Crime Victims Health

Doctors at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian said Monday that Newport Beach Police Officer Robert J. Henry, who was shot in the head last month, has improved from critical to serious condition. "The last brain scan we did showed a lot less swelling," hospital spokeswoman Maureen Mazzatenta said. "That means a lot less pressure on his brain." Doctors hope to move Henry out of intensive care and into a regular room by Friday.

A 10-year-old girl whose beating six months ago shocked even veteran police investigators went home from the Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital in Chicago. Later this summer, the child, known as "Girl X" and never publicly identified, will go to the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education, officials said. She was found near death, after being assaulted, beaten and forced to drink roach poison at Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project.

When accused serial rapist Monette Johnson goes on trial this week, the prosecutor will say he is the man who broke into the homes of at least six San Fernando Valley women and raped them, and the defense lawyer will argue that he isn't.

The 13-year-old victim of a beating that police called racially motivated is emerging from a coma and was moved to a rehabilitation hospital Friday. Lenard Clark will spend at least six weeks at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, then continue as an outpatient, said pediatrician Lisa Thornton. Doctors are developing a program of physical and speech therapy, but Thornton said it is too soon to tell whether the boy will completely recover.

When accused serial rapist Monette Johnson goes on trial this week, the prosecutor will say Johnson is the man who broke into the homes of at least six women and raped them, and the defense lawyer will argue that he isn't. But there is one subject neither of them will address in the courtroom, or anywhere else: whether Johnson might have the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, and whether he could have passed on the deadly virus to his alleged victims.

More than six months after young Richard Bautista of Whittier survived a gunshot wound through the brain on his way home from a Dodgers game, a suspect has been arrested in the shooting, authorities said Friday. Leo Javier Burgos, 18, of Los Angeles turned himself in Thursday afternoon and admitted the crime, saying it was a gang-related "thrill shooting" from a passing van, police said. Burgos was being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

A leading rape crisis organization has rallied to the cause of a Lancaster emergency room doctor who was accused of mishandling the post-rape exam of a 4-year-old girl. The group, Mothers Against Sexual Assault, disputed a report filed by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who accused the doctor of handling the girl too roughly and leaving her in an exam room for 90 minutes while seeing other patients.

Richard Bautista, the 13-year-old Whittier boy who is recovering after being shot in the head in a random freeway attack last fall, got some new wheels Wednesday. Richard and his parents received the keys to a van--specially equipped for his custom-made wheelchair--from an anonymous donor. Richard had a "big grin on his face" as Los Angeles Childrens Hospital spokesman Steve Rutledge presented the van to the family Wednesday, Rutledge said.

California Highway Patrol Officer Rafael "Ralph" Casillas was able to talk with family members Sunday, but remained in critical condition in the intensive care ward at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. "His injuries are very severe," said nursing supervisor Marie Ogilzie. Still, doctors were able to remove him from a ventilator, "which is a very big plus," she said. "He's doing as well as can be expected."

A 38-year-old postal clerk was so badly traumatized by a robbery almost three weeks ago that she is still unable to return to work, postal officials said Thursday. The woman, of Lancaster, is an asthmatic who suffered a severe choking attack when the post office was held up at gunpoint March 2, said Pamela Prince, a postal service spokeswoman. Although not hospitalized, the clerk has been unable to return to work ever since, Prince said. About 1:30 p.m.

A letter carrier, who was shot twice at close range while on his route in Los Angeles' Mid-City area, was reported to be improving Saturday. A spokesman at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said Michael Berry, 41, a U.S. Postal Service employee since 1975, was upgraded from critical condition to serious. The prognosis for Berry's recovery is good, the spokesman said. Berry was shot Friday morning in the 1500 block of South Manhattan Place by a man armed with a small-caliber handgun, authorities said.

A musician who was shot in the head at the Empire State Building has awakened from a coma, his father said. Matthew Gross, 27, regained consciousness six days after he was shot on the building's observation deck. He was one of seven people shot by Ali Hassan Abu Kamal, a Palestinian who killed himself. Gross' family prayed, played Mozart and held his hand, his father, Peter Gross said. Killed in the attack was Chris Burmeister, 27.

A leading rape crisis organization has rallied to the cause of a Lancaster emergency room doctor who was accused of mishandling the post-rape exam of a 4-year-old girl. The group, Mothers Against Sexual Assault, disputed a report filed by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who accused the doctor of handling the girl too roughly and leaving her in an exam room for 90 minutes while seeing other patients.

While cards, letters and flowers continued to pour in Monday to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, CHP Officer Rafael "Ralph" Casillas remained in critical condition in the intensive care ward. California Highway Patrol and hospital officials stressed that Casillas' condition hasn't improved significantly since he was shot last week by an ex-convict who refused to pull over. "We still have a long way to go," said CHP Deputy Chief Edward Gomez, who visited Casillas on Monday morning.

California Highway Patrol Officer Rafael "Ralph" Casillas was able to talk with family members Sunday, but remained in critical condition in the intensive care ward at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. "His injuries are very severe," said nursing supervisor Marie Ogilzie. Still, doctors were able to remove him from a ventilator, "which is a very big plus," she said. "He's doing as well as can be expected."

More than six months after young Richard Bautista of Whittier survived a gunshot wound through the brain on his way home from a Dodgers game, a suspect has been arrested in the shooting, authorities said Friday. Leo Javier Burgos, 18, of Los Angeles turned himself in Thursday afternoon and admitted the crime, saying it was a gang-related "thrill shooting" from a passing van, police said. Burgos was being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

An 18-year-old Santa Ana man shot in the head outside his home was in guarded condition Wednesday at a local hospital, authorities said. Police on Tuesday had erroneously reported that Pablo Ruiz was shot to death as he was parking his car across the street from his home on South Rosewood Avenue. Ruiz was actually in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head, and his condition improved Wednesday to guarded, hospital officials said. Lt.

After two weeks of rehabilitation treatment, wounded Los Angeles schoolteacher Alfredo Perez has made only very slight improvement, but his doctor said that was not necessarily an ominous sign. "Of course, you want to see as much improvement as quickly as possible," said Dr. Rick Adams, who is directing the rehabilitation at Long Beach Memorial Hospital. "However, it often takes up to a year to see the maximum recovery from a trauma injury of this type." Perez was shot in the head Feb.

After two weeks of rehabilitation treatment, wounded Los Angeles schoolteacher Alfredo Perez has made only very slight improvement, but his doctor said that was not necessarily an ominous sign. "Of course, you want to see as much improvement as quickly as possible," said Dr. Rick Adams, who is directing the rehabilitation at Long Beach Memorial Hospital. "However, it often takes up to a year to see the maximum recovery from a trauma injury of this type." Perez was shot in the head Feb.

A 38-year-old postal clerk was so badly traumatized by a robbery almost three weeks ago that she is still unable to return to work, postal officials said Thursday. The woman, of Lancaster, is an asthmatic who suffered a severe choking attack when the post office was held up at gunpoint March 2, said Pamela Prince, a postal service spokeswoman. Although not hospitalized, the clerk has been unable to return to work ever since, Prince said. About 1:30 p.m.