Re: Dr. Levin's Comment on Hospital Deaths & Mitral Valve Prolapse

[Guest guest]

Lea,

Was this the Bonnie from Las Vegas???? What happened? (You

said she didn't make it?) Let me know if it is, because I met her

once at my house.

I had invited several breast implant victims from the Vegas area

over for a get together, and she came, as well as Kay and

Lori Gilmour...I only met her once, but we emailed several times. I

just never knew what happened to her.

Thanks Lea,

Patty

> When I look back at all of the problems that I have

> had, I wonder why that I'm still here. I think that

> some of us have been chosen to fight this issue. Our

> darling Bonnie did not make it, but she sure had an

> impact on my life. She gave me her strength.

>

> Love....

>

> Lea

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> Original Message -----

> From: " Lea " <devans@c...

> <Bojohns@a...

> Sent: Monday, January 20, 2003 1:54 PM

> Subject: Dr. Levin's Comment on Hospital Deaths &

> Mitral Valve Prolapse

>

> Dear Bonnie:

>

> I found it! Dr. Levin's email reply follows my long

> note to Ilena.

>

> Yes, this is our darling Dr. Al Levin/attorney; we all

> love him here in Canada because he thinks on his feet.

> He will not let the " Big Boys/Girls " frighten him

> away. No one has ever tested my platinum levels, not

> even " Our Darling Dr. Brautbar " ; He tested me to see

> how much money he could get out of me!

>

> We believe that by the time I got to see him, someone

> else had got to him first . . . perhaps my specialist

> here. I used to trust my specialist because he knew

> how very sick I was, but he was also a good friend of

> a plastic surgeon. I dumped him after my visit to Los

> Angeles. This was a sad episode, because Dr. Brautbar

> seemed to be such a lovely man. My Magnesium levels

> were normal; however, when I took Magnesium on my own

> some things improved.

>

> How much Magnesium do you take and in what form?

>

> Please take good care of yourself!

>

> Thank you, Bonnie, for your support...

>

> love....

>

> Lea -----

>

> Original Message -----

> From: " Lea (by way of ilena rose) "

> <devans@c...

> <Recipient List Suppressed:

> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 8:30 PM

> Subject: Hospital Deaths & Mitral Valve Prolapse

>

> [Lea dictated this to me from her bed.]

>

> Dearest Ilena:

>

> Could you please post this message again.

>

> This serious issue must be revisited again because of

> my condition. It's the one about MVP and the women

> who died in a small hospital just outside Houston. If

> only this nurse would come forward, it would help so

> many women. She is probably afraid of the

> consequences. Her life could be threatened and she

> would probably be fired. This is why she will remain

> anonymous.

>

> The women who died might be alive today if we knew

> then what we know now. Not all women who have had

> breast implants have the problems that I have;

> however, many--far too many--do have severe

> respiratory problems. I believe that it depends on how

> deadly the implants were.

>

> As many of you know I was diagnosed with MVP/PAT after

> my ruptured breast implants were removed. I had been

> very sick for many years, actually since my first set

> of breast implants, which were implanted in 1974.

> These were Dow's cheap, thin-shelled silicone breast

> implants.

>

> These ruptured within two years; they might have

> ruptured shortly after being implanted. In 1976, the

> plastic surgeon removed the ruptured implants but left

> the Dacron patches, which were embedded in the

> capsules in my chest wall. He then inserted

> Bristol-Myers Squibb's cheap, thin-shelled

> polyurethane breast implants on top of the old

> capsules that had the Dacron patches embedded in them.

>

> This procedure is called capsular stripping. From

> what we have read, it seems that the Dow implants that

> had Dacron patches in them were pulled from the market

> because they caused severe chest-wall damage...just

> the way they did in me. We don't know when they

> ruptured, because the ruptures did not show up on the

> mammograms that I had each year. But they were

> ruptured when the plastic surgeon removed them in

> 1992.

>

> Unfortunately, he neglected to remove the capsules as

> well. In 1993, another plastic surgeon removed the

> capsules, as well as a large seroma. He also had to

> remove most of my left breast. After all this, I

> became much sicker...if that was possible. This is all

> in my story, but I wanted to make sure that all women

> read this.

>

> In the early nineties, I developed a cough in the

> mornings only, then two years ago I went into

> respiratory distress and was put on a nebulizer for

> asthma/bronchitis. Now we know that these were

> symptoms of heart problems. I had chronic fatigue,

> shortness of breath, a swollen abdomen, low blood

> gases, severe pain under my left breast, two

> silicone-induced pulmonary embolisms, and many

> problems with my blood. All this time, my heart valves

> were deteriorating.

>

> My doctors have had me on antibiotics for many years;

> this is a good thing, or I too might have died. The

> symptoms that I'm having now are chronic fatigue,

> shortness of breath--can't seem to get a deep breath,

> pain under my left rib, and chronic gastrointestinal

> attacks, even though I'm on two antibiotics, as well

> as Nexium (40mg) and the nebulizer.

>

> We know that most all women have so many symptoms

> that the doctors get confused and overlook some very

> serious conditions. I asked my doctor for an

> echocardiogram in January 2002 because of my

> deteriorating health. When I saw him in February, he

> said you have an enlarged heart--right sided. I am

> devastated and sad, because someone should have known

> by my symptoms that it was my heart. I hope that the

> pulmonary specialist will refer me to a cardiologist

> so that I will get some proper care for this

> condition. I have two wonderful doctors, who are doing

> their very best in caring for me.

>

> My has always said that I had the same symptoms

> as his mother, who died of congestive heart failure.

> She, however, had been a heavy smoker for more than

> fifty years, but I have never smoked in my life. Most

> of us have lupus, and MVP is common in lupus. I have a

> peer-reviewed article on it somewhere, but can't find

> it at the moment.

>

> To the women who have had silicone/saline breast

> implants, please get your hearts tested if you are

> having any of the symptoms that I have....don't let

> this happen to you.

>

> With love and hope for our futures...

>

> Lea

>

> *********************

>

> PLEASE POST this letter from Dr. Al Levin again.

>

> It's in response to my letter to him regarding MVP and

> mysterious deaths in a Houston hospital.

>

> Much love............

>

> Lea

> -----------------------------

>

> Original Message-----

> From: FLITEQUACK@a... [sMTP:FLITEQUACK@a...]

> Sent: Sunday, July 04, 1999 10:14 AM

> devans@c...

> Subject: Re: HOSPITAL DEATHS & Mitral Valve Prolapse

>

> Can anyone search the local public records for cardiac

> deaths in females by age over the last 10 years? If we

> find a significant increasing trend in death before

> age 50, we may invest the $$ to see if there is an

> inordinate number of people with breast implants in

> that group.

>

> Al Levin

> ----------------------------

>

> From: " Lea " <devans@c... -----

> Original Message-----

> From: lea evans [sMTP:devans@c...]

> Sent: Monday, June 28, 1999 2:00 PM

> 'flitequack@a...'

> Subject: Re: Hospital Deaths

>

> Dear Dr. Levin:

>

> Thank you for helping us to fight back I have this bit

> of information. If only this nurse would come forward.

> ''This is what she said'' you certainly do have my

> permission to post this. I am reluctant to name the

> hospital, because if I do, this nurse will certainly

> be severely reprimanded, if not fired. I can say this

> was a smaller hospital in a suburb outside of Houston.

>

>

> Wonder what is going on down at the big medical center

> in downtown Houston? Also, another friend of mine,

> occasionally goes to St. Luke's hospital in the

> Medical Center to see an ear, nose and throat

> specialist. The inside of her folder had been marked

> in large letters ''breast implants.'' she asked the

> doctor who put that on her folder and he would not

> respond to her question.

>

> She has been reluctant to return to St. Luke's and

> preferred to use a doctor closer to home. I guess we

> are ''marked for life'' now in the medical

> communities. Also I have heard that there is a new

> computer available to doctors that tells them when you

> walk in the door as a new patient if you have any

> lawsuits pending against doctors. I think the info is

> tracked through a person's social security number.

> Wish new patients could find out if a doctor has any

> lawsuits pending against him, but I guess that would

> be considered an invasion of the doctor's (usually a

> man) privacy!!!! I have been reading info. That you

> and others have posted on the health chat board and

> through the newsgroups. I have some info. That might

> be helpful to the silicone cause.

>

> A very dear friend of mine fell and had to go to the

> emergency room of a hospital in the Houston area. The

> ER doctor asked her why she had so many health

> problems. She told him ''implants'' after the doctor

> left, the ER nurse asked her ''how she was doing?''

> she said her hand still hurt her a lot.

>

> The ER nurse said ''No, I mean how are you doing since

> you got your breast implants removed?'' My friend said

> it had been four years since explantation and every

> day was a struggle. The ER nurse proceeded to tell her

> the following. That she usually worked ICU and had

> seen many die in the hospital with implants. My friend

> asked ''how many in the last year? " The nurse said

> ''In the last two years she could not even begin to

> estimate how many had died. She said that the women

> were coming in with Mitral Valve Prolapse symptoms and

> would be admitted to ICU. She said on the average that

> the sixth to seventh time that they were admitted to

> ICU they usually died. She said that in addition to

> being diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse some were

> also diagnosed with Micro-Carditis [infective

> endocarditis]? My friend was so shocked by this info.

> That she was not sure of the second diagnosis's name.

>

> I do not know what is ''public information''

> concerning death certificates are. Maybe we need to

> start checking on hospital deaths (especially in large

> areas, such as Houston). I am also a silicone survivor

> and would like to see the medical profession " Tell the

> truth. " You are a lawyer. Perhaps you could find out

> where this came from.

>

> With warm regards.......

>

> Lea

[Guest guest]

So, was she in Vegas around the year 2000? I think that is when I

met her, if it is the same person....gosh, so sad.

Patty

> Patty,

>

> The last I heard, Bonnie moved to Indianapolis for a

> job. . . I don't think the job panned out as she

> hoped. I was corresponding with her until shortly

> after her move. She was excited to be going back to

> work even if it wasn't anything like she was used to

> doing. Apparently her face was disfigured by some type

> of fungal infection (if I'm remembering right). She

> was very self-conscious about her appearance. She was

> quite concerned about her antiphosphid condition

> (sticky blood). We'll never know what caused her

> death.

>

> I don't know all the details, but she was found dead

> in her apartment. No autopsy was done. At the time she

> died, she had no phone or internet connection. She had

> a daughter in California who passed what little

> information we know along.

> Love,

>

> Rogene