Doctoring Orders

[HARDCORE]

I received this by e-mail! Thought you guys might like to read it!!!

Mrs. Hardcore
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http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9530

Doctoring Orders

On January 14, 2002, two fellow military officers and I met with the Pentagon?s newly-appointed top doctor, William Winkenwerder, M.D., to brief him on the military?s anthrax vaccination program criticized in 11 prior General Accounting Office reports. I told Dr. Winkenwerder, a civilian, that he held a key Constitutional responsibility?the "civilian control"of military medicine?and that he needed to address deep systemic problems, starting with the vaccination program.

But Dr. Winkenwerder?a career hospital administrator?ignored our concerns and yielded to his military staff. Over the next year he authorized the resumption of mandatory anthrax and smallpox vaccinations. While the British and Australian military made the shots voluntary during the Iraq War, American servicemembers who refused vaccination were?and still are?being court-martialed and jailed. In contrast, the highest judge in the Canadian military ruled in 2000 that the mandatory use of the U.S. anthrax vaccine was a violation of the Canadian Charter of Human Rights. Apparently, American soldiers have no such rights.

The more serious consequences of Dr. Winkenwerder?s decision are now becoming clear. On Tuesday, Dec. 2, he belatedly announced that the death of Army Specialist Rachel Lacy last April was "probably" caused by vaccines, among them the controversial anthrax and smallpox shots given to all soldiers sent to Iraq.

This admission follows a familiar pattern we've seen with Gulf War Illness in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, with Agent Orange in Vietnam War and with other military medical problems. First, the Pentagon denies responsibility. Then, they claim the death or illness is unique. And finally, they blame the victim.

Equally important, this case highlights the bipartisan indifference of a Congress that for decades has refused to hold the military accountable for law-breaking and unethical behavior related to its practice of medicine. The Pentagon has a well-established pattern of ignoring laws passed by Congress intended to protect soldiers? health. For instance, the Pentagon refused to create baseline medical records of all deployed Iraq War troops, as required under a 1997 law. And with the anthrax vaccine used on Rachel Lacy, the Pentagon ignored a 1998 law barring the military from using drugs and vaccines unapproved for their intended use without a presidential executive order.

Rachel Lacy?s story is simple. She received five shots in one day and later became ill and died. In her case, the Army's admission comes after seven months of denials that vaccines caused her death. Dr. Winkenwerder asserts that her death is a "rare and tragic case," but investigations by United Press International and CBS News suggest that there have been a rash of unexplained deaths and illnesses among both deployed and non-deployed soldiers following vaccination.

For instance, the Army has attempted to attribute pneumonia deaths overseas to Iraqi cigarettes and dust, when virtually identical cases have occurred in domestically based soldiers who were vaccinated. The Army ignores the possibility that these deaths were caused by vaccines, despite Navy doctors having linked anthrax vaccine to a pneumonia-like autoimmune disorder called hypersensitivity pneumonitis.

Additionally, news reports of soldiers at Ft. Stewart, Ga., and Ft. Knox, Ky. being kept in "medical hold" units without adequate medical care have revealed few of the sick soldiers had combat-related illnesses?and most had not even deployed. Their illnesses included multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune disorders that the Army refuses to investigate. Like Lacy, the Army has blamed many of these sick reservist soldiers?who were healthy enough to be ordered to combat?for having preexisting conditions that caused their illnesses.

Finally, while acknowledging that vaccines played a role in Lacy?s death, the Pentagon is once again engaging in a ?blame-the-victim? strategy, by ascribing her death to a predisposition to Lupus. This was discovered by evaluating a 1998 sample of SPC Lacy's blood the Army already had in its possession?which raises the question of why the Army doesn't screen soldiers in advance instead of waiting until they become ill or die from vaccine-related complications.

The answer, sadly, is that common sense doesn?t have a place in military medicine when it conflicts with perceived operational necessity or inflexible doctrinal precepts.

Recent reports in the New England Journal of Medicine found that genetic differences contribute to development of autoimmune disorders and that these diseases may take years to develop. These findings call into question the military's rigidly uniform vaccination policies, and contradict the Pentagon?s frequent assertions that post-vaccination autoimmune illnesses that develop weeks or months afterwards are not caused by the shots.

Yet, the military has stated Lacy?s death will not cause a change in their immunization policies?including multiple, near-simultaneous injections. The time has come for Congress to stop the Department of Defense's continued medical abuse of America's military service members. Instead, most members passively allow wrongdoing?known to the Pentagon leadership and to Congress?to go unpunished.

For instance, in early 2000, 73 officers filed a complaint with the DoD Inspector General over false and misleading statements made to Congress on anthrax vaccine safety by the top general in the Air National Guard. After twice refusing to investigate, the DoD Inspector General cited the general for violations of the DoD Joint Ethics Regulation. But the Pentagon leadership and Congress allowed this general to remain on active duty.

More recently, the DoD Inspector General has failed to refer for prosecution three now-retired senior officers who misled Congress and military courts about anthrax vaccine safety. Two of these officers later received payments from the anthrax vaccine manufacturer, BioPort Corporation, after they retired. While the DoD Inspector General deemed these payments ethical, the allegations about giving false testimony have been referred to the FBI Public Corruption Unit. But there is little reason to expect the FBI to investigate, given that the Department of Justice is currently defending the legality of Pentagon?s anthrax vaccine program in federal court.

Unfortunately, the relevant Armed Services and Veterans Affairs committees have been swayed that anthrax and smallpox vaccines are necessary by unproven assertions of a bioterror threat. So, oversight of military medicine has been left to a handful of courageous Congressmen, such as Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who, unfortunately, lack the jurisdiction?and support from colleagues?to force the military to obey the law and conform to accepted ethical standards in their practice of medicine.

The illnesses and deaths of soldiers from the medical friendly fire should have already prompted Congress to intervene and redirect the Pentagon?s troop health protection programs. Sadly, such aggressive congressional oversight of military medicine is still needed.

The first step toward Pentagon accountability should be a bipartisan call for the resignation of Dr. Winkenwerder and an independent criminal investigation of the medical corps officers responsible for the DoD anthrax and smallpox vaccination programs. If the unnecessary deaths of soldiers doesn?t demand a congressional response, what does?

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John Richardson was a fighter pilot in the Gulf War, and later served as a policy analyst for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and military fellow at Harvard University. Today, he is a consultant to the National Gulf War Resource Center, a veteran?s organization.