The Nation - News from Feb. 20, 1986

Navy doctor Donal M. Billig angrily defended himself against five manslaughter charges, snapping at a prosecuting attorney as he repeatedly denied that he mishandled heart surgery and tried to conceal his background from the Navy. Billig, the former head of heart surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital, finished a long and rigorous cross-examination in a military court martial in Washington in which he acknowledged he did not reveal prior use of marijuana and amphetamines upon entering the military. Billig was combative and expressed irritation at questions.