Shenanigans again! Why can't things roll smoothly, just for once?
From today's Age
Doctor calls for Arafat autopsy
November 12, 2004 - 12:19PM
Yasser Arafat's longtime personal physician called today for an autopsy on the deceased Palestinian leader, saying he was baffled and angered by the French medical team's failure to diagnose Arafat's illness.
Ashraf al Kurdi, who was a friend and doctor to Arafat for 25 years, also said he was "disappointed" in the care that French doctors gave Arafat.
"They did not care even to phone me and ask for his medical history," al Kurdi said in a telephone interview with Knight Ridder from his home in Jordan. "They did not even phone. I am very disappointed in their care for him, and I cannot understand this lack of an explanation for his death.
"As is the case with any man who dies of unexplained causes, I feel an autopsy is needed."
Al Kurdi was among the team of doctors that recommended in October that Arafat travel to Paris for further examination after tests showed he was suffering from low levels of blood platelets. Al Kurdi's call for an investigation is certain to add to questions about Arafat's demise.
Palestinian officials couldn't be reached for comment, but an autopsy seemed unlikely. Arafat's body arrived today in Cairo, Egypt, for a state funeral tomorrow, followed by burial in Ramallah, West Bank.
The official statement announcing Arafat's death said the Palestinian leader succumbed from a "mystery blood disorder". Earlier, doctors were said to have ruled out cancer, leukemia and poisoning as reasons for his illness, but al Kurdi said today he believes further study is necessary to eliminate the possibility of poisoning.
Christian Estripeau, the medical director at the suburban Paris military hospital where Arafat died early today, said French law barred him from responding to the charge that care was lacking.
"Each of his doctors is free to do as he wishes," Estripeau said. "But his medical record is sealed, and it will not be opened. I can't tell you a thing from it."
Al Kurdi, a graduate of the Baghdad Medical School, said he doubts anyone involved Arafat's care would deny that his death was suspicious. He acknowledged that despite being Arafat's longtime doctor, he wasn't part of Arafat's care in the early days of his illness in Ramallah. He said doctors from Tunisia and Egypt were treating Arafat for several weeks before he was called in, on October 28, the day before Arafat was flown to Paris.
He said that when he arrived, having heard the president of the Palestinian Authority was having trouble eating, he was stunned.
"He had lost weight, a lot of weight," he said. "His stomach was seriously distended. He was not in pain, but he was not well."
Still, he said, Arafat expressed joy at seeing him, and they talked. The doctors realised that without the technology available to treat him, they needed to send him abroad for care. Yet, less than a week after chatting, Arafat was in a coma, and in less than two weeks, he was dead.
"I am very disappointed in what has happened," he said. "The Palestinian people need to know why he died."
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