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June 24, 2001: Two Calls from Karen Hoffman Karen (principal author of The Tallahassee Project - see pages 9 and 46) is gravely ill in FMC Carswell, the Federal Bureau of Prisons hospital prison for women). Her diagnosis is Lyme disease, for which she was incorrectly treated while in FMC Tallahassee. In Tallahassee, Karen was given treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, a common misdiagnosis of Lyme disease by uninformed physicians. In part, this treatment consisted of the administration of methotrexate and steroid hormones. A side effect of these agents is impairment of a patient's immune system. As a result of impairment of her immune system, the Lyme disease from which Karen has been suffering all along flared up after the transfer to Carswell, to the point where she is now incapacitated, condemned to wheel-chair existence and in shocking pain. Karen called on Saturday, June 23 in the early morning hours, distraught. Please get a message on the web site, she implored, asking people to support a bid for compassionate release. "They are not doing anything for me here." Why is the message not posted on the site yet? Karen is basically fighting for a chance to survive. If compassionate release is granted, she will be able to make a home in San Francisco, close to where a physician knowledgable in Lyme disease could help her. (The treatment of Lyme disease is notoriously controversial; a large element of denial characterizes the thinking of many physicians and those purporting to treat it - see Letter from Karen: June 4, 2001.) An application for compassionate release was turned down by the BOP last week. Karen has turned to Judge Henderson, the Ninth Circuit federal judge responsible for her sentencing. Judge Henderson has the power to terminate Karen's sentence and send her home. Please everyone play your part and write to:
A similar appeal can go to Senator Dianne Feinstein:
The second call was not actually from Karen but about her. It came in on Sunday June 24. The caller was Sue Charleton of Santa Cruz, California. Sue Charleton also suffers from Lyme disease, which she contracted in a zone of the Sierras (unlike Karen's case). She was a prisoner in FMC Carswell until recently and knows Karen well. She was calling for Karen to ask if Karen's request for letters to Judge Henderson and Senator Feinstein had been posted on the site. There was no time to lose. Karen was desperately ill. In Carswell, Sue's room was down the hall from Karen's. She has watched Karen's condition go downhill with an abrupt change over the past six months. Sue pushed Karen's wheelchair wherever she had to go. She helped pull the blankets up on Karen's bed, which Karen was too weak to do herself. She helped sort her mail - Karen had no strength left to do that.
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