by Robert F. Sawallesh
10 November 2004
www.pentagonmaverick.com
Who has the highest priority for admittance to military hospitals, VIPs/Politicians or the military community?
(1). "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta is "doing fine" after undergoing hip replacement surgery Thursday morning, a Department of Transportation spokesman said."
"Surgeons replaced Mineta's left hip with a titanium ball and socket in the two-hour surgery, which began at 7 a.m. EST at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington." Go to http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/01/31/mineta.hip/.
(2). "...ailing Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was airlifted on Friday morning by a Jordanian military helicopter to Amman, and from there by a French Presidential jet to a military hospital just outside Paris."
"The aircraft landed at Villacoublay airbase, south of Paris, just before 2 p.m. Israel time. Arafat was taken to the Hopital d’Instruction des Armees de Percy, a military hospital with a major trauma center, a ministry spokesman said. Christian Estripeau, head of communications for military health services, said Percy, which opened in February 1996, is one of nine military hospitals in France. It has 430 beds and a staff of 1,200, including 110 physicians. Security around the facility was bolstered for the PA Chairman." See http://www.command-post.org/nk/2_archives/016328.html.
Healthcare in France: http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/DF_healthcare.shtml. Also see http://www.pentagonmaverick.com/Articles-france_shortchanging_military_veterans_and_widows.html.
(3). Walter Reed Army Medical Center: "In this year's "America's Best Hospitals" issue, U.S. News says Walter Reed is typically "in the public eye when a congressman or commander is treated [here]. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and Gen. George Marshall were patients in their final days. Ronald Reagan had hand surgery [here] when he was president. The late Strom Thurmond, South Carolina's longtime Repub-lican senator, lived [here] when he was ailing last year." See http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/stripe/8_30/national_news/24425-1.html. Bold type by Sawallesh.
(4). Rep. Barney Frank to Undergo Heart Surgery
"WASHINGTON -- The Reuters news agency reports openly gay U.S. Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts will undergo bypass surgery Friday at Bethesda Naval hospital."
"Frank, who is 59, had a mild heart attack followed by angioplasty treatment in 1990. He told reporters his doctors recommended the surgery after he had experienced some mild discomfort." See http://www.datalounge.com/datalounge/news/record.html?record=4502.
(5). Also go to http://www.pentagonmaverick.com/Articles-walter_reed_congressional_medical_center.html.