Re: Gulf War Syndrome

[ahlewis@scsn.net]

  As I read this, I did have the thought that I never met anyone who 
  didn't consider the insurance industry to be a profound & 
  self-serving scam.  Purely anecdotal, of course, but worth 
  considering.  
  
  I also perceive a profound distrust of the medical industry, taken 
  as a whole.  (Anecdotal again, of course.)
  
  In this forum, we have learned to be distrustful of the privacy 
  strip-mining industry.
  
  Here is an example of the confluence of all three.
  
  <---- Begin Included Message ---->
  Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 10:05:59 -0500 (EST)
  Reply-To: AGENTLE@aol.com
  Sender: med-privacy@essential.org
  From: AGENTLE@aol.com
  Subject: Gulf War Syndrome
  
  Med-privacy:
  
  I am wondering if any of you caught the National Public Radio spot 
  last
  friday morning, where a gulf war vet was interviewed. His name was 
  Barry
  Kapplan. 
  
  He has five or so simulataneous disabilities going on, most of them
  apparently related to exposure to burning petroleum products, 
  possible
  exposure to biological weapons of Saddam, etc.
  
  The US Army fought his medical claims by hiring a Psychiatrist to 
  evaluate
  him, and after writing a long treatise, concluded that the young 
  soldier's
  problems were 'somataform' disorder (psychosomatic or in the 
  vernacular, all
  'in his head'. Despite the fact that he had a doctor who had proven 
  all 5
  diseases in lab results. 
  
  As I have gone on to document, this is the standard dodge in this 
  country,
  for medical problems. Whether from disease, auto accident, mugging, 
  workplace
  accident or whatever, apparently this nations excuse for deflecting
  responsibility is to hire a 'hired gun' psychiatrist, to write a 
  scathing
  report on the victim, and blame everything on psychosomatic 
  disorder. 
  
  Any comments, or observations?
  
  Alex
  
  
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