1983_03 Insight March 1983

              6
March 2, 1983
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. so what you grab, you have.
Everyone else got nothing."
The concentration camp, near the
yity of Pmkopseusk. is a barren harbor of disease, death and despair.
"While Helen's father, who is slowly
dying of tuberculosis, labors in the
coal mines. 13-year-old Helen and her
mother work in the fields and barracks. Death becomes more real than
life.
"One Ukrainian family had 12
people." Dmitriew said. "Tbe son
died last and be was four days lying
by the door. You could see dead bodies
all over."
Rain pours through tbe roof of the
barracks. The temperature falls as
low as 60 degrees below zero. Helen's
parents fall ill almost immediately,
and Helen watches helplessly as a
blister on her mother's hand becomes
infected and sickness crawls up her
arm, leaving it useless for the remainder of her life.
For eight months Helen's parents
lie in bed, with only the young girl between them and death.
"I used to go to the houses of
-specialists and wash the dogs and
■clean the floors," Dmitriew said.
'"Some decent person would give me a
piece of bread and some soup... some
"gave me what the dog doesn't finish.
"And I would cover tbe food with
."my father's coat and put their heads
ton my knee and feed them with a little
ipoon. My mother lost all her teeth,
till her hair. She was a beautiful
"Nobody stopped us." Dmitriew
said. "Later on I came to the conclusion that the guards thought, "These
people won't walk far anyway.'
"My mother went from door to
door to ask for a piece of bread. For a
whole year we went without any direction of where to go. We had a goal to
find my brother and sister, but in
Russia there are no signs anywhere so
when you come to a village you just
ask 'What village is this?' "
More than a year after tbey set
out — the dates are fuzzy in
Dmitriew's mind — Helen and her
mother find Helen's brother and sister
in a Belorussian town near the Polish
border. Helen's feet and joints are
swollen and disfigured. Her mother
has survived the attack of a savage
dog that broke its chain. Both are as
thin and worn as the clothes they
wear. But, for a time, Helen's journey
has ended.
* Tbe camp is a coal-blackened,
•wire-enclosed island in the great ex-
■"panse of Siberia. It is not heavily
-guarded: there is no place to go. One
"night, after Helen's father recovers
•his strength, he slips under the wire,
^hoping to later help his wife and child
-escape Helen is not to see her father
lagain until 1938.
Dmitriew and her mother wait
•another year in the camp, and, uncer-
"tain if Helen's father is still alive,
decide to slip out on their own. They
go under the wire and begin a journey
of some 3,000 miles.
The harsh reality that shaped
Dmitriew's early years grew no
easier with the passage of time. Yet
humiliation and starvation, instead of
embittering her, have helped her to
care morefor the needs of others. Her
CSUF associates can attest to this.
Jose Elgorriaga, who teaches
Spanish and was formerly chairman
of CSUF's Foreign Language department, sees Dmitriew's caring attitude
as "overcompensation" for the injustices she experienced.
"Individuals become very particular to her," Elgorriaga said.
"They become persons because she
has gone through that depersonalization process. In order to
avoid that you overcompensate.
"She never treats -people,
students, on a generic basis. There's
always a human quality that remains
beyond the fact of how you say-*Good
morning' in Russian."
A young Jewish girl and her family contributed to Dmitriew's outreach
toward others. After recovering from
her escape, Dmitriew was left in
Belorussia without needed papers and
in danger of arrest if she revealed who
her parents were.
Dmitriew's brother and sister
tutored her, but dared not attract
suspicions to themselves by harboring
a criminal. Dmitriew's studies helped
her find a scarce placement, in
teachers college, and the Jewish girl,
Rosa, found her a home.
"I was sitting in the hall talking to
girls and getting acquainted with new
students," Dmitriew said, "and I said
'I don't know where I'm going to live.*
I couldn't afford to rent a place — in
Russia that's impossible.
"And that Jewish girl — her name
was Rosa, I'll never forget — introduced herself and said 'I will take
you to my parents and tell them that I
will share a bed with you.'So she took
me home and her mother and father
were pleasant people, and said 'Of
course.' As long as I live I will never
forget them.
"When you feel some kind of
warmth from people, being in a condition where you're alone and don't
know what to do, and all of a sudden
attack and tuberculosis tinally claimed her father.
As the wheels of Hitler's war
machine crush tbe country around
them, Helen and her husband live in
constant fear for their own safety.
Suddenly, that fear becomes reality.
One night, a man comes to the
door with the news that Dmitriew's
soldiers. The soldiers, watching a
man walk down a country road, wager
to see which one can snoot him. The.
bullet rushes through his stomach and
crushes his spine, and Helen, her child
yet unborn, must search for another
rock to cling to.
But stability is impossible in a
time of war. Dmitriew stays with her
husband's relatives for a time, and
later, German soldiers take her — as
they take millions of others — to Germany to work.
In one respect, life on a Germar
work farm is easier because she often
works in a kitchen and there is no
shortage of food. But the workdays
render, Dmitriew first sees American
soldiers. After speaking to the farm's
landlady, they disappear. Later that
night they return.
"At 2 o'clock they knock on my
door and say 'American soldiers want
to see Russian lady,'" Dmitriew
says. "They went to the wine cellar
and brought me two bottles of wine
and they said many things to me but I
didn't understand a word.
"I said 'thank you' and so on and
they walked out... they put chocolate
bars like a wreath around my little
girl's head. At 6 o'clock they came to
the door and said to leave this place.
So, I took my daughter and walked
away."
For the next four years, she is to
live in Germany as a Russian refugee.
"Privilege" is a word Dmitriew
uses often when she talks about her
teaching. She believes that passing on
her knowledge is the greatest gift she
can give.
"In a way I feel it's a gift from
God," she said. "I think the teacher is
See Dmitriew. page m
Surgeon: Operates
in Fresno courtroom
*...boomt the bombs are
landing, and many times I
thought it was the end.'
these poor people are sharing with
you a piece of bread, it's something
you never forget.
"I inherited something from my
parents, and then experienced it with
different people — particularly
these," Dmitriew said. "I always
share my piece of bread with the
world."
It is 1941, and Dmitriew is married and expecting her first child. She
no longer has to lie aboutTfeingavi orphan, for her mother died of a heart
often last 15 or 16 hours, and Helen
must also care for her newborn
daughter, Ina.
"It was a difficult time,"
Dmitriew said, "and of course a very
dangerous time because American
planes constantly bombard all
around.
"Sometimes I push my little
girl in the swamp and cover her with
my own body and 'boom,' the bombs
are landing, and many times I thought
it was the end."
Late in the spring of 194S, shortly
before Germany's unconditional sur-
Parking: 400 summer additions to help
Continued from page l CSUC guideline, whlcU"la deficiency spent on a study for alternate "means mu^t be ipproved^by the Board of
ment r^.OOOjtudents and San Diego of 1,480" spaces, of transportation. Trustees,^-said Forden.
Stote,awt,b* perking stalls with an         Thesystem plan is to eliminate all         "Although parking is a priority,-       Despite  Forden"s  positive  talk
enrollment of 32,000. Those figures in- parking on campus because when you that doesn't mean we're always doing about  the  parking situation,   com-
clude parking spaces, for restricted mix traffic and people there's bound something about it," said Executive plaints still roll in.   It appears solu-
and handicapped. to be problems, said Forden. "The on- Vice-President William Holmes.   "If tions to students' parking problems
"There's plenty of parking on tht ly exception would probably be tbe the Chancellor's toffioe, says there's are close at hand.     Land around
east lots, but they aren't as popular as parking lots near the library and enough parking, trfcn there's enough. Bulldog Stadium has benn pointed out
the other lots because they're too far cafeteria." We try to justify parking as it is need- as a new source of student space,
from the center of campus," said         Once parking is eliminated, the ed. Right now our indications are that "There are the budgetary con-
Forden. "Once tbe School of Business master plan calls for more parking in we don't need them (more parking siderations, which might be a pro-
, and phase 1 of the Satellite College outlying areas. stalls)." blem," said Holmes.
.Union is completed, those lots will be         Campus   parking   is   a   self-         Holmes said an effort is being The paving of the area surrounding
.•much more in use." supporting operation with funds chan- made, however to increase parking in Bulldog Stadium would cast approx-
neled through the Chancellor's office, areas where there is the greatest imately $20,000.
The formula followed to deter- Monies generated from decals sold need.   That greatest need is now on ""(""ampUs parking "6 all part of the
>mine the number of parking spaces keep the parking fund operating. The Lot Q which is north of CSUF on system's  controlled  growth.     For
allotted the campus is one space for only other source of support is the Barstow at Jackson Avenue. every given curriculum, there must
• two full-time students. parking ticket fund.   The California         Beginning this July, the school be a certain amount of play field
Facilities Planner, Alan Johnson, courts return 80 percent of money ob- will  pave  400  additional   parking which limits the amount of land for
said the FTE (full-time equivalent tained   from   citations   to   the spaces in Lot Q with its completion ex- parking space available.
_    students) formula has been the tradi- Chancellor's office for the parking pected this fall. "There's   also   the   concept  of
tional way of measuring the amount ticket fund which is to be used for         Last year parking expansion was perimeter parking," said Holmes.
of parking needed.   "As our FTE in- alternate means of transportation, limited because of budget cuts.'Most "They (the master plan originators)
..creases   we   can   justify   more such as a school bus system and bicy- of tbe expansion went for motorcycle didn't want the campus overrun with
parking," said Johnson. • cle paths. spaces and bicycle paths. cars without any beautification to it,"
CSUF is six percent short of the         About $70,000 to $80,000 is being         "Any land committed to parking said Holmes.
Continued from page 1
recovery of his expenses, plus
damages. The driver's insurance carrier, however, had obtained a
signature from Huene's patient while
he was hospitalized the first time for a
settlement that barely covered his
original expenses of $6,000.
"I told him he should see an attorney to see if he could have more
money from the insurance company,"
Huene said. "A fractured femur is
worth $40,000. I tell my patients you
have up to a year—let's see if
there's any complications (before you
sign an insurance settlement)."
Nothing in the series of events indicated to Huene that the patient was
unhappy with Huene's care. When tbe
suit was filed, Huene was, for some
unexplained reason, never served.
And when Huene did find out, he said,
the patient insisted to him he had
never intended Huene be named and
that he had instructed his attorney to
leave Huene out of it.
"My curiosity was aroused about
the informed consent aspect of the
case," Huene said in his Medical
Economics article. "Did the law
discriminate against physicians and
in favor of lawyers in this regard? If
so, could something be done about it?
I decided to find out."
Huene contacted four highly
qualified attorneys in San Fransico
and Los Angeles and got three
refusals. Two said they were too busy
and one said it would be difficult to
prove damages. The fourth wanted
$2,000 before he would even look at the
records.
"So," Huene said in his Medical
Economics article, "I decided to file
the suit myself. It turned out to be surprisingly simple. I studied court
records and reference books in a local
law library and learned that legal
complaints are highly formalized and
written largely by rote. It's a matter
percent surcharge on his insurance
rates and a "qualified risk"
classification. Rates are set, he said,
according to actuarial tables of risk in
the doctor's specialty, not according
to lawsuits.
Despite the case not being used as
precedent in the future, the overall
result was of significance more than
just to Huene.
Nicknamed "the bulldog" by opposition lawyers for his refusal to
yield to tbe obstacles they placed in
his way, Huene nevertheless suffered
a major defeat in Fresno Superior
Court. In November 1979, the court
returned a summary judgment in
favor of the attorney, an action which
essentially meant Huene had raised
no triable issue.
"The bulldog " did not agree.
" It was like saying an attorney
had no liability toward anyone he
cared to sue," Huene said in his
Medical Economics article. "If I accepted Ihe summary judgment, that
would have been an unfavorable end
to my case. And some of the opposition lawyers had strongly implied that
if I lost my counter-suit, I'd better be
prepared to face a counter—countej-
suit. So I had a tiger by the tail and
couldn't let go. Besides, I had done a
lot of work in preparation for a trial,
and it seemed a shame to let it all go
to waste." ***
Huene,decided to take his case to
the Second District Court of Appeals.
On July jjp, 1981, the appeals court
overturned the summary judgment
and handed down a judgment that left
Huene both amazed and exhilarated.
It agreed with his contention that an
attorney must havi informed consent
of his client to undertake actions on
his behalf.
In what Huene called "a slightly
purple passage that I just love," the ""
'I don't get an$ nasty letters
frofn lawyers any more.'
of finding a complaint that generally
fits your case, then filling in the
specific details."
"I quickly caught on to the use of
archaic English words and ob-
fuscatory Latin phrases, along with
such legalese as aforesaid,
beforementioned, hereinabove. And I
used them all to spell out how the suit
had damaged my reputation and hiked my malpractice insurance
premiums from $6,000 in 1974 to
$30,000 in 1976."
Huene acknowleged in the interview that be had no special evidence
to support his claims of damage.
There was little media publicity about
the suit against him and even among
doctors themselves there is a
philosophical attitude about malpractice filings.
"Years ago it used to be like a
mark," Huene said. "Now you say, oh
the poor guy got it this time."
At the time that the suit was filed,
malpractice insurance rates across
the nation were skyrocketing, scattered groups of doctors went on strike
to protest, and legislative action was
eventually needed to bring about
resolution of certain abuses, resulting
notably in the statutory limitation of
attorneys' recovery percentages in
contingency cases.
Asked whether he thought his
malpractice rate increase merely
reflected the trend, Huene laughed,
"If you want the truth, I think I was
probably half and half 1 probably
was just one of tbe poor souls (who
were suffering huge increases at tbe
Ume)."
Huene said that a malpractice insurance carrier wants to know "every
time anyone has filed against you, has
named you, — or even threatened
you."
A spokesman for Nor Cal Insurance Company, malpractice
underwriters representing Fresno-
Madera Medical Society and 23 other
societies in California, agreed with
Huene. He said, however, that tbe
questions are asked to allow the in
tend against possible lawsuits before
the evidence Is cold, not to determine
doctors' insurance rates. Only to very
rare cases would a large number of
lawsuits against a doctor cause a 10
court commented in its judgment,
"We do not mean to suggest the actions of the defendants were in. any
sense criminal. We merely point out
the sudden showers which may
drench an attorney when he ventures
out as a principal without the protective umbrella of his client."
Still the case was not over.
With the full support of the
California Trial Lawyers Association
in an amicus curiae brief, the defendant attorney's lawyers appealed to
the California «£upreme Court. They
argued that requiring a client's
specific authorization to sue in order
to assure that the attorney has proper
consent and probable cause would
eventually harm the client in that he
could no longer tell an attorney the
facts and rely on the attorney"s exper
tise and judgment.
The Supreme Court's action was
both pleasing and disappointing to
Huene.
The Court denied the petition for
hearing, which left the appeals court
judgment undisturbed. However, 'he
Court granted the defendant's plea
that tbe appeals court decision be
"unpublished" — an action that
means it cannot be cited as authority
in future cases but is simply the judgment in the case at issue.
Despite the case not being used as
precedent in the future, the overall
result was of significance more than
just to Huene.
According to the Nor Cal Insurance Company spokesman, the
chances of a malicious prosecution
case succeeding are extremely small.
"Out of 1,000 malpractice cases filed.
900 are dismissed or settled before
trial," he said. "Out of the remaining
100, 80 are won by tbe doctor. Out of
those 80, perhaps one would give rise
to a malicious prosecution suit. This is
because cases big enough to even go
to trial involve serious enough Injury
that there is almost no chance that
there isn't some reasonable ground to
name the doctor."
Huene, meanwhile, has come out
with enough to satisfy turn. Besides
tbe $45,000 and "an extensive legal
library," he toughs that, "I don't get
any nasty letters from lawyers any
more. They leave me completely
atone."