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.
Here's a little bit from yesterday's article (running in 3 parts):
"When Kerry was dispatched to go to An Thoi with Lt. Tedd Peck (who would retire as a Navy captain), Peck told him: "Kerry, follow me no closer than a thousand yards. If you get any closer, I'll teach you what a real Purple Heart is."
"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."
It appears Dammocraps take better care of Kerry medical records than of national security documents.
The Wash Times article goes into the wounds he received -- on the first occasion, the doctor looked at his "unimpressive" wound, and asked Kerry "Why are you here?"
What kind of fools do they take the American public to be?
You are absolutely right, but a piece of rice would have simply dissolved at some point. I suspect the shrapnel was really rice. :)
No kidding? If I stick a fork in my eye during dinner, I might be blinded too!
The first thing that jumped to mind when I read this was "don't run with scissors!"
Semper disgusted
I had a "minor urinary tract infection" at Ft. Benning - not the clap, just where the damn bacteria decided to camp.
You have my vote!..but not because of the shrapnel....;)
Thank you for serving our country...
Something has always bothered me about this. The doctor states that for his third wound (purple heart), Kerry received a a tetanus shot. Tetanus shot is good for three to five years. Does this mean that he did not receive tetanus shots for his first two wounds which resulted in his first two purple hearts? They were not severe enough?
That`s why the Dr. left it in, isn`t it? Because it was a piece of rice. So where does he get this "shrapnel" BS? He`s making himself out to be like he`s some sort of disabled Vet, but all he did is get food in him.
I'm in danger of serious injury -- or even death -- every day when I walk across the street to check my mail. In fact I'm in danger twice, because I have to walk back across the street to my office. I expose myself to all this danger voluntarily, because I could just close my Post Office Box and have the mail delivered. Perhaps I'll put in for a Presidential Medal of Freedom if Kerry wins.
I bet he is getting benefits! I resent the hell out of that guy!!!
BINGO..!!!
I'm assuming a lot of guy's just blew him off...as long as he wasn't causing them to be in harm's way. And I'm also sure...lot's of guy's knew he was putting himself in for band-aid hearts. I would imagine at times that didn't go over too well...
I'll even go out on a limb and say....if he hadn't of left early...someone would have "handled" that for him. And it wouldn't surprise me one bit....if Kerry knew that many he "served" with didn't think too highly of him. And was a motivating factor in him 3 hearting out.
God help us...if he get's elected.
Thanks for the post...!!
"Kerry seemed to believe that there were no rules in a free-fire zone, and you were supposed to kill everyone," Swift Boat veteran William E. Franke of Coastal Division 11 told us. "I didn't see it that way. I will tell you in all candor that the only baby killer I knew in Vietnam was John F. Kerry."
The evidence shows John Kerry was a ruthless operator in the field, with little regard for life...
That would probably be the small child in the sampan which Kerry neglected to mention in his first report on the incident.
An X-Ray of his butt would be more appropriate that one of his chest. Let him prove he is carrying shrapnel there. Rest assured he will never allow it.
I just heard that he has become a contributor to NBC. I guess that keeps him safely quiet until at least after the election.
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