Kentucky: Woman claims doctor branded uterus with ‘UK’

A woman is accusing her doctor of branding her uterus with his alma mater’s initials before removing the organ during a hysterectomy.

Stephanie Means and her husband sued Dr. James Guiler on Wednesday, seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress.

The lawsuit said a videotape of the surgery clearly showed the University of Kentucky booster using a cauterizing tool to write “UK” in letters 2 inches high.

“They want to see that it isn’t done to other women,” said the couple’s attorney, Michael Dean. He added: “This is bizarre. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

The doctor performed the surgery Aug. 14 at Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington.

Guiler received his medical degree from the university and last year was a sponsor of Wildcat Madness, a fund-raiser for the school’s basketball museum.

Minnesota: Teens die after car plunges into icy lake

A 17-year-old girl escaped from a car that had plunged through an open patch on an icy lake and dragged herself 150 yards before dying close to shore, authorities said. Her 16-year-old boyfriend also died.

Both had told their parents Tuesday night they were going to a popular gathering spot for teens near Deephaven on icy Lake Minnetonka.

The bodies of Evan Wilson and Jacqueline Hannah Fricke were found Wednesday.

Investigators believe Fricke could have been lying in the open for up to 12 hours. Her tracks indicate she walked for about 100 yards, then crawled another 50 yards. Her body was found curled up with her arms wrapped around her shoulders. Her shoes and a jacket were found in the water.

The couple told their parents early Tuesday night that they were going out driving on the lake. Fricke’s father reported her missing after they didn’t return home by 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Hennepin County sheriff’s Capt. Bill Chandler said the couple’s vehicle may have skidded into the water, judging by the tire tracks.

Washington, D.C.: Bush’s Medicare plan raises concerns

Although he won’t officially roll it out until Tuesday, President Bush’s ambitious proposal to offer senior citizens subsidized prescription drugs is already drawing heavy fire from within his own party and from Democrats.

The proposal, which administration officials say is still being fine-tuned for the president’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, would provide prescription drug benefits only to seniors who leave the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program and enroll with private health insurers.

Republican strategists inside and outside Congress, conferring by phone Friday, worried that the plan was a political land mine that could hurt Republicans in the 2004 election, because while a new prescription-drug subsidy is widely popular, changing the basic structure of Medicare is not.

Advocates of the plan think Medicare’s financial footing would improve by luring the elderly to privately run plans.