coming up on our t.v. fight against the n.s.a. hits the nation's court system in d.c. a u.s. district court judge hears a case on the n.s.a.'s collection of phone metadata and its prism program for in that case and others just ahead. then during the weekend in the nation's capital activists gathered for a summit on drones the summit pokus on the global consequences of the u.s. drone program and even included victims of drone strikes that's coming up later. a new research shows that every year thousands of americans going to hospitals wind up victims of a medical mistake that cost them their lives an in-depth look at some of those victims later in the show.

it's monday november eighteenth eight pm in washington d.c. on same sex and you're watching r.t. and we begin here in washington d.c. at the d.c. district courthouse where a judge heard oral arguments today and the case to put an end to some of the n.s.a. spying activities of the two issues at hand today where the and he says bulk telephone metadata collection which we know targets millions of americans as well as the mrs collection of americans internet data under the prism program both programs were revealed by edward snowden the u.s. district court judge richard leon some in department of justice lawyers to defend those programs against larry klayman a lawyer for the conservative group freedom watch he's filed two lawsuits against the n.s.a. and is asking for a broad preliminary injunction to put an end to those programs immediately and this appears to be a case that judge leon is very much interested in hearing back in october as government lawyers push for delay. these judge leon lashed out saying i don't want

to hear anything about vacations weddings days off forget about it this is a case at the pinnacle of public national interest pinacle all hands twenty four seven no excuses the part of justice the n.s.a. and the allied government agencies that have an interest in this have had four months to think through its position that a lot of time. an interesting note about judge leon in two thousand and eight he ordered the release of five algerians detained at guantanamo bay citing the government had no evidence proving they were terrorists and one of the issues in this case beyond the constitutionality of the spy programs is whether or not the d.c. district court has the authority to overrule the opinions of the top secret buys a court which has already signed off on these surveillance programs the a.c.l.u. is also challenging the pfizer court's decisions on these programs particularly the phone metadata collection program on thursday this week a district court judge in new york will hear arguments from the a.c.l.u.

directly targeting the n.s.a. surveillance of millions of horizon phone users again as revealed by edward snowden's leaks while the n.s.a. warriors up in district courts this week. he received a free pass from the highest court in the land today the supreme court denied a case brought by the electronic privacy information center epic that also challenge the n.s.a.'s collection of arisan phone records it would have been the first major n.s.a. challenge to be heard by the supreme court court cases aside there's another form of backlash the n.s.a. is dealing with since its secrets were dragged into the sunlight the agency says it's seen an enormous surge in open records requests coming from americans who want to know exactly what the n.s.a. has on them staff at the n.s.a. freedom of information act and privacy act office are overwhelmed by an eight hundred eighty eight percent increase in open records requests since the edward snowden revelations the americans who have contacted the agency information have

all received the same form letter informing them that the n.s.a. cannot confirm or deny whether or not their subject of surveillance and moving on to the n.s.a. isn't the only agency fighting against transparency in the courts so too is the department of homeland security last week a federal court here in washington d.c. ordered the department of homeland security to disclose details about the internet kill switch we're talking about here is what's known as standard operating procedure three o three which is the part of homeland security's ability to shut down the entire communications networks basically preventing people in the area from using their phones or internet d.h.s.s. says the procedure is necessary in times of crisis to prevent detonation of a remote controlled explosive the procedure was approved in two thousand and six but no one really knows under what pretext d.h.s.s. actually allowed to flick the internet kill switch and some pair could be abused during a protest against police brutality in san francisco in two thousand and eleven bay

area rapid transit officials disrupted activists plans by turning off the internet and cell service for three hours at four different transit stations. following this the electronic privacy information center filed a freedom of information act request for department of homeland security to hand over its plans to activate the internet kill switch to determine whether or not the procedure violates free speech rights and public safety and d.h. has previously argued handing over such information could hinder law enforcement technique techniques and prosecutions but that argument was tossed out last by last week's federal court ruling though the core did leave the government some wiggle room for an appeal noting the court is not unaware of the potential adverse use to which this information could be put its ruling furthermore is no judgment on whether it is in the national interest for s o p three o three to be disclosed if in fact the government believes release will cause significant harm it has other options to pursue the h.s.

has thirty days to hand over information or file an appeal over the weekend a number of organizations came together here in washington d.c. to host a drone summit focused on the global use of drones and its consequences as well as resistance movements against drone warfare the event brought together families of victims of drone attacks human rights advocates and artists artie's a marriage david was there there's a report. anti drone activists from across the country poured into washington d.c. this weekend for a three day call to action where. it started on friday with dozens of demonstrators marching from the white house to the headquarters of drone manufacturer general atomics but that march would only be the precursor to a two day drone summit taking an in-depth look at the u.s. as controversial drone warfare program one many say stands in direct violation of

international law it's illegal because under the united nations charter which is a treaty the united states has ratified and therefore part of u.s. law you cannot use military force against anyone unless you have been attacked by that country and this is not done in self-defense and therefore it's illegal under the obama administration the drone campaign has drastically expanded yet officials have done very little to explain the legality of the practice but to quell a growing dissent from the public this may president obama disclosed the guidelines he said his administration followed when planning and executing strikes before any strike is taken there must be near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured the highest standard we can set however a recent report put out by human rights watch showed that many drone strikes were not at hearing to those policies in fact when it comes to yemen the report showed

that between two thousand and nine and two thousand and thirteen eighty two people were killed with at least fifty seven of them being civilians and those victims included innocent women and children we got there and we saw those loved ones who. last night what dancing with us and joy of the wedding being cut to pieces by these missiles it's that reality and drone advocates say has. dated a climate of fear and begun to terrorize local communities they hear the buzzing constantly overhead they're always living in fear that a drone strike is going to happen they don't know when where and who will be hit and this they say has created a new problem for the united states and that instead of eliminating enemies through drone use it's only creating more it makes us more vulnerable to terrorism because of blowback because when people see their loved ones getting killed by drones and then the rescuer is being killed by other drones and then mourners at funerals

being killed by still other drones it makes them hate the united states even more it's a very sad lesson because it means in fact that you're reinforcing the cycle of violence hatred to try and stabilize and that's why more and more people are coming together to call on the obama administration to change u.s. policy and stop the proliferation of drones it's a mounting pressure that is seemingly caught the attention of the senate intelligence committee which just recently approved a plan to step up both public and internal government oversight of drone use abroad but while activists commend this as a step forward they say a little more oversight under the same policy just won't be enough in washington a mirror david r t i was joined earlier by art is a marriage david who filled us in on more about the drone summit. it was a three day action of like i mentioned in the piece it started on friday with the protests but the summit really hosted a number of discussions taking

a real deep look at drones drone policy both on the domestic and international front aside from policy it really gave a platform to drone victims there was so the civically a yemeni delegation that was there many families of drone victims and i think that was probably the most compelling part of the whole thing i spoke to a representative of many drone victims in yemen and he spoke to me very candidly about how fearful people are over there he talked specifically about the buzzing that people here above had and how it's instilling in them this just perpetual fear he talked to me about how children are scared to leave their houses to go to school how women have dropped out of educational programs because simply they are just in fear of walking outside and so the takeaway was really that this is paralyzing communities abroad that only recently have we really had a chance to hear from these drone victims one of the criticisms leveled at the

drone program is that its critics blowback that it's actually making us less safe and you could see for the last few years we've been talking to mr and programming if you look at recruitment numbers and arabian peninsula they're still recruiting they're still. going strong there is there any other evidence that suggests that the drone program is creating more. serbs than were living you've already heard this happening in pakistan but this is also happening in yemen too which is sort of the. next step on the drone campaign and you know drone strikes have increased dramatically in yemen particularly since two thousand and eleven which is in the last couple of years and at the same time they are seeing corresponding numbers increasing of men slipping into militancy in fact the representative i talked to told me about how their national security has taken a look at this very issue and in two thousand and eleven there were approximately. three hundred militants fast forward to two thousand and thirteen and there are three thousand so that's a nine hundred percent increase and the reason for that is because they say the

government doesn't protect them anymore they don't trust their government officials they don't trust their president and that is making them slip further and further off the edge so so what comes next year we we've drones just recently came the news with brennan's nomination a few months ago we had alan grayson who stayed out all the hill hearing we now have this summit where does this go so next up is a congressional briefing that's taking place on the hill tomorrow i'm in which representatives are really alan grayson jan schakowsky are going to have an opportunity to listen to the drone victims' families people from this yemeni delegation but more generally these activists are taking a look at the bigger picture they're really focusing on influencing public opinion as you know the prove all of drones used to be eighty percent it's come down to sixty percent and they're very encouraged by this and i think their main goal is really i ching away at that percentage and making sure that more people are aware of the effects of drones and it's dangerous that it's approach of the stores

sticking out of the news which is good or to correspond to a david. still ahead here on our team new research shows that every year thousands of americans going to hospitals wind up victims of a medical mistake that cost them their lives an in-depth look at some of those victims and much more after the break. dramas that can't be ignored her. stories are the result of use

in those. places changing the world he writes now. so take your oath today steve. holmes is not from around the globe. please don't. they'll be ok it was terrible take me very hard to take a look at you get a little longer here or what have you ever had sex with that make their lives so that was. the for the sleep the. slow.

lick. one of the to the. to the. good welcome back to a new study by the journal of patient safety reveals a staggering number of americans who go to the hospital every year wind up the victims of some sort of preventable death we go now to los angeles and artie's ramon go and oh. like my sister was just writhing in pain for so long and it just haunts me and you know the last moments with both my mom and my sister are just ingrained in my head eric andrus is overcome with emotion as you remember the death of his sister kelly and cared for his mentally disabled sister day and night and even though she had the mentality of a four year old she could sing and dance to those songs and she knew more about musicals i think the most normal people as andrus explains he took alley to the

emergency room for a stomach ache days later she was dead this is this is her record from just the three days that she was in the hospital i mean this is how much stuff that i've gone through to find out what happened to my sister delhi medical errors can happen at even the most highly rated hospitals new research shows that up to four hundred forty thousand people die every year in america from preventable medical mistakes that make it third leading cause of death in the us following hard disease and cancer the incidence of people dying of errors and accidents in hospitals is abysmal in this country it's really a crisis level problem in one thousand nine the institute of medicine reported that up to ninety eight thousand people a year die because of mistakes in hospitals twenty thirteen a study in the journal patient safety says that number has grown to be between two hundred ten thousand and four hundred forty thousand patients that's more than the

population of miami florida. not all medical errors kill but they can still cause a lifetime of pain when i left the operating room i had a fever. i was having channels and i was told that that was probably going to be anesthesia actors and models we should call went to the hospital for a minor surgery she expected to be out in a few days. instead she contracted necrotizing fasciitis also known as many flesh disease so you can see this is now here and cut away and right here it's spreading down my fat years later cole is still in physical therapy her claim of hospital injury is not isolated she was diagnosed with spinal bifida as a child in two thousand and eight she went to the hospital for elective surgery to release some of her symptoms in her husband danny call used to enjoy an active

outdoor lifestyle however after a trip to the hospital came out a quadriplegic and now requires round the clock care home videos show long helping his wife to do the simplest tasks we have never been allowed to talk to any any of our doctors no a lot of talk to the patient safety department a lot of talk to the addict the barman we're allowed to talk to anybody except duke lawyers because some states have caps on malpractise claims many lawyers refuse to take on cases of medical error despite longs for a stranger with the health care system the love for his wife has strengthened during this time of struggle i rely on her as much as she relies on me i think through. i think most guys were honest and they would have to admit to that she's my rock many health care professionals want to reduce accidents but transparency remains a major barrier it's long past time that we have a national conversation about these deaths in hospitals

a requirement in the fordable care act encourages medicare providers to report medical errors but it stops short of requiring all health care providers from participating the best hospitals find ways to to to create safety nets around the mistakes they expect people to make so they double count the sponges they use bar coding technology on their sponges for example to make sure that they're not accidentally leaving something in a patient after an operation has barcoding for medication ministration now too well technology might help simple inexpensive things like good hygiene can prevent infection and at least a cold case the state health department found her hospital had broken several patient safety laws ashur doctor what is his infection rate for the procedure you're going to have document everything take a little notebook with you write everything down every drug they give you make sure you've got your cell phone with you with

a little camera take pictures of things it's not right and and a country as wealthy as the united states and with the resources that we have there's no reason for patients to have to go through that victims agree that individual patients must remain vigilant. as families fight for transparency and accountability they hope their tragedy will help others avoid the trend of deadly mistakes in los angeles remain that archie and archie's ramon glinda joined me earlier from our los angeles studio to tell us about the most common forms of medical errors that we sit. when we think of medical mistakes or examples of surgeons leaving objects inside a patient like a sponge or some scissors a common mistake is giving a patient the wrong dose of medicine and in some instances doctors missed tumors these are all examples of things that happen every single day in hospitals here in

the u.s. but according to. a more recent report from johns hopkins university the most common error is misdiagnosis they took a look at malpractise suits over the last twenty five years and they saw that mistake no says outranked surgical mistakes and overdoses of patients and these misdiagnosis can many times lead to unnecessary procedures an example that john hopkins gives is is a teenager who went in for a complaint of a headache to the hospital was sent home days later had a stroke another gentleman who when complained of chest pain doctor after doctor missed the fact that there was problems with his spine and now he can't walk so all these things happening are really alarming patient safety advocates and that's why they're trying to get the word out about about this trend of medical errors there's a study you came out and they put a number on this for as many as four hundred thousand deaths a year that's pretty staggering but could it actually be higher you mentioned in

this report that transparent remains a major barrier at hospitals lawyers are reluctant to take up any any sort of cases like this so maybe there's cases that aren't being reported on here which the number could be even higher. right yeah you mentioned those factors and really back in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine excuse me it is it in medicine reported that there were nearly one hundred thousand deaths and they recommended that there be some sort of central agency that keeps track of that now in two thousand and thirteen and there's still no agency which keeps track of that so really we're depending on these washed. groups go through these medical records but even then there's a lot of problem in keeping track of how many errors are occurring because many of these medical records are inaccurate and again we get to the fact that many doctors that many health care professional professionals just don't want to admit the mistakes that they've made that this is really

a story that you rarely hear about why are people not finding out about mistakes made in their hospitals for. sure well it starts with the doctors and nurses unfortunate there is this culture of silence in many hospitals really is some doctors don't want to. tattle tell so to speak on another doctor because a lot of times these doctors depend on each other for business they need referrals from that other doctor so they don't want to be known as the rat in the hospital as far as nurses goes they they deal with the same thing some of them have reported bullying and some of them are afraid of being retaliated or or disciplined against and some to some sometimes unfortunately doctors just make decisions based on avoiding lawsuits instead of really focusing on the prime interests of the patient here or to corresponding ramon glinda thank you for staying on the issue of health care you might remember last week president obama responded to mounting criticism of his signature health reform law and announce this change to allow americans to

keep health insurance plans that no longer meet new standards under the law. i said that i would do everything we can to fix this problem and today i'm offering an idea that will help do it insurers can extend current plans that would otherwise be canceled into two thousand and fourteen and americans whose plans have been canceled can choose to reenroll in the same kind of plan now some have criticized the president's plan noting that by allowing americans to stay in non qualified health insurance plans then fewer americans will buy their health insurance in the new exchanges which could cause prices in those exchanges to go up and kneecap the entirety of the health reform law and one of those critics was none other than washington d.c. insurance commissioner william p. white who released this statement last thursday criticizing the president's fix saying the action today undercuts the purpose of the exchanges including the district's d.c. health link by creating exceptions that make it more difficult for them to operate

well on the very next day white was fired an official within d.c. mayor vincent gray is office said the city quote wants to go in a different direction and commissioner white statement was scrubbed off the department's website so much for the whole if you like your health insurance commissioner you can keep him thing. well into the free home of the brave yes that is america being that we are a free society we're able to freely spend our money the way we want right while tonight's resident takes a look at how having that freedom can lead to frivolous and smiling.

in america we enjoyed many freedoms one of them is the freedom to spend our money any day of the way we want to and many americans take that freedom to heart take ground wave attacks and he spent two hundred thousand dollars building a replica of the oval office in his home he actually made an oval shaped addition to his house and spent years getting all the details down or take toby sheldon a thirty three year old in l.a. who spent one hundred thousand dollars on plastic surgery to look like justin bieber if he had botox based on lip fillers hair transplants and several surgeries or take the guy who just spent nine hundred thousand dollars to buy a small town in wyoming to promote his coffee business that guy's actually from vietnam in a video from zero to his coffee he said everybody has a dream so do i i have an american dream that sums it up doesn't it

people have different definitions of what the american dream is but many equate it with having the gods of money to buy whatever stupid crap you want and that freedom to buy whatever you want is integrity to the dream that's what many people who buy into the dream are most proud of all of those examples i just gave all of those people demonstrated that they're really proud of their choices even plastic surgery go to college i ask why it why the hell are americans so damn proud of their right to choose. to blow money on stupid stuff when that money could be used for more valiant causes one hundred thousand dollars could go far to helping feed the six million american households who had to rely on soup kitchens last year or to help house our six hundred thousand homeless people or if you don't want to support the takers how about putting that money toward cancer research or helping to figure out human life extension would any of those options really be something to be proud

of i must say we have to lead an ascetic life but blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars to look like a child pop star and then be proud of it come into it america we not only blow money on stupid crap we take pride in our freedom to waste it it's our right to be wasteful dammit. the bottom line is just because we have the freedom to choose to blow money like idiots it doesn't mean we should be proud of ourselves when we do tonight let's talk about that by following on twitter at the risk that it. violates and i had a tale of love but trailer in one giant finger take a look behind the blur there is a giant statue of fist with one finger the middle finger raised high and proud the

statue belongs to a strip club owner allen markovitch that's his house meanwhile the picture is taken from the house of markovitch his ex-wife who lives next. let's call it the f.-u. statue all day all markowitz even added a spotlight so that his ex-wife can see the statue at night to mark which told local news reporters his plan all along is to get even with his ex-wife who he alleges had an affair and left him for her new man who she now lives with meaning he gets to see the f.-u. statue all day long too yes fifty percent of marriages manage divorce but only one ends with an f. you statue that does it for now for more of the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america check out our website r t v dot com slash usa you can follow me on twitter at seven saxon don't forget to tune in at nine pm for larry king now a special guest rich eisen the lead studio host for the n.f.l. network but until then take it easy.

wealthy british style. is no time to. market so why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with my next concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report. it was a. very hard take i. want to get on. to that as well that are making their.