American Notes SURGERY

Over the past two years Navy plastic surgeons in San Diego have performed 544 free nose jobs, face-lifts, liposuctions and other cosmetic treatments on officers, sailors and their dependents. When the Los Angeles Times disclosed the numbers last week, critics castigated the work as a waste of money. The Navy defended the practice on the ground that the operations helped hone the skills of its physicians.

The Navy showed less charity in a similar case earlier this month. After a six-month investigation, the Navy reprimanded plastic surgeon Mitchell Grayson, a commander, and fined him $2,000. His offense: borrowing surgical instruments to use in free operations that repaired the cleft palates and harelips of hundreds of Third World children. Grayson has resigned from the Navy to practice in Philadelphia.