Naval Jury Gets Case of Surgeon Charged in Deaths of Heart Patients

A military jury began deliberating the fate of Navy Dr. Donal M. Billig on Tuesday after the defense suggested that he was being made a scapegoat in the deaths of five heart patients and the prosecution said that he should never be allowed to operate again.

The panel of nine naval officers--eight captains and a rear admiral--began their deliberations after final arguments by attorneys and 40 minutes of instructions by the judge, Capt. Philip Roberts.

The jury recessed after deliberating for 3 1/2 hours without reaching a verdict and was scheduled to return today.

‘Regrets the Deaths’

“Dr. Billig regrets the deaths of each of these patients,” said his defense attorney, Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Baker. “But the fact a patient dies is not an indictment of the surgeon or the surgical technique.”

The case was presented to the jury after six weeks of testimony in the military court-martial of Billig, the former chief of heart surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

Billig is charged with five counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of patients during or soon after open-heart surgery in 1983 and 1984 at the Navy’s flagship hospital.

Billig also is charged with 24 counts of dereliction of duty in connection with other heart operations conducted in mid-1983, at a time when the government contends that Billig was under instructions to operate only with supervision by another staff surgeon.

Confusion Cited

Baker argued that Billig was innocent in the 24 dereliction counts because there was considerable confusion at the Bethesda hospital about when Billig was cleared to operate on his own.

If convicted on all counts, Billig could be dismissed from the Navy and sentenced to up to 21 years in prison.