http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=681549#682109More: 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.asphttp://www.hws.edu/alumni/keepintouch/pssurvey/win03_service.aspYou would think some would know better!
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/radiation/dir/mstreet/commeet/meet8/trsc08b.txtCHAIRMAN 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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