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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
California Officials Still Searching For Missing Pregnant Woman; American Medical Workers Killed in Yemen
Aired December 30, 2002 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, GUEST HOST: WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice over): Americans gunned down abroad, was there a warning?
JERRY RANKIN, INTL. MISSION BOARD: Our personnel as Americans and Christians are well aware of the risk.
O'BRIEN: Manhunt at large in America, why is the FBI so anxious to find them? Missing, eight months pregnant, she vanished without a trace on Christmas Eve. Her mother asks for your help.
Healthcare crisis, doctors threatening to walk off the job, is yours next? And, they say they've cloned a human but their plans don't end there. CNN takes you where cameras are off limits, a rare look at the Raelians world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (on camera): December 30, 2002, I'm Miles O'Brien. Wolf Blitzer is off this week, glad to have you with us. Two developments, thousands of miles apart are putting Americans on edge today. The FBI looking for five suspicious men who entered the United States illegally on Christmas Eve and three Americans on an overseas mission to save lives lost their own lives in a shooting rampage. We begin with that story from CNN's Brian Cabell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Authorities say the gunmen entered the Baptist Missionary Hospital cradling a rifle in his jacket as though it were a baby. He then opened fire and killed three Americans, all of whom had been working there several years Dr. Martha Myers, an obstetrician; William Kohn (ph), the hospital administrator; and Kathleen Gariety, the hospital business manager whose family had warned her of the danger of working in Yemen.
JERRY GARIETY, BROTHER OF VICTIM: In July we did not want her to go back but she did. She was devoted to the word, you know, so she's up there. PHIL REEKER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: There can be no justification for an attack such as this on an institution providing critical humanitarian services to the Yemeni people.
CABELL: The full service hospital in Jibla, Yemen has been operating for 35 years, treating more than 40,000 patients a year according to officials. The facility was considered particularly dangerous because Yemen was the sight of the bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in 2000. It's also the ancestral homeland of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
RANKIN: Our personnel as Americans and Christians are well aware of the risk of living and serving in a place like Yemen, yet their love for the Yemeni people and obedience to the conviction of God's leadership has been expressed in a willingness to take that risk and give of their lives.
CABELL: Yemeni officials have a suspect in custody, Abid Abdulrazzaq al-Kamil, described as an Islamic extremist who according to one local journalist told authorities he "wanted to get closer to God."
For the family of Dr. Myers, the obstetrician who was killed, her work in Yemen was not about politics or a particular religion. It was about helping people and putting her beliefs into action.
IRA MYERS, FATHER OF VICTIM: People learn more by how you live in your attitude and whether you are truthful than they do about what you say.
CABELL: A fourth American worker was wounded in the attack. He's expected to recover. Brian Cabell CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: More now on the suspect from CNN's Rula Amin. She joins us from Yemen -- Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, Yemeni investigators along with some U.S. investigators are trying to determine why did this suspect carry out this attack. They're trying to see was this an isolated incident. Did he wait and coordinate his attack with another person or was he linked to a terrorist group? Was he linked to al Qaeda? This is the major question now that is facing authorities here. They want to make sure that this does not spread.
Yemeni officials are saying they are looking for possible cells, between six to eight people who may be targeting foreigners and secular Yemenis. Just on Saturday opposition (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was pinned down. He was assassinated (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and the authorities are trying to determine if this attack was coordinated with today's attack -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Rula Amin in Yemen thank you very much. Now, that nationwide search for a group of Arab men who may have entered the country illegally on Christmas Eve, is there possibly a new terror threat? We get the latest from CNN Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The nationwide manhunt is still on for these five men. The FBI and its 18,000 state and local law enforcement partners have made finding them a top priority. Intelligence suggests that on or about December 24 they illegally entered the United States through Canada.
DANIEL BANJAMIN, CSIS: We used to boast that that was the longer unfortified border in the world. Now it's not something we're quite as happy about.
ARENA: The FBI was alerted in the course of a separate investigation which indicates the five men obtained fake passports. Agents then received additional intelligence from Pakistan. The FBI is not sure where the men come from or whether the names they are using are legitimate. They are not in any terror databases. The only thing the FBI is sure of is what the men look like.
BENJAMIN: It's a perfect example of life in the age of terrorism. It tells us very little. There's relatively little likelihood that the public will be able to turn much up. It will be complete happenstance and it gives us no idea of the importance of these people.
ARENA: Still, law enforcement sources say their level of concern is high. That's because intelligence sources refer to the five as a group, as one source said a possible terror cell.
J. KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: We're going into the New Year's Eve season and it looks like they came in the northeast. You know you've got New York, one of the biggest New Year's celebrations going.
ARENA: Officials say New York's Governor George Pataki was immediately brought in to the loop.
GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: We have some reasonable basis to believe that they came across the Canadian border into New York State. We don't know where they are now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA (on camera): Even without a great deal of information, the FBI says it simply can't take any chances, as intelligence continues to pour in suggesting that al Qaeda is planning more attacks -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Kelli Arena, thank you very much. For more on this story and the situation in Yemen, let's turn now to our CNN Security Analyst Kelly McCann seen briefly in that piece, now seen live, Kelly good to have you with us once again.
MCCANN: Hi, Miles.
O'BRIEN: We've been reporting all day that this group of five that is missing and wanted for at least a discussion came into the northeast. What if it turns out they came in through another avenue? What would the significance be, for example, if they came in through Seattle, through Vancouver? That is an area that has been a focus of attention of federal authorities for quite some time.
MCCANN: Sure and there's a couple of things that Kelli's been reporting all day, the other Kelli, which is that we don't quite know yet more than this was documentation fraud. We don't know at what level. It's alleged that they came across but most importantly we've all been trying to determine where they might have come across because of the significance.
If you look at the northwest, there are some interesting things that have been going on there for many, many years with some different kinds of mosques that are up there, the North Seattle Mosque in particular. We talked about that during the sniper incidents.
On the eastern side there could be a significance whether it was through Detroit or through Niagara and down supposedly or allegedly towards New York but we simply don't know. There hasn't been anything to link specifics together to the point where we should make that reach.
O'BRIEN: All right, what does this tell you? I mean we've talked about this porous border. The fact that these three are being sought for at least questioning indicates that something was amiss with their visa, their paperwork, in some way, shape, or form but obviously there was a lag time in discovering that. Is it a matter of better equipment? Is it a matter of more people? What is getting through the cracks here?
MCCANN: Well, I think what it is as the package preceding me Kelli talked about which is they didn't necessarily use those documents. This could have been from an investigation that was ongoing about documentation fraud, which is all circling into illegal alien trafficking whether it's humans in an actual cargo ship or a vessel or whether it's the paperwork that supports the movement, that's the key issue and simply there aren't enough facts out there.
And the FBI is not releasing any more than that this is just the subject of an ongoing investigation where information surfaced. People went back to Pakistan. In fact, it was corroborated. They said yes, there's something going on here, and now they're asking for Americans' help to find these people so they can question them further.
O'BRIEN: What about the Immigration and Naturalization Service, a lot of criticism of that particular agency post 9/11? Has that agency gotten its act together?
MCCANN: No and usually I'm very understanding of course of all government agencies and their problems. I mean you can't turn them on a dime. It's like turning a battleship. It takes time. There is so much work to do to correct some of the flaws that are inherent in that organization because of the land mass alone. I mean look at how wide the borders are. Think of how many people it would take to control that and to do significant oversight. They're overworked. They're understaffed. I mean there's no budgetary resources available right now to immediately fix the problems that exist but I think it is getting better. It's just going to take some time.
O'BRIEN: I want to get one word from you on Yemen before we run out of time here. This particular suspect who Rula Amin was just telling us about reportedly told authorities there that he allegedly did all of this to get nearer to God. It's chilling just to even say that and it says a lot about what the United States is up against.
MCCANN: Absolutely. I mean if you talk to a lot of the people that are following this, the Arab street, the average common person out there, 1.3 billion Muslims largely uneducated, there is a feeling that this is the beginning of a crusade against Islam and certainly that's not the case.
But that's the feeling and small incendiary events, the growing pressure with Iraq, it could be a seemingly disassociated event might be enough to urge the fence sitters into become actors and that's scary because we would have no reason to have previous intelligence that they were thinking that way. So, although it's an isolated incident, it may be a sneak peak at the hydra that this thing could become.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Kelly McCann our security analyst on a very busy day, thank you very much for giving us these insights, we appreciate it.
MCCANN: You bet.
O'BRIEN: Without a trace a pregnant woman disappears Christmas Eve, the latest on that investigation, and I'll talk to the missing woman's mother. Behind the scenes with the group that claims to have cloned a human baby, we'll have, well I think it's an exclusive tour of the Raelian's compound in Canada. And, doctors set to walk off the job at a hospital over the rising cost of malpractice insurance.
We'll have a look at whether this could be the start of a nationwide pattern. And that is the subject of our web question of the day. Do you think doctors protesting high insurance costs should walk off the job? Vote at cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results a little later in this broadcast. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: As U.N. weapons inspectors hunt for weapons in Iraq, the U.N. Security Council stepped up the pressure on Baghdad today voting to place more restrictions on what Iraq is allowed to buy with its oil profits; added to the list certain chemicals such as activated carbon, which can be used for the absorption of chemical weapons, and drugs such as atropine which can be used to treat nerve gas exposure. Even though they have civilian uses, items on the review list can not be imported without prior U.N. approval. We turn now to the showdown over North Korea's nuclear program. After getting the boot from Pyongyang, U.N. inspectors are on their way out of the country and are due to arrive in China in just a few hours. That leaves North Korea free to restart a reactor and a reprocessing plant behind closed doors. The facilities which can produce weapons grade plutonium were frozen in a 1994 deal in which North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program in exchange for fuel.
North Korea says the U.S. must negotiate an end to the nuclear showdown but for now the Bush administration views that as blackmail and is looking for other cards to play.
CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is with the president in Crawford, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As North Korea continues to defy the world's pleas to abandon its nuclear ambitions the Bush administration is vowing to isolate the communist country through diplomatic and economic means. But senior administration officials acknowledge the key to the policy's success will depend on the cooperation of North Korea's neighbors, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia, each with an agenda of their own.
China, North Korea's largest trading partner supplies 70 percent of North Korea's crude oil and is a major exporter of food and goods is reluctant to take a hard line against its long time ally. South Korea is committed to its sunshine policy of engagement with Pyongyang. Its new regime is eager to establish new railroad links and free trade zones.
BALBINA HWANG, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: There is, I think, about $500 million of trade going back and forth so certainly if South Korea were to cut that off that would also be an important impact on North Korea.
MALVEAUX: Japan was set to give North Korea $10 billion in aid but the nuclear scare and kidnapping controversy with Pyongyang has soured their relationship. Russia signed a trade and economic accord with North Korea in 2001. The countries trade $100 million worth of goods a year. Publicly it has denounced North Korea's posturing but continues to speak to Pyongyang directly. But despite reservations from some of North Korea's neighbors, the Bush administration is convinced its isolationist policy will work.
REEKER: North Korea can change course and get themselves out of this position and they have the power to do that. That's what will bring them benefits by working, engaging in a positive way with the international community.
MALVEAUX: But the Bush administration's policy is getting mixed reviews.
BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER U.S. AMB. TO U.N.: To isolate North Korea in the region I'm not sure is going to produce the results that we need.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now today the White House is downplaying any apparent disagreements or differences that it has with its allies, specifically Russia and South Korea over how to best deal with Pyongyang. South Korea's Kim Dae Jung saying that he thought dialogue as opposed to isolation would be the best way to go, a White House spokesman saying that it is North Korea that's bringing the isolation upon itself -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne, I'm just curious is this a tacit admission by the administration that there really aren't any viable military options here?
MALVEAUX: Well, I don't think that's the case. I think the administration has been saying quite consistently that they don't want to deal with both North Korea and Iraq at the same time, although they're capable of dealing with two military fronts simultaneously. But at the same time, the administration has said all along that it prefers diplomatic and economic means because quite frankly it would be a situation where the Korea Peninsula would be in a great deal of trouble if you had that kind of outburst of military confrontation.
The administration is maintaining also they believe that North Korea is in a position because it's facing a very dire situation with the winter coming up, perhaps the starvation of its own people, that it really will fold, that it will succumb to this pressure and again comply, abandoning its nuclear weapons programs.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, with the traveling White House in Crawford Texas thank you very much. A pregnant woman missing since Christmas Eve coming up a desperate search. Also, doctors walking off the job to protest skyrocketing insurance rates. I said that. They were actually walking off the job. You heard me right. We'll talk to one of the doctors who says he's had enough. And, the year that was, those who passed from the scene, a look back later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: For the sixth day in a row, police and volunteers are scouring the area around Modesto, California about 90 miles east of San Francisco. The object of their search a 27-year-old woman eight months pregnant who vanished Christmas Eve on a morning walk with her dog. CNN's Rusty Dornin is covering the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Eight months pregnant, Laci Peterson disappeared Christmas Eve without a trace.
CHIEF ROY WASDEN, MODESTO POLICE: It's very frustrating. I guess the frustration is that we don't have anything new, anything significant, no concrete direction to go.
DORNIN: Volunteers gather to pray and work round the clock. Volunteer Joseph McDonald has searched for three days. He doesn't know Laci Peterson but it doesn't matter.
JOSEPH MCDONALD, SEARCH VOLUNTEER: It's just the right thing to do, to help people. If my daughter was missing or you know it could be your mom, your sister.
DORNIN: Police and FBI are combing the city and surrounding farmlands. They also searched the couple's home and husband Scott's boat.
DOUG RIDENOUR, MODESTO POLICE: He's not been ruled out as a suspect but he hasn't been ruled in as a suspect. Again, we're at that phase in our investigation that we have to be, we have to check everything out.
DORNIN: Scott Peterson reported his wife missing after he returned from a day fishing trip 85 miles away. Laci Peterson's family stands behind her husband who has kept a very low profile.
RON GRANTSKI, LACI PETERSON'S STEPFATHER: We know he's a good man. He's always treated our daughter like a lady.
DORNIN: The reward now stands at a half million dollars. Exhausted, her family continues to make appeals.
DENNIS ROCHA, LACI PETERSON'S FATHER: Laci Denise, if you're hearing dad, we love you very much and we want you home.
DORNIN: Early Christmas Eve, Laci took her dog McKenzie for a walk. Later that morning McKenzie was found but Laci wasn't. Sunday, police took McKenzie for a walk hoping to retrace her footsteps. For the dog, it appeared to be just that, a walk in the park, and for investigators another trail leading nowhere. Rusty Dornin CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: The Modesto police chief is expected to be giving a news conference within the next eight to ten minutes. We plan to bring that to you live as it happens. Time for us to take a break, then the mysterious group that claims to have cloned a human baby promising to deliver proof, we'll have the latest on that. And, just who are these people? Wait until you see their compound, we'll have the tour in a few moments.
Plus, several doctors say they've had enough. They've decided to walk off the job at a prominent hospital. We'll hear what their problem is and whether it could happen in your town too, first though a look at other headlines from around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice over): Sustained strike, the general strike in Venezuela is four weeks old today and shows no sign of slowing down. Police used tear gas to separate supporters and opponents of President Hugo Chavez. Paris arrest, French police are questioning an Algerian born baggage handler arrested at Charles DeGaulle International Airport. Officials say he had automatic weapons and explosives. Authorities are also questioning his father, two brothers, and a companion.
Washed away, after years of neglect part of a Victorian era pier in Brighton, England has collapsed, leaving a portion of a concert hall dangling above the waves. Despite the setback a foundation set up to restore the pier to its former glory vows to continue its work.
Feeding frenzy, in Australia a news crew captured a spectacular cluster of feasting sharks off the coast of Queensland. The experts tell us it was a seasonal phenomenon as bait fish clump into huge schools. Those same experts are telling swimmers and surfers not to panic but be careful where they swim, and of course it's always a good idea to swim with (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Financial wizardry, a new survey shows author J.K. Rowling was the highest paid woman in Britain this year. The "Harry Potter" creator made $77 million, almost six times the income of Queen Elizabeth who may be royalty but is still just a (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Who knows maybe Rowling's next book will be "Harry Potter and the (UNINTELLIGIBLE)" and that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back to WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. I'm Miles O'Brien.
(INTERRUPTED BY CNN COVERAGE OF BREAKING NEWS)
(NEWS ALERT)
O'BRIEN: Last week, a company founded by a religious sect, the Raelians, announced the girl's birth and claimed she was the first cloned human. The company, Clonaid, says the girl was born to an American woman in an unidentified country. Officials with Clonaid say the child will undergo DNA tests to prove their claims.
CNN medical producer Mary Ann Falco visited the Raelian compound in Quebec last summer and she interviewed the group's leader known as Rael.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY ANN FALCO, CNN MEDICAL PRODUCER (voice-over): It looked like the French countryside but you won't find any signs to Paris here. What you will find, directs to UFO Land. From Montreal, Canada, UFO Land is an hour's drive. The Raelians call the compound this building sits on The Gardens of The Prophet. The current prophet is Rael, leader of the Raelians, who spoke with me about his group's quest.
RAEL, RAELIAN MOVEMENT LEADER: That's the goal, to become eternal through cloning.
FALCO: There's a lot the Raelians would not let us videotape on this visit. We could not show you a large model of what they say is their spaceship. We did see a model of their future embassy. Rael says the aliens told him to build it near Jerusalem to welcome them. Also inside the UFO Land building, a picture of Jesus and a floor to ceiling double helix model of DNA.
My visit to interview Rael came during the end of a two-week annual gathering. The highlight, the White Ball where everyone dresses in white. Driving to the White Ball was kind of like visiting a military base. Security reported our driver's license number and plates. But inside, the mood was festive. Music played. The attendants were friendly to us and each other. Then, Rael made his entrance. He sat at head table with his bishops and their partners, including Brigitte Boisselier. In addition to being the CEO of Clonaid, which claims it has produced the first human clone, she's also a bishop in the Raelian movement.
Raelians believe in sensual education and sensual meditation. Our visit ended with a hug and a kiss.
Mary Ann Falco, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Fascinating! A health care crisis is looming in Scranton, Pennsylvania. At least 45 doctors there have stopped taking new patients and say they won't perform surgeries after January 1 unless that state does something about the high cost of malpractice insurance. One of the doctors says his insurance runs $450 a day, a cost that is strangling his practice. Joining me from Scranton to talk about this, Dr. Charles Bannon, chief of surgery at Mercy Hospital.
Dr. Banning, good to have you with us.
DR. CHARLES BANNON, CHIEF OF SURGERY, MERCY HOSPITAL: Good afternoon. How are you?
O'BRIEN: I am well. Now, the malpractice insurance cost is $450 a day. Can you give us a sense of what the revenue is on the course of a day so we have a sense of how much that is compared to income?
BANNON: I don't know where you get the number $450 a day. The malpractice premium rates vary from specialty to specialty and from parts of the state to other parts of the state. So it could be anywhere from a third of your income to less. I can't really give you a uniform answer to the $450 a day question.
O'BRIEN: All right.
BANNON: I know some people who is at $750 a day.
O'BRIEN: All right. A third of your income, isn't that just a cost of doing business for a doctor? BANNON: You have to have malpractice premium in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by law and to have your license, so it is a cost of doing business.
O'BRIEN: Well, I guess what I'm saying is isn't that a cost that doctors should be forced to bear given the nature of their work?
BANNON: I think that we have to -- we certainly have to have that and part of it is our responsibility. But when the malpractice premium rates rise beyond the part where you can remain solvent, then you can't stay in business and that's where we are in Pennsylvania in many parts of the state now and for many specialties. You can be talking of a malpractice premium rate in excess of a quarter of a million dollars for one person for a year. So when doctors see that and with the reduced reimbursements it becomes a situation where to stay in business becomes prohibitive.
O'BRIEN: What about...
BANNON: But the real problem is not...
O'BRIEN: This is extremely drastic action, Dr. Bannon. And it seems to the layperson anyhow that this would fly in the face of many of the oaths which doctors take, our doctors take, withholding services such as this. How you to defend that?
BANNON: Well, on the contrary. What we're trying to do is save the quality of medicine in this state. What has been happening...
O'BRIEN: Dr. Bannon...
BANNON: ... for a number of years is...
O'BRIEN: Dr. Bannon?
BANNON: I'm here.
O'BRIEN: My apologies, we have some breaking news out of California. We're going to have to go to a news conference in Modesto, California. I promise you we'll get back to you and give you an opportunity to respond to that in just a few minutes.
(INTERRUPTED BY CNN COVERAGE OF BREAKING NEWS)
O'BRIEN: When we return, we will check in with Dr. Bannon, whose discussion we interrupted for that, to talk about the doctor strike in Scranton, Pennsylvania and some other things ahead as well. As the year winds down, we remember those lost, 2,002 in memoriam coming up as well and pre-game problems for a Notre Dame football player. Details on his arrest. All that lies ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Let's return now to our discussion that we interrupted for the breaking news out of Modesto, California. With us from Scranton, Pennsylvania is Dr. Charles Bannon, who is chief of surgery at Mercy Hospital there. Doctors there staging a strike of sorts to protest high malpractice rates. And the question I had for you when you were interrupted, Dr. Bannon was in what way does this violate the oath that all doctors take, the Hippocratic oath?
BANNON: Actually, we look at it in support of the Hippocratic oath. We are unable to attract doctors to Pennsylvania in general and to our area in particular. They just won't come to Pennsylvania. Furthermore, the middle-aged doctors are leaving in large numbers and the older doctors are retiring early. So we're trying to address this crisis.
We've pointed it out for a number of years now. But the situation gets worse year after year after year. Here in Scranton, for instance, we've had 12 surgeons retire or die in the last five years and we have been unable to recruit any surgeons to come to town to take their place. So it's becoming intolerable in terms of being able to service the people of this community with the quality of work that they're used to and which they deserve. And so, we thought that we needed to get the attention in some serious way so that we can stop this crisis, this access to care crisis while it's still soluble. And so in contrary to -- go ahead.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, is this a tactic...
BANNON: You had a question.
O'BRIEN: Is this a tactic that you think will spread across the country as the concern rises over these malpractice premiums?
BANNON: Well, first of all, not every state has a crisis. That's the point. That's why doctors who are already here are choosing other states with less of a liability crisis and why doctors aren't coming here. So it is not a countrywide problem. There are several states in which the problem is as severe as ours.
So what we're interested in is not curing problems for the country, we're interested in what we can do in our town, which we care very much about, to make sure we can continue with quality care. And that's what we're about and that's what the governor-elect, Ed Rendell, is about. And we've been working this month very closely with him to try and come to a solution. And I'm hopeful that we will. But we're looking at it as an access to quality care issue.
O'BRIEN: All right, Dr. Charles Bannon, the chief of surgery at Mercy Hospital in Scranton, thank you very much for being with us. And the governor-elect, Ed Rendell, mentioned just a few moments ago by Dr. Bannon will be the guest tonight on "NEWSNIGHT" 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. We invite you to tune in for that.
Now, here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our "Web Question of The Day" is do you think doctors protesting high insurance costs should walk off the job? We'll have the result later in this broadcast. You can vote at CNN.com/Wolf.
A Notre Dame football player's arrest in Jacksonville, Florida, is now the focus of a police investigation. Linebacker, Chad DeBolt (ph) is in Jacksonville for Wednesday's Gator Bowl. But on his first night in town last week he was arrested on a trespassing charge after refusing to leave a nightclub. DeBolt (ph) was taken to the Devall (ph) County Jail where he was restrained with pepper spray. And in a booking photo, his eyes do appear swollen and his face bruised.
Now, police are investigating how Debolt (ph) was treated at the jail. The nightclub manager says Debolt (ph) appeared intoxicated before police were called.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BLACK WELDER, NIGHTCLUB MANAGER: The officer made a decision that, you know, the guy was extremely intoxicated and was resisting what the officer was asking him to do. So he decided to, I guess go, ahead and arrest him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Authorities are interviewing jail inmates and corrects officers to try to determine what happened. We'll keep you posted.
The year drawing to a close. Don't need to tell you that. But before we move on, a look back, 2002 in memoriam when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Fashion designer, Bill Blass, Britain's beloved queen mum and Mr. Television, Milton Berle, were among the prominent celebrities who died this year.
As 2002 draws to a close, we look back now at some of those famous folks who passed away.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: All of them gone, none of them forgotten. May they rest in peace. The result of our "Web Question of The Day" is next. Do you think doctors protesting high insurance costs should walk off the job? Log onto CNN.com/Wolf to vote.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Time to check the results of our "Question of the Day." Sixty-five percent of you said yes you do think doctors protesting high insurance costs should walk off the job. Thirty-five percent of you said no. Remember, this is not a scientific poll.
Time now hear from you and read some of your e-mail. We have a lot of medical malpractice. Placido from Texas writes -- "If a physician were injured through someone else's negligence, you can bet he would immediately sue. Do the job right, and you do not have worry about malpractice lawsuits! Plain and simple." Michael writes this -- "I am neurosurgery resident at the University of Pittsburgh. I am very concerned about the future of medicine and malpractice laws. The outrageous malpractice insurance costs are driving people away from practicing in certain states and from the medical profession in general. As insurance costs continue to rise and our salaries continue to decline the best and the brightest students in this country are choosing not to practice medicine as in the past."
And on the cloning controversy we get this from Kevin in Boston, my personal favorite -- "I would like to express my dismay at the ease with which a group as questionable as the "Raelians" have been able to garner massive worldwide media coverage simply by making an unsubstantiated and unlikely claim. Furthermore, I would like to notify the producers at CNN that I have in fact cloned Saddam Hussein, and he is currently residing in my basement along with Osama bin Laden and a North Korean space alien."
Kevin, the live truck is on the way.
That's the time we have for today. Please join us tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern and don't forget "SHOWDOWN IRAQ" weekdays at noon Eastern. Until then, thanks very much for watching.
I'm Miles O'Brien on behalf of the vacationing Wolf Blitzer. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next. Kitty Pilgrim sitting in for Lou tonight.
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Woman; American Medical Workers Killed in Yemen>
Aired December 30, 2002 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, GUEST HOST: WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice over): Americans gunned down abroad, was there a warning?
JERRY RANKIN, INTL. MISSION BOARD: Our personnel as Americans and Christians are well aware of the risk.
O'BRIEN: Manhunt at large in America, why is the FBI so anxious to find them? Missing, eight months pregnant, she vanished without a trace on Christmas Eve. Her mother asks for your help.
Healthcare crisis, doctors threatening to walk off the job, is yours next? And, they say they've cloned a human but their plans don't end there. CNN takes you where cameras are off limits, a rare look at the Raelians world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (on camera): December 30, 2002, I'm Miles O'Brien. Wolf Blitzer is off this week, glad to have you with us. Two developments, thousands of miles apart are putting Americans on edge today. The FBI looking for five suspicious men who entered the United States illegally on Christmas Eve and three Americans on an overseas mission to save lives lost their own lives in a shooting rampage. We begin with that story from CNN's Brian Cabell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Authorities say the gunmen entered the Baptist Missionary Hospital cradling a rifle in his jacket as though it were a baby. He then opened fire and killed three Americans, all of whom had been working there several years Dr. Martha Myers, an obstetrician; William Kohn (ph), the hospital administrator; and Kathleen Gariety, the hospital business manager whose family had warned her of the danger of working in Yemen.
JERRY GARIETY, BROTHER OF VICTIM: In July we did not want her to go back but she did. She was devoted to the word, you know, so she's up there. PHIL REEKER, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: There can be no justification for an attack such as this on an institution providing critical humanitarian services to the Yemeni people.
CABELL: The full service hospital in Jibla, Yemen has been operating for 35 years, treating more than 40,000 patients a year according to officials. The facility was considered particularly dangerous because Yemen was the sight of the bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in 2000. It's also the ancestral homeland of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
RANKIN: Our personnel as Americans and Christians are well aware of the risk of living and serving in a place like Yemen, yet their love for the Yemeni people and obedience to the conviction of God's leadership has been expressed in a willingness to take that risk and give of their lives.
CABELL: Yemeni officials have a suspect in custody, Abid Abdulrazzaq al-Kamil, described as an Islamic extremist who according to one local journalist told authorities he "wanted to get closer to God."
For the family of Dr. Myers, the obstetrician who was killed, her work in Yemen was not about politics or a particular religion. It was about helping people and putting her beliefs into action.
IRA MYERS, FATHER OF VICTIM: People learn more by how you live in your attitude and whether you are truthful than they do about what you say.
CABELL: A fourth American worker was wounded in the attack. He's expected to recover. Brian Cabell CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: More now on the suspect from CNN's Rula Amin. She joins us from Yemen -- Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, Yemeni investigators along with some U.S. investigators are trying to determine why did this suspect carry out this attack. They're trying to see was this an isolated incident. Did he wait and coordinate his attack with another person or was he linked to a terrorist group? Was he linked to al Qaeda? This is the major question now that is facing authorities here. They want to make sure that this does not spread.
Yemeni officials are saying they are looking for possible cells, between six to eight people who may be targeting foreigners and secular Yemenis. Just on Saturday opposition (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was pinned down. He was assassinated (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and the authorities are trying to determine if this attack was coordinated with today's attack -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Rula Amin in Yemen thank you very much. Now, that nationwide search for a group of Arab men who may have entered the country illegally on Christmas Eve, is there possibly a new terror threat? We get the latest from CNN Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The nationwide manhunt is still on for these five men. The FBI and its 18,000 state and local law enforcement partners have made finding them a top priority. Intelligence suggests that on or about December 24 they illegally entered the United States through Canada.
DANIEL BANJAMIN, CSIS: We used to boast that that was the longer unfortified border in the world. Now it's not something we're quite as happy about.
ARENA: The FBI was alerted in the course of a separate investigation which indicates the five men obtained fake passports. Agents then received additional intelligence from Pakistan. The FBI is not sure where the men come from or whether the names they are using are legitimate. They are not in any terror databases. The only thing the FBI is sure of is what the men look like.
BENJAMIN: It's a perfect example of life in the age of terrorism. It tells us very little. There's relatively little likelihood that the public will be able to turn much up. It will be complete happenstance and it gives us no idea of the importance of these people.
ARENA: Still, law enforcement sources say their level of concern is high. That's because intelligence sources refer to the five as a group, as one source said a possible terror cell.
J. KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: We're going into the New Year's Eve season and it looks like they came in the northeast. You know you've got New York, one of the biggest New Year's celebrations going.
ARENA: Officials say New York's Governor George Pataki was immediately brought in to the loop.
GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: We have some reasonable basis to believe that they came across the Canadian border into New York State. We don't know where they are now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA (on camera): Even without a great deal of information, the FBI says it simply can't take any chances, as intelligence continues to pour in suggesting that al Qaeda is planning more attacks -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Kelli Arena, thank you very much. For more on this story and the situation in Yemen, let's turn now to our CNN Security Analyst Kelly McCann seen briefly in that piece, now seen live, Kelly good to have you with us once again.
MCCANN: Hi, Miles.
O'BRIEN: We've been reporting all day that this group of five that is missing and wanted for at least a discussion came into the northeast. What if it turns out they came in through another avenue? What would the significance be, for example, if they came in through Seattle, through Vancouver? That is an area that has been a focus of attention of federal authorities for quite some time.
MCCANN: Sure and there's a couple of things that Kelli's been reporting all day, the other Kelli, which is that we don't quite know yet more than this was documentation fraud. We don't know at what level. It's alleged that they came across but most importantly we've all been trying to determine where they might have come across because of the significance.
If you look at the northwest, there are some interesting things that have been going on there for many, many years with some different kinds of mosques that are up there, the North Seattle Mosque in particular. We talked about that during the sniper incidents.
On the eastern side there could be a significance whether it was through Detroit or through Niagara and down supposedly or allegedly towards New York but we simply don't know. There hasn't been anything to link specifics together to the point where we should make that reach.
O'BRIEN: All right, what does this tell you? I mean we've talked about this porous border. The fact that these three are being sought for at least questioning indicates that something was amiss with their visa, their paperwork, in some way, shape, or form but obviously there was a lag time in discovering that. Is it a matter of better equipment? Is it a matter of more people? What is getting through the cracks here?
MCCANN: Well, I think what it is as the package preceding me Kelli talked about which is they didn't necessarily use those documents. This could have been from an investigation that was ongoing about documentation fraud, which is all circling into illegal alien trafficking whether it's humans in an actual cargo ship or a vessel or whether it's the paperwork that supports the movement, that's the key issue and simply there aren't enough facts out there.
And the FBI is not releasing any more than that this is just the subject of an ongoing investigation where information surfaced. People went back to Pakistan. In fact, it was corroborated. They said yes, there's something going on here, and now they're asking for Americans' help to find these people so they can question them further.
O'BRIEN: What about the Immigration and Naturalization Service, a lot of criticism of that particular agency post 9/11? Has that agency gotten its act together?
MCCANN: No and usually I'm very understanding of course of all government agencies and their problems. I mean you can't turn them on a dime. It's like turning a battleship. It takes time. There is so much work to do to correct some of the flaws that are inherent in that organization because of the land mass alone. I mean look at how wide the borders are. Think of how many people it would take to control that and to do significant oversight. They're overworked. They're understaffed. I mean there's no budgetary resources available right now to immediately fix the problems that exist but I think it is getting better. It's just going to take some time.
O'BRIEN: I want to get one word from you on Yemen before we run out of time here. This particular suspect who Rula Amin was just telling us about reportedly told authorities there that he allegedly did all of this to get nearer to God. It's chilling just to even say that and it says a lot about what the United States is up against.
MCCANN: Absolutely. I mean if you talk to a lot of the people that are following this, the Arab street, the average common person out there, 1.3 billion Muslims largely uneducated, there is a feeling that this is the beginning of a crusade against Islam and certainly that's not the case.
But that's the feeling and small incendiary events, the growing pressure with Iraq, it could be a seemingly disassociated event might be enough to urge the fence sitters into become actors and that's scary because we would have no reason to have previous intelligence that they were thinking that way. So, although it's an isolated incident, it may be a sneak peak at the hydra that this thing could become.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Kelly McCann our security analyst on a very busy day, thank you very much for giving us these insights, we appreciate it.
MCCANN: You bet.
O'BRIEN: Without a trace a pregnant woman disappears Christmas Eve, the latest on that investigation, and I'll talk to the missing woman's mother. Behind the scenes with the group that claims to have cloned a human baby, we'll have, well I think it's an exclusive tour of the Raelian's compound in Canada. And, doctors set to walk off the job at a hospital over the rising cost of malpractice insurance.
We'll have a look at whether this could be the start of a nationwide pattern. And that is the subject of our web question of the day. Do you think doctors protesting high insurance costs should walk off the job? Vote at cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results a little later in this broadcast. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: As U.N. weapons inspectors hunt for weapons in Iraq, the U.N. Security Council stepped up the pressure on Baghdad today voting to place more restrictions on what Iraq is allowed to buy with its oil profits; added to the list certain chemicals such as activated carbon, which can be used for the absorption of chemical weapons, and drugs such as atropine which can be used to treat nerve gas exposure. Even though they have civilian uses, items on the review list can not be imported without prior U.N. approval. We turn now to the showdown over North Korea's nuclear program. After getting the boot from Pyongyang, U.N. inspectors are on their way out of the country and are due to arrive in China in just a few hours. That leaves North Korea free to restart a reactor and a reprocessing plant behind closed doors. The facilities which can produce weapons grade plutonium were frozen in a 1994 deal in which North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program in exchange for fuel.
North Korea says the U.S. must negotiate an end to the nuclear showdown but for now the Bush administration views that as blackmail and is looking for other cards to play.
CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is with the president in Crawford, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As North Korea continues to defy the world's pleas to abandon its nuclear ambitions the Bush administration is vowing to isolate the communist country through diplomatic and economic means. But senior administration officials acknowledge the key to the policy's success will depend on the cooperation of North Korea's neighbors, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia, each with an agenda of their own.
China, North Korea's largest trading partner supplies 70 percent of North Korea's crude oil and is a major exporter of food and goods is reluctant to take a hard line against its long time ally. South Korea is committed to its sunshine policy of engagement with Pyongyang. Its new regime is eager to establish new railroad links and free trade zones.
BALBINA HWANG, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: There is, I think, about $500 million of trade going back and forth so certainly if South Korea were to cut that off that would also be an important impact on North Korea.
MALVEAUX: Japan was set to give North Korea $10 billion in aid but the nuclear scare and kidnapping controversy with Pyongyang has soured their relationship. Russia signed a trade and economic accord with North Korea in 2001. The countries trade $100 million worth of goods a year. Publicly it has denounced North Korea's posturing but continues to speak to Pyongyang directly. But despite reservations from some of North Korea's neighbors, the Bush administration is convinced its isolationist policy will work.
REEKER: North Korea can change course and get themselves out of this position and they have the power to do that. That's what will bring them benefits by working, engaging in a positive way with the international community.
MALVEAUX: But the Bush administration's policy is getting mixed reviews.
BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER U.S. AMB. TO U.N.: To isolate North Korea in the region I'm not sure is going to produce the results that we need.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now today the White House is downplaying any apparent disagreements or differences that it has with its allies, specifically Russia and South Korea over how to best deal with Pyongyang. South Korea's Kim Dae Jung saying that he thought dialogue as opposed to isolation would be the best way to go, a White House spokesman saying that it is North Korea that's bringing the isolation upon itself -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne, I'm just curious is this a tacit admission by the administration that there really aren't any viable military options here?
MALVEAUX: Well, I don't think that's the case. I think the administration has been saying quite consistently that they don't want to deal with both North Korea and Iraq at the same time, although they're capable of dealing with two military fronts simultaneously. But at the same time, the administration has said all along that it prefers diplomatic and economic means because quite frankly it would be a situation where the Korea Peninsula would be in a great deal of trouble if you had that kind of outburst of military confrontation.
The administration is maintaining also they believe that North Korea is in a position because it's facing a very dire situation with the winter coming up, perhaps the starvation of its own people, that it really will fold, that it will succumb to this pressure and again comply, abandoning its nuclear weapons programs.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, with the traveling White House in Crawford Texas thank you very much. A pregnant woman missing since Christmas Eve coming up a desperate search. Also, doctors walking off the job to protest skyrocketing insurance rates. I said that. They were actually walking off the job. You heard me right. We'll talk to one of the doctors who says he's had enough. And, the year that was, those who passed from the scene, a look back later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: For the sixth day in a row, police and volunteers are scouring the area around Modesto, California about 90 miles east of San Francisco. The object of their search a 27-year-old woman eight months pregnant who vanished Christmas Eve on a morning walk with her dog. CNN's Rusty Dornin is covering the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Eight months pregnant, Laci Peterson disappeared Christmas Eve without a trace.
CHIEF ROY WASDEN, MODESTO POLICE: It's very frustrating. I guess the frustration is that we don't have anything new, anything significant, no concrete direction to go.
DORNIN: Volunteers gather to pray and work round the clock. Volunteer Joseph McDonald has searched for three days. He doesn't know Laci Peterson but it doesn't matter.
JOSEPH MCDONALD, SEARCH VOLUNTEER: It's just the right thing to do, to help people. If my daughter was missing or you know it could be your mom, your sister.
DORNIN: Police and FBI are combing the city and surrounding farmlands. They also searched the couple's home and husband Scott's boat.
DOUG RIDENOUR, MODESTO POLICE: He's not been ruled out as a suspect but he hasn't been ruled in as a suspect. Again, we're at that phase in our investigation that we have to be, we have to check everything out.
DORNIN: Scott Peterson reported his wife missing after he returned from a day fishing trip 85 miles away. Laci Peterson's family stands behind her husband who has kept a very low profile.
RON GRANTSKI, LACI PETERSON'S STEPFATHER: We know he's a good man. He's always treated our daughter like a lady.
DORNIN: The reward now stands at a half million dollars. Exhausted, her family continues to make appeals.
DENNIS ROCHA, LACI PETERSON'S FATHER: Laci Denise, if you're hearing dad, we love you very much and we want you home.
DORNIN: Early Christmas Eve, Laci took her dog McKenzie for a walk. Later that morning McKenzie was found but Laci wasn't. Sunday, police took McKenzie for a walk hoping to retrace her footsteps. For the dog, it appeared to be just that, a walk in the park, and for investigators another trail leading nowhere. Rusty Dornin CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: The Modesto police chief is expected to be giving a news conference within the next eight to ten minutes. We plan to bring that to you live as it happens. Time for us to take a break, then the mysterious group that claims to have cloned a human baby promising to deliver proof, we'll have the latest on that. And, just who are these people? Wait until you see their compound, we'll have the tour in a few moments.
Plus, several doctors say they've had enough. They've decided to walk off the job at a prominent hospital. We'll hear what their problem is and whether it could happen in your town too, first though a look at other headlines from around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice over): Sustained strike, the general strike in Venezuela is four weeks old today and shows no sign of slowing down. Police used tear gas to separate supporters and opponents of President Hugo Chavez. Paris arrest, French police are questioning an Algerian born baggage handler arrested at Charles DeGaulle International Airport. Officials say he had automatic weapons and explosives. Authorities are also questioning his father, two brothers, and a companion.
Washed away, after years of neglect part of a Victorian era pier in Brighton, England has collapsed, leaving a portion of a concert hall dangling above the waves. Despite the setback a foundation set up to restore the pier to its former glory vows to continue its work.
Feeding frenzy, in Australia a news crew captured a spectacular cluster of feasting sharks off the coast of Queensland. The experts tell us it was a seasonal phenomenon as bait fish clump into huge schools. Those same experts are telling swimmers and surfers not to panic but be careful where they swim, and of course it's always a good idea to swim with (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Financial wizardry, a new survey shows author J.K. Rowling was the highest paid woman in Britain this year. The "Harry Potter" creator made $77 million, almost six times the income of Queen Elizabeth who may be royalty but is still just a (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Who knows maybe Rowling's next book will be "Harry Potter and the (UNINTELLIGIBLE)" and that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back to WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. I'm Miles O'Brien.
(INTERRUPTED BY CNN COVERAGE OF BREAKING NEWS)
(NEWS ALERT)
O'BRIEN: Last week, a company founded by a religious sect, the Raelians, announced the girl's birth and claimed she was the first cloned human. The company, Clonaid, says the girl was born to an American woman in an unidentified country. Officials with Clonaid say the child will undergo DNA tests to prove their claims.
CNN medical producer Mary Ann Falco visited the Raelian compound in Quebec last summer and she interviewed the group's leader known as Rael.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY ANN FALCO, CNN MEDICAL PRODUCER (voice-over): It looked like the French countryside but you won't find any signs to Paris here. What you will find, directs to UFO Land. From Montreal, Canada, UFO Land is an hour's drive. The Raelians call the compound this building sits on The Gardens of The Prophet. The current prophet is Rael, leader of the Raelians, who spoke with me about his group's quest.
RAEL, RAELIAN MOVEMENT LEADER: That's the goal, to become eternal through cloning.
FALCO: There's a lot the Raelians would not let us videotape on this visit. We could not show you a large model of what they say is their spaceship. We did see a model of their future embassy. Rael says the aliens told him to build it near Jerusalem to welcome them. Also inside the UFO Land building, a picture of Jesus and a floor to ceiling double helix model of DNA.
My visit to interview Rael came during the end of a two-week annual gathering. The highlight, the White Ball where everyone dresses in white. Driving to the White Ball was kind of like visiting a military base. Security reported our driver's license number and plates. But inside, the mood was festive. Music played. The attendants were friendly to us and each other. Then, Rael made his entrance. He sat at head table with his bishops and their partners, including Brigitte Boisselier. In addition to being the CEO of Clonaid, which claims it has produced the first human clone, she's also a bishop in the Raelian movement.
Raelians believe in sensual education and sensual meditation. Our visit ended with a hug and a kiss.
Mary Ann Falco, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Fascinating! A health care crisis is looming in Scranton, Pennsylvania. At least 45 doctors there have stopped taking new patients and say they won't perform surgeries after January 1 unless that state does something about the high cost of malpractice insurance. One of the doctors says his insurance runs $450 a day, a cost that is strangling his practice. Joining me from Scranton to talk about this, Dr. Charles Bannon, chief of surgery at Mercy Hospital.
Dr. Banning, good to have you with us.
DR. CHARLES BANNON, CHIEF OF SURGERY, MERCY HOSPITAL: Good afternoon. How are you?
O'BRIEN: I am well. Now, the malpractice insurance cost is $450 a day. Can you give us a sense of what the revenue is on the course of a day so we have a sense of how much that is compared to income?
BANNON: I don't know where you get the number $450 a day. The malpractice premium rates vary from specialty to specialty and from parts of the state to other parts of the state. So it could be anywhere from a third of your income to less. I can't really give you a uniform answer to the $450 a day question.
O'BRIEN: All right.
BANNON: I know some people who is at $750 a day.
O'BRIEN: All right. A third of your income, isn't that just a cost of doing business for a doctor? BANNON: You have to have malpractice premium in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by law and to have your license, so it is a cost of doing business.
O'BRIEN: Well, I guess what I'm saying is isn't that a cost that doctors should be forced to bear given the nature of their work?
BANNON: I think that we have to -- we certainly have to have that and part of it is our responsibility. But when the malpractice premium rates rise beyond the part where you can remain solvent, then you can't stay in business and that's where we are in Pennsylvania in many parts of the state now and for many specialties. You can be talking of a malpractice premium rate in excess of a quarter of a million dollars for one person for a year. So when doctors see that and with the reduced reimbursements it becomes a situation where to stay in business becomes prohibitive.
O'BRIEN: What about...
BANNON: But the real problem is not...
O'BRIEN: This is extremely drastic action, Dr. Bannon. And it seems to the layperson anyhow that this would fly in the face of many of the oaths which doctors take, our doctors take, withholding services such as this. How you to defend that?
BANNON: Well, on the contrary. What we're trying to do is save the quality of medicine in this state. What has been happening...
O'BRIEN: Dr. Bannon...
BANNON: ... for a number of years is...
O'BRIEN: Dr. Bannon?
BANNON: I'm here.
O'BRIEN: My apologies, we have some breaking news out of California. We're going to have to go to a news conference in Modesto, California. I promise you we'll get back to you and give you an opportunity to respond to that in just a few minutes.
(INTERRUPTED BY CNN COVERAGE OF BREAKING NEWS)
O'BRIEN: When we return, we will check in with Dr. Bannon, whose discussion we interrupted for that, to talk about the doctor strike in Scranton, Pennsylvania and some other things ahead as well. As the year winds down, we remember those lost, 2,002 in memoriam coming up as well and pre-game problems for a Notre Dame football player. Details on his arrest. All that lies ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Let's return now to our discussion that we interrupted for the breaking news out of Modesto, California. With us from Scranton, Pennsylvania is Dr. Charles Bannon, who is chief of surgery at Mercy Hospital there. Doctors there staging a strike of sorts to protest high malpractice rates. And the question I had for you when you were interrupted, Dr. Bannon was in what way does this violate the oath that all doctors take, the Hippocratic oath?
BANNON: Actually, we look at it in support of the Hippocratic oath. We are unable to attract doctors to Pennsylvania in general and to our area in particular. They just won't come to Pennsylvania. Furthermore, the middle-aged doctors are leaving in large numbers and the older doctors are retiring early. So we're trying to address this crisis.
We've pointed it out for a number of years now. But the situation gets worse year after year after year. Here in Scranton, for instance, we've had 12 surgeons retire or die in the last five years and we have been unable to recruit any surgeons to come to town to take their place. So it's becoming intolerable in terms of being able to service the people of this community with the quality of work that they're used to and which they deserve. And so, we thought that we needed to get the attention in some serious way so that we can stop this crisis, this access to care crisis while it's still soluble. And so in contrary to -- go ahead.
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, is this a tactic...
BANNON: You had a question.
O'BRIEN: Is this a tactic that you think will spread across the country as the concern rises over these malpractice premiums?
BANNON: Well, first of all, not every state has a crisis. That's the point. That's why doctors who are already here are choosing other states with less of a liability crisis and why doctors aren't coming here. So it is not a countrywide problem. There are several states in which the problem is as severe as ours.
So what we're interested in is not curing problems for the country, we're interested in what we can do in our town, which we care very much about, to make sure we can continue with quality care. And that's what we're about and that's what the governor-elect, Ed Rendell, is about. And we've been working this month very closely with him to try and come to a solution. And I'm hopeful that we will. But we're looking at it as an access to quality care issue.
O'BRIEN: All right, Dr. Charles Bannon, the chief of surgery at Mercy Hospital in Scranton, thank you very much for being with us. And the governor-elect, Ed Rendell, mentioned just a few moments ago by Dr. Bannon will be the guest tonight on "NEWSNIGHT" 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. We invite you to tune in for that.
Now, here's your chance to weigh in on this story. Our "Web Question of The Day" is do you think doctors protesting high insurance costs should walk off the job? We'll have the result later in this broadcast. You can vote at CNN.com/Wolf.
A Notre Dame football player's arrest in Jacksonville, Florida, is now the focus of a police investigation. Linebacker, Chad DeBolt (ph) is in Jacksonville for Wednesday's Gator Bowl. But on his first night in town last week he was arrested on a trespassing charge after refusing to leave a nightclub. DeBolt (ph) was taken to the Devall (ph) County Jail where he was restrained with pepper spray. And in a booking photo, his eyes do appear swollen and his face bruised.
Now, police are investigating how Debolt (ph) was treated at the jail. The nightclub manager says Debolt (ph) appeared intoxicated before police were called.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BLACK WELDER, NIGHTCLUB MANAGER: The officer made a decision that, you know, the guy was extremely intoxicated and was resisting what the officer was asking him to do. So he decided to, I guess go, ahead and arrest him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Authorities are interviewing jail inmates and corrects officers to try to determine what happened. We'll keep you posted.
The year drawing to a close. Don't need to tell you that. But before we move on, a look back, 2002 in memoriam when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Fashion designer, Bill Blass, Britain's beloved queen mum and Mr. Television, Milton Berle, were among the prominent celebrities who died this year.
As 2002 draws to a close, we look back now at some of those famous folks who passed away.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: All of them gone, none of them forgotten. May they rest in peace. The result of our "Web Question of The Day" is next. Do you think doctors protesting high insurance costs should walk off the job? Log onto CNN.com/Wolf to vote.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Time to check the results of our "Question of the Day." Sixty-five percent of you said yes you do think doctors protesting high insurance costs should walk off the job. Thirty-five percent of you said no. Remember, this is not a scientific poll.
Time now hear from you and read some of your e-mail. We have a lot of medical malpractice. Placido from Texas writes -- "If a physician were injured through someone else's negligence, you can bet he would immediately sue. Do the job right, and you do not have worry about malpractice lawsuits! Plain and simple." Michael writes this -- "I am neurosurgery resident at the University of Pittsburgh. I am very concerned about the future of medicine and malpractice laws. The outrageous malpractice insurance costs are driving people away from practicing in certain states and from the medical profession in general. As insurance costs continue to rise and our salaries continue to decline the best and the brightest students in this country are choosing not to practice medicine as in the past."
And on the cloning controversy we get this from Kevin in Boston, my personal favorite -- "I would like to express my dismay at the ease with which a group as questionable as the "Raelians" have been able to garner massive worldwide media coverage simply by making an unsubstantiated and unlikely claim. Furthermore, I would like to notify the producers at CNN that I have in fact cloned Saddam Hussein, and he is currently residing in my basement along with Osama bin Laden and a North Korean space alien."
Kevin, the live truck is on the way.
That's the time we have for today. Please join us tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern and don't forget "SHOWDOWN IRAQ" weekdays at noon Eastern. Until then, thanks very much for watching.
I'm Miles O'Brien on behalf of the vacationing Wolf Blitzer. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next. Kitty Pilgrim sitting in for Lou tonight.
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