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.
1. Odd that Kerry didn't hype the "shrapnel" report for years, he bragged about everything else for years.
2. A shrapnel injury that necessitated that it not be removed is not the kind of injury that would cause him to not be hospitalized?
3. Was the "shrapnel" just something that would work itself out?
4. I'm not a doctor, but this "shrapnel" isn't near organs, and doesn't sound like it's near the bone. Don't you think he would halve had it removed sometime?
5. I find the whole matter suspect. And with his statement that he can still feel it, if it's been removed, he's toast. Someonw should ask him is it still in him and why he didn't have it removed.
for cripes sake these reporters must have their lips sewn permanently to kerry's butt...
"Doyle said if the shrapnel had hit Kerry in the eye, it could have blinded him. " ("..and also someone was running with scissors nearby ... !")
It was no MINE that exploded, he fired a grenade TOO CLOSE TO HIMSELF (a little closer and he would have taken himself out of the gene pool and been eligable for a Darwin award) No mention of how he almost killed himself and his crew mates.
And IMO, he's probably lucky none of his "band of brothers" "did" him, to get rid of him.
So a few handpicked Kerry-supporters got to browse, but no one else can? This raises more questions than it answers.
and you know what? He has 3 Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star and a Silver Star! At least that's the rumour.
Yeah, and if an elephant dropped out of the sky and landed on him it could have broken his back. So what?
Yep, my dad has shrapnel in is right foot and and big hole in his left leg where they removed skin for the skin graft.
Show us the SF-180, Johnny Boy.
Show it to us now.
What the hell kind of dumbassed statement is that?
It's the statement of a doctor who's been hired to embellish. That caught my eye, plus the fact that Kerry has never before bragged about the shrapnel. For all I know he had it removed after the service.
The shrapnel is 1/4 the size of a BB - they left it in because removing would have done more damage than leaving it in.
Imagine a BB. Cut it in half. Cut one of the pieces in half. You now have the shrapnel that still 'hurts' Kerry to this day.
Rigghhhtttt.
" Doyle said if the shrapnel had hit Kerry in the eye, it could have blinded him. "
IF, if, if. If he had wings he could fly, too!
thats... if he dropped his camera on his foot
Probably came from a nail gun when the commoners were working on his mansion. Ricochet, eh wot?
This raises more questions than it answers....
I knew it! I knew it! John F'n Kerry suffers from 'Roid Rage. This is how the "F'n" part of his name developed.
AP, Nedra Pickler, Kerry's doctor?
If this is true, there should be no problem releasing his military/medical records then should there? I know he has at least one form 180 to authorize that release because I sent him one.
"and view the medical file for about 30 minutes. "
Bingo. And they aren't doctors. And who knows what records were shown.
Kerry is hiding big time. This doctor is a paid promoter, the records show a dog and pony show, just like the claim his "records" are at his web site.
No kidding. If that stick which shot out from under the lawnmower Saturday as my husband was mowing the lawn had hit my forehead instead of the door 20 feet away, I could have been killed!
He could have been blinded by a piece of shrapnell....He could have gotten seriousley hurt if he ran with scissors in his hand,too.
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