THE FACE

Endure the pain
You know my name
I am your soul insane

I am no one
No one who cares
I am your soul despair 


The other day I sat in a Hospital waiting room chair staring at her face. I could only take my eyes off of her for a nano moment, then some mysterious magnetic feeling forced me to look at her over and over again for what seemed an eternity.


I was in a "prestigious" Hospital as an outpatient waiting for a diagnostic test to be performed on me, but this particular Department also uses the same Unit for inpatients who are hospitalized in need of the same test.


She was lying down, gaunt, covered with a thin blanket on a hospital stretcher, you know the kind, the ones that have wheels. The woman couldn't have been older than in her mid 40's but it was difficult to determine her actual age by looking at her. She was semi-conscious, extremely pale, and gasping for air as her chest heaved furiously trying to capture oxygen.


Her stretcher was parked alone in the hall of the waiting room where I sat with my having a direct view of her face. I couldn't help but notice her lips twitching, and there was also something eerily strange about her face. I studied her features and it was clear that she had been an attractive woman who was now in some kind of terrible agony. 

Abandoned by the Nurses who had left her alone, lying in the hall on her stretcher, she stayed there heaving, twitching, her eyes closed for what seemed like an hour.

I wondered who she was, why she was here, what kind of illness had struck her down, what was her life like before entering this dark place.

I watched her every move and felt deep compassion, sadness in what I saw. I wanted to get up and comfort her, say that everything would be all right, that a Nurse would be with her shortly. 

But no one came, I didn't get up to speak my words, and time just passed by. Interesting that they never put clocks in Hospital waiting rooms as time becomes meaningless, human identity is lost, you become a "patient" who is at the mercy of the Dr's., Nurses, Technicians, and hordes of other Staff strutting "peacocks" who now own your every movement.

The woman suddenly woke up and she grabbed the arm of a "Patient Transporter " who was walking by. It said that on the back of his shirt so people would know what his job was. I read her lips as she slowly, painfully, faintly told him that she "needed to see a Nurse because she couldn't breathe,was scared, and felt very sick". Her face still mesmerizing me from taking my eyes off of her, that strange feeling that I could not understand why it wouldn't allow me to look away.

A Nurse soon arrived and said rather coldly to the woman, " if you feel sick, do you want to go back to your hospital room or stay here to take the test"? How odd it seemed to me, one of the "professional peacocks" was suddenly allowing the "patient" to make a decision that she wasn't quite lucid enough to decide due to her medical condition as to what was the right thing for her to do. 

Instead of the Nurse taking 30 seconds to hold this woman's  hands, comfort her, and say that they would be ready for her test in just a few minutes, she simply waited for this ill human being, to make the decision of what should be done. Such a strange but predictable time for the powerless, sedated patient to suddenly be given her freedom to make a decision that she was not really capable of doing in her present condition. 

Very quickly, the woman somehow realized that since she had already endured all this time being dumped in the hallway to wait, that she needed to get this test done, so she decided to wait, but her face was contorted in the shape of fear, pain, confusion of  the hell she now was in. Thankfully after a few more long minutes, someone came to wheel her into a testing room, and I never saw her again.

I keep thinking of this poor soul while I am awake, dreaming nightmares about her within my own regular demons, she has now joined up with the kaleidoscope of horrors that infect my night time hours. 

What was so special about her to get that deeply into my head, to affect me this way, a total stranger and yet I felt something oddly familiar about her. Sure she was a victim that I could identify with, there was so much pain, agony coming from her, but it was more than that.

I wonder if she has children, people who care about her, someone to protect her from being dumped again in the hall on a stretcher, all alone, suffering.

I no longer wonder about what I saw in her face that wouldn't allow me to stop looking at her. I now know what it is about her that seized my attention. I figured it out later that day what I saw in her was the face of gray, black death, her impending death, she was dying and I couldn't see that at the time, but I had sensed it.

The Hospital Staff knew it, they see this kind of face all of the time, perhaps that it why they ignored her, left alone as if she did not exist, because no-one wanted to take the time to comfort a dying person. That could have been them, any one of us lying on that stretcher, too close to reality for them to allow into their feelings.

Strangely, sadly, of all places, a Hospital, and no one cared enough to spend 30 seconds with her. So young, innocent looking, another victim of indifference, defenseless.

Will someone weep for her, mourn when she is gone?


So Sad.   

I WOULD LIKE TO BELIEVE

The Judge has issued his ruling on our Second Amended complaint of the desecration of the remains of my son Steven Nathaniel Wolkoff by the San Mateo County Coroner. Before I tell you about his decision, a review of the background in this case is necessary.


Steven was 30 years old when he was killed, June 21, 2008, on his way home from the beach. His automobile was broad sided by another car driven by a DUI, illegal alien, who had no drivers license, crossing into the opposite lane that Steven was in, on the infamous, dangerous coastal U.S. Highway 1, about 60 miles south of San Francisco.


Steven was seriously injured, but was alive and breathing on his own until Para-Medics finally reached the scene about 40 minutes after the collision. A Medevac helicopter was also about 4 minutes away from landing with highly trained trauma specialists to accompany Steven back to the Stanford Hospital Trauma Center, approximately 6 minutes away in flight time.


The two on site treating Para-Medics at the scene suddenly decided to perform an unnecessary airway management procedure called a needle cricothyrotomy which involves inserting a catheter syringe that is attached to a highly pressurized oxygen tank, which is supposed to pump the oxygen into the trachea.


Neither Para-Medic had ever performed this medical procedure before on a human being. For some unknown reason, they decided to use this procedure on Steven, despite the fact that he continued to breathe on his own and the imminent landing of the highly skilled Medevac Trauma team. Within minutes of the procedure Steven suffered a horrific death where his face and chest literally exploded and crushed his internal organs. 

None of his face and chest were recognizable as resembling his photo ID on his drivers license and immediately raised suspicions by the San Mateo County Coroners Investigator, and other medical staff of the Coroners Office that Steven had died from causes not related to the automobile collision. 

I have seen the pictures of Steven after he was killed by the Para-Medics, he does not resemble a human being and this horrific image is forever seared into my brain as the most horrible sight I have ever seen in my life.


The San Mateo County Coroners Office then investigated what had caused Steven's death and conducted a complete autopsy report of Steven where they concluded in their final official report that the manner of his death was from a collision caused by another driver, and that the medical direct cause of Steven's death was beyond a doubt caused by the mistakes of the two first responder Para- Medics ("post status attempted resuscitation").


The San Mateo County Pathologist, Dr. Peter Benson, MD, (who has performed over 20,000 autopsies in his career) determined during the above autopsy that Steven died from a Bilateral Tension Pneumothorax (defined as the presence of air in the pleural  chest cavity). This presence of highly pressurized oxygen in his chest cavity could ONLY be caused medically by holes in the lungs, or by the botched medical procedure performed by the Para Medics. 

Since his autopsy showed that Steven's lungs were completely intact, with no holes, and the neck organs retained as evidence clearly showed the catheter syringe from the medical device used by the Para-Medics directly lodged incorrectly in Steven's neck muscles leading to the chest cavity (no where near the intended airway), it is not rocket science to determine the direct cause of death that prevented Steven from getting on the Medvac helicopter that was 4 minutes from landing and taking him to the Stanford Trauma Center, where he would have been treated immediately by the waiting Trauma team of doctors, and probably be alive today.


The San Mateo County extensively experienced Pathologist Dr. Peter Benson and the Coroner Robert Foucrault never requested any additional pathology studies, medical consultations, or assistance, as the medical cause of death was indisputable to them, and the coroner closed his investigation in 2008 shortly after Steven's death, by filing the above official autopsy report.


Two years later in 2010, in response to a civil suit for the wrongful death of Steven filed by our family, the remains of our son were released by the San Mateo County Coroner without our knowledge, lacking any written, verbal permission from us, to a private Pathologist hired by the defendants San Mateo County and American Medical Response Ambulance Company (AMR).


We inadvertently found out about this when the San Mateo County Pathologist, Dr. Peter Benson, blurted this out while he was being deposed by our Attorney during the wrongful death case. We were all at that deposition and mortified upon learning for the first time what had been done. Our grief and shock upon learning of the mutilation of Steven traumatized us with profound permanent feelings of emotional grief, that we can never resolve.


Specifically,the County and AMR performed their own non coroner autopsy on Steven, by hiring their own private Pathologist who proceeded to remove Steven's remains to her own private office, miles away from the supposed protective evidence custody of the San Mateo County Coroners Office. At no time were we made aware that this was done or were we asked as his next of kin for consent to do this.


This private pathologist then sliced Steven's brain stem into over 20 new pieces of brain tissue slides in an attempt to mount a defense by the defendants that Steven somehow died from other medical reasons.

       

This is an infringement of our right to possess the body of Steven for the purpose of preparation, mourning and burial, in contravention of the case law of the State of California.

This very same brain that was the center of Steven's soul, his feelings, thoughts, memories, love, ideas, jokes, his essence as a human being, all stored there, that make us unique as individuals, was desecrated, molested, mutilated by the Coroners Office without any concern, accountability, or respect of the Laws in place to protect the dignity of the dead.

The legal laws and basic moral ethics demands respect for the total person, his body as well as his soul.  Dissection of the body for reasons that are not urgent and directly applicable to specific existing medical cases, is gross negligence. Even if the case where dissection is allowed, it must be performed with utmost respect for the deceased, and not handled lightly by insensitive personnel. California law recognizes that for cultural and religious reasons, the interment or other disposition of a decedent’s body is an extremely important emotional catharsis for the family of the deceased.

This removal of Steven's remains occurred despite the previous irrefutable medical facts that were contained in the official San Mateo County Corners final autopsy report. All of this despicable mutilation of Steven's remains was allowed by the San Mateo County Coroner, Robert Foucrault, an elected official of San Mateo County, in direct violation of California Government Code 27491.45 which requires consent of the next of kin before release of tissues for non coroner purposes.   

In addition to the well-established common law quasi-property right, this statute confers a property right in the decedent’s tissues on the next of kin. We were deprived of these rights by the Coroners actions to bury ALL of our son, without due process.

 
The Coroner also violated his own Departments protocol concerning obtaining written consent from the next of kin before releasing their loved ones remains to a third, non Coroner party. Mr. Foucrault as the San Mateo County Coroner had a direct conflict of interest, when he allowed Steven's remains to be desecrated by the very same County that is his employer, and a defendant in a civil suit that required his sworn duty to protect the remains of my son from any mutilation that might affect the sanctity of respect for the dead.

San Mateo County public officials, including the Coroner acted under color of law and/or in conspiracy with public officials acting under color of state law to deprive my son, us as his parents,  certain constitutionally protected rights, including, but not limited to the quasi property right to our son’s tissues without due process of law, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

In the end, the private Pathologist hired by San Mateo County was unable to disprove the official findings of Steven's direct cause of death as indicated in the original Coroners report as being caused by the two Para-Medics. I wouldn't be surprised if she FEDEXED his remains back to the Coroners office in a FEDEX PAK. These are not exactly sensitive, caring, compassionate, ethical human beings who are involved in this attempt to erase Steven as if he never lived, and treated him like a piece of garbage. 


We will eventually bury the rest of Steven's remains but pieces of him have been lost along the way by the careless handling of those involved in desecrating his body. Steven's full body will never be buried, and his soul will remain in limbo forever, never to rest in peace. 

It should weigh heavily on those involved in causing this to happen, those who have stood by silently in the various involved Departments of San Mateo County, and  the defendants Lawyers, as Steven's restless soul will haunt them for the rest of their lives. 

We all know what the truth is and that it has not been allowed to be told by those in charge of this entire cover-up. Instead of doing the right thing, all involved have deliberately hidden the truth and try to manipulate the Laws as a way to conceal their evil deeds.


SHAME ON SAN MATEO COUNTY if this sub human behavior is allowed to go unpunished. Shame on it's  public officials for putting their own personal needs to cover up the truth by protecting their disgusting behavior, instead of respecting the right to life, dignity for the dead, and holding those accountable who are supposedly in charge of protecting the public.


Then we have the Courts, the legal system, here comes the Judges. In response to our Desecration Complaints, San Mateo County has been filing  "demurrers", which are legal challenges on their part maintaining that our desecration complaints are frivolous, without merit.

In doing so, they declare that the Coroner owns your body for any purpose he determines, and that our case is to be thrown out by the Judge. These Judges are charged  as part of the demurrers with deciding if there is any merit to our allegations, and if our case is frivolous. 

When there is the slightest possibility that our case has merit, then the judge as the "gatekeeper', is supposed to allow the legal case to go forward as part of due process of the law as guaranteed by the laws of the State of California and the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution.


What was the latest judges ruling on our case? He granted the demurrer to San Mateo County but once again we have been granted a 3rd "leave to Amend" (see below), meaning we are being given permission to now file a third amended desecration case complaint.


We will be filing this in the next few days and I truly thank the various Judges for allowing us to again plead our case, without killing it off completely.


Perhaps, I would like to believe that the Judges have a conscience and do see that Steven's rights and those of our family were violated by the defendants in breaking certain legal statutes in place that exist to preserve the dignity of the dead and their families.


Perhaps, they have decided that it would be in the best interest of due process, for them not to be the judge, jury, and decision maker, and instead allow a jury of regular citizens to be entrusted in deciding whether any laws were broken in the desecration of Steven's body.


I would like to trust our judicial system and see that justice is for everyone to share. How can anyone with a good conscience, after considering all the above facts, in all fairness to Steven, our family, and those of future victims, deny us our access to the due process of a jury trial by giving our Case its days in court?


How can we trust in our system of laws? Who can we trust? A scary thought that in modern day America, innocent people can be killed, simply erased as if they never existed, their bodies desecrated, and no one is held legally accountable by the Law .


We have placed trust in our Judges, the Coroners Office, and our Laws, that all will make honest, fair decisions that are in the best interest of those who may have had their rights violated.


Nobody, No agency, No Entity should ever be above the laws in place within their States, and the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution, 14th Amendment which prohibits state and local governments from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without certain steps being taken to ensure fairness. 

"Big Brother" government needs to stay out of making self appointed decisions for we the people, when there exists clear legal paths to pursue as part of our democracy, that involve each citizens right to a trial by a jury of their peers.  

Clearly our Desecration Case meets the minimum standards of not being frivolous and having potential legal merit. Surely, we all want to know the answers that need to be explored as to what are the rights of the deceased and their families. We are supposedly a civilized society, a nation of Laws, where all are created equal, with respect supposedly shown for the value of a human life, and that includes those who have died. 

How can we ignore the rights of our dead children, loved ones to be disturbed in such a heinous manner by those who would have their way in desecrating a human body as being a "frivolous complaint",  because they feel that they can get away with doing it? 

The implications of what happens to our Case, will set a critical precedent as to the way that changes can be made to the present dysfunctional, disgraceful system of how Coroners throughout America provide a weak, ineffective, and totally flawed manner of investigating deaths. This broken system leaves victims and their families vulnerable to neglect, abuse and even murder.

All over America innocent dead victims and their families are preyed upon by a non functional system of the handling of their deceased loved ones with no regard to the humanity of those who have been killed. 

After you read my Blog above, then click on the article WHY LINDA CARSWELL CANNOT GET HER HUSBAND"S HEART BACK, to understand how crucial Steven's Case is to making the system recognize that the dead are NOT owned by the government, or private entities, but are our beloved personal loved ones.


How can this be?  Who will have the guts to change it before this will happen to you or someone close to you ? 

I would like to believe that somewhere in the current Judges decision on our case lies the seeds for reform that will show the World that California respects the lives of it's citizen's, their families, even in death.

I would like to believe that the Judges will open the door in considering our third Amended Complaint as having merit, for the people of California to then decide as a jury of citizens, if what happened to Steven was done in the name of justice or not. We will see!


Case CIV503483 - JERALD WOLKOF ET AL VS CO OF SAN MATEO CORONER'S Action:  

HEARING: DEMURRER TO 2ND AMENDED COMPLAINT OF JERALD WOLKOFF BY COUNTY OF SAN MATEOCORONER'S OFFICE, ROBERT FOUCRAULT
07/11/2012 - 9:00 AM DEPT. LM

"HONORABLE JOSEPH E. BERGERON, JUDGE PRESIDING. CLERK: SANDRA HARRIS COURT REPORTER: MAUREEN HARTMAN

ATTORNEY JAYME BURNS APPEARING WITH/FOR PLAINTIFF(S).

ATTORNEY ALEX GRAFT APPEARING WITH/FOR DEFENDANT(S).

ATTORNEY GRAFT APPEARED VIA COURT CALL.

MATTER ARGUED BY COUNSEL AND SUBMITTED TO THE COURT.

TENTATIVE RULING IS ADOPTED WITH CORRECTION TO TYPO TO ADD "WITH" LEAVE TO AMEND.

DEFENDANTS DEMURRER IS SUSTAINED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND.

* *.

A LITIGANT SEEKING TO PLEAD THE BREACH OF A MANDATORY DUTY MUST SPECIFICALLY ALLEGE THE

APPLICABLE STATUTE OR REGULATION. (SULLIVAN V. CITY OF SACRAMENTO (1987) 190 CAL. APP. 3D 1070,

1080). HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE SECTION 7054.4 GOVERNS THE MEANS OF DISPOSING OF BODY TISSUE

AFTER SCIENTIFIC USE HAS CONCLUDED. IT DOES REFER TO OR IMPLY REFERENCE TO AN AUTOPSY.

* *.

PLAINTIFFS DO NOT CONTEND THAT DEFENDANTS FAILED "TO DISPOSE OF" THEIR SONS BODY TISSUES

INAPPROPRIATELY. SECTION 7051 IS A CRIMINAL STATUTE THAT SPECIFICALLY RELATES ONLY TO

CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH A BODY HAS ALREADY BEEN INTERRED OR IS AWAITING INTERMENT OR CREMATION.

PLAINTIFFS DO NOT CONTEND THAT THEIR SONS BODY WAS AWAITING INTERMENT OR CREMATION AT THE TIME

SAMPLES WERE REMOVED.

* *.

THE NEWMAN CASE APPEARS INAPPLICABLE. FOR A CLAIM UNDER 42 U.S.C. SECTION 1983, PLAINTIFFS

MUST ALLEGE A DEPRIVATION OF PROPERTY "UNDER COLOR OF ANY STATUTE." PLAINTIFFS DO NOT ALLEGE

OR ARGUE THAT ANY STATUTORY AUTHORITY DEPRIVED THEM OF A PROPERTY RIGHT IN THEIR SONS BRAIN

STEM SAMPLE; THEY DO NOT ALLEGE THAT DEFENDANTS WERE ACTING "UNDER COLOR OF ANY STATUTE."

* *.

A QUESTION IS DOES A PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION EXIST. THE CITED STATUTES DO NOT APPEAR TO BE

DESIGNED TO PROTECT AGAINST EMOTIONAL DISTRESS.

* *.

IF THE TENTATIVE RULING IS UNCONTESTED, IT SHALL BECOME THE ORDER OF THE COURT. THEREAFTER,

DEFENDANTS ARE DIRECTED TO PREPARE A WRITTEN ORDER CONSISTENT WITH THE COURTS RULING FOR THE

COURTS SIGNATURE, PURSUANT TO CALIFORNIA RULES OF COURT, RULE 3.1312, AND TO PROVIDE NOTICE

THEREOF TO THE OPPOSING PARTY/COUNSEL AS REQUIRED BY LAW AND THE CALIFORNIA RULES OF

COURT.

* *.

ENTERED BY S.HARRIS ON 07/11/12."