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Arafat's Doctor demands autopsy
Deceased Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat's longtime physician Ashraf al-Kurdy has called for a full autopsy, saying the Palestinian people had a right to know how their leader died.
Dr al-Kurdy, who has attended to Arafat for more than 25 years, told Aljazeera the circumstances of his illness and death remained unclear.
"Arafat's case involved the deficiency of blood platelets, which implies that some substance that causes it may be available in his blood. Thus we decided to send him to France to continue investigating his health situation, namely the cause of the broken or deficient blood platelets.
"But unfortunately, we received no news from the French hospital. This is why we call for an autopsy for Arafat's body to learn more about the cause of his illness."
Full disclosure
Arafat, who was 75, will be buried in the West Bank city of Ram Allah on Friday.
He suffered a brain haemorrhage on Tuesday. Palestinian officials said he had lain in a coma for about a week and that he had suffered liver and kidney failure.
French doctors have not said publicly what illness he was suffering from.
Dr al-Kurdy demanded full disclosure.
"The reasons for his illness must be disclosed by any means. The Palestinian people must demand an immediate and full investigation about the cause of his illness, the progress of his illness, his status in France and the cause of his death.
"All the medical investigation undertaken in France should also be disclosed," he said.
Cover-up
Asked about a possible cover-up and if he believed French doctors knew the cause of the late leader's illness and death but were withholding the information, he said:
"I do not know since we received no news from the Paris physicians who used to announce very scant news about Arafat's illness. It appeared as though someone dictated the information by telling them to disclose some information and to withhold another.
"Here I may cite examples of Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney and other heads of state about how the the media handles every detail about their illnesses by telling everything to the public ... unlike the case for Arafat.
"But the only source of medical information we had was what the Palestinian officials told us. When I asked them about the eminently conflicting news about Arafat, they told me an iron curtain was set around Arafat and that his wife Suha Arafat was the only one who knew what was going on.
Rapid deterioration
"Suha was even reluctant to see physicians from any Arab country visiting her husband with the exception of a Tunisian medical delegation which she invited to see Arafat," he said.
The doctor added that he was surprised at how the Palestinian president's health deteriorated after he was admitted to Percy military hospital outside Paris, noting that Arafat had arrived on his own two feet.
"This is what has surprised me since we had no medical report from the French physicians who could at least have told me as his private physician who is well informed of his health condition for more than 25 years.
"Even his wife could not know him better, but even [new PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas, also known as] Abu Mazin was not admitted to see Arafat."
Personal doctor excluded
Dr al-Kurdy lamented being excluded from the delegation to visit Arafat.
"Up to this moment I do not know any reason. I began to be sceptical when they invited an Egyptian medical delegation, then a Tunisian delegation as requested by Suha Arafat.
"As for myself, I received no welcome from his officials to visit him in Ram Allah. Only on 29 October I was contacted by Palestinian officials to see Arafat. When I saw him he was able to talk but complained of poor appetite and he had red spots on his face.
"We had a group of blood specialists but they could not find the cause of broken blood platelets. Then I decided to send him to France for further medical investigations.
"I was supposed to accompany Mahmud Abbas to France. But when Abu Mazin arrived in Amman, he did not contact me and headed for Paris.
"I demand a full investigation on this matter because Arafat was more a friend of mine than a patient, for more than 25 years. I knew there was something wrong but I do not know what it was."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/94300B85-6A5F-4489-9221-846F09564A54.htm
"Arafat's case involved the deficiency of blood platelets, which implies that some substance that causes it may be available in his blood. Thus we decided to send him to France to continue investigating his health situation, namely the cause of the broken or deficient blood platelets.
"But unfortunately, we received no news from the French hospital. This is why we call for an autopsy for Arafat's body to learn more about the cause of his illness."
Full disclosure
Arafat, who was 75, will be buried in the West Bank city of Ram Allah on Friday.
He suffered a brain haemorrhage on Tuesday. Palestinian officials said he had lain in a coma for about a week and that he had suffered liver and kidney failure.
French doctors have not said publicly what illness he was suffering from.
Dr al-Kurdy demanded full disclosure.
"The reasons for his illness must be disclosed by any means. The Palestinian people must demand an immediate and full investigation about the cause of his illness, the progress of his illness, his status in France and the cause of his death.
"All the medical investigation undertaken in France should also be disclosed," he said.
Cover-up
Asked about a possible cover-up and if he believed French doctors knew the cause of the late leader's illness and death but were withholding the information, he said:
"I do not know since we received no news from the Paris physicians who used to announce very scant news about Arafat's illness. It appeared as though someone dictated the information by telling them to disclose some information and to withhold another.
"Here I may cite examples of Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney and other heads of state about how the the media handles every detail about their illnesses by telling everything to the public ... unlike the case for Arafat.
"But the only source of medical information we had was what the Palestinian officials told us. When I asked them about the eminently conflicting news about Arafat, they told me an iron curtain was set around Arafat and that his wife Suha Arafat was the only one who knew what was going on.
Rapid deterioration
"Suha was even reluctant to see physicians from any Arab country visiting her husband with the exception of a Tunisian medical delegation which she invited to see Arafat," he said.
The doctor added that he was surprised at how the Palestinian president's health deteriorated after he was admitted to Percy military hospital outside Paris, noting that Arafat had arrived on his own two feet.
"This is what has surprised me since we had no medical report from the French physicians who could at least have told me as his private physician who is well informed of his health condition for more than 25 years.
"Even his wife could not know him better, but even [new PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas, also known as] Abu Mazin was not admitted to see Arafat."
Personal doctor excluded
Dr al-Kurdy lamented being excluded from the delegation to visit Arafat.
"Up to this moment I do not know any reason. I began to be sceptical when they invited an Egyptian medical delegation, then a Tunisian delegation as requested by Suha Arafat.
"As for myself, I received no welcome from his officials to visit him in Ram Allah. Only on 29 October I was contacted by Palestinian officials to see Arafat. When I saw him he was able to talk but complained of poor appetite and he had red spots on his face.
"We had a group of blood specialists but they could not find the cause of broken blood platelets. Then I decided to send him to France for further medical investigations.
"I was supposed to accompany Mahmud Abbas to France. But when Abu Mazin arrived in Amman, he did not contact me and headed for Paris.
"I demand a full investigation on this matter because Arafat was more a friend of mine than a patient, for more than 25 years. I knew there was something wrong but I do not know what it was."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/94300B85-6A5F-4489-9221-846F09564A54.htm
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Mystery lingers over cause of Arafat's death
Physician says poison 'highest' likelihood
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Saturday, November 13, 2004
What did Yasser Arafat die of? With the body of the late Palestinian leader now buried in his West Bank headquarters, his cause of death and mysterious illness have become a major point of scrutiny in France, where he received final medical treatment.
Officials refused to divulge the information, citing patient confidentiality under French law - and in the absence of a diagnosis, rumors have flown.
Some Palestinians have speculated Israel was responsible, either indirectly by keeping 75-year-old Arafat confined in his battered Ramallah compound, or directly, through poisoning.
Others, trying to piece together the puzzle from the symptoms announced before Arafat's emergency flight to a Paris military hospital on Oct. 29 and from French medical sources speaking anonymously, saw the signs of terminal cancer.
Arafat's widow, Suha, has offered no elucidation, leading some to conclude that the ailment might be embarrassing if it ever became known.
But an X-ray specialist who had access to Arafat's medical file told Liberation newspaper that he did not see anything sinister in the data.
"It was basic medicine, there were no surprises," it quoted the unidentified doctor as saying.
France's Le Figaro newspaper, close to the government of President Jacques Chirac, who personally made the decision to take in Arafat, brushed aside the official line that the Palestinian leader was suffering "gastric flu."
The symptoms of stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea and the increase in white blood cells and the decline of blood platelets needed for blood clotting suggested other, more serious causes, it said.
The Percy Military Hospital which treated him publicly ruled out leukemia.
"However, the diagnosis of another hematological disease cannot be excluded, starting with lymphoma," a specialist told Le Figaro. Other theories were advanced cancer of the bone marrow or the bowels, possibly complicated by infections.
In any case, it would probably emerge that Arafat was in an irreversible coma and had his bodily functions kept going artificially for up to a week before he was declared dead on Thursday, French media said.
The days before the announcement were marked by confusion, with some French medical sources and Palestinian aides saying Arafat was effectively dead, while Suha and other Palestinian officials denied that.
A spokesman for the French military's medical service, Christian Estripeau, said hours after Arafat was pronounced dead that he had "no declaration" to make on the cause. "It is not up to the defense forces' health service to reveal information given to the family."
Arafat's physician, Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, has called for an inquiry, saying poisoning was the "highest" possible cause and urging an autopsy.
"One cause of platelet deficiency is poison," said Kurdi, who examined Arafat in Ramallah two weeks ago. Although "not definitive, I believe the highest reason for Arafat's mysterious death is poisoning. Therefore, there should be an autopsy."
There has been speculation Arafat could have been poisoned by Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Thursday dismissed the claims.
Kurdi called the burial hasty and expressed concern about the absence of a diagnosis and the lack of an autopsy as dictated by laws and in compliance with Islamic rules, especially when suspicious death occurs.
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=10154
Physician says poison 'highest' likelihood
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Saturday, November 13, 2004
What did Yasser Arafat die of? With the body of the late Palestinian leader now buried in his West Bank headquarters, his cause of death and mysterious illness have become a major point of scrutiny in France, where he received final medical treatment.
Officials refused to divulge the information, citing patient confidentiality under French law - and in the absence of a diagnosis, rumors have flown.
Some Palestinians have speculated Israel was responsible, either indirectly by keeping 75-year-old Arafat confined in his battered Ramallah compound, or directly, through poisoning.
Others, trying to piece together the puzzle from the symptoms announced before Arafat's emergency flight to a Paris military hospital on Oct. 29 and from French medical sources speaking anonymously, saw the signs of terminal cancer.
Arafat's widow, Suha, has offered no elucidation, leading some to conclude that the ailment might be embarrassing if it ever became known.
But an X-ray specialist who had access to Arafat's medical file told Liberation newspaper that he did not see anything sinister in the data.
"It was basic medicine, there were no surprises," it quoted the unidentified doctor as saying.
France's Le Figaro newspaper, close to the government of President Jacques Chirac, who personally made the decision to take in Arafat, brushed aside the official line that the Palestinian leader was suffering "gastric flu."
The symptoms of stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea and the increase in white blood cells and the decline of blood platelets needed for blood clotting suggested other, more serious causes, it said.
The Percy Military Hospital which treated him publicly ruled out leukemia.
"However, the diagnosis of another hematological disease cannot be excluded, starting with lymphoma," a specialist told Le Figaro. Other theories were advanced cancer of the bone marrow or the bowels, possibly complicated by infections.
In any case, it would probably emerge that Arafat was in an irreversible coma and had his bodily functions kept going artificially for up to a week before he was declared dead on Thursday, French media said.
The days before the announcement were marked by confusion, with some French medical sources and Palestinian aides saying Arafat was effectively dead, while Suha and other Palestinian officials denied that.
A spokesman for the French military's medical service, Christian Estripeau, said hours after Arafat was pronounced dead that he had "no declaration" to make on the cause. "It is not up to the defense forces' health service to reveal information given to the family."
Arafat's physician, Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, has called for an inquiry, saying poisoning was the "highest" possible cause and urging an autopsy.
"One cause of platelet deficiency is poison," said Kurdi, who examined Arafat in Ramallah two weeks ago. Although "not definitive, I believe the highest reason for Arafat's mysterious death is poisoning. Therefore, there should be an autopsy."
There has been speculation Arafat could have been poisoned by Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Thursday dismissed the claims.
Kurdi called the burial hasty and expressed concern about the absence of a diagnosis and the lack of an autopsy as dictated by laws and in compliance with Islamic rules, especially when suspicious death occurs.
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=10154
AMMAN, November 13 (Online): A leading Jordanian neurologist who regularly examined Yasser Arafat said on Friday that poisoning was the "highest" probable cause of the Palestinian leader's mysterious death and urged that an autopsy be performed.
"One of the causes of platelet deficiency is poison," said Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, who examined a gravely ill Arafat in his besieged compound in the West Bank town of Rammallah two weeks ago. Arafat died Thursday in Paris, where he had flown Oct. 29 for treatment after tests indicated he had a low count of blood platelets, components that help clotting.
Although "not definitive, I believe the highest reason for Arafat's mysterious death is poisoning," al-Kurdi told The Associated Press in an interview on Friday. "Therefore, there should be an autopsy performed," added al-Kurdi, who had been Arafat's personal physician for the last two decades.
There has been widespread speculation that Arafat could have been poisoned by Israel. Neither doctors nor Palestinian leaders have said what caused Arafat's death after days in a coma at a Paris hospital.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Thursday dismissed allegations that Israel killed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as "scandalous and false."
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=83545
"One of the causes of platelet deficiency is poison," said Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, who examined a gravely ill Arafat in his besieged compound in the West Bank town of Rammallah two weeks ago. Arafat died Thursday in Paris, where he had flown Oct. 29 for treatment after tests indicated he had a low count of blood platelets, components that help clotting.
Although "not definitive, I believe the highest reason for Arafat's mysterious death is poisoning," al-Kurdi told The Associated Press in an interview on Friday. "Therefore, there should be an autopsy performed," added al-Kurdi, who had been Arafat's personal physician for the last two decades.
There has been widespread speculation that Arafat could have been poisoned by Israel. Neither doctors nor Palestinian leaders have said what caused Arafat's death after days in a coma at a Paris hospital.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Thursday dismissed allegations that Israel killed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as "scandalous and false."
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=83545
From the International Herald Tribune:
"The hospital officially announced Mr. Arafat's death in a terse statement delivered by a hospital spokesman, Gen. Christian Estripeau, who told reporters that there would be no details released on tests, the cause of death or whether there would be an autopsy.
In France, a patient or the next of kin must give permission for doctors to release information, and in his carefully worded statements, General Estripeau has suggested that this permission was not given. "It is not up to the defense forces health services to reveal information given to the family," he said Thursday.
It is accepted medical practice throughout the world that patients or their families have to the right to keep medical information private. In France, politicians and celebrities frequently keep their medical information secret. But in many countries, like the United States, public figures are expected to disclose private health information and hospitals tend to encourage it. [...]
There are various possibilities about why Mr. Arafat's inner circle would want to keep the cause of his death a secret. Perhaps he suffered from a disease that they considered embarrassing. Or perhaps the doctors who treated him during the early phases of his illness in Ramallah missed a treatable condition, letting him deteriorate to the point where it was too late to cure him once he had been moved to Paris.
-----
My comment:
Now, if those tests had shown that Arafat had been poisoned, you can bet Suha "$100,000 a month in Paris" Arafat would be screaming bloody murder, literally. Instead she wants it hushed up.
Why is that, do you suppose?
@%<
"The hospital officially announced Mr. Arafat's death in a terse statement delivered by a hospital spokesman, Gen. Christian Estripeau, who told reporters that there would be no details released on tests, the cause of death or whether there would be an autopsy.
In France, a patient or the next of kin must give permission for doctors to release information, and in his carefully worded statements, General Estripeau has suggested that this permission was not given. "It is not up to the defense forces health services to reveal information given to the family," he said Thursday.
It is accepted medical practice throughout the world that patients or their families have to the right to keep medical information private. In France, politicians and celebrities frequently keep their medical information secret. But in many countries, like the United States, public figures are expected to disclose private health information and hospitals tend to encourage it. [...]
There are various possibilities about why Mr. Arafat's inner circle would want to keep the cause of his death a secret. Perhaps he suffered from a disease that they considered embarrassing. Or perhaps the doctors who treated him during the early phases of his illness in Ramallah missed a treatable condition, letting him deteriorate to the point where it was too late to cure him once he had been moved to Paris.
-----
My comment:
Now, if those tests had shown that Arafat had been poisoned, you can bet Suha "$100,000 a month in Paris" Arafat would be screaming bloody murder, literally. Instead she wants it hushed up.
Why is that, do you suppose?
@%<
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