Earlier today, Hillsborough County (Tampa, FL) Medical Examiner Dr. Vern Adams, completed a press briefing on the preliminary findings of Billy May’s autopsy results.
They are as follows:
“The autopsy done this morning reveals no evidence of head trauma or drug abuse; There had been speculation that Mays might have been injured during a hard landing at Tampa International Airport Saturday but that was ruled out as well as pulmonary embolism (blood clot/lungs)."
What was found:
Hardening of the arteries and heart weight of >500 grams indicative of hypertensive heart disease and left ventricular enlargement.
Although Mr. Mays was prescrbed two different pain medications for hip pain (he was scheduled to have hip replacement surgery today), they were not considered a factor in his death although routine toxicology reports were ordered. Cause of death is being withheld until all the reports and studies are in.
Heart Disease Discussion:
What is Heart Disease?
An enlarged heart may be caused by a thickening of the heart muscle because of increased workload. (This increased workload can be due to heart valve disease or high blood pressure, for example.) This is called hypertrophy (hi-PER'tro-fe), which refers to enlargement of an organ or tissue due to an increase in cell size.
Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is the medical term for enlargement of the left ventricle. (The left ventricle is the heart's main pumping chamber.)
In some people, an enlarged heart causes no signs or symptoms. Others may have these enlarged heart symptoms:
Breathing difficulties
Shortness of breath
Dizziness
Abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia)
Swelling (edema)
Cough
Heart Disease in Military Veterans
From the department of Veteran’s Affairs: HealthierUS Veterans
“Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and is a major cause of disability. Almost 700,000 people die of heart disease in the U.S. each year. Heart disease is a term that includes several types of heart conditions.Coronary heart disease (CHD) is also called coronary artery disease (CAD), is the most common type of heart disease. CHD develops when one or more of the coronary arteries (arteries that supply blood to the heart muscles itself) becomes narrow. This results from a buildup of cholesterol. This buildup decreases the blood flow to the heart muscle.”
There is a close associate between PTSD and Heart Disease. This has been demonstrated over years of studies on Vietnam era veterans and now on veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In the July/August 2008 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, A Prospective Study of PTSD and Early-Age Heart Disease Mortality Among Vietnam Veterans reports that having PTSD "significantly raises the risk of premature death from heart disease...[being] roughly twice as likely to die from heart disease during follow up as veterans without PTSD."
The study was based on data collected in 1985 and 1986 from a sample of 4,328 men who served in the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1971 found a direct correlation between PTSD, heart disease and cardiac death. The study sample included 2,409 individuals who were sent to Vietnam; all study participants completed a telephone questionnaire, and a random subsample was given extensive physical examinations at baseline. The researchers also controlled for family history of heart disease, smoking, obesity, and diabetes. By the completion of follow-up in 2000, 52 of the veterans in the total sample had died of a heart attack, chronic ischemic heart disease, atherosclerotic disease, hypertensive heart disease, or heart failure.
An unrelated study, based on the 2001 National Survey of Veterans and published in the September Military Medicine, found that veterans under age 60 who served in Vietnam had worse self-reported health and higher rates of stroke than those who served elsewhere during that time. Vietnam veterans older than 60 had poor self-rated health and a higher risk for cancer than their peers.
Other Resources Relevant To Military, Veterans and the Civilian Population.
Excellent pdf 2 page patient information sheet on Heart Disease from the Journal of the American Medical Association. (w/translation link for Spanish version).
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4517 Enlarged Heart
Videos:
Heart Disease: http://www.heartlibrary.com/heart-library-heart-failure.aspx from Heartlibrary.com [Accessed 29 June 2009]
Heart Anatomy: http://www.heartlibrary.com/heart-library-heart-anatomy.aspx?flashmov=heart-anatomy&currPage=HD
See also: Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/enlarged-heart/DS01129
Billy Mays: attention to the warning signs of heart disease for military veterans and civilians
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Billy Mays: attention to the warning signs of heart disease for military veterans and civilians
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
VA bureaucrats of the West Los Angeles Medical Center infamously ordered a surveillance van
http://www.veteranstoday.com/article7691.html
Pictures at above web site
By Robert L. Rosebrock, Staff Writer
June 28, 2009 is a day that will live in both infamy and honor in the lives of America's Military Veterans and We the People.
On that day, the sleazy VA bureaucrats of the West Los Angeles Medical Center infamously ordered a surveillance van to park within 100 feet from the front gate where The Veterans Revolution hold their peaceful Sunday Rallies to “Save Our Veterans Land,” and to monitor their every move.
Amateurish and Phony
The government's silver Ford van with blackened windows and no license plates was as conspicuous as a drag queen in a football team huddle. Moreover, the government's amateurish attempt to disguise their despicable spy machine as a gardener's truck with a shovel, rake and hoe at its side was as insulting as a Veteran having to shake hands with a corrupt politician.
Professional and Bold
Nonetheless, when Walter Martin and Luis Rivera, who are both Post Commanders of the Military Order of Purple Hearts, showed up for the 67th consecutive Sunday Rally, they were informed that we were being monitored by the nearby surveillance van.
Without hesitation, Commander Martin, said: “Luis, get in your car ... we're going in there.” And go in there they did.
Luis drove his red Dodge Magnum station wagon onto the Veterans' Grand Lawn alongside the surveillance van and both Commanders boldly got out and walked around the van and took photos.
Suddenly, a sloppily dressed “gardener” jumped out of the van and ordered them to stop photographing. The “gardener” had obviously called for backup support inside his spy machine because within seconds, several federal VA police cars and an unmarked car sped aggressively across the Veterans' Grand Lawn with their red and blue lights flashing while sweeping in on the “crime” scene.
Military ID Not Good Enough
Commander Martin, a 22-year Army Special Forces Veteran, showed his retirement card for identification and the VA Gestapo police didn't want to accept it as valid ID, even though he was standing on Veterans hallowed ground and both Commanders were wearing their Purple Heart caps and shirts.
For nearly an hour, the VA's thug police detained and questioned the Commanders and photographed Luis's car, while their fellow henchmen were on the phone talking to their “superiors.”
Curiously, the “gardener” and his spy machine conveniently disappeared from it's own crime scene never to be seen again.
Soon after, the VA Gestapo police released Commanders Martin and Rivera from their wrongful detainment and they returned to cheers and applauding at our 67th consecutive Sunday Rally.
A Day of Infamy
June 28, 2009, will forever be a day of infamy for America's Veterans as this was a day that our own U.S. government attempted to spy on 60, 70 and 80-year old World War II, Korean and Vietnam Veterans who were peacefully demonstrating in defense of their own sacred land.
June 28, 2009 will forever be a day of infamy for America's Veterans because this was a day that sleazy VA bureaucrats ordered either an FBI or Homeland Security surveillance van to monitor innocent and elderly Veterans who peacefully demonstrate every Sunday against those who have perpetrated the pillaging and plundering of their sacred land.
A Day of Honor
June 28, 2009 will forever be a day of Honor for America's Veterans as this is the day that two Purple Heart Veterans stood up and challenged the U.S. government's illegal spying on their fellow Veterans.
June 28, 2009 will forever be a day of Honor for America's Veterans because this is the day that two Purple Heart Veterans backed down a phony “gardener” who was spying on fellow Veterans and forced the spy master to pick up his phony shovel and get the hell off of Veterans sacred property.
America's Military Veterans and We the People owe an enormous debt of respect and gratitude to Army Veteran Walter Martin and Marine Veteran Luis Rivera, both disabled, for serving not only their Country with Duty and Honor, but their fellow Veterans as well.
Join The Veterans Revolution
If the Founders of this great nation saw what was going on against the defenders of America's freedom and independence by the public servants of the very government they established, they would start another American Revolution.
It's time for America's citizenry to stand up and defend those who have always defended them by joining the Veterans Revolution and start demanding the immediate removal of these traitorous tyrants from the public payroll.
Every American citizen is urged to turn their American Flags upside down and to start wearing their American Flag lapel pin upside down because Veterans lives and property are in extreme danger.
God Bless America and The Veterans Revolution.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Effects of Agent Orange carry on
Effects of Agent Orange carry on
Published online on Saturday, Jun. 27, 2009
By Jim Doyle
E-Mail
Print
Text Size: tool nameclose
tool goes here Comments (2) Recommend (6)
Similar stories:
•Compensate vets
Compensate vets
The article "War stress increases heart risk as vets age" [Jan. 2], I found interesting in the sense that Vietnam veterans and Gulf War veterans were omitted from the study. But if these two groups of veterans had been part of the study, the U.S. government would have had to admit that it has exposed these veterans to Agent Orange and other biological agents they shouldn't have been exposed to.
So far, the dishonorable U.S. government still has yet to compensate the Vietnam veterans for their exposure to Agent Orange, and the same goes for the Gulf War veterans.
In April 2005, former "World News Tonight" anchor Bob Woodruff said, "All American veterans of Vietnam have been compensated for their exposure to Agent Orange." Not true at all, and we all know how karma kicked his butt for that lie. ABC has yet to make a retraction and apology to Vietnam veterans for that misstatement.
•'Hayden Panettiere, Dr. Roger Payne, and others call on the International Whaling Commission to End All Commercial and Scientific Whaling Citing Studies Showing That the People Who Eat Dolphin, Whale, and Porpoise Meat Are the Most Contaminated Humans on
'Hayden Panettiere, Dr. Roger Payne, and others call on the International Whaling Commission to End All Commercial and Scientific Whaling Citing Studies Showing That the People Who Eat Dolphin, Whale, and Porpoise Meat Are the Most Contaminated Humans on
On the opening day of the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), conservationists including "Save the Whales Again!" Campaign spokesperson Hayden Panettiere and renowned whale researcher Dr. Roger Payne call on the IWC to end to all commercial and scientific research whaling by Japan, Norway, and Iceland while also calling on Japan and the Faroe Islands to stop killing dolphins, porpoise, and other small whales citing human health concerns based on new scientific findings.
Since the 1986 commercial whaling moratorium, over 25,000 great whales have been killed by Japan, Norway, and Iceland while over 400,000 dolphins, porpoises, and other small whales have been killed by fisherman in Japan and the Faroe Islands, all for human consumption.
A recent report by Blue Voice shows that whale meat tested in Japanese markets was loaded with mercury, PCBs, Dioxin, and other contaminants. "BlueVoice.org has conducted numerous tests on dolphins and small whales taken in the brutal Taiji drive
•Healthy Child Healthy World Joins With Activeion Cleaning Solutions
Healthy Child Healthy World Joins With Activeion Cleaning Solutions
Healthy Child Healthy World, the nation's nonprofit leader in educating the public about preventing children's exposure to harmful chemicals, is proud to announce a new long-term partnership with Activeion Cleaning Solutions, a company revolutionizing the cleaning industry through a simple, safe, highly sustainable cleaning technology.
The company's first product, the Activeion Pro, integrates the cutting-edge technology into a portable bottle that converts tap water into a powerful cleaner and sanitizer as it sprays, freeing families from the classic chemical arsenal relied upon for a clean home. Activeion Cleaning Solutions is the first company to take a popular water technology used for decades in the food processing, industrial technology and health-related industries, advance it, and then design it into a mobile, on-demand cleaner for commercial as well as residential use. To see a demonstration of how the Activeion Pro works, click here.
"Parents today are constantly looking for products deemed
•Number of VA claims poised to hit 1 million
Number of VA claims poised to hit 1 million
This isn't the same as getting a free duffel bag for being the millionth person to go through the turnstiles: The Veterans Affairs Department appears poised to have hit the 1 million milestone on claims it still hasn't processed.
This unwelcome marker approaches as the agency scrambles to hire and train new claims processors, which can take two years. VA officials are working with the Pentagon under orders from President Barack Obama to create by 2012 a system that will allow the two agencies to electronically exchange records, a process now done manually on paper.
Meanwhile, veterans, some of whom were severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, continue to endure financial hardship while their claims are processed. They wait more than four months on average for a claim to be processed, and appealing a claim takes a year and a half on average.
•Did toxic chemical in Iraq cause GIs' illnesses?
Did toxic chemical in Iraq cause GIs' illnesses?
Larry Roberta's every breath is a painful reminder of his time in Iraq. He can't walk a block without gasping for air. His chest hurts, his migraines sometimes persist for days and he needs pills to help him sleep.
James Gentry came home with rashes, ear troubles and a shortness of breath. Later, things got much worse: He developed lung cancer, which spread to his spine, ribs and one of his thighs; he must often use a cane, and no longer rides his beloved Harley.
David Moore's postwar life turned into a harrowing medical mystery: nosebleeds and labored breathing that made it impossible to work, much less speak. His desperate search for answers ended last year when he died of lung disease at age 42.
On June 2, the Ford Foundation released the results of a lengthy study on the effects of Agent Orange/Dioxin, and confirmed what Vietnam veterans have known for years: This stuff will kill you, or worse, pass to your children and grandchildren and cause a range of disabilities and diseases that will profoundly affect their lives.
Every good parent does their best to assure a better life for their children, irrespective of time and place. Many Vietnam veterans, however, have unintentionally left a disturbing legacy -- birth defects or damaged genes that carry the potential risk of birth defects in succeeding generations.
This troubling inheritance is directly linked to the harm caused as a result of our exposure to Dioxin, an unintended by product of the combination of 2-4-5-T and 2,4,D that created the herbicide more commonly known as Agent Orange.
Over a period of nearly 10 years, about 21 million gallons of Agent Orange was sprayed over more than 10 million acres in Vietnam. The VA presumes that veterans who served in Vietnam were exposed to Agent Orange. It was in the air and in the water. Dioxin was one of the more prevalent culprits at Times Beach and Love Canal.
Agent Orange was composed primarily of two commonly used commercial weed killers, the combination of which creates the chemical 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), known to be toxic in humans. One of these ingredients (2,4,5,T was banned by the World Health Organization in 1970. TCDD accumulates in human fatty tissue, where it is neither readily metabolized nor excreted.
Over time, the toxin accumulates and the effects can remain. In April 1970, the federal government found evidence that TCDD had caused birth defects in laboratory mice, but it was still used in Vietnam for nearly eight more months.
Children and grandchildren of Vietnam veterans suffer from a wide spectrum of conditions including Achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism to Williams Syndrome, a rare disorder caused by "erasure" of about 26 genes from a specific chromosome that can cause mental retardation, a distinctive facial appearance and cardiovascular problems for starters.
Cleft lip and palate, congenital heart disease, fused digits, hip dysplasia, neural tube defects and undescended testicles -- the list goes on.
Who drafted these kids?
Physical, mental and emotional disabilities in our children, and now a growing number of anecdotal reports of these same birth defects turning up in our grandchildren haunt Vietnam veteran parents.
These are the result of wounds that will never be acknowledged by a Purple Heart medal, wounding yet another generation.
When will the casualties of the Vietnam War end? After 30 years of research, the evidence is firmly on the side of Vietnam veterans, both male and female. Despite this evidentiary flood, Mom and Dad are still running the gauntlet of rules, regulations, administrative decisions, legal opinions, forms, physical examinations, evaluations and plain old indifference in an attempt to get treatment and compensation, not only for themselves but for their children.
Again it must be asked, who drafted these kids?
After more than 30 years, isn't it long past time for this issue to be settled?
The Ford Foundation report calls for improved diagnosis and treatment, and continued study of the environmental and health effects of Agent Orange. It also appeals for expanded care, not only for veterans but for their children suffering next-generation effects from their parents' toxic exposures.
In the face of the growing scientific evidence and the conclusions of the foundation study report the government still refuses to fully acknowledge the friendly fire toll of Agent Orange, now visited upon another generation.
Vietnam veteran moms and dads must focus on what will be there for their children after the flag on their casket has been presented.
The reality is that there are hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans who endure daily struggles with diseases and conditions that are a direct result of their exposure to Agent Orange and other toxic chemicals used in Vietnam. There is little, if any, serious dispute of that fact. Millions of Vietnamese also suffer the same illnesses and die the same agonized death, and their children too.
Just as Traumatic Brain Injury has become the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so to has the long-festering wound of Agent Orange become the signature wound for Vietnam veterans.
Before his death in January 2000, Valley native Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., commander of U.S. naval forces in Vietnam and later Chief of Naval Operations, fought to force those in power to take responsibility for their actions and admit that Agent Orange killed more than vegetation.
Zumwalt ordered the spraying of Agent Orange in the Mekong Delta and it ultimately lead to the cancer that killed his Navy lieutenant son, Elmo Zumwalt III at 42. Grandson Elmo IV was born in 1977 with a severe learning disability.
For Admiral Zumwalt, it was simple.
When Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, a World War II veteran whose son served in Vietnam and died from cancer, recuses himself from Agent Orange cases, there is a reason.
Vietnam veterans are not asking for a handout, they are just asking for some truth. Oh, and a return on the investment they made in freedom four decades ago. There can be no recession in that account.
