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InkAddict (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore | Wed Jul-14-04 09:02 AM Response to Original message |
6. Once again, here's the folks who helped our boys be more effective |
Edited on Wed Jul-14-04 09:38 AM by InkAddict
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=681549#682109
More: Those peace-time private practice cases must be oh-so boringggggggggg. Snooze! It's surely a good thing it's a C-note or more per nappy! Now, if we could just get those insurance companies to pay up on a timely basis! http://www.hws.edu/alumni/keepintouch/myshare/platoni.asp http://www.hws.edu/alumni/keepintouch/pssurvey/win03_service.asp You would think some would know better! http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/radiation/dir/mstreet/commeet/meet8/trsc08b.txt CHAIRMAN FADEN: Our next speaker is Dr. Kathy Platoni. Thank you for joining us. Can you just make sure? Is your red button still punched? Don't unpunch it. Is it still on? DR. PLATONI: Yes. CHAIRMAN FADEN: Okay. Great. DR. PLATONI: Thank you. Distinguished Committee members, I'm very grateful for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Dr. Kathy Platoni. I am a licensed clinical psychologist and a major in the United States Army Reserve. I am speaking today on behalf of both my mother, Sydell Platoni, myself, and as the voice of my beloved father. I wish to express sincere thanks and gratitude to Mr. Bill Griffin, Iowa Coordinator for the National Association of Atomic Veterans; Ms. Jean Ralph and the National Association of Radiation Survivors for the long awaited opportunity to bring to light the truth about our relentless 12-year battle to uncover the facts regarding the death of my father, Eugene J. Platoni. My father's life was stolen away in his prime. Eugene J. Platoni died on February 28th, 1983, and after five months and $500,000 worth of the finest medical treatment available. The magnitude of the loss we have experienced has not diminished with time, nor can it be adequately explained or understood by four file cabinets filled with medical literature and the unclassified documents pertaining to his naval service during World War II. The cause of his death, angio-immunoblastic lymphoma, a condition so horrific and rare that it cannot be found in the medical literature to date, remains an enigma and a question mark that will not allow us to see closure in our lives. His autopsy listed 18 separate diagnoses as the cause of death: autoimmune hemolytic anemia, angio-immunoblastic lymphoma, serratia sepsis, transfusion hepatitis, upper gastrointestinal bleed, pneumonia, subphrenic abscess, fluid overload, disseminated intravascular coagulopathy, tachycardia, septic shock, anasarca, pleural effusion, ascites drainage of the pleural space secondary to trauma at thoracentesis site, anemia, Jacksonian seizures, clinical depression, and acute renal failure. The immediate cause of death was reported as cardiopulmonary arrest secondary to immunoblastic lymphoma. What is most bizarre about my father's disease process is that he maintained a state of perfect health until the onset of diffuse adenopathy, Coomb's positive hemolytic anemia, and cold agglutinins with drop in hematocrit. He was walking or running five to seven miles a day and living an extraordinarily zestful life style for a man of his age. During the course of his multiple illnesses, his blood type changed three times, from O to B and back to O. He underwent over 65 blood transfusions, daily plasmapheresis, hemodialysis, bone marrow biopsies, six full blood exchanges, a splenectomy, a cervical node biopsy, tracheostomy, endotracheal intubation and ventilation, thoracentesis and IV chemotherapy. He suffered brain death two weeks prior to death, which was indicated by Jacksonian seizures, which are violent convulsions that traveled down the left side of his body and up through the right side repetitively. By the time my father became comatose, he has suffered massive internal bleeding, development of a large cell lymphoma, and his immune system was ravaged by an immune deficiency process not unlike that of AIDS. The only early precursor of what was to devastate us for the rest of our lives was my father's diagnosis of chorioretinitis in 1965, a probably early symptom of radiation related systemic disease which involved partial and temporary blindness and that remitted spontaneously. Without reservation, I believe that my father's exposure to radiation during World War II is responsible for his untimely death as formidable disease, such as angio-immunoblastic lymphoma do not occur in a vacuum and without the strong likelihood of exposure to known or unknown carcinogens, such as atomic radiation. Were this not the case, lymphomas would not have been approved for inclusion for compensated radiation related illnesses under Public Law 100-32, which was passed in May of 1988. It is also highly unlikely that I would have been born with a thyroid gland trailing a tail behind it had my father not been exposed to radiation. I have undergone 22 surgical procedures within the last 11 years, beginning with the loss of 32 teeth simultaneously at the age of 23. I have had my skull reconstructed from anterior and posterior pelvic bone four times due to bone deterioration disease, in addition to implantation of a surgical steel Ramus frame in my mandible and transplantation of full thickness abdominal tissue grafts to rebuild the roof of my mouth. I have had my skull and throat muscles realigned and wired together from the orbits of my eyes out to my ears and down to my throat so tightly that a straw wouldn't fit in my mouth. I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian disease in 1983 and after removal of a third ovary and a dermoid cyst, the latter of which consisted of hair, tooth and bone, I was diagnoses with trophoprivic hypothyroidism in 1984 after over 100 blood tests performed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I suffer from advanced osteoporosis so that my bones have deteriorated and disintegrated to the degree that they are indistinguishable from that of an 85 year old woman. I suffer from osteoarthritis in every joint in my body. There is no family history whatsoever on either maternal or paternal side of any of these diseases or conditions from which I suffer. This should not be a surprise as the contamination of one's genetic composition can readily result in such congenital defects and malformations if toxic exposure has occurred in one or both parents. There is more than sufficient evidence in the medical literature to support this statement, particularly among the offspring of radiation victims. We cannot remain in blissful ignorance any longer about the consequences of radiation exposure. Even fallout emitted during our government's atmospheric nuclear testing has exposed individuals to deadly radiation that remains actively harmful 50 years after the fact. There is no shortage of cancers among these individuals, their children and grandchildren, but they have gone unrecognized, and our government has remained free from responsibility for inflicting harm against millions of innocent individuals. Still the burden of proof remains a legacy that radiation victims and their survivors must bear, often an infinitely impossible task. To continue to accommodate this state of affairs is unconscionable. I will take my battle to discover the truth to my grave, but my own longevity remains a questionable entity. More than one atomic survivor has died under unexplained circumstances during the process of discovery. On several occasions during the last ten years, I have discovered listening devices on my personal telephone. Within the contents of my four file cabinets are documents and correspondence from the Defense Nuclear Agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop. I've gone over my time. I've given my testimony so it's a matter of -- CHAIRMAN FADEN: Your statement is here. Perhaps we can cover some of it in questions. DR. PLATONI: That would be good. CHAIRMAN FADEN: Thank you. Are there questions for Dr. Platoni. DR. THOMAS: Maybe it was in the piece which you didn't get a chance to get to. What I didn't hear is could you tell us a little bit about the nature of your father's exposures to radiation? DR. PLATONI: That's what still remains a great mystery. All of his service records were altered, and under Freedom of Information Act I've only been able to obtain copies of what was easily accessible to anyone, and I do believe that many of his records are in some archives somewhere that are not accessible to me. His records were altered, crossed out in India ink, and as contradictory listings of his locations on ships he was on throughout his service records, and I believe you also have them. They've been entered into the record. DR. THOMAS: But your understanding is the exposure would have -- was he involved in Japan with the atomic bomb in Japan or where? DR. PLATONI: We do believe that he was off the coast of Nagasaki and/or Hiroshima because he told that story many times, but there's no documentation of that in his service records. At some point during his service he was exposed to radiation or used in radiation experiments. We cannot find anything. DR. THOMAS: I saw a letter here indicating that he had been at Eniwetok; is that right? DR. PLATONI: Yes, he was at Eniwetok, yes. DR. THOMAS: But that would have been after you were born, was it? DR. PLATONI: That was before I was born. I was born in 1952. DR. THOMAS: Thank you. CHAIRMAN FADEN: Are there other questions for Dr. Platoni? Ruth. DR. MACKLIN: Well, during the course of these illnesses that led to your father's death, was he aware of or did he have any information or suspicion about the suspected causes, that is, that it did have to do with exposure to radiation and that it might have had something to do with what happened during the war, and if so, did he discuss that with you and your mother? DR. PLATONI: During the course of his illness, he was in intensive care, and he was strongly sedated. So whether or not he did suspect I have no way of knowing. He probably didn't have the cognitive abilities with all of the medications he was on. The head of his medical team did, however, feel that radiation was strongly suspect in his case, but there was no documentation in the medical literature. All we have is my father's word that, yes, he was near the location where the atomic bombings had occurred at Nagasaki and Hiroshima. CHAIRMAN FADEN: Are there other questions for Dr. Platoni? (No response.) CHAIRMAN FADEN: Thank you very much, and thank you for providing us all of this information. We appreciate it. |
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