REPORTING FROM ISRAEL
WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
Posted on 11/21/2004 3:47:51 AM PST by Alouette
Late PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's nephew has as much right to the late Palestinian leader's widely sought medical records as his widow, a French Defense Ministry spokesman said Saturday, amid a simmering family tug-of-war over whether to make the information public.
Arafat's widow, Suha, took possession of his medical records Friday and was deciding whether to release the information publicly to "stop all these false ideas" of what caused the Palestinian leader's death, her lawyer said.
After receiving the report, Suha flew to Tunis, where she and her daughter Zahwa are temporarily living.
A Palestinian official in Ramallah expressed outrage at the widow's behavior. "What she did is disgusting," he said. "She doesn't want anyone to know what's in the report. President Arafat is not her private property."
Another official said Suha has joined forces with PLO hardliner Farouk Kadoumi, who lives in Tunis. Kaddoumi has claimed that Arafat died of poisoning, hinting that Israel and "collaborators" in Arafat's inner circle were involved in the plot.
"It's possible that he will use the medical file to try to back up his claim," the official added. "He and Suha are working to undermine the current leadership."
Meanwhile, Nasser al-Kidwa, Arafat's nephew and the PA envoy to the United Nations, headed to Paris on Friday to obtain Arafat's medical file.
"If he asks for the file we will give it to him," said Defense Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau. "He has as much right to the (records) as any family member."
The lawyers of Arafat's widow appeared to be bracing for a legal showdown, insisting that under French law, only Arafat's wife is entitled to the medical report because their 9-year-old daughter, Zahwa, is a minor.
"If the hospital made a copy - I don't know if they did, they didn't tell me - but in principle, it does not have the right to," lawyer Jean-Marie Burguburu said. "If it did, that would be against the law."
PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) promised on Friday that the cause of death revealed in the medical file will be publicized the moment the information is in the hands of the Palestinian Authority.
"As soon as we receive the report, we will read the doctors' opinion and we will inform the Palestinian people of all the details relating to the circumstances of [Arafat's] death," Qurei said.
Al-Kidwa was supposed to deliver the report to a special commission of inquiry set up by the Palestinian leadership to investigate the circumstances of Arafat's death.
The committee, headed by Health Minister Jawad Tibi, is expected to meet with the Tunisian, Egyptian and Jordanian physicians who had examined Arafat before he was flown to Paris on October 29.
Until now, the French doctors who treated Arafat in his last days have declined to say what caused his death, citing privacy laws. But French authorities said Thursday they would release Arafat's medical records to al-Kidwa.
"The full medical report of President Arafat is a historical document for the Palestinian people," said Hassan Abu Libdeh, the Palestinian Cabinet secretary. "We will get the report and the Palestinian Authority will take the necessary decisions including informing the Palestinian people about the full details of the report."
Quoting "very good sources" that remained anonymous, the French daily Le Monde reported Wednesday that Arafat had suffered from a very serious blood disease, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC).
DIC is a syndrome of activated coagulation that manifests with bleeding or thrombosis. Doctors say that DIC is usually associated with a high mortality rate, which is not necessarily from the DIC itself but from the underlying disease.
Given the risks of massive hemorrhage, the doctors at the Percy military hospital did perform a biopsy of Arafat's liver. "We could not strictly speaking conclude that (Arafat) had cirrhosis. We talked only about major troubles of the hepatic function without being able to find precisely what caused them. However, alcoholism can clearly be eliminated."
The usually well informed French satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine reported that Arafat had died of liver cirrhosis. Since this ailment is usually linked with alcoholism, Arafat's family may decide not to disclose the cause of his death.
Claude Goasguen, a member of the ruling majority at the French National Assembly, asked French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, "To deny in the most official way possible the rumor of Arafat's hypothetical poisoning." Goasguen added that he would ask for a National Assembly investigation commission to look into the matter.
With AP
REPORTING FROM ISRAEL
WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
I am of the opinion he probably had AIDS. I was wondering, assuming I am correct, that it would never appear in his records. Something along the lines of he died of pnuemonia or that rare cancer that pretty much only affects AIDS patients or something. After all, AIDS doesn't kill you...it only opens to door to any and everything else. Whatever it was, the technical cause of death is not AIDS.
Sounds like Suha's going to queer the deal for the PA. :D
yeah he sucked too much DIC
Suha is for sale. The right sum of money waved in her face and she'll cough up the records in no time.
Ru Roh--it must be leaking out. And what "false ideas" are those sweetie?
Suha is playing with fire, she could end up real dead. Wouldnt that be a shame?
I guess that we shallsoon be calling him Yasser the Butt-Pirate instead of Yasser the Terrorist....
The same could be said for France :)
Why? It is to run from French authorities when the money-laundering probes complete.
DIC is not a primary disease; it always occurs secondary to an underlying disorder, such recent injury or trauma, recent surgery or anesthesia, leukemia or disseminated cancer, recent blood transfusion reaction, and severe liver disease, recent sepsis. HIV can not be excluded.
Once the records got onto that woman's hands, the chain of evidence was broken. Once she touched it you have to assume anything that comes out of it is a lie.
Once she got possession of the records, the evidence was contaminated and sanitized. Nothing from her is believeable now. If copies exist, they mey be reliable.
European rules for handling health info are not that different from ours. I'm in that business, and am sure that hospital still has the original records and she only "seized" a copy. Time for the Palestinians to go to a French court and get a copy of their own - a lawyer can find some legit reason or another. Still, Suha is playing a very dangerous game against the Palestinians, and she's liable to lose.
Well, the French laws are different from ours. They do NOT require CAUSE OF DEATH on a death certificate.
I would also assume that the hospital would need a copy for legal reasons. If a family member were to sue them for malpractice, they would need a copy of the records to give to their attorney.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.