Sickle Cell Trait v. Sickle cell disease Lesson 2
The boot camp case is quickly boiled down to which autopsy is correct. Was the death due to complications from sickle cell trait or suffocation from improperly administrating ammonia to revive the victim? The so-called beating caught on videotape was ruled out by both competing autopsies as being a factor in the case. The segment of the videotape showing the administering of ammonia remains as critical evidence, however. Racism is ruled out because drill instructors were both black and white and the incoming offenders or boot camp recruits were also both black and white and were treated the same.
Dr. Siebert's defense relies on his expert witness, Dr. John Qark, the recognised foremost authority on death from complications from sickle cell trait of boot camp military recruits. The prosecution's case, if there is one, rests on Dr. Adam's, the medical examiner performing the second autopsy and Dr. Baden, the HBO celebrity pathologist. Dr. Baden claims that he has analyzed 6000 prison inmate deaths and not one was due to complications from sickle cell trait. Since sickle cell trait appears in about one percent of the population, about 60 of these deaths were of people with sickle cell trait, but it was not a factor in their death. Dr. Baden is unqualified as an expert witness on deaths from complications from sickle cell trait of boot camp recruits, however. His autopsies were of prison inmates, but none were from the boot camp environment. They were not exercise induced deaths. Dr. Baden is an expert witness on why inmates die in prison, but no more qualified than Dr. Siebert or Dr. Adams on complications from sickle cell trait in boot camp recruits. The jury must rely on Dr. Qark as being the only expert qualified on the specialized topic.
Prosecutor Ober will also bring in the head of the Sickle Cell Disease Association, Dr. Willarda Edwards, as an expert witness to counter Dr. Qark's testimony in support of Dr. Siebert. She has been very outspoken about Dr. Siebert's results. See below. But is she qualified any more than Dr. Baden to give an 'expert' opinion on this case? Unless you do your homework as a layman, you simply don't understand the question and cannot be a responsible juror.
Let's determine if Willarda (Dr. Edwards) is qualified to speak about Sickle Cell Trait. She is obviously qualified to speak on Sickle Cell Disease and perhaps on Sickle Cell anemia also. She claims:
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Many of you are already aware of the flurry of activity early this year that centered on the young man (14-year old) in Florida whose death after a beating in a youth boot camp was wrongfully attributed to sickle cell trait. In brief, as stated in the SCDAA press release last month:
Martin Lee Anderson was beaten by guards within two hours of his arrival at the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp facility early January 5th, was taken to Bay County Medical Center, and later transported by air ambulance to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola where he died on Jan. 6, 2006.
The fact that the county medical examiner associated the death of this young man with bleeding secondary to sickle cell trait is very disturbing in the Sickle Cell Disease community and among members of the health profession.
SCDAA literature and information online, as per the press release, states:
Over 3 million Americans carry the sickle cell trait. Sickle cell trait (AS) is not a disease. Sickle cell trait is NOT a form of sickle cell disease.
People with AS do not normally have sickle cells circulating in their blood and they do not have anemia or signs of increased red blood cell destruction, both being hallmarks of sickle cell disease. The finding of sickle red blood cells at autopsy of a person with sickle cell trait is not unusual, but expected. When red blood cells of people with sickle cell trait lose all the oxygen they carry (as would be expected at death), they will turn into sickle cells. Several studies involving thousands of people with sickle cell trait (AS) have confirmed that they do not have lower life expectancy or more complicated health than others. People with AS do not have the symptoms of sickle cell disease. In fact the overwhelming majority of people in the world with AS and their healthcare providers are unaware of it because it does not affect their health.
In untrained military recruits, very rare exercise-related deaths during basic training were seen more frequently in those with sickle cell trait. Such deaths have not been seen in conditioned military personnel, or in student and professional athletes (including long distance runners) with sickle cell trait. These preventable deaths in military recruits were reduced when training methods allowing for increased drinking of water and recognition of exertional heat illness were instituted. All these medical conditions occur also in people without sickle cell trait. Their association with people with sickle cell trait is merely statistical. It remains to be proven whether sickle cell trait causes these conditions or whether some other genetic or environmental factors also frequent in people with sickle cell trait are the actual causes of the conditions.
The fact that so many people (medical professionals included) are so misinformed about sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait, indicates the strong need for SCDAA and its member organizations across the country. Our mission to address sickle cell disease and its related conditions can not be any more necessary and better demonstrated than it has been in this unfortunate case in Florida.
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Dr. Edwards, who knows little about sickle cell trait, is proving that Dr. Qark, who has spent a lifetime studying sickle cell trait, doesn't know what he's talking about in supporting Dr. Siebert. How is she proving it? By using accepted scientific medical research based on millions of boot camp recruits over 20 years. And whose research is she quoting? None other than Dr. Qark's, Dr. Seibert's expert witness!!!! I can't make up stuff this funny -- it's so absurd. It would be equally absurd to ask Dr.Qark to give an expert opinion on sickle cell disease to counter Dr. Edwards. Hopefully, he would readily admit that he is a sickle cell trait specialist and therefore knows little about sickle cell disease, since it's not related to his field of research. It's sad Willarda cannot admit the same due to a lack of self-confidence, I assume.
Here's what you should learn in Lesson 2 here. Sickle cell disease mortality has nothing to do with mortality relating to complications of exercise related deaths due to sickle cell trait. Dr. Edwards has proved here that 'trait' and 'disease' are alien subjects when preceded by the words sickle cell. If you're from the 'show me' state, prove it for yourself. Go to the extensive webpage of the Sickle Cell DISEASE Association of A. and enter 'sickle cell TRAIT' in their search engine. Hint: you won't get any hits. Try Howard University and Dr. Qark. You'll have better luck. Don't forget; I will be asking questions next time. Stan
