Throw YouTube into the Mix, and the Case Involving OP and Sick Kids Gets Weirder and Weirder

Last week, germ lawyer Bill Marler took two actions that were intriguing for their timing. As I mentioned in my previous post, he issued a press release calling on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto SB 201, the legislation that will do away with the coliform standard that is a threat to the ongoing production of raw milk in California.

Second, he posted a video of Chris Martin in the hospital on life support during September 2006, after allegedly becoming ill from consuming raw milk from Organic Pastures Dairy Co.

When I read the news release last Friday, I dismissed it as an opportunistic marketing effort by Marler. Now that I’ve viewed the YouTube video he posted, and re-read the press release, I think I was wrong.

This two-pronged attack on SB 201 is a vivid example of how ever-more politicized the raw milk issue has become. Except to go along with all the other weirdnesses of this case—the timing that overlaps a national outbreak of E.coli 0157:H7 illnesses from raw spinach, the inaccuracies in the writeup by the California Department of Health Services, the lack of a smoking gun—there is now another. I’ll call it the video synch problem.

Before I get into the specifics, I should preface this story with my reluctance to even discuss it, since it is as pure a piece of propaganda as you are ever likely to see. It takes a single tragic case, provides inflammatory and inaccurate narration (suggesting, for instance, that all six sick kids were on life suppport), and presents it not only as fact, but as if it’s indicative of a major health problem. I was sent a version of the video, without the narration, about nine months ago, by the Martin family, and asked to keep it private. I did done that. Now, though, as the raw milk situation becomes ever more political, the Martin family has apparently decided to hell with their privacy, they’re going to work with Marler to do everything they can to bring down SB 201 and Organic Pastures.

There’s at least one major credibility problem with the video. If you watch the video carefully, you’ll notice that at the end, Chris seems to get sicker and sicker as he’s attached to a ventilator. In fact, you can hear him breathing laboriously.

Also near the end, you’ll see two dates, seemingly from the video camera, in the lower right corner—Sept. 23, 2006, and then Sept. 24, 2006. There’s only one problem with those dates: Chris Martin wasn’t on life support those days.

The reason those dates stood out to me was because Mark McAfee has told me on several occasions that he visited Chris and another patient, Lauren Herzog, at Loma Linda Medical Center on Sept. 23. Here’s how Mark recalled the situation when I spoke with him last April: "I arrived at the hospital expecting these kids to be there with the priest by the bed. Instead, I'm told, 'I don't think the kids want to talk to you because they're on their cell phones."

I decided I should call Bill Marler, the lawyer for the Martins and Herzogs, and try to find out what was going on here. He told me it was the Martins' idea to post the tape on YouTube. "Absolutely out of the blue, the Martins contacted us, saying, 'Perhaps we should put this up so the governor knows.' "

Marler said he has a technical assistant who edited ithe tape for length and added the narration--it all took about an hour. So it was all just coincidental, "fortuitous," as Marler puts it, that the video came in just as Marler was issuing his press release.

And what about the discrepancy on the dates? He went back to check in his office, and then called me back about an hour later: "The dates on the video are not consistent" with actual events, he said. "I don't have an explanation. It looks like it is off. There were two periods of time when Chris was on the ventilator. If Mark was there on September 23 or 24, it's possible he (Chris) was not on the ventilator."

He added, "I have nothing to hide. I have nothing to spin. It is what it is. I believe the explanation is there is something wrong with the date on the camera."

I'm not sure if this might affect the court case. But clearly there is a major credibility problem, or rather, another credibility problem among a seemingly endless number. If something as fundamental as the dating is wrong—so obvious that a non-lawyer like me picked it up—then you wonder what else is wrong in this sad and sorry case. After all, we all know how easily digital photos and videos can be adjusted and edited to make points particular parties want to make.

I think the problem here for Marler and the Martins may be that the political tide is showing some signs of shifting with the likely implementation of SB 201. If it is adopted with essentially no opposition, as seems possible, it takes much of the fire out of the Marler/Martin arguments about the dangers of coliforms, and the need to keep Organic Pastures and Claravale Dairy continually on the edge of collapse. Then it might serve as a reasonable model for other states. And an indication of a shifting of mindsets.

Comments

[Bill Marler]

It really was nice to talk with you today too David. Sometimes the facts are just the facts. The facts are ultimately what court cases and not blogs are all about. I wish you the very best.

You also explained that you were not the "Gumpster" who posted a comment on Daily Kos that I took issue with. I noted that there and do the same here.

I must say, however, your level of mistrust of anything that might negatively impact raw milk is amazing. Clearly, your days as a journalist are over. Your inability do deal with facts that do not serve your world view makes you a perfect blogger - far better than me I must admit.

[Amanda Rose]

My camera's date has been off and I have no idea how to fix it.

*Yawn.*

Somebody on this very blog once told me that I get caught up in "minutiae." Who was that? Oh right, it was David Gumpert.

[cp]

A friend of mine, who is also a nurse, viewed the Martin video. I called her after I read this post. She said there are three different breathing tools/machines being used in this video. She said the first is a ventilator, the second is called a BiPap machine and the third is an oxygen mask.

She said that after someone is taken off the ventilator, a person still may need assistance with breathing until the lungs are strong enough. The video portrays the progression of Chris Martin regaining the function of his lungs.

Watch the tape again. You will see three different things on his face.

Maybe the problem here is that someone is listening to Mark McAfee for the correct facts.

[Ruth Ann Foster]

Has anyone noticed that "THE FACTS" are known only to the anti-raw milk crowd? Apparently, their "truth" like dirty milk, requires pasteurization.

[Amanda Rose]

Better question: Will the child actor paid by Marler-Clark and portraying Chris Martin in the video affect the political process in California?

[anonymous]

OMG, I was just sending a video of my grandchild's birth (not the birth, but the visit to the hospital after) to my parents (proud great-grandparents) and realized that the date on my videocamera isn't correct. Will they send the birthday card on the wrong date forevermore? Perhaps the whole birth was a conspiracy.

David, you disgust me in your lack of empathy for these sick people who drank raw milk. Sure, other foods cause illness, but some raw milk dairies repeatedly cause people to get sick and end up in the hospital. I gained some understanding of the "food rights" issue following this blog, but still worried about the "put raw milk in the stomachs of every kid out there" mentality. Clearly, this is the dominant point of view in your sorry movement. Thanks for motivating people to fight you tooth and nail (hoof and teet) to push bans or something close to them across the country.

Also, your pathetic personal attacks against Bill Marler and regulators or academics on this site speaks volumes about your lack of credibility and research into the "real" opposition.

anonymous (don't want my name used for your personal attacks against me or my family)

[also anonymous]

Anonymous,

I dont even know what words to say to someone that is able to dismiss a sick child on life support as propeganda.

[Sylvia]

The parents aproved exploiting the illness of their kid? Sympathy to aid in a court trial? Incorrect dates shows lack of credibility. The supposed Bi-Pap breathing appears to be struggling and rapid. Perhaps the settings should have been checked. Just think, as Mary had said, had they not given the antibiotics he may not have gone through this ordeal.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11/26/news/californian/20_59_3711_25_06.txt

"Mary said Chris ate spinach and drank raw milk in the days leading up to his hospital stay, which began Sept. 7. She said she isn't sure which product contained the bacteria."

"They said that if the first doctor Chris saw when he went into the hospital on the first night would have put a wristband on him noting that he should not receive a dose of antibiotics, then the second doctor may not have administered the dose that sent Chris spiraling into trauma. "All they needed was one little wristband," Mary said."

[Lisa S]

Not trying to dismiss the raw milk part of the story, but wasn't this little guy given antiobiotics before they knew it was e-coli, which made a bad situation (bloody diarrhea) so much worse (HUS)? Is the hospital or doctors that treated him being sued also? .

[Mary Blair McMorran]

David,
You are right; the mindset is shifting. Back in December they said raw milk would be the top health issue in 2008.
http://tinyurl.com/yvduzx

It may be weird, but this chaos is progress! I think we're in the 2nd stage.

Thanks for your blog - keep shining the light.
-Blair

"ALL TRUTH PASSES THROUGH THREE STAGES: FIRST IT IS RIDICULED. SECOND, IT IS VIOLENTLY OPPOSED. THIRD, IT IS ACCEPTED AS BEING SELF-EVIDENT."
— SCHOPENHAUER

[Don]

Mr Marler states "The facts are ultimatly what court cases are all about" HMM
How many times do his black robed coworkers sitting on high refuse to allow "facts" to be presented, how many times do the "facts" get presented thru appeals to different blacked robed judges that see the "facts" differently?
So it would appear that in the justice system the "facts" are only the "facts" in the eyes of the last black robed beholder. Not very comforting.

[A real farmer]

I agree that antibiotic treatment in E-Coli infection can do more harm than good. We have had discussions with many fellow farmers who deal with it in young calves. It always seems to hit at a certain age , responds best with electrolyte therapy and probiotics, and the smallest , weakest calves always die. Antibiotic treatment always causes a massive die-off of all gut bacteria , good and bad, releasing toxins that overwhelm the system. This causes a septic condition and the ultimate "shut down" of the body functions. It didn't seem to matter if these calves were fed raw milk, or a milk replacer- or if they were exposed to dirt,mud, or manure - or extreme cleanliness. My daughter at 2 months was on 5 different antibiotics until a culture showed the one that would be "effective" - by that time she had been sick for almost 3 days, as she was misdiagnosed by the first Dr. Perhaps the "flash" was over by that time - I was told that is the way E-coli works. I don't have any answers for the parents of the kids that got sick. The calves that recovered passed on their immunity to their calves and outbreaks are now rare.It is also known small exposures over time will strengthen the immune system. These are "facts", but it seems to be that some "facts" are better than others. So where does lifetime experience come in? Do the observations and treatments we as farmers find to be true and effective have no relevance ? When did the definition of "science" change to only recognize the guys in white lab coats?? We practice science every day on the farm , most of us have diagnosed,done minor surgeries, assisted in the major ones, and provided treatments and therapies. I find it insulting that some lawyer or judge (who most likely spent little or no time on a farm) will dismiss my findings in favor of some white coat that knows only what he was taught from a book . An extension agent / turned college professor admitted to me once that what he learned from books did not give him the full picture. He went out and lived farming so he could relate better. He found that books and modern "science" do not always present truth. He became a great professor and a better person because he could admit that.

[Amanda Rose]

I watched the video again. I think I know what a vent is now that I am looking and he was not on it (according to the video dates) on the dates that David claims. I don't know if the time line is off otherwise.

Two years later, I find myself extremely disturbed by the McAfee comment:

"I arrived at the hospital expecting these kids to be there with the priest by the bed. Instead, I'm told, 'I don't think the kids want to talk to you because they're on their cell phones."

That was the tone of comments at the rally/press conference when the recall was ended and yet Chris Martin stayed in the hospital another four or five weeks. "The parents were lying about the milk," "the kids weren't all that sick anyway," blah blah blah.

We had a *party* when this child was still critical:
http://www.rebuild-from-depression.com/blog/2008/08/raw_milk_generosity.html

Amanda

[Don]

Central Valley Business Times Quotes Mr Marler stating that there are children on life support due to contaminated raw milk and there will be more.
Are children now on life support how many, and where???? What are the "facts"?

http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=9655

[miguel]

Mary,

If you are a microbiologist studying bacteria,the truth is simply that there is no such thing as "good" or "bad" bacteria.Any bacteria can be cultured by providing the optimum conditions for its reproduction.To eliminate the bacteria change the conditions to those that slow its reproduction.

http://thehealthadvantage.com/biologicalterrain.html




Instead, as Dr. Bernard Jensen and Mark Anderson assert in their book Empty Harvest, "The germ theory is still believed to be the central cause of disease because around it exists a colossal supportive infrastructure of commercial interests that built multi-billion-dollar industries based upon this theory. To the scientific satisfaction of many in the health field, it has long been disproven as the primary cause of disease. Germs are, rather, an effect of disease."

Interestingly and to this day, the whole theory of microzymas and how they operate has never been disproved - or proven false - by opposing research. To the contrary, decades of research – beginning with Pasteur himself - has only served to bolster the mycrozyma theory. Not only does the germ theory remain unsubstantiated today, but Pasteur himself recanted it in his private journal, writing the famous words which were revealed many decades after his death:

“It is not the germ that causes disease but the terrain in which the germ is found.”

Professional scientists who study microbes are already in the third stage.They accept the truth about unpasteurized milk as being self evident.

[Steve Bemis]

On the video cameras which I have used, if I screw up the dating function (by replacing the batteries, or by never setting the date to begin with), the result is a clearly nonsense date, e.g. 1/1/2000 or 00/00/00. It would be unusual to spend the time setting the date, and then screw it up by a couple of days one way or the other.

[Amanda Rose]

It would appear increasingly that this is not a date issue at all (but good try Steve). It appears that no one here (including me) knew what a ventilator was.

It also appears that Mark McAfee confused one of the other breathing devices with a cell phone.

[cp]

I believe Gwen and Kirsten are nurses. Maybe they can help clarify what we are all viewing.

Love your humor Amanda. Maybe he thought when Chris was wearing the white hat that is was a new hands free device.

[Daily reader]

That dairy farmer's comment about the priests and the cell phones is disgusting. It shouldn't make anyone wonder why he is being sued. He's very unsympathetic. Why did he bother visiting the kids.?? Im sure it was just to save face and make himself look good. Im sure it was all staged on a day that the kids were feeling well. It had nothing to do with the children. Hes a disgrace.

[Lisa]

David

The only one making this case weirder and weirder is you and Mark Mcafees spin on this.