Trauma

Witnesses at the sexual assault trial of Denver Bronco Gerald Perry say the woman who accused the lineman of raping her refused to go to the hospital for an examination when police first contacted her. Dr. Clarence Blea, who examined the woman when she went to the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center about 18 hours after the alleged assault, said he found no visible signs of trauma or anything else to indicate that she had been raped.

Construction of a memorial to eight women who died in Vietnam may seem to be overkill ("Give the Women Vets Their Due," Nov. 8). Please remember, though: The Vietnam War was not only combat. It was a national trauma to which we contributed our young men and women. The war created a feeling that future generations will neither appreciate nor understand. I understand. I was drafted in August, 1966. I trained with several men and women who died in the war that had so little meaning or purpose.

Rucker's message, while well-intentioned, ignored the state of affairs in the workplace, at home and in society: Innocent little girls are molested; professionally attired and mannered women are subtly harassed, oftentimes behind closed doors and without witnesses; naive young women are date-raped; wives are battered; elderly women are mugged. What kind of message was sent by them? Were they asking for ill-treatment? The answer is an emphatic no. Trauma experienced during an assault is everlasting and can never be erased from memory.

WHENEVER I SEE heartbreaking photographs of grief-stricken civilians in war zones -- like the pictures pouring out of Lebanon -- I wonder how they do it. How are the survivors able to turn their attention away from all the loss and destruction they've seen and suffered to refocus on whatever remains of the details of their daily lives? Americans, mired in the culture of confession, tend to fetishize both memory and the need to testify to tragedy.

In Robert Steinbrook's article (Feb. 9), "Cost of Treating Uninsured Strains Trauma Program," financial hardships are described as the bottom line rationale for several hospitals dropping out of Los Angeles County's trauma center network. The basic problem being that a significant number of the patients who receive treatment are uninsured. I believe that the current acronym for those people who cannot afford private health insurance, or who do not qualify for Medicare coverage, is MIAs (medically indigent Americans)

Los Angeles police detectives are investigating the slaying of a woman who was found partially buried beneath a rock slab in a shallow grave behind her West Los Angeles home, authorities said Tuesday. Margarita Padilla, 59, was found Monday at the residence in the 11500 block of National Boulevard, the day after relatives reported her missing, police said. The condition of her body indicated Padilla died of blunt-force trauma. Padilla was last seen alive Saturday, when she went to the movies with a man with whom she had a romantic relationship.

On June 8, The Times reported the following stories: The death of a 5-year-old child killed in a drive-by shooting might have been averted had a trauma center and surgeon been available ("A Cry for Trauma Care"). Hunger and malnutrition are rising among California's low-income families. Many adults have to choose between buying food or buying necessary medication, paying rent, etc. The Los Angeles Unified School District is facing further cuts. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning another special election, which would cost millions of dollars and could force cities and counties to cut vital services because they could be deprived of hundreds of millions of dollars ("Cities and Counties Balk at Plan for State Spending Cap")

A chained pit bulldog guarding a marijuana crop fatally mauled a child who wandered within the animal's reach, officials said Sunday. The dog's owner has been charged with murder. James Soto, 2 1/2, was pronounced dead at 3:52 a.m., a nursing supervisor at Santa Teresa Hospital in South San Jose said. The boy had been on life-support systems and never regained consciousness after he was attacked at 7 p.m. Saturday. The child suffered massive injuries to the face and head, the supervisor said.

The purpose of my letter is not to make light of or to trivialize the news I read in The Times about auto accidents, but there is something puzzling to me when I read accounts of accidents. The Jan. 13 edition had two such accounts. My question is why aren't accident victims taken to the nearest hospital instead of being taken all over the county? In a report on a motorcyclist involved in an accident on North Raymond Avenue in Fullerton, the victim was taken to Western Medical Center in Anaheim.