February 15, 1998

Peru, in what some call ambitious family planning program run amok, reportedly pressures poor women to undergo sterilization operations; program has led to deaths of at least two women and injured hundreds; critics say health workers, hurrying to meet quotas, are not telling women about alternative methods of contraception or that sterilization is usually irreversible; say many state doctors perform sloppy operations, at times in unsanitary conditions; photo (M)

Thousands of Westerners have descended on Nagano, Japan, and are cheerfully and obliviously trampling on local etiquette--walking while eating, scrubbing in the bath tub, even wearing shoes as they step into a house; most Japanese in Nagano have been extremely understanding of these breaches of good manners; Wakiko Natsume, matron of Azuma Public Bath, comments; photo (L)

Profile of and interview with Abigail Pierrepont Johnson, billionaire daughter of Edward C Johnson 3d, billionaire chairman of Fidelity Investments, and heir apparent to world's largest mutual fund company; says Abigail Johnson has adopted roles of both teacher and student in her new management duties at Fidelity; charts; photos (L)

Article on steady rise and long reach of video art; artists discussed include Bill Viola, Lucy Gunning, Johan Grimonprez, Pipilotti Rist, Gillian Wearing, Mariko Mori, Cheryl Donegan, Reineke Dijkstra, Alfred Hernandez, Johnna MacArthur and Alex Bag; photos (L)

Federal judges have ruled in thousands of recent cases around nation that frail, elderly Medicare beneficiaries are being improperly denied coverage for home health services they are entitled to get; 18,500 people, 39 percent of people who contested denial of such benefits, won coverage at first level of review; 81 percent of those who pressed claims won on appeal; Medicare officials deny there is pervasive problem (M)