this is so off course. nature can surprise you sometimes... next time, you drive. next time, signal your turn. ...that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. hey there, and thanks for joining us. on tap today, how to avoid some shocking medical mistakes. plus, hall of fame baseball manager joe torre opens up about his childhood in an abusive home. first, we've seen a lot of stories over the u.s. troops in battle, recovering, defying medical odds, recovering from

injuries. but what happened to one lance corporal made my jaw drop. how does anyone survive having a rocket-propelled grenade being shot into their body? here's correspondent barbara starr. >> reporter: marine corporal perez know the rocket-propelled grenade was coming right at him. >> all of a sudden, just, i just saw the rpg coming towards me, and it hit me, and you know, i was hit and my boys, they knew exactly what to do and they came down, no hesitation, no nothing, and they picked me up, got me to safety. >> reporter: winder perez had a live, foot-long, rocket-propelled grenade embedded in his left side, but even so, he kept his cool. >> i tried to call in my own medivac, but u couldn't because my radio, the rpg had struck the battery in my radio. >> reporter: plain words from this baseball-loving 23-year-old native of the dominican republic. perez and his fellow marines

knew the rpg could explode at any minute, but they also knew he needed medical help as soon as possible. it would become a journey of courage and even humor by so many. >> we were just joking around while they were tending to me. we were there like it was nothing, you know, just talking. >> reporter: captain kevin duce's helicopter crew immediately took on the mission. >> there was quite a bit of alarm amongst the crew at the time, as you can imagination. >> reporter: perez and that live rocket were just jchs frinches 0 gallons of aviation fuel. when the helo landed, they ordered the staff to stay away. >> i decided i was going to go, because frankly, i'm not going to ask somebody to do what i'm not going to do. it's just not going to happen. >> reporter: look at this video,

gennari in the helmet made a vow to perez. >> i promise i will not leave you until that thing it out of your leg. and he said cool. >> reporter: gennari and an explosives expert struggled to pull the rocket out. remember, it could have exploded at any moment. surgeons say just a few millimeters to the left or right, and the rpg would have cut an artery, perez would be dead. as it is, he's hanging out again with his marine buddies. >> we went out to baseball games, we did stuff buddies do back home, you know. didn't really talk much about when we were over there, just kind of forgot about it and moved on with our lives. hung out, you know, drank a little, just did men stuff. >> reporter: barbara starr, cnn, washington. >> and joining me now from chicago is lieutenant commander james gennari, the u.s. navy nurse responsible for saving perez's life. thanks for joining us. first of all, welcome back home. you know, it's great to see you there, you know, live and back.

i spent a great deal of time, commander, in afghanistan, and i have some idea of what it must have been like, hot sand everywhere, not ideal conditions, dusty desert tents. did you -- so, there's probably a process in your mind, although it's a very unusual situation. i mean, did you know right away you just needed to take this out? was there a consideration, look, can we deactivate this in some way before taking it out? >> well, as i was walking out, i ran into one general surgeon we had, commander andy pelzar. he and i discussed it briefly, and the choices were, two -- one, we would pull it out, see if we could control the bleeding and carry on from there, or two, we would send out the one general surgeon we had with an o.r. tech and a nurse anesthesiologist and see if they'd surgically remove it. it seemed prudent to try plan "a" first, because quite

frankly, one of two things was going to happen. it was either going to come out or it was going to blow up. if it didn't blow up, then we could get it out or at least dislodge it enough that surgical intervention could then be used. but we only had the one surgeon and we had more nurses and myself, so i guess it was a mathematical thing. >> still just an unbelievable story, right from when i heard it. you're back home safe and sound in chicago, as i pointed out. as you've told the story to your family and to your friends, what's been their reaction to it? and let me add this to it, would you do it again if the same sort of situation happened? >> to answer the second question first, yeah, i would do it again. you know, would i -- yeah, i would do it again. and the first question is, is a lot of my family and friends, they call me a hero and all that, but my wife really summed it up. we've been married 25 years, and when i called her on the phone

from afghanistan and told her what had happened about two weeks later, she said, "well, that doesn't surprise me." she pretty much said it that way, too. >> she knows the kind of person you are. >> and it's not -- she does. >> it's amazing that you've been an e.r. nurse, as you told me earlier, just your whole professional life. and i think as an e.r. nurse in the states, of course you're in these types of situations all the time, but not in your own mind, from the life of your staff is also at risk. it's worth pointing that out again, just how incredible a situation this was. it was an actual, live munition in this soldier's body that you removed, potentially at great risk to yourself, so i applaud you, sir, with a lot of respect. thanks for joining us. >> well, thank you, sir. thank you very much. we also got an update now on another big story we've been following, proposition 29. as you may know, it's a proposed $1 tax on every pack of cigarettes in california, estimated to raise about $735 million a year. now, most of the money would go

toward cancer research. opponents spent nearly $50 million, mostly from big tobacco companies, to try and block that tax. the voting on tuesday was extremely close. in fact, in california, they're still counting absentee ballots, and they still don't know the outcome. we'll keep you posted. we've got lots more ahead, including this little boy. he needed an operation, but the surgeons got the wrong spot. we'll share that story. [ kimi ] atti and i had always called oregon home.

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here on the show we talk a lot about medical errors and the fact that they kill anywhere between 100,000 and 250,000 people a year, depending on various studies. that number i think is shocking in and of itself, but some errors, i tell you, are more shocking and preventible than others. my friend and colleague elizabeth cohen has been looking into this for some time, has a special report airing this weekend. we want to talk in a second, but let's look at one part of this to start off with. >> jesse matlock has a wandering right eye. the 3-year-old needs surgery to

have it fixed. he goes in for the operation and the surgeon cuts into the left eye instead of the right. >> my husband and i were in awe. we're like, can you repeat that again? he says, frankly, i loss sense of direction. >> they messed up in the right eye and then in the left eye. >> reporter: surgeons are supposed to initial or mark the correct side, like they did with jesse, but here's one way they can still get confused. >> we place drapes over the entire area to keep it sterile. mistakes can be made very rarely when you have draping that obscures the mark. >> reporter: in the u.s., seven patients every day suffer body part mix-ups. just before surgery, make sure you confirm with the nurse and the surgeon the correct body part and side of your operation, and don't be shy about doing it. >> you know, i'll tell you, elizabeth, just hearing stories like this, we do things in the operating room where i work to try and prevent that from happening. one of them is a time-out, where everyone in the o.r. can say,

look, let's agree, it's a right arm, left arm, right side of the head, left side. first of all, let me just ask, jesse, he had this operation. how is he doing? did it affect his vision in his good eye? >> it did affect his vision. so after the surgery, instead of having one bad eye, he had two bad eyes. and he can see out of them, but his vision is misaligned, and it's become a problem. he has been getting better, but it's still, he doesn't have perfect vision in that eye. >> it sounds like, i mean, the worst possible thing. you have two eyes and you showed in there, it was a good animation, showed how this could happen. seven times a day you say this happens in the united states. i mean, are they like this? are they wrong-sided surgery obviously is a real problem, but how dramatic? >> you know, some might be worse than this and some might be, the outcome might not be quite as bad. and it's hard to sort of judge harm. for example, there was a woman in rhode island who went in for an eye operation and they took out her tonsils by mistake. i know. i'm not making this up.

this really happened. and so, was there harm? i mean, she's perfectly fine without her tonsils, of course, but then they had to go back and do the second surgery on her eyes, so she had an unnecessary surgery. these things actually happen. >> you know, it was interesting to hear jesse's parents, they had a conversation with the surgeon, who sounded like the surgeon said, look, i got mixed up, i got turned around. sounded like they were very transparent and forthright about it. did you look into that? are people forthright? or is there sort of an approach that hospitals typically take? >> in your book, you mention a group called sorry works, and this was started by someone whose father was killed in a medical mistake, and all he wanted was for someone to say he was sorry, and it's shown there are fewer lawsuits when someone does that, so i think it is meaningful to a patient when someone says, look, i made a mistake. i'm human and i made a mistake. i think that's very important for getting closure on things like this. >> you talk a lot about this, and i think it's really good advice. i mean, being an empowered patient means speaking out, means having an advocate with you, especially if you're a child. is there anything else?

people are going to look at this story and say, that's the one thing i never want to happen to me. >> of course. >> what else would you tell them? >> and errs anesthetized. our daughter had hernia surgery. she had a hernia on one side. and we said we want to talk to the surgeon just before the surgery, not the day before, not six hours before, just before he does it. and we said, let's repeat, doctor, which side. it's the right side, right? it's the right side. and we saw her make his mark on her right side. and this took a little bit of doing. the nurses weren't so thrilled. we slowed down the day's schedule by doing it, but we made sure he knew what side. he's the guy holding the knife. we want to make sure he knows. we knew the nurses knew. we wanted to make sure he knew. >> t it's a good protocol and could save a lot of time. >> have you had families do that before surgery? >> absolutely. usually we'll get a chance to visit in the holding room we call it ahead of time, and just sort of go over things again. i wasn't at all -- i mean, i thought it was a good use of time because we all sort of go

over it again and also leavialle last-minute concerns. it's going to be a great documentary. can't wait to watch it. do i get a sneak preview? >> absolutely. >> one of the perks of the job. you have girls and i have three girls. i mention that when we're together, because it's extraordinary, seven girls among us, but what's also extraordinary is we hardly get any sleep. stick around for this. it's a common complaint about how you and your baby can both sleep like babies. of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] ensure high protein... ensure! nutrition in charge! [ female announcer ] the vertical chair-climb. it's not an olympic sport, but it takes real effort and it takes a diaper that fits their every move.

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you know, my next guest says the number one complaint of new parents, lack of sleep. no surprise there. half of parents say they get less than six hours of sleep every night, not enough. and we all know if the baby's not sleeping, chances are you're not either.

dr. harvey kerp is a pediatrician with 30 years experience. his latest book is "the happiest baby guide to great sleep." it goes on sale this tuesday and joins me from los angeles. welcome to the show, dr. kerp. >> thank you, dr. gupta. nice to meet you. >> you, too. you're known for coaching babies to sleep with the five ss. that's your method, which includes swaddling, placing the baby on its side or stomach, but not while sleeping, swinging, sucking and also using shushing sounds. i'm most intrigued by the sound component of this, the white noise as you describe it. why is that so important, dr. kerp? >> well, inside the womb, the sound babies hear is louder than a vacuum cleaner 24/7, and that sound and all of those ss that you talked about actually turn on a calming reflex that's like a relative off switch for crying and on switch for sleep that all babies are born with. >> you know, not all white noise is the same, and i actually have a prop here i want to show

people. this is a little bit what it looks like here. you can hear that probably plenty loud. there's different settings on here. that's surf. but you also have rain, if you can hear that. >> right. >> brook. there's even one that sort of simulates the sound in the womb, little heartbeat. you can hear that. is this what you're talking about? is this the right stuff, so to speak? >> when you think about what a baby hears in the womb, they're in water and water filters out high pitch. so they don't hear so much of a swoosh as much as they hear a rrmm, rmm nk, more low pitch. when you think about calming a baby, when they're crying, you go, shhh, but as they calm, you go shh, you naturally lower your voice. >> that's interesting. you're absolutely right. i have three young children, as you may know, and you just described that perfectly. but my children are about to be 7, 5 and 3. your new book also helps older

children get to sleep. my youngest child is having the most difficulty. what do you tell a child when they become a toddler who doesn't like to go to bed? >> well, for one thing, you're not alone, i'll tell you that. baby center and i just did a survey of over 1,000 moms and we found a third of the families were struggling with their kids' sleep over a year of age with defiance at bedtime, like you're saying, or waking up in the middle of the night. and so, of course, you can use white noise for those kids as well. that helps them not wake up or not bother you in the middle of the night. they'll sleep through better. but i like to start bedtime, believe it or not, after breakfast. think about it that way, that you want to encourage them to go out and get exercise and fresh air and, of course, eat well and avoid caffeinated foods, things like iced tea and cola and even chocolate can disturb a child's sleep. and then at nighttime, start some white noise in the background about an hour before

bedtime and start to dim the lights a little bit. that gives a cue to the brain to start releasing melatonin, which as you know is the brain's natural sleep hormone. >> the hormone of darkness, as it's called, melatonin. doctor, thank you. i've been wanting to speak with you for a long time. >> thank you. >> a lot of people will get a lot out of this. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. i look forward to the next time. >> you may not know this at home, but the lack of sleep for parents is linked to higher rates of shaken baby syndrome. it's a terrible consequence, also a form of child abuse. baseball hall of famer joe torre grew up in a violent home and he'll share his story good morning! wow.

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it is a hard number to meteorologist, but some 3 million children suffer domestic viance every year. among them was a kid from brooklyn who went on to become the famous joe torre. joe torre, he's one of the most successful baseball managers in the past 40 years. >> i can't tell what you the emotions are. they're just running all into each other, and i can't tell you how happy i am. >> just as he was reaching the pinnacle of his career, winning four world series titles in five years, he began opening up about his childhood and growing up with an abusive father. >> my older sister, rae, came from the kitchen into the dining room and she had a knife protecting my mom and my dad was going into the drawer in the dining room to get his revolver, and i did witness that, and i

still remember vividly going over to my sister and grabbing the knife and putting it on the table. >> for young torre, who grew up to be an all-star player and is expected to be inducted into the hall of fame, baseball became his sanctuary. >> i had low self esteem. i had an opportunity to go some place to hide. >> and today he's giving back by providing a real sanctuary for other abused children. >> the perpetrator, we do them favors when we don't talk about things like this, and awareness is so important in this, and letting people know it's okay to talk about this. >> torre and his wife started the safe at home foundation which funds dedicated spaces inside schools where kids can speak openly and get counseling about domestic violence. >> they don't have advocates for them and we're trying to be those advocates. >> torre names each site

margaret's place in honor of his mother who was physically abused by his father. >> when i step foo foot in margaret's place, it was like i got the chance to be who i was on the inside without wearing this mask that i portray to everybody that i was okay because my home life wasn't good. i felt like i couldn't trust anybody and here i really got the support that i needed. >> youngsters are strong. they bounce back a lot, but i don't think they realize that it hurts them, you know, and they hurt. and i think it's -- i get choked up when i start talking about that. >> now retired from managing teams, torre is still in the game overseeing operations for major league baseball and also giving his time to end violence. we're "chasing life" today, growing a garden.

there was a planned giveaway in los angeles. the goal is 100 million gardens around the world. comedian richard lewis showed up. his wife is one of the organizers. >> all i do is eat vegetables now. my wife is into this -- god forbid there's a chocolate sundae in the refrigerator. >> truth of the matter is growing your own garden can guarantee lots of things. for example, you can avoid pesticides. some home-grown produce has more nutrients than food from factory farms, and one side benefit, one i love, is that working outside can simply be great exercise for you and your family. in fact, i brought my own family to help plant our cnn garden. that was about a month ago. take a look at how it's doing. look at all that food. we're going to be sharing it with the atlanta food bank. also before we go today, i have got a message for my little friend, my buddy max page as he heads into his eighth operation this week. he's just 7 1/2 years