Peace Laureates Rush to Aid : 2 Doctors Are in the House as Journalist Collapses

The American and Soviet winners of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize administered first aid today to a Soviet journalist who suffered a heart attack during a news conference, probably saving the man’s life.

Lev Novikov, a gray-haired Soviet television reporter in his 60s, slumped to the floor as reporters were questioning Dr. Yevgeny Chazov of the Soviet Union about the controversy that has arisen over his receiving the award.

Chazov and his colleague, Dr. Bernard Lown, 64, of Cambridge, Mass.--both of them heart specialists--tore off their jackets and rushed to his side. The two co-chairmen of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War will receive the Nobel Peace Prize Tuesday.

Thought He Was Dead

Chazov, 56, shouted, “Emergency, emergency,” and called for an ambulance. He pronounced Novikov dead at the scene.

But Dr. Erik Myhre of the Rikshospitalet, where Novikov was taken, said he survived and was in stable condition.

“Luckily, skilled people were present and the speedy help probably saved his life,” he said. “His condition is now stable but it is too early to say if he will make it or if he will suffer permanent damage.”

Unaware that Novikov had survived, Lown told reporters with tears in his eyes and a cracked voice: “When a crisis comes, Soviets and Americans cooperate. We do not care if it is a Russian or an American.”

Novikov was stricken amid a hail of questions by Western reporters on the controversial choice of Chazov, a member of the Communist Party Central Committee, as co-recipient of the prize.

The IPPNW was formed five years ago by Soviet and American doctors to publicize the dangers of nuclear war. Critics charge that the organization favors Soviet policy.

A campaign has been launched in the West urging the Nobel Committee not to give the prize to Chazov, who dodged questions at the news conference on his signing a letter in 1973 denouncing Soviet dissident Andrei D. Sakharov, who himself won the Peace Prize in 1975.

“I did not expect questions addressed to me to start with this topic,” Chazov said.

Appeal on Arms Race

Earlier at the news conference, Lown made a passionate appeal for an end to the nuclear arms race.

“If there were a nuclear holocaust, nobody would be able to distinguish the ashes of capitalism from the ashes of communism afterwards,” he said.

Asked about his reaction to reports that U.S. Ambassador Robert D. Stuart will be absent from Tuesday’s ceremony, Lown said, “If this is a deliberate act, which I doubt, then his absence is in contravention of the spirit of the Geneva summit.”

West German authorities also announced their ambassador will be absent from the ceremony. Both countries will be represented by their charges d’affaires.