his office, which has his medical license number on it. i went home, found out if there were any complaints against him. it was blank. there was no complaints against him. >> reporter: we discovered the doctor had been disciplined for negligence five years earlier. >> i was in pain for a year and a half. >> reporter: according to a malpractice lawsuit, williams settled with dr. heliwell. her surgery left her with a painful hematoma that required surgical repair. williams says that pain drove her to file a complaint about dr. heliwell to the california medical board. >> it's their job to protect us from doctors whoa make mistakes. i'm not saying he is not human. we all make mistakes. but he made a whopping mistake when it came to me. >> reporter: what could have been helpful to williams is knowing another patient had already reported dr. heliwell. >> it's not like i went to a car dealership and went to buy a car. this is my life. >> reporter: six weeks after

delivering her child, emily yost says dr. heliwell told her she needed umbilical hernia surgery, and he could do the procedure in his office, even though emily says it had been scheduled for the hospital. >> knowing what i know now, i would have switched doctors immediately. okay, this is my online complaint summary. >> reporter: yost sent this complaint to the california medical board explaining she had to have an additional surgery to fix the surgery that dr. heliwell performed. >> i never got an email that said hey, we'll look into it. we're sorry that happened. nothing. nothing happened. >> reporter: but cbs news has learned that while the medical board dismissed brandy williams' complaint and never even bothered to contact emily yost, the california medical board had been investigating dr. heliwell the entire time. this 54-page ruling details a laundry list of misconduct by dr. heliwell dating back to 2013, including a sexual relationship with a patient,

administering toxic dosage of lidocaine, and gross negligence in the treatment of four patients. investigators concluded heliwell's care of one patient showed a fundamental lack of knowledge. but in 2018, the california medical board did not revoke dr. heliwell's medical license. instead, they placed him on 42 months' probation, with limits on his practice. since the medical board's ruling, dr. heliwell has been arrested and charged with 32 felony counts for a fraudulent medical billing scheme. his medical license in california remains active. what does a doctor have to do in california to lose his or her license? >> that is a great question. and the answer is i don't know. >> reporter: t.j. watkins currently sits on the california medical board. he is speaking out for the first time. is the california medical board doing its job? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: cbs news found that

since 2015, the medical board received more than 50,000 complaints against doctors, yet they revoked just 201 licenses, less than 1/2 of 1%. do you think the way the medical board functions ends up costing patient lives? >> there is no question that it cost patients' lives. >> reporter: no question? >> no question. >> reporter: dr. heliwell declined an interview. when we reached out with questions, we never heard back. the medical board says it requires it to rehabilitate doctors when possible, and the board tells us it is currently looking into the criminal allegations against dr. heliwell. tomorrow, in part two of our investigation, you will hear more from our exclusive interview with california board member t.j. watkins who says the birthday allows dangerous doctors to keep practicing. jim axelrod, cbs news, new york.

do you struggle with occasional nerve aches in your hands or feet? try nervivenerve relief from the world's #1 selling nerve care company. nervive contains alpha lipoic acid to relieve occasional nerve aches, weakness and discomfort. try nervivenerve relief. it's dry. there's no dry time. makes us wonder why we booked fifteen second ad slots. the ongoing pandemic has affected all of us in one way or another, and this morning we have a personal reflection from one of our colleagues, reporter meg oliver. like many of us, meg's family faced a series of challenges over the past 18 months.

that includes a sense of isolation and 18 months of education online for her kids. now with a new school year, meg says her sense of hope and optimism are renewed. >> i love the first day of school. i love the excitement, the jitters, making my three kids pose for pictures, even if they're rolling their eyes. we do it in the same place every year under this tree. until last year, when the rain kept us on our porch. maybe a sign of what was to come. my kids, like millions across the country turned around and walked back inside. they would spend almost the entire year learning remotely. as a journalist, i brought you into my home the first day of all remote in 2020. >> i've got comer mccormick and here logging into their

onclasses. >> looks like you and john have it under control. it's only 8:20. >> let's hope. >> this picture was from day two. a steady decline followed. my husband and i were both working from home, and we could barely keep up with tech support, school work, and our own jobs. i watched my daughter's mental health take a nosedive. when a caring teacher asked if she was okay, i remembered the tears streaming down my face as i quickly emailed her asking for help. i turned down work assignments that asked me to leave home and quarantine from home. i watched my son's interest and log on to youtube any chance he got, while my youngest complained his eyes hurt and he didn't have the typing skills to keep up with the work. too many times the tears and frustration erupted into yelling. my heart ached for essential workers who left every day for a hospital or a groe, aving their childre a home

toavigate zoom and hopefully remember to log on again after lunch. nationwide, it's estimated up to 3 million children stopped attending school or online classes after pandemic shutdowns last year. across the country, i spoke with many parents and kids expressing helplessness, like jennifer valenzuela, a mother of two from california, who worked three jobs and was going back to school when the pandemic hit. she told me she could barely get out of bed in the morning. >> when school closes down in march, that wasn't distance learning. that was emergency learn. >> reporter: we met alycia and nate olson from dallas. the parents of three children, alycia was forced to quit her job as a bus driver for special needs kids to take care of her own children. her son as adhd, add, and is bipolar. >> it's so hard being a parent right now, because these kids don't understand you can't go outside and play with your >> reporter: aan wariner

>> work never stops. work never stops. >> reporter: an eighth grade teacher and a single mom to her sixth grade son. >> i am everything. i am his support system. i am his lunch lady. i am his teacher. i am his best friend right now. >> i got this. >> reporter: despite all of the struggles, and i know my family, we were one of the lucky ones. it was much worse for so many others. but for my family, the silver lining was spending more time with our kids and focusing on their well-being, even when we felt like we were drowning. this year, most school districts are open five days a week, six hours a day. i'm hopeful this is a new beginning. my kids are excited to meet their teacher, see old friends, make new ones, joke at lunch, and learn. after a long year and a half apart, it's time for students, teacher, administrators, and the community to come together. and most of all, as a parent, i can't wait to take that first

day picture and kiss them goodbye. >> that was our own meg oliver reporting. now to the story of a u.s. marine and gifted artist who devoted the last years of his life so that america's heros would be remembered forever. here is david martin. >> reporter: charles waterhouse dedicated much of his life to the marines, first as a grunt on iwo jima in world war ii, and then as, get this, the coors artist in residence. >> this is one i really have a good time on, because it was a personal friend. his name was mitchell paige, and he won his medal of honor on guadalcanal. he was one tough marine. >> reporter: in his 80s and in failing health, waterhouse set out on his final mission, paint every marine who received the medal of honor, some 450, according to his daughter jane. >> we all knew it was a quixotic

mission. >> what do you think was driving him? >> i know exactly. why did i survive when so many people around me didn't. metaphor for his own struggles. >> it's all a moment of a struggle between life and death. and that's where he was, a man who was struggling with life and death to get this done. >> reporter: waterhouse died at age 89, having completed 220 paintings. >> all the paintings, all were around him. he died with his men. he really did. >> reporter: jane waterhouse has published them complete with a description of each battle. >> every time i wrote a story about one that i felt like i was lighting a candle for them. >> reporter: her personal favorite is captain william hawkins, leading his men ashore at tarowa. >> that's him at the front. >> reporter: until a japanese sniper laid him in his grave. >> and they carried him off the field with his men openly weeping. and as he was dying, surrounded by his marines, he said "i'm

sorry to leave you like this, boys." >> now the hawk lives again, thanks to charles terhou a hiinal

for some, chess is just another board game. for others, it's a teaching tool in the gym of life. here is jamie yuccas. >> it's the most unique piece in the game. >> reporter: for 12-year-old andre, chess is more than just a game. >> i learned a lot of stuff i learned on the chessboard in real life. like think before i move. think before i act out. >> reporter: he is one of thousands of students from some of l.a.'s toughest neighborhoods learning to play. >> i learned to play chess at age 13. it was a pivotal moment in my life. >> reporter: damon fletcher grew up in compton. after going away to college, he came home to find his childhood friends struggling. >> some of them had fallen into the prison system, gang life, drugs. and i just wondered why did have i such a different outcome, and it was chess.

>> very good. >> reporter: he started train of thought to help kids of all ages find their inner king or queen. >> every game of chess is 75 to 100 moves. and every single move that your opponent makes presents a new problem for you to solve. kids are just having fun. they dent realize that they're solving problems. >> the answer is always there. >> reporter: how do you teach a 5-year-old how to play chess? >> we have a really cool story that we use to help kids that age set up a chase board the first time. it goes the king and the queen got married by the bishops. they rode on horses to their castle and had eight children. >> my aim in class is being a scholar. being a scholar to me is being prepared, productive and never giving up. >> that's the best way to play. >> reporter: mastering the game of life early. jamie yuccas, cbs news, compton. >> and that's the "overnight news" for this wednesday. for some of you, the news continues. for others, check back later for "cbs mornings."

reporting from the nation's capital, i'm catherine herridge. good morning. this is cbs news flash. i'm tom hanson in new york. the house of representatives voted to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month and suspend the nation's borrowing limits, something republicans are strongly against. the bill now faces an uphill battle in the senate. government funding is set to expire on september 30th. take a look at this. the moment a 6.0 magnitude earthquake rocked melbourne, australia today. the quake felt as far away as 600 miles away. only minor damage was reported. and willie garson best known as stanford on "sex & the city" has died at 57. garson also what had memorable roles on "white collar clothe" and "hawaii 5-0." his son posted the news to

instagram saying i'm glad you shared you love with me. for more news download the cbs news app on your cell phone or connected tv. i'm tom hanson, cbs news, new it's wednesday, september 22nd, 2021. this is the "cbs morning news." diplomatic drive. president biden convenes a coronavirus summit of world leaders this morning, a day after urging unity in his first u.n. address. his ambitious vaccine goal. breaking overnight, haitians freed. thousands of migrants reportedly released into the u.s. the newest developments amid a mass deportation effort. stars remembered. tributes to two celebrities lost and their mark on the entertainment world. good morning. i'm diane king hall in for anne-marie green. we begin with president biden ho