Posted on 08/19/2004 9:20:29 AM PDT by Shermy
(From April 2004)
WASHINGTON - John Kerry has a piece of shrapnel in his left thigh from an injury he suffered in the Vietnam War, his doctor said Friday during a review of 36 pages of the Democratic presidential candidate's military medical records.
The records shown briefly to reporters provided a few more details about the wounds that resulted in Kerry's three Purple Hearts and show that he suffered from respiratory ailments, a skin rash and a minor urinary tract infection during his four years in the Navy.
Kerry was wounded three times while commanding a swiftboat in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, an assignment that brought him close to enemy fire several times.
Some of Kerry's critics have questioned whether his injuries were serious enough to warrant three Purple Hearts and reassignment out of Vietnam. Kerry's doctor, Gerald Doyle, said he could not characterize the severity of the wounds since he didn't see them, but he noted that Kerry was in danger of serious injury several times.
Kerry got his first Purple Heart after he got shrapnel in his left arm above his elbow. Doyle said if the shrapnel had hit Kerry in the eye, it could have blinded him.
And Doyle said Kerry's third Purple Heart came from a dangerous situation on March 13, 1969, that could have been life-threatening. A mine had exploded near Kerry's swiftboat and enemy snipers were shooting around his boat.
According to notes from a military doctor who treated Kerry three hours later, Kerry was thrown against the bulkhead, resulting in contusions on his right forearm. A small piece of shrapnel was lodged in his left upper buttock. He was treated with a tetanus shot, topical dressing and an ace bandage and advised to apply warm soaks to his right forearm.
Kerry also was wounded by a piece of shrapnel on Feb. 20, 1969, this time on his left thigh. Doctors decided to leave the shrapnel in place rather than make a wider opening to remove it. Doctors removed damaged tissue and the entry wound was closed with sutures, and no infection developed around the shrapnel, according to the records.
Kerry jokingly told reporters aboard his campaign plane that the shrapnel hurts when it rains. He said tht although it was hot and burned at the time, he doesn't feel it now.
Kerry was diagnosed with pneumonia in September 1966 and had an upper respiratory infection and bronchitis during his time in the military. The records also show Kerry had pneumonia in 1965 before his enlistment. Doyle said Kerry has hay fever and allergies to pollen and mold and is probably predisposed to pneumonia. Doyle said Kerry had pneumonia at least once since his time in Vietnam, but he usually recovers quickly from respiratory ailments because his immune system is healthy.
Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan interrupted Doyle to ask that he only comment on Kerry's medical records in the military, noting that the doctor had already issued a letter outlining Kerry's health during the 18 years that he has treated the senator.
Doyle said the skin rash on Kerry's chest, arms and legs in 1967 was probably an inflammation of hair follicles from the warm weather in San Diego, where he trained before going to Vietnam. It was treated with a steroid cream.
Two days after Kerry was treated for the rash, doctors noted that Kerry reported coughing and other symptoms and requested a chest X-ray. "This is a very aggressive patient," the medical notes say. Doyle said he couldn't know what that meant, but speculated Kerry might have insisted on getting the X-ray since he had pneumonia a few months earlier.
This week the campaign has posted on its Web site more than 200 pages of information about Kerry's military record. The campaign said when the Navy sent Kerry his military file, it did not include his medical records, and those shown to reporters Friday were copies that Kerry had in his personal files.
The Kerry campaign allowed 19 reporters who travel with Kerry to talk to his doctor and view the medical file for about 30 minutes. Reporters had to sign the file in and out and were not allowed to take a copy.
Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter noted that the 30-minute review was 10 minutes longer than reporters had with President Bush's military medical files. She said the campaign will not release the record to the public because "we don't consider this information to be public in the first place."
Also on Friday, Kerry announced a "Contract with America's Middle Class" during a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The contract was a compilation of ideas that Kerry has been touting on the campaign trail - a new plan to win the war, create 10 million jobs, cut middle class taxes and streamline government.
Kerry also had a private meeting with Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to former President Carter, at Kerry's home in Georgetown.
May be the goofiest articles I've read in the past few weeks.
"This is a very aggressive patient," the medical notes say
Only when trying to get that PH chit run up the chain of command.
Intended to confuse the issue, I suppose. John Edwards' work?
Listen to this about the shrapnel wounds....
http://www.wbt.com/dynamic/jh/audio/play_media/play.cfm?mediatype=realaudio&path=http://www.wbt.com/dynamic/jh/audio&speed=100&ext=rm&MediaID=230
Hey if that rock had hit your eye, you would have been blinded.
self surgury is really dangerous. im thinkin another medal is in order.
"Kerry got his first Purple Heart after he got shrapnel in his left arm above his elbow. Doyle said if the shrapnel had hit Kerry in the eye, it could have blinded him. "
But it didn't hit him in the eye - it hit him in the left arm above his elbow. If my aunt had nuts, she'd be my uncle. So freakin' what?
Kerry also was wounded by a piece of shrapnel on Feb. 20, 1969, this time on his left thigh. Doctors decided to leave the shrapnel in place rather than make a wider opening to remove it. Doctors removed damaged tissue and the entry wound was closed with sutures, and no infection developed around the shrapnel, according to the records.
Ok, so how big is this piece of shrapnel, anyways? Not too big, if the entry wound was closed with sutures, and he didn't get assigned to limdu (limited duty) or bedrest.
"Two days after Kerry was treated for the rash, doctors noted that Kerry reported coughing and other symptoms and requested a chest X-ray. "This is a very aggressive patient," the medical notes say. Doyle said he couldn't know what that meant, but speculated Kerry might have insisted on getting the X-ray since he had pneumonia a few months earlier. "
Sounds like a hypochondriac. They're "agressive patients", too.
It appears that Dr. Doyle has read Unfit For Command. On page 36, then LT. William Schachte, now a Rear-Admiral, berated Kerry for almost putting someone's eye out. Schachte was on the skimmer when Kerry fired the M-79 grenade. Crew said there was no enemy fire, and his requestfor Purple Heart was denied by Commander Grant Hibbard.
BTW, was Kerry in Vietnam? I didn't know this. Why didn't he ever mention it? Oh, wait, I think I remember him saying something about Cambodia. Close enough :o)
Just release all of Senator Kerry's "original" records and spare us the translation.
And, by the way, anyone who has ever worked in a supermarket or any service industry knows exactly what"a very aggressive patient" means. There is always one customer who thinks that they know more than you do about your business or who just cannot wait on line with the riff-raff.
I'll bet most doctors and nurses will say that "agressive patient" code means he constantly demanded treatment and tests they didn't think were necessary.
That would be my guess. I've worked in healthcare 25 years.
Dr. Doyle didn't comment before he did comment.
Kerry is refusing to answer the Swift boaters except to say they have no right to question his duty in Vietnam. He says the President should stand up and call them down. What a coward....Kerry won't answer the truth these vets talk about, and is scared to death the ad they are running is beginning to be heard and seen. The press is finally talking about it. We cannot let this issue die because these men deserve to have their say. Kerry lies and emblishes the story everytime it is told.
BUMP FOR SUPPORT SWIFTVETS HERE... http://www.swiftvets.com/
This appears to be a different day than the rice-buttock/Rassman-water day.
What took place Feb 20? The Rassmann thing appears to be a month later.
WHAT 4 YEARS in the Navy? Clarify, please?
What is with democrats and grenades? Cleland blew himself up, Kerry got hit with his own shrapnel...maybe we should ask the political affiliations of all our recruits and not issue grenades to democrats.
Now, I've heard about troops fragging their officers. I've never before heard of an officer fragging himself. Kerry is an idiot.
And the article goes into tremendous detail about his respiratory system. Skips right over the 'urinary tract infection' On the off chance that someone can't figure it out...Kerry had an STD. And Nedra Pickler (Democrat operative operating under cover as an AP reporter) tried as hard as she could to not cover it.
I think the shrapnel may be in his brain. Who knows how it got there? Maybe when he was raping and killing women and children.
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