Misdiagnosed Green Beret Demoted, Nearly Court-Martialed Before Rare Illness Revealed

TBO.com ^

[Tijeras_Slim]

Very sad.

[eyespysomething]

What a sad story.


Biological warfare? Or just sheep brains? (ewwwwee))

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Biological warfare? Or just sheep brains?

As sad as it is, sometimes it just seems to happen. It is like some sort of switch is flipped.

[VOA]

Alford's parents say Special Forces staff told them that a doctor in Kuwait found nothing
wrong with him and that a psychiatrist there had said Alford was "faking it."

I owe my life a few times over to good doctors.
But, if this story reflect truth, it just shows there are some really awful M.D.s out there.

[nuconvert]

Heartbreaking disease.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

Alford was the youngest man in 5th Group and his wife says some of his team members resented his promotion

More beat up the army stuff. If I recall, from the last article posted on this (I don't have the link) these "parents" were supposed to gets themselves appointed as Guardians. The last article was a whiney column 'bout the injustice of it all by having their son's pay frozen yet "Mom" has a power of attorney.

It's clear the individual is still in a semi-coma state that is only getting worse and "Mom" still hasn't bothered to gets that Guardianship.

But hey! That doesn't mean "Dad" can't trash them Special Forces who "I think they did everything they could to break him, mentally and physically," he said.

[Bogey78O]

The doctor failed to diagnose.

The Psychiatrist just isn't medically apt to diagnose rare biological diseases.

He deserved better than what he got.

[MizSterious]

Sad as this situation is, they can't blame the military. I've seen similar things happen in the civilian world. Once I was asked to come in and replace a computer operator who had began acting strangely too--she wouldn't come in, she'd forget to do important tasks, or did them wrong. She would be rude at times, apparently sullen at others. So they fired her. Then they learned--too late--that she had a brain tumor. She died about a month after I assumed her job.

The thing is, sometimes people change their behavior because they're on drugs (which is what people thought had happened to her) or because their private lives are falling apart, or just because they're tired of their job. They were fighting a war, and perhaps they didn't have time to thoroughly examine everyone who began acting strangely. I wish for this guy's sake, they had, but I don't fault the military.

It's tragic, though. Prayers for him and his family.

[neverdem]

Unfortunately, this is a very common situation when anyone is victim to rare diseases. He is probably the first soldier diagnosed accurately.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I hope they track down the others who may have shared in the sheep-brain feast with him, and warn them.

[xzins]

If they are unable to apologize, then they might, at least, consider a public release that says they were WRONG. And they might especially point out that any demeaning characterizations were also WRONG!

That will provide just as much healing as an apology, and it will show the integrity of our special forces.

Xzins
Chaplain (Retired) US Army

[LibWhacker]

It affects just one in 100 million people under 30

Horrible for him and his family. But folks should take it easy on the Army docs. With a probability like that, it's not going to show up in any initial differential diagnosis, I don't care how good the doc is. The docs at Mayo clinic probably would've missed it first time around.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1019461/posts

[RightOnline]

How incredibly tragic. God bless this young man and his family. Shame on SF for not making it right sooner.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Alford's father, retired Army Command Sgt. Maj. John Alford, who served 34 years

Dad gave many years to the USA, and his son almost certainly followed in his father's footsteps. Can you blame him for being angry at the way he perceives his dying son was treated? An unfortunate situation, all the way around.

[HiTech RedNeck]

The docs at Mayo clinic probably would've missed it first time around.

Is it something that a brain scan would see? I thought that was a fairly standard thing done with young patients suffering from this kind of dementia.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

CJD is extremely difficult to diagnose ante-mortem- but it seems that he exhibited plenty of neurological symptoms, and should have had a competent Neurologist examine him early on in this ordeal. The diagnostic possibilities are many, but it should have been apparent that there was organic brain disease.

And it is not as though no-one knows about degenerative brain disease in young people- I would be surprised if there were a physician (or a Special Forces medic) who does not know of the outbreak of "new variant" CJD in Great Britain.

[Junior]

This is the "laughing sickness" that used to affect South Seas cannibals. I thought the only way you could catch it was by ingesting the brains of an infected person.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

I'm not sure how my father would act, for that part, if I had the same experience 'cause I ate something better left in an aquarium when I was in South Korea. Especially since my Dad did three tours in 'nam.

That said, I have mixed feelings on this, as part of me believes that the parents are being exploited by those who feel "we should not be there".

While the parents are concerned over the treatment of their son, I noticed it took a neighbor to contact the parents to notify them of the problem. I don't know how often you talk to your folks, or your wife, but neither of them considered it strange that he didn't call. But I suppose it's the Army's fault either way...