In April, 2002, I was able to obtain a copy of the letter referred to above. A friend picked it up from a table of free religious literature at a Seventh-Day Adventist church. A large stack of copies of this libelous letter was available for all the members to take. The letter was written by Ray Cress, Ph.D., a pharmacologist at Loma Linda University. The letter contains sixteen lies or half-truths. This letter is posted, plus my response to it.
On May 17, 2002, I made a visit to pharmacologist Ray Cress to discuss his defamatory letter, per the Biblical instructions we are given in Matthew 18:15-17:
"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
"But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
"If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector."
I took a "witness" with me and at that time, I presented Ray Cress with my letter refuting all of his defamatory and libelous accusations. Also posted is my follow-up letter to him after our May 17, 2002, meeting.
Near the end of April, 2002, I received a letter from DeWitt Williams, Director of Health Ministries of the North American Division of Seventh-Day Adventists. Obviously, he had received inquiries from Adventists members who had seen the information on my web site regarding the defamatory letter written on Loma Linda University stationery and my documentation proving that I had been surgically biopsied both at Loma Linda University Medical Center AND at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, CA, with a diagnosis of cancer from both institutions.
DeWitt Williams letter to me and my response to him are posted.
This is not the first time that DeWitt Williams and the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination have come against me. In 1991 and 1992, many SDA churches were inviting me to speak on the AIDS issue. Because I was calling for routine testing for the AIDS virus, in the same manner that a doctor is allowed to test for any other disease, and I was calling for responsible behavior by those infected with AIDS, the very powerful contingent of homosexuals in the Adventist church were enraged. They apparently demanded that the church "do something" to stop me, "do something" to destroy my credibiity!
A "Kangaroo Court" tribunal was set up on the Loma Linda University campus and I was summoned by letter to appear. I was not a member of their organization and they had no authority over me, so I was going to ignore their "summons." However, because my mother was a member of the denomination and she asked me to go, I went. And she accompanied me.
I refer to this as a "tribunal" because in a tribunal the accused is not allowed to know the charges against her, nor is she allowed to know who her accusers are, and furthermore, the tribunal members generally serve as both jury and judge, so fairness is not the goal.
The meeting occurred in the Loma Linda University Library conference room with about 20 people present around a large table. Because I was unfamiliar with these people, I do not remember everyone who was present, but these are some of the "tribunal" members:
1) Bob Dale, Assistant to the President of the North American Division of Seventh-Day Adventists, was in charge of the meeting.
2) DeWitt Williams, also present, appeared to be the one who had set up the meeting.
3) Alisa Fletcher
4) Dr. Fritz Guy, former President of LaSierra University.
5) Dr. Harvey Elder, Department of Infectious Diseases, Loma Linda University Veterans Hospital, with a large practice of AIDS patients, who was flanked on either one or both sides by
6) Angry homosexuals
I brought with me two large boxes filled with the medical journal articles I had used as reference material to write my book, AIDS: What the Government Isn't Telling You, the book that was the subject of this "tribunal."
When everyone was seated around the table, Bob Dale asked me to tell the group about my book. Because I did not really understand why this meeting was even necessary, I asked first if there were any specific questions about my book, so I could address those. But no one responded. So I proceeded to tell them, in general, the content of my book and I showed the pertinent medical journal articles I used to support my assertions.
When I was finished, I again asked if anyone had any questions. There were none. (I want to stress the fact that no one had any questions because that is pertinent to what happened later.) So I packed up my boxes of medical journal articles and my mother and I went home.
Several months later I received in the mail from a friend, this "Book Review" of my book, AIDS: What the Government Isn't Telling You. The "Book Review" which was a thinly veiled "hit" letter, apparently was sent out to SDA ministers and others all over the country.
You will notice:
1) The "Book Review" is unsigned as the authors were too cowardly to attach their names to this defamatory document.
2) Members of the Committee who summoned me to the meeting which was the basis for this letter, were not named.
3) The "Book Review" Committee quoted only ONE medical journal article to support their views in their attempt to refute the more than SEVENTY medical journal articles I referenced in my book.
4) The "Book Review" focuses on political correctness rather than on TRUTH, as it bemoans "increased fear", "increasing hysteria", "appeals to people's natural fears of death", and "worst suspicions of government." The writers depend on their "feelings" and their own "opinions" rather than on factual documentation and TRUTH.
5) The ONLY specific item in my book that they address is my discussion of the huge amounts of hazardous blood that trauma surgeons encounter in every major surgical procedure. I DID stand in "killer blood up to my ankles", even up to my knees, day after day and week after week. I DID NOT say that the entire operating room was ankle-deep in blood, only that I had blood up to my ankles.
It is routine during a major trauma surgical procedure for blood to pour out of the patient onto the surgeon's feet and ankles and splash up to our knees, that's why, when the AIDS epidemic began, trauma surgeons began wearing knee-high protective boots in the operating room. Blood often soaks through the surgeon's gown down to his or her underwear, and blood splatters all over his or her face, that's why protective plastic face shields are worn.
As far as I know, there was only one physician on this Kangaroo court committee, Dr. Harvey Elder, who was from the infectious disease department of the Loma Linda Veterans Hospital. Infectious disease doctors are not surgeons and rarely, if ever, go into an operating room and virtually never get any blood on them. In fact, they have NO idea what goes on in an operating room.
It is entirely possible, even probable, that Dr. Harvey Elder wrote this "Book Review" for the committee.
However, only a surgeon would know and understand what goes on in an operating room, and only a trauma surgeon would fully understand what happens during trauma surgical procedures, such as patients who have been shot multiple times with a 357 Magnum or a machine gun, or patients who have been stabbed up to 25 or 30 times in various parts of their body. These patients bleed profusely. Blood is everywhere! These were the patients I routinely operated on.
The largest amount of blood I have ever transfused into one patient was 225 units (pints). This was a young man with multiple gunshot wounds. The human body only contains about 8 units, so the blood poured out all over us surgeons as fast as we "poured" it in. Finally, we got his bleeding stopped after giving him 225 units, and he survived.
Dr. Harvey Elder would not understand this at all.
The accusatory, bogus, explanation in this "Book Review" regarding the amount of blood covering the entire operating room floor would be considered a joke by any trauma surgeon. It would show that the writers of the "Book Review" had no understanding of operating room procedures at all.
In addition, remember that NO ONE on the committee asked me to explain that particular passage in my book. If they really were confused about my statement, or if they really were interested in knowing truth, they would have questioned me about it during the committee meeting. I would have been more than willing to answer and explain.
But no one asked. I presume no one asked, because no one wanted to know the facts, and certainly no one wanted to give me a chance to explain. The "Book Review" letter was going to be mailed regardless of what I said, so why would they want to know the truth? Why would they want to give me an opportunity to explain?
And now, a decade later, the same group is at it again!
