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Show DAMP DUCK HUNT | Y. LOSES AND U., TOO | Weathering wet for webbed feet B-1 A.L. CHAMPIONSHIP SET New York will face Cleveland C-1 Utahns whackedin conference games C-1 he Salt Lake Cribune tp://www.sitrib.com Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871 Volume 256 Number173 © 1998, The Salt Lake Tribune SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1998 Education topping our non-growth issues of importance Group supports U.S. proposal on emergencycredits for troubled nations Reetontcaisee BYPAUL BLUSTEIN ‘THE WASHINGTON POST Education is second to crime among nongrowth issuesof importance. Global Recession The SoutheastAsian crisis that began more than a year agohasspread to Russia and is now threatening Latin America. A look at the projected annual percent changein theinflation justed WASHINGTON — Amid a deepening financialcrisis that poses one of the gravest threats to the global gross domestic productfor 1998 of some ofthe countries in recession or vulnerable to recession economy since World War Il, top Teacher Quality Education System 1% Parent Responsibilty Romania economic officials from the leading industrial nations met Saturday in Washington and agreedto back recently announced U.S. proposals for new methodsof providing aid to countries vulnerabieto thecrisis. But beyond a broad pledgeof “‘intensified cooperation” to keep the world economy growing, the fi- Most of us think politicians will address the issues. © Country vulnerable to recession pRB Ukraine < sat ‘A—@ nance ministers and central banknations offered little that was new to calm the panic that has gripped financial markets in recent weeks. At the end of a meeting at Blair House that lasted about six hours, Growth 73% Education 42% ime!Log EcanonyyFrance FeriSocket More east-side residents put class size as a top concer. mentto create or sustain conditions | for strong. .growthand financial | stability in each of our economies,” the statementsaid. 16% 20%, 07 ae ; Pt Rural countias SOU" l/>— \ ig The meeting ended a week in which Reus area 1.386 arom selec adits Ulan surveyed Au, 3 rough Aug. 14, 1968 Mangferris 2.7%. Conynft1998 Te Sal Lae Toure Mike Miller, Todd Adams The Salt Leke Tribune, Education Leads Concerns For 15% of Utahns Polled campaigntalk is focusing on improving education, and that is no surprise to Kenneth Brown. “An educated societyis the structure of the whole society,” says Brown, who along with other Utah citizens, participatedin the “People Project.” “We can't have any type of democra- cy, we can’t have any type of political system, we can't have any type of commerciai system unless the people are educated andintelligent enough to do the processes important issue facing Utah, according to a statewide poll con- Utah residents’ main concerns in the “Now I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying,” the 88-year-old Mormon “prophet, seer and revelator’’ cautioned, ‘But I am suggesting that the ime has come to get our houses in or- “It depends on if they are proficient teachers or not,” says Lunt. “There needs to be a way fer der.” themto betested." Lesh Robison says she would pay tore toward teachersalaries, ‘It's got to be very discouraging for them wanting a lifelong goai of teaching and helping someoneto seethe light at the end (gelB 5 "02245 ¥ Hinckley cited economic statistics as grounds for his concern: As of December 1997, up to 60 million U.S. households carried credit card balances averaging more than $7,000, costing $1,000 in an- nualinterest and fees Further, consumer debt as a percent- BY NORMA WAG © 1998, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE The group that provides most Utah physicians with malpractice insurance wants patients to sign away rights to sue if they are injured during treatment — more celebration of the poles mist than a funeral, Page 5-1 Crossword F.2i, 2 Star Gaver .. F20 Lottery...... $2 Weird News .. 42 ticipants had expressed such strong commitments to do what they al agreed was necessary to boost worid economic growth. “Y came out with a very good feeling about the energy around the commit- Rubin also described as ‘a tremen- dous step forward" the G-7’s support for U.S. proposals, announced Friday by President Clinton, to provide countries suffering from withdrawals of capital with new loan guarantees and other emergencycredits from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and InterAmerican Development Bank. ment for each of us to do their part,” James See GROUP,Page A-3 Rubin said at a news conference. "You Leah Hogeten/The Salt Lake Tribune LDS leaders,from left, Thomas S. Monson, GordonB. Hinckley and JamesE. Faust attend the 188th Semiannuai General Conference session Saturday. age of disposable income rose from16.3 percent in 1993 to 19.3 percent in 1996, and as of March 1997, the nation's consumer debt had soared to $1 trillion, the church leadersaid. The 10 million-member Mormonfaith is not immune, despite its traditions for frugality. “So many of our people are living on the very edgeof their incomes. In faet, someare living on borrowings,” Hinckley said His comments came as Wall Street in- creasingly feels the strain of failing mar- ree named to Quorum of Seventy A4 MLDS Conference Centerrising AS Voters reminded about gambling AS kets overseas. “We have witnessed in recent weeks wide and fearsome swingsin the markets of the world, The economy is a fragile thing. A stumbling block in Jakarta or See HINCKLEY, Page A-4 But critics say the arbitration processoffered instead is like ‘the fox guardingthe henhouse’ Services for Alex Joseph were Classified Ads Fi Pues .... F2t CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETALS Insurer Wants Patients to Sign Away Right to Sue UTAH Book Reviews . D6 Obimarios.... BS he was not be- See EDUCATION, Page A-19 Page A-13 Aananders. 53 Movies... D2 AP} couldfeel the energy in the meeting.” settle markets cause the par- gueatiamiieeete tale for our times. AA9 would increase qualiAA? ¢: ry: WEATHER INDEX > New Zealand— further, said Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hinckley called Joseph's biblical warning to Egypt's pharaoh to prepare for a prolonged famine as a cautionary INSIDE SECTIONS Cooler. with showers. f Conference of The Church of Jesus Participants were raising civic participation in the upcoming Nov. 3 elections. The ‘People Project’ identified | indonesia for fiscal wisdom and preparedness. “There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed,” he told Saturday night’s General Priesthood meeting of the 168th Semiannual creasing teachers’ pay cent, andis tied with crime. e Tribune, working in conjunction with KTVX-TV and KUER radio,is exploring the views of Utahnsin hopes of ' @ nomic uncertainties underscorethe need mixed on whetherin- ducted by The Salt L_ Saudi Arabia Hinckley, himself a child of the Great Depression, on Saturday night warned leadersof his faith that increasing eco- discussion. Lake Tribune for the project. Education is second only to growth, 37 per- | BYBOB MIMS list [on scores],” says Gregory Lunt, during a ‘‘People Project” Candidates on education ts Malaysia ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE LDS Church President Gordon B. we are way down the lass-size problem grows ¥ South Atrica ~ | | - World economic uncertainty warrants fiscal preparedness, LDS presidenttells followers p.m Of those who listed education as an education is the most Kuwait 53.04 Brazil | Peru & . | C_-&—Philippines | aoe Thailand ie i Hinckley: Heed ‘Stormy Weather’ important issue facing the state, nine percent said their main concern was with the quality of education Utah's students were receiving. “Fifteen years ago, Utah had the lowest amount spent on each student, and they were No, 1 in the nation in test scores, and now things.” Fifteen percent of Utahns surveyed say Colombia | ed increasing gloom over the spread of the crisis that erupted in Asia more than a year ago. U.S. stock markets were down sharply for the week, and a government report Friday showed large job losses in industries that rely on exports to Asia. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, lack of new action by the G-7 might un- poll, then discussed those issues with citizen panels. Those concernswill be further examinedduring a live, televised public forum Oct. 22 ou KTVX at that create those Venezuela - stock markets around the world reflect- asked whether he was concerned that the Respondentscite crowded classrooms,fears oferoding quality in ranking schooling secondonlyto growth as state’s top issue ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE From the Carolinae to California, | | | the G-7 issued a statement warning thatthe slumpin Asia and other crisis-stricken economies “poses increasing downside risks to economie activity” around the world “We reemphasized our commit- 41% 29% 20% Bnronment PolticstGovt DrugaAcie Heath’Cae EDUCATION-AND LOCATION 1 Russia 6.0) | | | ers from the Group of Seven (G-7) Education ranks second, just above crime, among ourtop concerns. 143 South Main Street(801}237-2800 Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 G-7 Pledges ‘Cooperation’ — : Say About Education Quality of educaticn andclass size top Utahns' ecucation-related concems. = and instead enter into arbitration with the doctors who harmed them. e reconstruction of Interstate 15 throughthe Doctors best serve society when they focus on patients, not lawsuits, says the Salt Lake Valleyis the biggest Utah Medical Insurance Association publie- works project in the state’s history and the largest in the United States now (UMIA), which recently sent letters to 1,800 ofthe state’s 3,500 physicians urg- ing arbitration agreements. And it is best underway.It is a project that tests the mettle and ingenuity to be upfront with patients — get their signatures in the calm ofa doctor'soffice of crews — from workers pouring the concrete to their rather than the anxious moments before they are wheeled into the operating room. supervisors juggling dead- lines. Bhi SUNDAY MAGAZINE, 11 “The experience bas been that patients have been very receptive i arbi- + tration agreements,” says Eiliott Williams, general counsel for the UMIA. “They hate attorneys and they hate law- suits even more.”” Predictably, malpractice attorneys are against the campaign. “It's a dirty trick on patients," says Ralph Dewsaup,formerpresident of the Utah Trial Lawyers Association. “They just don't read these sorts of things.” ‘The UMIA, which has pushed the campaign throughout 1998, even went so far as to explain it would pay printing costs for arbitration agreements and patient information sheets. That would save doctors $148 for 1,000 copies of each form. Arbitration agreements were created bythe Utah Legislature in 1985 as a way to resolve corflicts without going to court. In a Physician-Patient Arbitration Agreement, a panel of three doctors — whopractice in the samespecialty as the BY physician accused of wrongdoing — rules on awards for a person's injury or death. Such arbitration paneis grant the same awards as a jury, including lost wages, emotional distress, loss of companionship and punitive damages. “There's nothing obligatory on the part of anybody in this [arbitration agreement campaign],” says Williams, “Tt’s voluntary for physicians to partici- pate andit’s intended to be voluntaryfor patients as well.” But oncepatients sign the form, they haveonly 14 days to change their minds. And it is binding to all family members, including a patient's spouse, heirs and any children — ‘whether born or unborn at the time of the occurrencegiving rise to any claim.”” . Colin King, presidentof the trial law? See UTAH INSURER, Page A-10 |