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Touchy doctor allegations prompt changes

September 18, 2009 By

Marshfield Clinic is making some changes, in the wake of allegations a doctor fondled his patients.

Clinic CEO Dr. Karl Ulrich says the biggest change was made three years ago, requiring at least three staff in the room at all times for outpatient surgical procedures. Ulrich says family members can also be by their loved ones as they come out of sedation.

The changes are meant to prevent allegations, such as those accusing former gastroenterologist Dr. Kevin Lang of fondling his patients.

Ulrich says they would have acted sooner on Dr. Lang’s believed misconduct, had they known about it. Lang was fired after the allegations came to light.

Dr. Lang will be able to defend himself before the board. They could choose to reprimand him or his license could be suspended or revoked.

AUDIO: Matt Lehman reports (MP3 :36)

Filed Under: Health & Medicine

Former POW, Vietnam vet recalls his plight

September 18, 2009 By
Don Heiliger speaks at a POW-MIA Recognition Day ceremony. (He's wearing a neck brace and has stitches near his eye after recently falling into his fireplace.)

Don Heiliger speaks at a POW-MIA Recognition Day ceremony. (He's wearing a neck brace and has stitches near his eye after recently falling into his fireplace.)

A former POW tells his story as we honor former prisoners-of-war and those missing-in-action.

Don Heiliger was flying combat missions in 1967 when his plane was hit and he was forced to eject over North Vietnam. He had been listed as MIA for a couple of years. But, it was later learned that he was a POW.

“It’s a unique experience and something you don’t aim for … people say ‘why would you want to be a POW?’ Nobody wants to be a POW.”

Captain Heiliger was captured the day after he was shot down and spent nearly six years as a prisoner-of-war.

“Nearly 2,200 days after I was shot down. That’s a lot of days. It’s time to go to college, and get your Master’s degree.”

Heiliger says the hardest part of his capture was the pain and suffering endured by the families back home — the not knowing.

“In my case my folks waited about two and a half years until they had word that I wasn’t dead, or that I wasn’t MIA, that I was actually POW. Maybe not much better, but the person’s alive. You’ve got thousands of people waiting for words like this.”

Heiliger was eventually released during Operation Homecoming on February 18, 1973. The Vietnam Veteran spoke today at a ceremony held at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum observing POW-MIA Recognition Day.

NOTE: Thousands of Americans are still listed as MIA from WWII (78,750), Korea (8,177) and Vietnam (2,255). Nationally there are over 20,000 former POWs. There are over 300 former prisoners-of-war living in Wisconsin.

Jackie Johnson report (1:51 mp3)

Filed Under: Military

Potential driver behind declining property values

September 18, 2009 By

Although not as hard hit as some places, property value of the average southeast Wisconsin home has dropped 27-percent in net worth in the past few years says Scott Bernstein of Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT).  However those homes with access to transportation alternatives to car ownership fared better in maintaining property value.

The transportation researcher says studies around the US show people are saving up to 20-percent of their income if they are finding alternatives to owning several cars per household being driven 35,000 miles annually.

Regional transit plans being proposed or implemented include a commuter rail, a Milwaukee streetcar system as well as bus expansion.

Bernstein was keynote at a summit “Regional Conference: Get on Board” in Milwaukee today. The city’s Mayor Tom Barrett and Wisconsin Administration Secretary Michael Morgan also spoke at the event.

AUDIO: Brian Moon reports (MP3 :57)

Filed Under: Economy, Transportation

Nursing overtime bill advances

September 18, 2009 By

A bill that would ban the use of mandatory overtime for most nurses in Wisconsin has cleared a state Senate committee. The state’s hospital association oppose the measure. Wisconsin Hospital Association vice president Judy Warmuth, herself an RN, says a survey of member hospitals indicates mandatory OT is not a problem.

It’s an extremely rare accordance,” says Warmuth. “It’s actually our perception that it isn’t going on right now, so it doesn’t need to be fixed, but that there is a risk that when the time comes that we do need it, it will have been taken away legislatively.”

“That’s not conclusion that the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses or the Wisconsin Nurses Association has made,” says the bill’s author. State Senator Judy Robson, a Beloit Democrat who’s also an RN, says the nursing groups have surveyed their members, too. “They have found that 43 percent of the nurses are asked to do overtime.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government

Remembering POWs, MIAs

September 18, 2009 By

Today is POW-MIA Recognition Day

Each year in Wisconsin, the third Friday in September is set aside to remember the commitment and sacrifices made by soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who were prisoners-of-war and those who are still missing-in-action.

Andrew Schuster with the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, says thousands of Americans are still listed as MIA, dating back to World War II.

“Nationally we’ve got over 20,000 former POWs … and those numbers are getting smaller because many of them are WWII and Korean War. In Wisconsin we have over 300.”

A ceremony doesn’t repay the POWs for their sacrifice, but it’s a way to honor them for their service in order for us to live our daily lives. Wisconsin is home to over 427,000 veterans.

The public is invited to attend the POW-MIA Recognition Day ceremony at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in downtown Madison from 11:00 am to noon. Former prisoners of war will be in attendance, along with other veterans.

Jackie Johnson report (1:08 mp3)

Filed Under: Military