American Academy of Neurology Backs Up IRIS Scoops

American doctors, among them senior neurologists, have joined the chorus of criticism of the medical care given to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon by physicians at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, and his personal physicians at the Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer.

The negative assessment appeared in an article in the latest issue of Neurology Today, the official journal of the American Academy of Neurology, in interviews with four leading experts in stroke care and prevention.

Neurology Today is not really a journal - it is the newsy publication of the American Academy of Neurology, the major organization of neurologists in the US. They also publish the real journal Neurology.

The experts said they were not personally familiar with Sharon's case. However, on the issues raised in the article with regard to Sharon's treatment, the experts said treatment other than that given the prime minister would have been preferable.

Now, senior U.S. medical figures are weighing in on the matter. "One striking part of Mr. Sharon's saga is that he was taken in an ambulance for a trip to an emergency room more than one hour away," said Dr. Stephan A. Mayer, associate professor of clinical neurology and neurosurgery and director of the neuro-intensive care Unit at Columbia University Medical Center. Mayer added that he hoped Sharon's tragedy would would help inculcate that "if you have signs of a stroke, call 911 and go to the closest ER."

Mayer said Sharon's treatment was "something we call the 'VIP Syndrome' where you do things with famous people that you wouldn't do with ordinary people."

IRIS' neurologist enabled me to report on the ironically negative implications of VIP Syndrome on the day that the story first broke, scooping the first mention anywhere in the world press by a day. It should be emphasized that most of Sharon's tragic outcomes (including the fatal delay in reaching an emergency room and the heroic lifesaving efforts that were responsible for his current state of diminished consciousness) were probably largely caused by his VIP treatment. Of course Kadima's systemic corruption was likely a factor as well (for example, in the documented proactive dissembling to the public on the part of Sharon's doctors which was probably indirectly responsible for precipitating his brain hemorrage), but it is difficult to say for certain given the ongoing coverup and stonewalling.

As was reported, after his first stroke, Sharon was treated with a powerful blood thinner to prevent the recurrence of a cerebral blood clot. However Dr. David Greer, an instructor in neurology at Harvard's Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston expressed doubts about the type of drug, given Sharon's acute condition, calling it extremely controversial and certainly unproven.

To see complete coverage, in which most of the above points were either raised first or properly reported in their medical context on the IRIS Blog, click here.