The
Long Story About Jim Shortt.....
Opinion
by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
Monday, November , 2004
Several
State of South Carolina employees, a County Coroner, a County Medical
Examiner, an Oncologist, a self-styled CAM "lite" practitioner, a
private practice attorney, and a newspaper reporter, found out, THE HARD
WAY, last Thursday, November 18th, 2004, why it it's a really BAD
idea to rely on any information sucked out of the internet site calling
itself "
http://www.quackwatch.com ."
A South
Carolina Judge explained it all to them...
Last
Thursday, that South Carolina Judge issued her ruling in a Hearing
called by certain employees of South Carolina's Medical Board system to
immediately remove Jim Shortt MD's license to practice medicine
alleging that he MURDERED a patient by using Hydrogen Peroxide IV
Therapy last March, 2004.
The
ruling - an emphatic "CASE DISMISSED!!"
In
October of this year, armed agents of several State, County, and Federal
departments raided Jim Shortt MD's Columbia, South Carolina clinic
seizing records, and everything, virtually, that wasn't bolted to the
floor. The local media, alerted ahead of time by those agencies, filmed
the whole thing. Jim Short was vilified in the local press, primarily
by a reporter for "The State" newspaper named Cliff LeBlanc.
LeBlanc, in way over-the-top reporting, had accused Jim Shortt of
"injecting rocket fuel" into the patient.
Remember
LeBlanc's name - you'll be reading more about him below. The whole story
about Jim Shortt was, of course, written up on "quackwatch.com,"
right then.
The Jim
Shortt case is so unbelievable it's hard to find a starting point to
begin to tell you about it. To make it simple, I'll start right from
where I first got involved. It's been a roller-coaster ride. The case
has been a literal HELL for Jim Shortt, his family, his business, and
his friends - TO THIS POINT. But now, things are going to turn around,
and Jim can try to rebuild his life.
The
story I'm telling you is one more example of just how rotten, and
murderous. the
"quackbuster" conspiracy really is. But more, this story
tells you how easy it is to turn the situation around if you know what's
actually happening - and who, and what, is actually behind the assault
against North America's cutting-edge health practitioners.
The
Jim Shortt Story...
I've
known Jim Shortt, casually, for several years - mostly through ICIM,
IOMA, AAEM, or ACAM meetings which we both attend. We've had dinner
together at, at least, one of those events. He called me last March
after he had been formally accused of murdering that patient by the
County Coroner. Now, I know him, his family, friends, et al, a whole
lot better. My gain.
The idea
that Jim Shortt, or Hydrogen Peroxide Therapy could murder someone is
absolute nonsense. The
"quackbusters" and those that relied on their false
statements, need to PAY DEARLY for what they did to Jim Shortt. After
meeting, and talking, to Jim's attorneys, I'd say that "pay dearly"
project is underway. I'll keep you informed.
But, our
current story begins at the ICIM/IOMA meeting in Atlanta, Georgia this
last October 6th through the 10th, 2004. I've said before what a great
group these people are, and their performance to help Jim Shortt was
nothing short of spectacular.
Jim
Shortt found me in a hallway, and asked if I could talk to him for a
minute. What he told me (the story up-to-date) was shocking.
Immediately, we put a plan together to deal with the current emergency,
and called in ICIM/IOMA's "Emergency Response Team" to help.
And, help they did.
What was
the "emergency?" CBS "60 Minutes" was heading for Jim
Shortt's clinic on Monday... and the news media, so far, had been
ripping Jim Shortt, and Hydrogen Peroxide Therapy to pieces. Cliff
LeBlanc, at "The State" newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina had
sensationalized the Shortt case on the front page of his newspaper,
mischaracterizing Shortt and Hydrogen Peroxide Therapy.
But,
there was more to LeBlanc. About two years before, LeBlanc had written
a glowing article about a local attorney named Richard Gergel.
According to his website, Gergel specializes in Medical negligence...
and... eighteen wheeler accidents. Gergel is listed on the
"Quackwatch
Legal Advisory Board." On November 5th, 2004, Gergel
participated in an event put on by the North Carolina Academy of Trial
Lawyers called "MEDICAL
NEGLIGENCE: Preparing to Win"
where he participated in a panel called
"Pre-emptive Strike: Stopping the Defense Team in Their Tracks."
I'm sure Jim Shortt's
attorneys will be asking attorney Gergel about his relationship with
"quackwatch.com," reporter Cliff LeBlanc, the Coroner, the Medical
Examiner, and his actions in this case in a very FORMAL manner, soon.
Not long
after LeBlanc smeared Jim Shortt on the front page of "The State"
newspaper, the New York Times ran a similar article, covering,
basically, the same information as "The State." Then, CBS "60
Minutes" called...
As we
know, the
"quackbuster's" New York ad agency frequently arranges for,
and misleads, the press in regards to cutting-edge practices. But this
time, we were ready for them. "60 Minutes" was invited to fly to
Atlanta and interview Jim Shortt's "peers," and the IOMA Science
committee who had, earlier that day, thoroughly investigated the
so-called "homicide" and had given Shortt a clean bill of health
- and had, using the patient charts, pointed directly to the REAL cause
of death. "60 Minutes" showed up early Sunday morning, and spent
the day with us.
The
following Thursday, we all met in Columbia, South Carolina where about
20 of Jim Shortt's patients had volunteered to be interviewed by "60
Minutes," on camera. They were interviewed. On Saturday, CNN's
Anderson Cooper (Anderson Cooper - 360, 7:00 pm EST M-F - CNN) showed up
to interview Jim Shortt on contract to CBS. On Sunday, Jim Shortt was
interviewed. And, there was more.
All in
all, I spent about thirty hours with "60 Minutes". Hopefully, I
used the time well.
On
November 1st, 2004, Jim Shortt was forced into a legal hearing by
employees of the South Carolina Medical Board for the purpose of
immediately suspending his medical license claiming he was "a danger
to the public, due to his use of Hydrogen Peroxide Therapy." The
trial took about two weeks, with the State putting on about seven
witnesses, and the defense about twenty. In the end, the Judge ruled
for the Defense.
Frankly,
the State's witnesses were simply not credible, and basically told
exactly the same story. The basis of their story seemed to be an article
written by
"quackbuster" Saul Green for the so-called "Scientific
Review of Alternative Medicine." The "Scientific Review of
Alternative Medicine," we know, is owned, and published, by
Prometheus Press, the company that publishes all of the
"quackbuster" books, and its "Editor" (insert laughter
here) is Wallace Sampson MD, who claims as his title "Professor
Emeritus at Stanford University."
Sampson,
we know, has NEVER taught at Stanford, and was, not long ago, declared
in a PUBLISHED decision on a California Appeals Court to be "biased,
and unworthy of credibility." Saul Green, who has no credentials to
write about oxygen therapies at all, has as his claim to fame that he
once worked for Sloane-Kettering. His address listed is the same as the
notorious American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), well known as a
"quackbuster" front, and commonly criticized for its positions.
The
common thread throughout the testimony of the State's witnesses,
according to observers, was that they All seem to have been coached, for
their testimony, by attorney Richard Gergel. In fact, during
cross-examination of the State's witnesses, it was brought out that
Richard Gergel actually wrote, for the complainers, the "Complaint
Letters" to the South Carolina State Medical Board.
"60
Minutes" is still on the story, though. We'll see what happens.
Stay tuned...
Tim Bolen - Consumer Advocate
This "Millions of Health Freedom Fighters
- Newsletter" is about the battle between "Health and Medicine" on
Planet Earth. Tim Bolen is an op/ed writer with extensive knowledge of
the activities of a subversive organization calling itself the "quackbusters,"
and that organization's attempts to suppress, and discredit, any, and
all health modalities that compete with the allopathic (MD) paradigm for
consumer health dollars. The focus of the newsletter is on the ongoing
activities, battles, politics, and the victories won by members of the
"Health Freedom Movement" against the "quackbusters" It details "who the
quackbusters are, what they are, where they are operating, when they
appear, and how they operate - and how easy it is to beat them..."
For EVEN MORE interesting and related
articles go to
http://www.bolenreport.com.
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