U.S. Warrior's Slow Death Being Exploited By Lawyers

Tennessean.com ^ | 11/09/2003 | LEON ALLIGOOD

[SoulStorms]

KARNACK, Texas

[SoulStorms]

Let's see...

It took several medical exams, plus a brain biopsy to diagnose Staff Sgt. Alford's disease. Even then, the diagnosing doctor says he worked very hard to hide his illness (as any proud warrior might). The military restored his rank and pay upon diagnosis, and apologized to the family.

It seems to me that the tragic story should have ended right there, but notice how the remaining verbiage goes on to paint the military as cruel, negligent and remiss in its level of compensation to the family.

My sympathies are with our proud warrior and his family, but to all appearances, they are being used by ambulance-chasers to get a hand in the taxpayer's pocket.

[jjm2111]

My biggest fear is to get some debilitating disease at a young age. My heart goes out to him.

Note to self: Don't eat sheep brains.

[Dog Gone]

I had a friend die of CJD a couple of years ago. She was a vegetarian and nobody has a clue how she got it.

By the time the disease is diagnosed, the person is usually unable to understand much anyway. This disease quickly turns the brain into a bunch of strings. Very sad. The only blessing is that the end comes quickly.

[jjm2111]

That's terrible.

[STD]

I agree wholeheartedly!

[Prodigal Son]

How awful for him.

[gcruse]

Agreed. Deep pockets = omniscient in the world of litigation. God, I hate lawyers and their too often voracious plaintiffs.

[sarasmom]

I agree.
I became aware of CJD, and it's several variants a few years ago.
I refused to feed my child beef for several years.
The Red Cross does not want me to donate blood, as I fell into a timeframe of overseas deployment that was "suspect" for having injested British beef products.
The USA government overruled the Red Cross petition for limtations, but I still do not donate blood.Not because I think I have CJD, as onset of symptoms can take up to thirty years to show up.Just because.
No blood or non-surgical testing means are applicable.
Diagnosis is generally only confirmed upon autopsy.There have been sporadic outbreaks in the USA, usually traced back to elk or deer, but so far, no beef related outbreaks.At least none reported.
Some may remember Oprah Winfrey several years back having to produce her show from Texas for a month,where she was sued by a cattlemen consortium for stating on her show that she would never eat a hamburger again. She won, BTW.
"Natural" CJD and "Mad Cow" disease are both rare, and 100% fatal.So far, only Britain has had a documented history of beef to human deaths traced to CJD.
(infected sheep were the tracible disease crossover link to the beef)
No treatment, no tests (except brain tissue biopsy), and no cure exists.
It was thought in the late 1990s that either a massive number of Europeans would start showing symptoms in the first decade of the new century, or they succeeded in erradicating infected beef supplies.
Still too soon to tell,as many European butchers continued to sell contaminated beef as food, and livestock feed, well after the initial bans were put in place, due to the long onset of symptoms in both animal and human populations.
Oddly enough, many websites dedicated to all available scientific links and studies of the subject are now defunct.
I refuse to wear a tinfoil hat,when I wondor why that might be so....