac sur Ale ph Zadik Aleph (AZA) chapter of the geons in fou r separate groups, each function B' nai B' rith Youth O rganization in 1935. He The Miriam Hospital C hairma n of the ing independently," Gree nwald writes. joined the adult group afte r his W orld War II Board of Trustees, in a lette r circulated .. Many of the surgeons couldn' t possibly service in the Ai r Force, during which he was among sta ff ph ys ic ians and hospita l o perate with the freq uency necessary to awarded seven battle stars a nd the Air associates this week, defends the reorganiza maintain the desired level of competence." Medal. ti on of the hospital's cardiac surgery program T he opinions of about 40 d irectors of cardiac From 1974 to 1980, Macktez was chairman and stresses that a lthough the program is surgical programs were soli cited in wri t of B'nai B' rith's National Tours Committee. reduced in scope, care is be tt er and the mor ing, a nd th_ey concluded, the letter says, tha t He also se rved on the 8' nai B' rith Inter talit y rate has been reduced . the number of surgeons at Miriam (in car national Board of Governors during that Sidney F. Greenwald explains in the letter diac surgery) far exceeded the number war time. that the board decided last July to suspend ranted by the number of patients." He was a lso president of District One, an scheduling of cardiac surgery because Also affecting the qualit y of patient care, area covering New York State and New " programmatic de fi ciencies" had mad e it ··a the le tt er states, was the fact that surgeons England, and vice chairman of the National program in name only.'' The deficiencies are may not have been available to their patients Youth Commiss ion. H e was e lected a he ing corrected , the le tt er states, by the new after surgery "because many had other un d elegate to B' nai B' rith's last seven inte r cardiac surgery program impleme nted last related responsibilities e lsewhe re ... national conventi ons. fa ll which stresses a " team approach." T he most drastic proble m was the ''t111ac In addition to his B' na i B' rith activities, .. 'vVe are ha ndling fewer cases, of course .. , ceptably high" mortality rate in all the car Mackt ez has served as vice cha irman of the Greenwald writes. ·· But, in the surgery we diac surgical groups. " Whereas the national Jewish Fede ration of Rhode Island and is a have pe rformed to date, patie nt care has LESTER A. MACKTEZ trend in mortality rates was downward, ours mem ber of the executive committees of the been markedly improved and the mortality was rising, and rising at an increasing rate," Rhode Island Jewish Home for the Aged and rate has been substantiall y reduced ." Greenwa ld states. Mortalit y rates had in Knesset Rejects Bid the Rhod e Island Israel Bonds Committee. The letter was a res ponse to "unfavorable creased progressively from 10.5 percent in He is also a corporator of Woonsocket publi city" regarding the open heart surgery 1977, to 11. 2 perc~nt in 1978, to 1-5.3 percent To Annex Golan Hospital -a nd the \Voonsocket Savings and program, Greenwald said, and aimed to in 1979, Greenwald says, in sharp contrast to TEL AV IV - Israel's Knesset has re Trust. For many years he was a member of "correct some misi nforma tion and misim a stud y showing that mortality rates should jected a bill call ing fo r the annexation of the Board of Directors of Congregation B' nai pressions. decrease with an increasing num ber of cases. the Golan Heights. Israel. T h e le tt e r said th e controversial .. Ours clearl y were increasing to an in T he vote on the bill, which was in troduced Among the awards presented to Macktez reorganization, which has resulted in a suit tolerable level," Greenwald says. by hard-li ne opposition membe rs , was 45 to in recognition of his effort s is the Be n-Gurion against the hospit al by eight surgeons, is" a T he plan fo r reinstituting cardiac surgery, 14 , with fiv e abstentions. T he seats of 56 Award from the State of Israel Bonds serious and d ivisive iss ue that goes to the very recommended by the Chiefs of Se rvice and de puties, including most mem bers of the Organization. root of our ability to function effectively as a Government coalition, were vacant during adopted by the trustees last fa ll, reduced the the roll call. numbe r of surgeons but "permitted and an T here was strong sentiment in favor of an ticipated the need fo r fu rther negotiation on nexation, but the Cabinet decided to ki ll the the actual worki ng a rrange me nts among the bill fo r tactical reasons. Some coalit io n mem new team ," the letter states. bers of the Knesset, including Agri cultu re " W itho ut p rejudice or pre fe re n ce," Ministe r Ari el Sharon, voted fo r the bill, ri sk Greenwald says, "every cardiac surgeon on ing expulsion from the party. the hospital' s staff. was invited to apply to p a rti ci p a te in the n e w p rogram - including all of the eight (currently plain Emanu-EI Sponsors tiff) surgeons involved. W e were disap- , pointed that · on advice of counsel,' all eight Benefit Art Auction refused our invitation. they boycotted the Temple Emanu-EI Sisterhood and Men's program. C lub wi ll sponsor a Benefit Art Auct ion on Greenwa ld emphasizes that the program is Sunday evening, April 5, in the Alperin designed "for and aroQnd the private prac Meeti ng House of the Tem ple, Morri s ti ce of cardiac surgery," that it "was. never a Avenue and Sessions Street. cond ition ... that the practicing surgeons be T his art coll ection, which has been coor in the em ploy of the hospital," and that the dinated by Park West Gall eri es of Southfield, team approach is used for all patients, with a Michigan, will include lithographs, e tchings, "closely knit team," worki ng togethe r "har woodcuts, serigraphs, paintings and water moniously." colors of outstanding cali ber and qua lity. The letter further states that all the cardiac A gala dessert preview at 6:30 p.m. will Committee members for Temple Emanu•El's Benefit Art Auction are: (From left, surgeons, inci uding those involved in the precede the auction, which will take place at standing) Gary Cramer, Joslin Presser, Ed Fin k, Dick Kumins,-Steven Blazer and Abe lawsuit, "continue to function as staff sur 7:30 p.m. Both preview and auction a re open Gershman; (from left, seated) Sani Stein, Marilyn Presser, Jani Rosen and Anita Stein. geons at the hospital and have the oppor to the publi c with a donation fo $2.50 for ad Also assisting on the committee are Dorothy Scribner, Lila Winograd, Mervin Bolusky, tunity to pe rform surgery here in all areas ex mission. Gloria Stern and Ann Feit. cept cardiac surgery. " Fina ll y, the le tte r acknowled ges the benefits of the hospital' s relationship with the Brown University Program in Medicine, Auschwitz Survivor Sues For Prize but says that no decisions have yet been made about the fu ture re lationship with In Dispute Over Gassing By Nazis Brown. LOS AN G ELES - Whether or not Nazi ages. would be weighed, the 1nstitute said , using inside:-----. Germa ny used gas to murd er Je ws a t According to most historians of World War the same standards as would be used in a Auschwit z is the main question in a legal con II, as m any as three m illion Jews d ied at criminal court. Crime Of Violence frontation under way in the Superior Court Auschwitz and six m illion we re ;nurdered in T wo claims were m ade, by Nazi hunter page 8 of Los Angeles County.