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Doctor: Beating, Not Sickle Cell Trait,
Killed Teen
Rebecca Catalanello
March 16, 2006
Dr. Michael Baden, a pathologist involved in
the case of a 14- year-old boy who died in a Panama City boot camp,
said there are significant differences between the sickle cell trait
the boy had and those of two victims he diagnosed when he served as
medical examiner for New York.
Baden disputes a Bay County medical examiner's
contention that sickle cell trait killed Martin Anderson, who died
in a Panama City boot camp after being beaten by guards. The bruises
on Martin Lee Anderson's lifeless 14-year-old body are consistent
with the beating he received at a Panama City boot camp before he
died Jan. 6, a former New York medical examiner said Wednesday.
Baden, asked by Anderson's family to observe
Anderson's second autopsy Monday, said that it was what happened to
Anderson in the videotape that killed him, nothing else. Baden said
the conclusion of a Bay County medical examiner that Anderson died
from sickle cell trait wouldn't make sense unless Anderson had
another pre-existing medical condition.
But beyond that, he said, hospital records
indicate Anderson's blood was not sickled until the moment at which
he started to die.
The bruises match what one would expect from
procedures they use to subdue people, he said.
Baden has been adamant that in 30 years as New
York medical examiner, he never once saw anyone die of sickle trait.
In at least two publicized cases Baden
reviewed, the words "sickle cell" were used to describe cause of
death. But Baden said Wednesday those two situations bear no
similarity to what happened to Anderson. In 1992, Baden performed a
second autopsy on an upstate New York man who died shortly after a
police beating. The man died of "unrecognized acute sickle cell
crisis, caused by hypoxia (a lack of oxygen reaching the tissues),
the result of physical exertion and contributed to by the effects of
cocaine and alcohol use," according to the Buffalo News.
Baden said Wednesday "sickle cell crisis" is
sickle cell disease - not the same as sickle cell trait. Sickle cell
trait is not in itself harmful. People with sickle cell trait can
lead perfectly healthy lives. In 1979, Baden ruled a 25-year-old
amateur boxer collapsed and died in a New York ring as a result of
an enlarged heart and sickle cell trait. Both were listed on the
boxer's death certificate.
"In that case, he would have died from heart
disease alone," Baden said Wednesday. Sickle trait was only listed
on the death certificate, he said, because it is used for genetics
research.
To compare Anderson's death with either of the
two recorded cases is "mixing apples and pears."
"Here, the question is, 'Was his life shortened
by the actions of others?' " Baden said. "People who are healthy
don't die of sickle trait. The other person was not healthy. This
young man had no pre- existing illnesses. There's a difference."
Benjamin Crump, attorney for Martin Anderson's
family, has said that though Baden represented the Anderson family
during the second autopsy, he asked for no reimbursement other than
his plane ticket down to Tampa this week to observe.
Despite Baden's opinion, Anderson's official
cause of death is still undetermined. An official with Hillsborough
State Attorney's office said Tuesday the process could take
another two weeks.
Anderson's death has sparked a wave of outrage
and numerous calls for an end to boot camps like the one the
adolescent enrolled in a day before he died.
Anderson was sent to the boot camp after he
violated probation for stealing his grandmother's car and taking it
on a joy ride with friends. His violation, according to family: he
missed a curfew and showed up at a school where he was not supposed
to be.
Times researcher Cathy Wos and staff writer
Kevin Graham contributed to this report.
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