Federal Breast Implant Judge, C. Pointer Dies ~ Birmingham, the world is watching. ~

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Birmingham, the world is watching. ~ Federal Breast Implant Judge, C. Pointer Dies

Banner courtesy of Judith Patience, Photo by Kathy NyeJudge Pointer is dead. Here is a Birmingham article on his passing.

As

his loved ones mourn his loss, we also mourn the loss of justice for

hundreds of thousands of women harmed by faulty breast implants who

received little or no compensation, much based on his ill fated, so

called, science panel.His rulings that gave, in our opinion, almost a free ride to the manufacturers, made sense when upon his retirement as a judge. Pointer went to work for Lightfoot, lin, & White ... a veritable Who's Who of Corporate America,

whose clients include Bristol Myers Squibb and Baxter (both former

implant makers) as well as tobacco and pharmaceutical and oil giants

(to name but a few).After several of us made a peaceful protest on the courthouse lawn and attended hearings of his Science Panel in 1999, Sally Kirkland and I published this piece to him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

U.S. District Judge Sam C. Pointer, Jr., Federal Courthouse,Birmingham, AlabamaMay 5, 1999 Birmingham, the world is watching.To The Honorable Judge Pointer,After

witnessing Dr. Hulka under cross examination in your courtroom April

21st, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute right around the corner was

a fresh breath of hope.In the early 60's, equality for our

black citizens also seemed but a dream. Equally, justice for breast

implant victims presently appears to be anything but imminent. You,

Judge Pointer, can change that and protect millions of medical

consumers from faulty medical devices.As the sign in that historical museum read, " Birmingham, the world is watching. " Judge

Pointer, the world is watching you, your courtroom and your National

Science Panel. Regrettably though, lin's words ring

loudly, " It's such a pity that our legal system has so little to dowith justice. " After

reading much of the testimony revealing manufacturer influence at so

many turns, and the basic lack of curiosity of the researchers to even

look in medline beyond " breast implants " to " silicone, " we can't help

but paraphrase: " It's such a pity that our science panel has so little to do with science. " The

responsibility you have to the health of millions of women and their

offspring is awesome. In the bookstore of this Luther King

Museum, we had a conversation with the 20 year old clerk. He shared

that at 18, his former girlfriend had gotten implants as a graduation

gift from her surgeon father. Her little sister is receiving this same

" gift " this year.Judge Pointer, undoubtedly, this surgeon ~ as

scores of thousands of other physicians around the world ~ has been

mislead into believing that silicone and breast implants are " safe. "

Your Panel is continuing to disseminate this rumor to the world. Do you

not feel your personal responsibility in issuing false assurances to

the millions with disintegrating and leaking implants in place and

those who purchase their first implants from now on?At a FDA /

Medical Devices meeting last week, the FDA could not designate what

they felt an " acceptable rupture rate 3 was. You did not even instruct

your NSP to investigate this serious, usually inevitable event that

often results in multiple invasive surgeries. How could this have been

ignored?While widely accepted that early detection is one of

the key factors in limiting the devastation of breast cancer, nowhere

was the definite obstruction of good mammography by all implants even

addressed. This consequence of breast implants alone, makes their

presence highly unsafe.Judge Pointer, please tell us, what can

the women do to get your attention off these worn manufacturer bought,

teeny, skewed, short, lopsided " studies " whose purpose was to obfuscate

litigation, and onto their serious health problems?When we

heard Dr. Hulka defend the design of the Mayo study as " excellent " when

she couldn't even say whether any of the control group of Mayo patients

(might that bias alone not tell volumes?) had implants, or why women

with one month old implants were included in a " study " investigating

systemic disease, I realized that your courtroom was just very expensivetheatre. She seemed to find the concept of " latency " almost trivial.Women

spent thousands of their own dollars to have their medical records

included in their cases, yet, to date, this staggering evidence of

autoimmune diseases and infections and multiple surgeries is under lock

and key while the Mayo and Harvard studies are yet again being

presented as Commandments 11 and 12.Millions of women with

leaking and disintegrating and ruptured implants are being lulled into

false assurances by your panel. Plastic surgeons are implanting between

500-750 new sets of implants every day.What if only 10% of the women were to become ill from these never FDA approved devices? Or 25%? Or 40%?Judge

Pointer, when we conducted our peaceful Rally in from of your courtroom

April 21st, we had mounted police surrounding us for our protection and

your Court's.Where is the protection for the implanted women past, present and future?And their offspring?What science has ever said that it is safe to gestate and nurse babies born of implanted women?

We all know that answer is sadly, " none. " Please

study the records of the nearly half a million women involved in these

lawsuits. And please, recognize the bias of your Panel, and re-consider

the Plaintiff's Motion for their dismissal.Judge Pointer, the world is watching.Respectfully,Ilena Rosenthal Director, Humantics Foundation for Women San Diego, CA

Sally KirklandKirkland Institute for Implant Survival Syndrome West Hollywood, CA