It’s an old adage that has common sense repercussions in 2021 A.T. (After Trump): Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.
In the 2020 presidential election, the National Republican Party made the same mistakes that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party did in 2016: Took certain states and electoral votes for granted.
Five years ago Hillary knew — KNEW! — she would win Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan; she campaigned little in those states. She was wrong. Last November Trump KNEW he would win Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Utah, Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan. He was wrong.
A sense of ego, inevitability and political history rocked both candidates in those respective elections.
What now? Where do the parties go?
For the next two years, the Democrats, controlling both the legislative and executive branches of government, plan to try and lead the country back onto a more unified approach to legislating. President Biden wants compromise and bipartisanship to be the driving force during his administration.
The GOP, at least at first blush, are digging in their heels and playing hardball, forgetting that Biden is the pitcher and they are outnumbered at every position. Plus, they are already proving they would rather fight than compromise by some of the statements by party leaders and actions by states with Republican-held legislatures.
Rather than do an autopsy on the 2020 ejection/election disaster and try and figure out how to overcome the deficits they suffered in key states, and rather than strategizing on how to win more converts to the Republican Party through programs and reasonable inclusion platform planks, they are trying to figure out how to suppress votes.
Dumb. Blind turtle on the interstate dumb.
Several states, including Georgia and Arizona, have already floated voter suppression ideas designed to create barriers to certain voters — read: minorities and/or immigrants — even registering, much less casting votes.
In 2016, the GOP urged their constituents to vote absentee, either early or by mail. This year, with the pandemic requiring more absentee voting and an incredible registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns on swing states, the Democratic Party performed election cycle miracles, including creating a tsunami in Georgia, which went for Biden and followed up that stunner by shooing in two Democratic senators.
The brain-dead Republicans, rather that go “Hmmmmmm. We need to work harder and figure out to appeal to the new voters”, are trying to figure out how to keep folks from voting.
Dumb move, Elephant People. Most of the schemes you’ve already tried previously to suppress those you consider dissident voters have been ruled unconstitutional. Any new plans that are specifically aimed at lowering the number of people voting will suffer the same fate.
Idea: Stop. Regroup. Think. Ask the question: What do we need to do to appeal to a much larger voter base?
Well, staying the POT (Party of Trump) won’t work. That plan got slapped slobberjawed sideways in November.
Back to the drawing board, boys and girls and figure out how to shy away from the Cray-Cray Chronicles of the last four years and return to some theme like…hmmm, maybe “Compassionate Conservatism.”
It worked before. And, Lord knows, it’s better than you have come up with lately.
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1. CHRISTUS IN MARSHALL WILL NOT LIKELY HAVE MORE VACCINATIONS UNTIL A BIG HUB IS ESTABLISHED IN MARSHALL IN ANOTHER FACILITY (LIKE THE CIVIC CENTER?). THIS WILL HAPPEN WHEN SUPPLIES OF VACCINE ARE AVAILABLE. NO NEED TO CALL THEM. CHRISTUS LONGVIEW IS IN THE SAME SITUATION. WATCH THE PAPERS AND THE NET.
2. VACCINATION SITES IN HARRISON COUNTY, TX VACCINATION SITES IN HARRISON COUNTY, TX:
SUPER 1 PHARMACY ON HWY 59 — 903 938 3096
HALLSVILLE BROOKSHIRE PHARMACY — 903 668 1409
3. MARSHALL/HARRISON COUNTY HEALTH DEPT (BEST VACCINE SITE IN MARSHALL AT THIS TIME)
(and click on the sign up for a COVID 19 Vaccine link) THE INTERNET IS BETTER THAN CALLING OVER AND OVER UNTIL THEY ANSWER. SIGN UP. THEY GET VACCINE SHIPMENTS PERIODICALLY, SO DOES GREGG COUNTY.
BROOKSHIRES ON GILMER RD. LONGVIEW 903-297-6963, SUPER ONE ON HWY.80 LONGVIEW 903-753-1964, SUPER ONE ON HIGH ST. LONGVIEW 903-234-2785, AND BROOKSHIRES IN WHITEOAK, 200 W.US80, 903-297-2785, LOUIS MORGAN #4 IN LONGVIEW 110 JOHNSTON ST. 903-730-6580
6. TRY SHREVEPORT, LA. THEY SOMETIME HAVE VACCINE.
NORTHEAST TEXAS PUBLIC HEALTH DISTRICT WILL BE DISTRIBUTING VACCINE TO ANYONE WHO QUALIFIES REGARDLESS OF COUNTY OF RESIDENCE. NET HEALTH CEO GEORGE ROBERTS SAID THE HEALTH DISTRICT WILL BE HOSTING VACCINE DRIVE-THRU CLINICS AT HARVEY CONVENTION CENTER IN TYLER EVERY WEEK BASED ON AN APPOINTMENT AND WAITING LIST SYSTEM.
THE NEXT DRIVE IN EVENT WILL BE SOON. THOSE ON THE WAITING LIST BE THE FIRST CALLED ON AN APPOINTMENT. GET ON THE WAITING LIST
THE SECOND HUB IN TYLER IS UT HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT TYLER: I DON’T KNOW WHEN THIS HUB WILL START DISTRIBUTING VACCINE.
THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES SAID THAT THIS WEEK MOST COVID-19 VACCINES WILL BE DISTRIBUTED TO LARGE SITES AROUND THE STATE TO VACCINATE MORE THAN 100,000 PEOPLE. THE GOAL IS TO PROVIDE MORE PEOPLE WITH THE VACCINE AND AN EASIER WAY TO SIGN UP FOR AN APPOINTMENT. ALL PHASE 1A AND 1B INDIVIDUALS ARE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE A VACCINE AT THESE HUBS, NO MATTER WHERE THEY LIVE.
PHASE 1A INCLUDES FRONT-LINE HEALTH CARE WORKERS AND RESIDENTS AT LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES, WHILE PHASE 1B INCLUDES PEOPLE OVER 65 OR WITH A CHRONIC MEDICAL CONDITION THAT PUTS THEM AT INCREASED RISK FOR SEVERE ILLNESS FROM COVID‑19.
PEOPLE SHOULD NOT SHOW UP TO A HUB IF THEY DON’T HAVE AN APPOINTMENT. PROVIDERS ARE FOCUSING ON VACCINATING AREAS AND POPULATIONS HARDEST HIT BY COVID‑19, DSHS SAID.
ACCORDING TO THE STATE, VACCINE SUPPLIES ARE LIMITED BUT MORE SUPPLY IS COMING EVERY WEEK.
FOR WEEK FIVE OF THE VACCINE ALLOCATION, NET HEALTH AND UT HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT TYLER EACH RECEIVED 1,500 DOSES OF THE VACCINE.
APPOINTMENTS ARE FULL AT UT HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT TYLER, BUT UT HEALTH EAST TEXAS SAID THAT OFFICIALS WILL PUBLICIZE THE NEXT APPOINTMENT AVAILABILITY THROUGH THE MEDIA. APPOINTMENTS HAVE BEGUN, AND PEOPLE USED AN ONLINE LINK TO SIGN UP FOR THESE APPOINTMENTS AS WELL.
I WOULD GUESS THAT THERE ARE DRUG STORES IN TYLER OFFERING VACCINE????
IF YOU KNOW OF FRIENDS OR RELATIVE OR ACQUAINTANCES WHO MIGHT HAVE TROUBLE FIGURING OUT HOW TO SIGN UP FOR VACCINATION, PLEASE TRY AND HELP THEM.
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“…Despite the outstanding questions and challenges in delivering these vaccines, it is hard not to be excited about these findings and the existence of three safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccines, with a further 55 already in clinical trials.1…
This is the first report of efficacy against COVID-19 for a non-profit vaccine aiming for global supply, equity, and commitment to low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs),4, 5 and as such its publication is very welcomed.”
J. Harris: Apparently the vaccine hasn’t been well studied in those over 70 Y/O. It did gather some data about immunity after mistakenly using half doses of the vaccine. The vaccine should sell for $2-3/dose.
This is the British/Oxford vaccine and will be used in India as well.
“Most duplicate publications of RCTs conducted in mainland China in this study were cross-language duplicates and unreferenced republications of the main articles. Duplicate publication bias exists when the main articles were published in Chinese, potentially misleading readers and compromising journals and evidence synthesis.”
All phase 1A and 1B individuals are eligible to receive a vaccine at these hubs, no matter where they live.
Phase 1A includes front-line health care workers and residents at long-term care facilities, while phase 1B includes people over 65 or with a chronic medical condition that puts them at increased risk for severe illness from COVID‑19.
People should not show up to a hub if they don’t have an appointment. Providers are focusing on vaccinating areas and populations hardest hit by COVID‑19, DSHS said.
According to the state, vaccine supplies are limited but more supply is coming every week.
For week five of the vaccine allocation, NET Health and UT Health Science Center at Tyler each received 1,500 doses of the vaccine.
NET Health CEO George Roberts said the health district will be hosting vaccine drive-thru clinics at Harvey Convention Center in Tyler every week based on an appointment and waiting list system. To become a part of the waiting list, visit nethealthcovid19.org.
The drive-thru vaccinations began last Friday and Saturday, and the next event will likely be this Tuesday and Wednesday. Those on the waiting list are the first called on an appointment.
Appointments are full at UT Health Science Center at Tyler, but UT Health East Texas said Friday that officials will publicize the next appointment availability through the media. Appointments began on Monday, and people used an online link to sign up for these appointments as well.
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Current Texas Data only intermittently available these days.
J. Harris: I think, on the basis of the currently available information, the vaccines will cover the mutations. I feel more comfortable that two injections are better than one. Some of the information below is understandable.
Current Mutation Info from Hopkins:
EMERGING VARIANTS Information and analyses continue to emerge about newly identified SARS-CoV-2 variants, most notably B.1.1.7 (first identified in the UK) and B.1.351 (first identified in South Africa). Both variants appear to be more transmissible than the variants that circulated earlier in the pandemic, including those that are still circulating widely in most places around the world, but research is ongoing to fully characterize them. Perhaps the biggest concern is the potential that these variants could be less susceptible to newly authorized vaccines or therapeutic drugs. Preliminary research (preprint), conducted by researchers at Pfizer and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), provides evidence that the Pfizer vaccine is efficacious against both the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants. The study was conducted on blood specimens collected from vaccinated individuals, as opposed to data collected from clinical trials in humans, but it does provide initial confidence that the vaccine will remain a capable tool against the new variants.
Another study published recently (preprint) by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle, Washington, US), analyzed the effects of various mutations on the virus’ susceptibility to antibody treatments. The researchers found that variants with the E484K mutation, such as the B.1.351 variant, “have greatly reduced susceptibility to neutralization by the…serum antibodies of some individuals.” In fact, they observed decreased neutralization on the order of 10-fold or greater for variants with this mutation. They believe this is a result of changes to the receptor binding domain, which stimulates the majority of the antibody response. Notably, the researchers found that the N501Y mutation present in the B.1.1.7 variant “is unlikely to greatly affect neutralization by most human sera,” an encouraging indication. Further research is needed to better characterize the effects of these and other emerging variants—including their effects on disease severity, transmissibility, and susceptibility to medical countermeasures —but these studies provide insight into the potential impact these variants can have on the COVID-19 pandemic.
To all supporters of Dr. Shaun Bobbi Kelehan of Marshall, Texas
By George Smith — 12/08/2020
I’ve never said this licensed physician was not a good doctor. I believe, know and have said he is a sexual predator, that he stepped over the strict boundaries of doctor-patient demeanor and took advantage of a male patient, a friend of mine, administered drugs to him and sexually assaulted him in 2017.
This is not a he-said, he-said situation. Kelehan admitted to administering drugs to knock his friend, his patient out, in order to have nonconsensual sexual contact with him on two occasions…one time in which Trey Wood of Marshall remembered and another time that Wood had no idea the sexual contact occurred.
Yes, Trey has issues, just as we all do. His faults are glaring, humongous even. An addict and alcoholic, Trey is a former resident of the Texas penal system; he is the first to admit his screwed up a big part of his life, losing the faith of family members and many friends by his obnoxious, aberrant and self-destructive behavior.
But, no one, Trey included, deserves to be drugged and sexually assaulted by anyone, much less a respected citizen and acclaimed member of the medical community.
If Trey were named Becky, age 19 (not 46), a blonde cheerleader (not a 250-pound hulk with a shaved head). and the encounter was heterosexual, not homosexual, and could be proven, who would not support “Becky” in her complaint?
Trey followed the steps to get justice for the injustice he endured. He filed an official complaint; that complaint was investigated; evidence was collected; charges were filed; a grand jury convened…and nothing. Despite firm evidence – audio and video tape confessions from Kelehan, plus an apology for his actions and promising it would never happen again, the grand jury no billed the doctor.
Whoa! How could have happen? The special prosecutor did not play the recordings for the grand jury; he recommended the complaint be no billed. For the most part, that’s how grand juries work: I know, I served on one in Marshall in the mic 1980s, even serving as foreman. What the prosecutor wants in pending cases … usually happens. End of story.
After all this, Trey was despondent, suicidal. A friend called the Austin, Texas police (where Trey is now a resident) and they found him in his car in a wooded area; he was put into a detox unit and then he later went to a rehab facility.
He found Alcoholics Anonymous, bought into the 12-Step Plan, sobered up and has stayed clean for two years. In his sobriety, he had a revelation: Past demons are supposed to be exorcised. Trey knew he had been wronged and the legal system failed to protect him.
He contacted the Texas Medical Board and laid out his story. A long investigation ensued and the board issued a temporary ruling in October which prohibited Kelehan from having any contact or writing prescriptions with male patients, no visiting any patients outside his clinics, no telemedicine sessions and his physician assistants could not see male patients.
The board is expected to issue a final ruling on the case after the first of the year.
If you are having problems with his case, stop thinking about Trey and focus on ‘Becky”.
“Trey” is “Becky”. “We’ are could be “Becky”.
Trey deserves justice, the same justice Becky would get. We all deserve justice.
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CORONAVIRUS INFO PROVIDED BY DR. JIM HARRIS – 11/14/2020
11/14/2020
Hello
On Thursday, we were down to 22 ICU Beds in our area. It’s up a bit on Saturday.
Measles Deaths Soared Worldwide Last Year, as Vaccine Rates Stalled
Biden forms special 52-person COVID transition team
From Johns Hopkins
1. Fluvoxamine vs Placebo and Clinical Deterioration in Outpatients With Symptomatic COVID-19 (JAMA) In this randomized trial that included 152 adult outpatients with confirmed COVID-19 and symptom onset within 7 days, clinical deterioration occurred in 0 patients treated with fluvoxamine vs 6 (8.3%) patients treated with placebo over 15 days, a difference that was statistically significant. In this preliminary study, adult outpatients with symptomatic COVID-19 treated with fluvoxamine, compared with placebo, had a lower likelihood of clinical deterioration over 15 days; however, determination of clinical efficacy would require larger randomized trials with more definitive outcome measures..(J. Harris: This is a commonly used antidepressant medication.)
2. New Airflow Videos Show Why Masks With Exhalation Valves Do Not Slow the Spread of COVID-19 (NIST) Masks with exhalation valves do not slow the spread of the disease, and now, new videos from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) show why. The videos, which show airflow patterns through masks with and without exhalation valves, were created by NIST research engineer Matthew Staymates. The videos were published, along with an accompanying research article, in the journal Physics of Fluids.
3, An Outbreak of Covid-19 on an Aircraft Carrier (NEJM) An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) occurred on the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a crew of 4779 personnel. Over the course of the outbreak, 1271 crew members (26.6% of the crew) tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection by rRT-PCR testing, and more than 1000 infections were identified within 5 weeks after the first laboratory-confirmed infection. An additional 60 crew members had suspected Covid-19. Among the crew members with laboratory-confirmed infection, 76.9% had no symptoms at the time that they tested positive and 55.0% had symptoms develop at any time during the clinical course. Among the 1331 crew members with suspected or confirmed Covid-19, 23 (1.7%) were hospitalized, 4 (0.3%) received intensive care, and 1 died. Transmission was facilitated by close-quarters conditions and by asymptomatic and presymptomatic infected crew members.(J. Harris: Below the chart shows the various symptoms these young, healthy sailors had. Note that fever was uncommon.)
THE FIRST INTERIM DATA ANALYSIS OF THE SPUTNIK V VACCINE AGAINST COVID-19 PHASE III CLINICAL TRIALS IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION DEMONSTRATED 92% EFFICACY
The Sputnik V vaccine efficacy amounted to 92% (calculation based on the 20 confirmed COVID-19 cases split between vaccinated individuals and those who received the placebo). Currently 40,000 volunteers are taking part in double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase III of Sputnik V clinical trials, out of which over 20,000 have been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine and more than 16,000 with both the first and second doses of the vaccine.
Efficacy was demonstrated on the basis of a first interim analysis obtained 21 days after the first injection.
There were no unexpected adverse events during the trials. Monitoring of the participants is ongoing.
The world’s first registration of COVID-19 vaccine, done in Russia on the 11th of August under the emergency use authorization mechanism, enables the Russian Federation to administer the vaccine outside of the clinical trials to volunteers such as medics and other high-risk groups. Trials conducted under the civil use of the vaccine in Russia (not being a part of clinical trials) based on the monitoring of additional 10,000 vaccinated confirmed vaccine efficacy at a rate of over 90%.
The interim research data will be published by the Gamaleya Center team in one of the leading international peer-reviewed medical journals. Following the completion of Phase III clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine, Gamaleya Center will provide access to the full clinical trial report.
Currently Sputnik V Phase III clinical trials are approved and are undergoing in Belarus, UAE, Venezuela and other countries, as well as Phase II-III – in India.
The Sputnik V vaccine is based on a well-studied human adenoviral vector platform that had proven safe and effective with no long-term side effects in more than 250 clinical trials globally conducted during the past two decades (while the history of use of human adenoviruses in vaccine development started in 1953). More than 100,000 people have received approved and registered drugs based on the human adenoviral vectors.
The uniqueness of the Russian vaccine is in using two different human adenoviral vectors that enable to provide strong and long-term immune response after the second injection.
(J. Harris: Many or most American vaccine experts have serious reservations about this vaccine trial. We’ll see.)
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(Harris Translation of the FABULOUS first article below from the NYT. You may remember it, but I’ve simplified it a bit for old folks in a hurry. Notice the colors. The final article is from Vandy.)
To read the New York Times article: Charting a Coronavirus Infection By Katherine J. Wu and Jonathan Corum Updated October 5, 2020- click here
Charting a Coronavirus Infection
Exposure and Incubation
The time between initial exposure to the virus and the appearance of symptoms is known as the incubation period. This period is typically four to five days, although it can last up to 14 days, or perhaps even longer in rare cases.
Most people who come down with Covid recover within a couple of weeks and do not require hospitalization. Severe cases, however, may take far longer to resolve. And a growing cohort of coronavirus survivors, called long-haulers, has reported symptoms and side effects — including fatigue, impaired memory and heart problems — that can linger for months.
People who develop severe cases of Covid tend to be hospitalized within two weeks or so of the emergence of symptoms. Older more obese people are at high risk of more severe disease. People with diabetes, kidney disease, COPD, and other chronic diseases as well as those with some genetic types and blood types are more likely to develop severe cases.
Viral Load
After an initial exposure, the number of virus particles in a person’s body, or viral load, takes time to build up as the pathogen infiltrates cells and copies itself repeatedly. The amount of virus usually peaks before symptoms appear, if symptoms appear at all, and starts to decrease fast in the days following the first signs of illness.
To repeat: People are more likely to be contagious when their viral loads are high. The peak infectiousness might be only a few days long, beginning a day or two BEFORE symptoms appear, and closing within a week thereafter. Remember, however, up to 40% of infected, contagious people have no symptoms or fever and do not know they are sick.
This also means that people can be highly contagious during the so-called presymptomatic stage, in the days before they develop symptoms.
Many of these screenings are rapid tests, delivering actionable results within minutes without needing to send samples to a laboratory. Such speed and convenience can come at the cost of accuracy: Rapid tests are worse at picking up on low viral loads and very recent infections, and more often produce false negatives or false positives. Some experts argue that true positives from rapid tests might coincide with the period in which people are most contagious, although this has not yet been confirmed.
Rapid tests with negative results does not rule out an infection or contagiousness.
People with known exposure to an infected person or who have already developed symptoms may need to take a more sensitive test. Experts often recommend laboratory tests that rely on a technique called P.C.R. (polymerase chain reaction) that can detect very small amounts of the virus, but that usually takes several hours to run on sophisticated, expensive machines.
Because a P.C.R. test is more sensitive to low viral loads, it may be able to detect a coronavirus infection very early on. But the diagnostic test can also pick up harmless bits of the virus that linger in the body after symptoms have resolved, and perhaps after a person stops being contagious.
Antibodies are produced by the body in response to an invading pathogen, starting about a week or so into an infection, and can persist in the blood for months.
Another type of test, called a SEROLOGY test, looks for these antibodies instead of the virus. Serology test show that you have had Covid-19 in your body. However, you may not still be contagious. It is not a good test to show if you are infectious. The presence of antibodies (positive Serology Test) may or may not mean you have some immunity.
Preventing Infection
Public health measures to combat its spread. While no single tactic can confer complete protection, combining actions like mask-wearing, physical distancing, frequent handwashing and avoiding crowded spaces significantly lowers risk.
Masks and face coverings that fit tight and a cover the nose and mouth can block much of transmission from contagious people and also block nearby people wearing masks from inhaling some if not all viruses. The lower the number of viruses in the exposing dose, the less likely infection is to be transmitted, and, if it is, it will be milder.
Infected people can also reduce the chance of passing on the virus by isolating themselves for at least10 days after symptoms appear, as long as they continue to improve.
CDC says infected individuals are unlikely to be infectious for more than 10 to 20 days after their symptoms start.
J. Harris: In summary, to prevent getting sick or making others sick:
Protect yourself, protect your family; protect your friends and your community. Don’t go anywhere you can avoid — until the virus is again checked and vaccinations are available.
Avoid crowds, gatherings, celebrations — even avoid family members who don’t live with you. Avoid bars, restaurants, parties, weddings, funerals, unmanaged churches, sports events, doctors offices, barber shops, dental offices, buses, airplanes, automobile travel with people other than your family. For sure, don’t go on a cruise.
When forced to be out or when at essential work, or at the grocery store, keep at least 6 foot spacing and don’t let others crowd you.
Wear the best mask you can find anytime you are around people other than your immediate family with whom you live.
Wash your hands (or sanitize) every time you think about it, especially when coming in or going out. Wear gloves when you are handling things others have touched or been close to.
Assume that anyone you encounter outside your personal secure area is contagious. Protect your space.
Pay attention to good medical advice from physicians and scientists who are reliable; avoid medical people or quacks are selling something or bragging about their unscientific “cures,” or who acting outside of recognized historically reliable organizations such as the CDC and NIH and your doctor, your county and state health authorities, and those of your local officials who you know to be trustworthy.
Avoid medical advice given by politicians, especially those in the heat of an election. Generally, avoid medical advice on Facebook and similar publications.
AND FINALLY: WHAT DO YOU DO IF A FAMILY MEMBER HAS COVID:
Transmission of SARS-COV-2 Infections in Households — Tennessee and Wisconsin, April–September 2020” (J. Harris: You might want to keep this mailout?). “…..persons who suspect that they might have COVID-19 should isolate, stay at home, and use a separate bedroom and bathroom if feasible. Isolation should begin seeking testing and before test results become available …. Concurrently, all household members, including the index patient, should start wearing a mask in the home, particularly in shared spaces where appropriate distancing is not possible…. Close household contacts of the index patient should also self-quarantine, to the extent possible, particularly staying away from those at higher risk of getting severe COVID-19…An important finding of this study is that fewer than one half of household members with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections reported symptoms at the time infection was first detected, and many reported no symptoms throughout 7 days of follow-up, underscoring the potential for transmission from asymptomatic secondary contacts and the importance of quarantine. Persons aware of recent close contact with an infected person, such as a household member, should quarantine in their homes and get tested for SARS-CoV-2. …..
AND FINALLY, A FEW OLD TV JOKES:
Q. When you pat a dog on its head he will wag his tail. What will a goose do? A. Paul Lynde: Make him bark?
Q. According to Ann Landers, is there anything wrong with getting into the habit of kissing a lot of people?
A. Charley Weaver: It got me out of the army.
Q. If you were pregnant for two years, what would you give birth to?
A. Paul Lynde: Whatever it is, it would never be afraid of the dark..
Q. According to Ann Landers, what are two things you should never do in bed?
Editor’s note: This letter appeared on the Access Heath Systems facebook. Since reades were encouraged to share it on social media, I have taken the liberty of posting it on this website.
To whom it may concern,
My name is Shaun B Kelehan, MD. I have been licensed in Texas for 20 years and have practiced in Marshall for the last 17+ years. I am writing this statement only to protect my staff and my family from any more heartache brought on by the allegations of sexual misconduct reported by a 45 year old male patient (My Patient–MP).
There is much misinformation already on Facebook about this. I will take the highroad and not detail my side of the story because I do not want to reveal information regarding MP that is not already publicly available.
Everything that happened that led to the Texas Medical Board decision on October 28, 2020 occurred prior to April 20 17. In April 2017, I passed a lie detector test 100% to clear my name. A Grand Jury looked into the allegations made by MP to the police against me and determined that no charges should be brought against me. That was in July 2017. Prior to the Grand Jury making its final decision, MP demanded a large sum of money from me in exchange for him dropping his allegations. Since his allegations were 100% false, I refused his attempt at extortion.
The Medical Board panel was made up of two doctors and a public member (not 12 members as falsely reported on someone’s Facebook page). The panel heard testimony from Dr Michael Arambula, an expert witness in forensic psychiatry and sex addictions. He is also the ex-Medical Board president. He spent five hours with me earlier this week before the hearing interviewing me and another five hours hearing the audio tapes and seeing the evidence. He told the panel that he felt after thorough review of the record and my examination that I had not done any of the things MP said I had done, and in fact that it was “highly unlikely” for me to ever do anything like that in the future.
I disagree with the Board’s decision. However, the Board believed in me enough to allow me to continue to see female patients, and I have brought in another physician to see my male patients while I am temporarily unable to see male patients. My clinic remains open for business and I look forward to my clinic continuing care for you as we have since 2003.
I appreciate all of the support my community has given me. I know most, if not all, of you who know me firsthand know that I was not capable of what MP said I did. I write this for you as a thank you for your continued love and support in this matter.It’s almost embarrassing for me to ask for everyone to pray for me yet again. But when you’re doing so, please say an added prayer for all of my perpetrators to find some kind of joy in their lives so they don’t keep going through life trying to ruin the lives of others.
Deepest love to my son who has to go through this with me and to my family and friends in Marshall, Texas. I feel a loss….another hole in my heart that will take time to mend.
All my love, Shaun Kelehan MD
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The first thing I did after posting the story about Dr. Kelehan and the Texas Medical Board’s decision was to write an email to a friend. It said:
“I have known about this for 9-months. Every day I hoped it was not true, but I knew there was audio and video to prove it true.”
A short time later he replied:
“This is one of the saddest stories I have read in a very long time. We have been patients since we moved to Marshall. We have always thought how lucky we were to have Dr. K as our doctor. What more can I say, “So very sad.”
As I normally do with articles, I went on facebook and posted a link to the article. I expected people to respond. Here are a few of the responses**:
“Ron very disappointed in your handling of this, first I do not believe anything George Smith says,I believe he has been the one pushing this the whole time,by the way you are innocent until proven guilty”
“Why the hell do you get a thrill of putting other people’s business on social media. I myself support dr kelehan. But you will one day reap what you sow.”
“You and George are both Cancers for our city which you seem to hate. I would say, why don t you leave Marshall, but George Smith left decades ago but cannot keep from being a cancer to our city.”
I am not surprised by these comments and I fully support peoples’ rights to make remarks on facebook.
Dr. Kelehan is one of the most liked people in Marshall.
I have known Dr.Kelehan and his wife since they moved to Marshall. I worked with his wife doing photography and advertising the entire time she owned Under the Texas Sun. Later I did photography work for Dr. Kelehan when he opened Access Family Health. I have always liked him and despite what has happened I still do.
That being said, I make no apology for posting the article. The Texas Medical Board’s findings is news, and it is media’s responsibility to publish that news and make it available to the public.
For 10 years, I have posted good news stories and bad news stories. On several occasions I have posted stories that I wished I did not have to post but I posted them because I believe it is media’s responsibility to publish all of the news, not to censor the news.
To meet that commitment, I have a policy that I will print anyone’s Letter to the Editor if it is signed and does not contain known lies. That policy is still in place and I encourage anyone to submit letters.
I am pleased that both KMHT and the Marshall News Messenger have chosen to report on this story. That is what media should do.
Finally. Yes, this is a very sad story. There are no victors only losers, but this is a story that must be told.
**Editor’s note:
I posted the social media communications I received exactly as I received them. Nothing was altered including words, spelling, etc.
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Q: During the past three and a half years, since the sexual assault by Dr. Kelehan, what has been your state of mind?
A: Reflective. When life slows down, especially when one puts down alcohol and drugs after years of using them as a means of emotional support and “medication”, you’re left with a very raw “you”.
I have had to concentrate on looking at the harm I’ve done to others as a result of entertaining such an extremely selfish view of life.
That’s what drugs and alcohol do. They demand you remain selfish in an effort to keep you dependent and willing to do anything to obtain them. But, it must be noted that examining the harm you’ve done to others includes moments that you must also consider the harm that you may have done to yourself. That sort of reflection involves examining the person that I would or could have been without alcohol and drugs. That’s not easy.
That reflection, in order to be effective, requires me to divorce myself from regret. As I write this, I’m still plagued by this regret. But, I’m told that this will pass.
Q: After the no bill decision by the grand jury in 2018, what kept you going to seek justice?
A: I don’t think I was seeking “justice” after the no-bill. I don’t know if that can be had considering the politics involved.
I’m not even sure if there is such a thing as justice in this situation. I wrote a letter to the medical board as a cathartic exercise. It was suggested, by a therapist, that I write myself a letter forgiving myself for placing myself in that position. Also, as a “message in a bottle” exercise,
I was asked to write a letter to a governing body and, after mailing the letter, forget about it. I did forget about it. The medical board didn’t.
Q: When you contacted the Texas Medical Board to file charges, did you think you had a chance of vindication or were you just going through the motions, trying anything to get justice.
A: I had no expectations. And, after the political (situation)in East Texas, I was jaded and carried around the idea that no one would care.
Q: What were your thoughts during the hearing? At the time the board announced its decision?
A: I was relieved to have been given the opportunity to tell my story and have it behind me. I wasn’t too anticipatory concerning the verdict. It was almost a non-issue in my mind. I truly felt better after simply testifying and that’s all I was seeking to begin with.
Q: There will be a followup hearing by the medical board to determine if Dr. Kelehan is permanently suspended from practicing medicine, but the decision to forbid him or any physicians assistants from seeing patients, administering any prescriptions for drugs or do telemedicine consults is pretty crippling for a practicing physician.
Your thoughts?
A: I believe the whole affair is sad. There is no “gain” in this situation. I’ve never said Dr. Kelehan is a bad person or a bad physician.I don’t think there’s anyone on this earth who can say that.
Conversely, there’s not many people who can say I lived a “good” life. There’s plenty of people that can rightly claim that I was a “bad” person by all the normal standards of society. Even so, I don’t know when I stopped being a “person”, even with the adjectives, and should simply be okay with being drugged and taken advantage of. That never sat right with me.
In a way, that’s the kind of attitude that contributed to keeping me intoxicated over all those years. I always discounted my worth as a human and accepting that behavior from another human is nothing but an exercise in self loathing.
I simply needed to talk about what happened and find a way of releasing myself from my past surrounding that time of my life.
Q: Watching your mother Sandy Dunham testify for Dr. Kelehan must have been hard. Thoughts about watching that?
A: I was only disturbed when my mother testified. I knew that was a possibility. In fact, I would have been surprised if they’d not called her as a character witness.
I was only disturbed because she looked very tired and I knew, once again, I was partly responsible for that. You see, it’s been some years since I’ve seen my mother and not many kind words were passed between us in the prior years.
I didn’t disagree with anything she said about my prior dishonesty. And, knowing her well, I knew she was fine with relaying all the dirty inter-family secrets that would discredit me. That’s never been a problem for her.
My problems with addiction and alcohol have always been something that she refused to look at from a logical perspective. Just as she refused to ever review the evidence in this situation, my mother refused to acknowledge alcohol as an issue beyond, “just don’t drink”.
In 20 years of multiple rehabs and visits to ICU surrounding alcohol, she never once visited me or called me.
My mother’s take on alcoholism was always an emotional one. And a regurgitation of my past in that hearing was possibly emotionally soothing for her. My past is low hanging fruit and I really take no offense to it being used.
I truly hope she felt better afterwards. I certainly owe her any amount of latitude she needs in an effort to “feel” better.
Q: Any other thoughts?
A: Life is hard. People are strange. Tragedy is the dirt… while joy is the diamond
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Because a P.C.R. test is more sensitive to low viral loads, it may be able to detect a coronavirus infection very early on. But the diagnostic test can also pick up harmless bits of the virus that linger in the body after symptoms have resolved, and 
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