Bahrain doctors on trial, allege torture to get confessions

A shot from February shows doctors and nurses holding a banner while marching from the Salmaniya Medical Complex, now at the center of court proceedings in Bahrain.NEW: The doctors appear stressed and anxious in courtNEW: The judge denies a request to free the defendants during the trialDozens of doctors and nurses are accused of taking control of a hospital and holding prisonersThe judge agrees to have civilian doctors examine the defendants

Manama, Bahrain (CNN) -- Dozens of doctors and nurses went on trial Monday in Bahrain, accused of taking control of a hospital during anti-government protests, storing weapons and keeping people prisoner.

The doctors, their lawyers and international human rights activists say the defendants were tortured to extract confessions against a background of demonstrations in the kingdom.

Eleven male doctors appeared in court Monday, their heads shaven, alongside at least five female doctors. They appeared stressed and anxious.

One of the doctors tried to tell the judge that his confession had been extracted under torture, but the judge told him to stop and that he would be able to give evidence later in the trial.

About half the courtroom was packed with family members. Human rights observers were in the court.

Defense lawyers asked for civilian doctors to examine their clients, who have only been seen by military medical staff to date.

The judge agreed, and adjourned until next week after a brief hearing.

The judge denied a request from some defense lawyers that the doctors be released while the trial is ongoing.

Many of the defendants -- 24 doctors and 23 nurses and paramedics -- worked at Salmaniya Medical Complex, which the government says served as a coordination point for protests against the government earlier this year.

Prosecutors alleged Monday that automatic weapons and ammunition were discovered in the hospital, that the defendants "hijacked" the hospital building and controlled it, that they protested and used violence in a government building (the hospital), and that they kidnapped the people in the hospital and kept them prisoner inside.

Government official Abdul-Aziz bin Mubarak al-Khalifa raised the country's sectarian divide, accusing the doctors of refusing to treat Sunnis and ethnic Indians.

Most Bahrains are Shiite, but the ruling elite are Sunni.

"We expect doctors to observe their oath and treat all people, regardless of sect, equally," al-Khalifa said in comments to CNN the day before the hearing.

Activists and human rights groups allege that the medical workers are being prosecuted for treating protesters.

We found doctors were simply providing ethical and life-saving medical care to patients whom Bahraini security forces had shot, detained and tortured
--Richard Sollom, Physicians for Human Rights

Protests swept the strategically important island kingdom this year as populations across the Arab world rose up against their rulers. The small, predominantly Shiite country, governed by a Sunni royal family, is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

About 30 people have died during protests, according to figures from the government, opposition figures and human rights groups. Opposition and human rights groups say the government has detained more than 1,000 people.

During the protests, security forces stormed the Salmaniya Complex, the main hospital in the capital Manama, and beat doctors and demonstrators, according to witnesses.

The hospital "was used as a coordination center by protesters and had been overrun by political and sectarian activity, severely interrupting services and endangering lives," said Houda Noono, Bahrain's ambassador to the United States.

"During this period, patients were refused treatment on the basis of their sect or ethnicity, and emergency calls were neglected," she said. "The hospital grounds were barricaded and Salmaniya was very clearly no longer a neutral, medical establishment. As a result, the action to secure the hospital was both unavoidable and necessary."

Human rights groups have accused the government of widespread attacks on doctors and other medical workers.

"We documented a systematic attack on medical staff in Bahrain including the beatings, torture and disappearances of more than 30 physicians," said Richard Sollom, deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights.

"We found doctors were simply providing ethical and life-saving medical care to patients whom Bahraini security forces had shot, detained and tortured," Sollom said.

Physicians for Human Rights, a group that shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to ban landmines, says it sent investigators to the Persian Gulf kingdom and interviewed 45 patients, doctors, nurses and witnesses.

The report details attacks on "physicians, medical staff, patients and unarmed civilians with the use of bird shot, physical beatings, rubber bullets, tear gas and unidentified chemical agents," the group said in an April report.

Its report echoes those released earlier by Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders.

Bahraini officials have denied the allegations.

CNN's Jenifer Fenton contributed to this report.

CNN

Doctors to discuss next step in Giffords' recovery

(CNN) -- U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is recovering "really, really well" from surgery that implanted a synthetic bone and a shunt in her skull, her doctors said Thursday.

The Arizona Democrat told her neurosurgeon that she was extremely excited to have crossed a key milestone in her recovery, which her doctors called "almost miraculous" considering she was shot point-blank in the head in January.

"The shunt is in good position, the implant is in good position and everything looks great," said Dr. Dong Kim, who performed the 3 1/2 hour-surgery to replace the part of her skull bone that was shattered and contaminated.

"She looks great," he said. "I started calling her 'Gorgeous Gaby' today."

The shunt is expected to help Giffords improve but, Kim said, it was impossible to predict exactly how much progress she was going to make.

The Arizona Democrat was shot outside a Tucson, Arizona, supermarket where she was meeting with constituents in January. Six people -- including a federal judge -- were killed and 13 others were wounded in the attack.

Jared Lee Loughner stands accused in the shooting.

Surgeons in Arizona had cut a hole in Giffords' skull to give her brain space to temporarily swell. The congresswoman was later transported to Houston for further treatment and rehabilitation.

Her skull could be repaired only after the swelling had subsided. Kim implanted a piece of synthetic bone specially made for the congresswoman.

"It really is a significant step. More than just getting the bone back, it is a marker for where we are" in Giffords' recovery, Kim said.

Like many other patients with gunshot wounds to the head, Giffords has hydrocephalus, or a build-up of fluid in the brain.

Kim said an internal drain, called a shunt, was inserted into Giffords' cranial cavity to carry excess fluids from the brain to the abdominal cavity. Giffords will have to wear the shunt forever.

Dr. Girard Francisco, who is in charge of Giffords' rehabilitation, said that the congresswoman will undergo bedside rehab for at least the next two days before returning to the in-patient program at the TIRR Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Center in Houston.

Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, the commander of the space shuttle Endeavor, has been getting updates from conversations with family.

"Everything went as planned," he told PBS Thursday from the International Space Station. "Her neurosurgeons are very happy and she's recuperating and she's actually getting back to therapy today so it went really, really well."

Monday, Giffords watched and cheered as the Endeavour took off on its final voyage from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen contributed to this report.

CNN

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Doctors, lawyers, dentists tops in fed jobs that pay $180K-plus

As Congress eyes the federal payroll for budget cuts, do you know who the nation's highest-paid federal workers are?

The U.S. Capitol.

By Cliff Owen, AP file

The U.S. Capitol.

Department of Veterans Affairs doctors, Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers and National Institutes of Health physicians represent the most numerous groups among at least 17,828 federal employees whose annualized salaries totaled $180,000 or more in September 2010.

The high-salaried occupations emerged from a USA TODAY analysis of Office of Personnel Management federal workforce data that also found:

•While the highest-salary earners accounted for less than 1% of the 2.1 million federal workers in the data, their ranks soared from the 805 with annualized salaries of $180,000 or more in 2005. Nearly 90% held "excepted service" jobs, meaning they worked at agencies that set their own qualification requirements and aren't subject to the appointment, pay and classification regulations that apply to other civil service posts.

•Doctors held roughly eight out of 10 of the top-salaried jobs. Attorneys accounted for nearly 6%, followed by dentists, with almost 3%, and financial institution examiners, with nearly 2%.

•Nearly two out of three were men. Almost nine out of 10 were 40 or older. And more than half had at least 10 years of federal service.

•California, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New York and Texas had both the highest numbers of the high-salary jobs and the highest number of all federal posts.

The highly skilled, top-salaried jobs identified by the analysis highlight the thorny decisions Congress will face as lawmakers, sharply divided along ideological lines, seek cost savings through federal payroll cuts. The critical nature of many of the health care posts also suggests a need for cost-cutters to evaluate the services performed by specific occupations during any downsizing process.

"If you start trying to do some kind of across-the-board cut, or a rollback of high-salaried people, it's going to have a disproportionate impact," said John Palguta, vice president for policy at the Partnership for Public Service, a non-profit that encourages younger workers to join government service. He added that the impact would hit some agencies where there's a "consensus that these are parts of government we want to work very well."

James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation, a think tank that promotes conservative public policies, said many of the high-paid federal jobs are not overpaid ? and may be underpaid ? in comparison with the private sector. Still, Sherk said that's not true of the overall federal workforce, so all federal jobs should be carefully evaluated.

"If the private sector has to cut back because we're in tough times, the government should cut back, too," said Sherk, a senior policy analyst in labor economics.

That's exactly what Congress is considering. In the wake of a White House fiscal commission that recommended dramatic cuts, the GOP-controlled House this month approved a 2012 budget plan aimed at cutting federal spending by $5.8 trillion over the next 10 years.

Proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the plan would make deep cuts in discretionary spending programs and transform Medicare from a direct government payment system to a program in which seniors would get vouchers to pay part of the cost of private health insurance. The plan also aims for a 10% cut in the federal workforce by 2014 by allowing the government to hire only one employee for every three who retire.

Ryan's plan has virtually no chance of winning approval in the Democrat-controlled Senate. But his proposal framed the budget debate, as President Obama subsequently offered a plan that the White House said would cut $4 trillion in debt over 12 years by mixing spending cuts and tax increases.

Against that backdrop, USA TODAY analyzed the highest-paid federal workers in Office of Personnel Management employment data, based on its Central Personnel Data File, the most authoritative database of federal executive-branch employees. The data include annualized salary levels and other information for federal workers in September 2010, the end of the last fiscal year. The data don't cover the White House, the federal judiciary, most employees of the legislative branch, federal contractors or some agencies, such as the CIA and National Security Agency.

The Veterans Health Administration topped the list of high-paying jobs. The data showed 12,708 doctors had annualized salaries of $180,000 or more. The agency said its job count was 99 positions less than the Office of Personnel Management's data. The jobs ranged from direct-care physicians to doctor-administrators and chiefs of surgery and other medical departments.

The agency also had 425 dentists in the top-salaried category, the federal data showed.

The VHA operates 152 medical centers nationwide, plus more than 900 outpatient clinics, as it provides care to veterans who served from World War II to those who served during the current struggles in Iraq and Afghanistan. There has been a 39% increase in veterans with service-connected disabilities since 1990, according to a December report by the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics. Annual outpatient visits to VHA facilities jumped from roughly 50 million in 2003 to more than 70 million last year, the report showed.

"I don't believe that's a particularly unrealistic staffing level," Marisa Palkuti, director of the VHA's health care retention and recruitment office, said of the agency's high-salaried employees. "We are in the ballpark, if not lower than the private sector" in terms of medical salaries.

Paul Light ? a New York University professor of government and federal civil service expert who has advocated analyzing federal vacancies and filling positions based on necessity ? said Congress is unlikely to apply such a test to VHA medical positions.

"The veterans' lobby is very powerful. They would not allow that winnowing at the top. They just would not," said Light, who stressed that he did not question the care provided by VA doctors.

Paying well for talent

But Light said he was surprised the federal data showed that 598 SEC lawyers ranked second among the largest employee groups with the top annualized salaries.

The financial industry regulator, widely criticized for its failure to detect and stop Ponzi scheme architect Bernard Madoff, "hasn't been doing its job very well, and yet its lawyers come out on top. That's a shock, don't you think?" said Light. Given the national concern with fighting crime, he questioned why federal prosecutors didn't top SEC lawyers in numbers of highest-salaried attorneys.

The SEC said it must pay top salaries to attract the best legal talent from the private sector and remain competitive with other financial regulators.

The highest-salaried attorneys would earn even more if they worked in the private sector, the SEC said. The lawyers help investigate suspected financial scams, pursuing federal civil court actions to shut down and penalize pyramid scheme operators such as Madoff and others who prey on unwary investors. Less than one-third of SEC lawyers earn $180,000 or more, the federal data show.

In February, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said her agency, largely funded by fees levied on securities registrations and filings, doesn't have enough money to police properly the financial industry's increasing use of complex new trading strategies and new technologies. Added to that mission, the SEC is expected to draft and oversee dozens of new regulations required under a sweeping financial reform law.

"It is a strain that is already having an impact on our core mission, separate and apart from the new responsibilities that Congress gave us to regulate derivatives, hedge fund advisers and credit-rating agencies," Schapiro said during a February news conference. Testifying before a House subcommittee in March, Schapiro also stressed that the SEC and its attorneys already oversee 35,000 entities, including 11,800 investment advisers, 7,500 mutual funds, and more than 5,000 broker-dealers.

Additionally, the SEC over the last two years launched training, reorganization and hiring initiatives aimed at strengthening its financial oversight. House Republicans have opposed a budget increase for the agency amid their effort to close the nation's budget deficit.

The National Institutes of Health, the nation's medical-research agency, had 579 doctors with annualized salaries of $180,000 or more, the data show. The agency said it has to pay competitive salaries to attract and retain top medical researchers to carry on the mission of finding the cause, prevention and cure of diseases.

The NIH also researches human growth and development; biological effects of environmental contaminants; and mental, addictive and physical disorders.

Other agencies, such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Comptroller of the Currency, had hundreds of attorneys, administrators or financial examiners in the top-salaried category. But those employees were paid not by taxpayer funds but by assessments on the banks and financial institutions the agencies oversee.

Trimming such positions "really wouldn't save the government any money," said Kevin Mukri, a Comptroller of the Currency spokesman.

Setting priorities

But experts who have studied the federal workforce said the ongoing effort to trim the federal budget should include a careful, need-based assessment of all jobs, including those with the highest salaries.

"It's not a question of the size, whether government should be bigger or smaller," Palguta said. "It's really a question of making sure that once we have a consensus on what we want government to do, making sure it can do it well. The only way to do that ? is you've got to take it program by program, function by function, agency by agency."

Sherk suggested that the place to focus cost-cutting analysis is "the middle skill level," where he said federal employees often earn more than private sector counterparts. "You can find secretaries making $80,000 a year," he said. "When you're paying for mid-level skill sets, you're paying premium pay for not-premium work." He added, "Basically, the government isn't subject to market forces" and added that federal job expansion "keeps going and going and going, like the Energizer Bunny."

Some of that expansion is difficult to quantify, Light said, because it involves federal contract and grant jobs. They're not included in the federal workforce database. However, Light estimated in 2005 there were more than 10.5 million of those workers ? more than twice as many as in all three federal government branches combined. The total may be slightly lower now, he estimated.

"Now we have a pyramid, with fewer people in jobs at the bottom," he said. "But the bottom of the pyramid didn't disappear ? it got outsourced to contractors."

Suggesting a reversal of the hiring limit outlined in the House GOP budget plan, Light said: "Let's harvest jobs at the top of government and see whether we still need them. And then, let's do a reverse ratio at the bottom, where the services are really delivered."

Colleen Kelley, head of the National Treasury Employees Union, said the highest-paid workers are a national asset because many run large agencies and departments. "Virtually all of them could earn substantially more by leaving government service," said Kelley. "That they do not is to the enormous benefit of the public and the country."

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Doctors hoping injured Giants fan's condition improves soon

San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow was attacked as he left the parking lot of the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 31. STORY HIGHLIGHTSCardinal Roger Mahony visits Bryan Stow, 42, to pray for the injured father of twoDoctors want to gradually reduce the sedation keeping him in a medically induced comaStow, a paramedic, was attacked after a baseball game at Dodger Stadium on March 31Police have gotten many tips, and money has poured into funds to help with medical billsRELATED TOPICSCriminal AssaultSan Francisco GiantsLos Angeles DodgersMajor League BaseballCardinal Roger Mahony Los Angeles (CNN) -- Cardinal Roger Mahony visited Bryan Stow Tuesday to pray for the 42-year-old, who remains in a medically induced coma nearly two weeks after he was attacked after a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, a hospital spokeswoman said.

"His condition remains critical and doctors are hoping Bryan's condition improves over the next 24 hours," said hospital spokeswoman Rosa Saca, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center

Relatives of the Giants fan launched a website -- www.support4bryanstow.com -- in part to provide daily updates on his condition. Stow's sister, Bonnie Stow, told CNN that one priority of the neurosurgeons is keeping him sedated to prevent seizures and swelling in the brain.

In a recent Web posting, she wrote: "The doctors want to limit visitors, noise and physical contact with Bryan. They're wanting to keep his brain calm and just ... quiet ... to see how that works. ... That way the neurologists can get a better reading of brain activity. Fever down."

Bonnie Stow said her brother's seizures have subsided, and over the next 24 to 48 hours doctors want to gradually reduce the sedation he is under and, hopefully, bring him out of the medically induced coma.

"We can't wait for Bryan to wake up so he can see for himself just how much people love him, whether they are family, friends or strangers."

Since the unprovoked attack after the March 31 game at Dodger Stadium, money has poured in from numerous donors and fundraising events to help pay for medical costs and provide support for his two young children. Bonnie Stow said the website also identifies fundraising activity endorsed by Stow's family.

L.A. officials ask two suspects to surrender

"We are trying to post only legitimate fundraisers that we can confirm because unfortunately there are those trying to take advantage of this tragic situation," said Bonnie in a posting.

At a dual fundraiser Monday at Dodger Stadium and AT&T Park in San Francisco, where the Giants and Dodgers played Monday, more than $120,000 was raised, said American Medical Response spokesman Jason Sorrick. More than $200,000 has been raised for Stow, who works for AMR.

Meanwhile, investigators continued their search for the two suspected assailants, who fled after the beating in a light-colored, four-door car driven by a woman with a young boy inside, authorities said. Since the release of composite sketches, police have investigated more than 100 clues based on calls and tips, said Los Angeles Police Detective PJ Morris.

About 100 witnesses saw Stow attacked as he left the stadium parking lot, and Morris said some of them have provided useful information. Officials are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to arrests and convictions.

"Whether it's the reward money or a Good Samaritan who wants to help solve a horrific crime, there has been a tremendous outpouring of calls from people who might have useful information," Morris said.

Morris said detectives have compiled and presented photographic lineups of possible suspects to witnesses in the Los Angeles area but no one has identified Stow's attackers. Another team of detectives has been showing the photos to witnesses in the Bay Area.

"Every call and tip is helpful in some capacity, even if it eliminates someone who may resemble the composite sketches," Morris said. "There is no forensic evidence in this case, therefore that person who comes forward is most likely how we're going to solve this thing."

LAPD officials released a tip line for anyone with information: 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

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Girls hit puberty earlier than ever, and doctors aren't sure why

By Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

"It's a lot of stress": Cheyenne Sturm, 12, with her parents, Rory and Beth of Chesterfield Court House, Va.

EnlargeCloseBy Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

"It's a lot of stress": Cheyenne Sturm, 12, with her parents, Rory and Beth of Chesterfield Court House, Va.

SAVING CHILDHOOD: Keeping her a kid as long as possibleBOYS, TOO: Chemicals affect male developmentGALLERY: Upload your childhood photos and share your storyJOIN THE EXPERTS: Discuss early puberty, 2 p.m. ET"All of our friends told us to cherish every moment," Claudia says. "When I started planning her first birthday party, I remember crying and wondering where the time had gone."

Even so, Laila's parents never expected their baby to hit puberty at age 6.

They first noticed something different when Laila was 3, and she began to produce the sort of body odor normally associated with adults. Three years later, she grew pubic hair. By age 7, Laila was developing breasts.

Without medical treatment, doctors warned, Laila could begin menstruating by age 8

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