British Espionage In The United States

Summary

Covert Action against the United States is not new. From before the very beginning of this nation, foreign agents sought ways to gain advantages over the fledgling nation. The following examples of espionage took place in the earliest days of the United States by foreign agents.

In the first case, John Jay was at the eye of the storm. British, French, and the Spanish, all used espionage and covert action to influence all Americans but John Jay in particular. Foreign nationals understood John Jay’s influence transcended his native New York and sought ways to influence him. In most cases, instead of trying to influence Jay directly, foreign agents found it better and easier to use people around Jay as unwitting pawns. The following illustrates how John Jay’s actions changed as a result of their deeds, and how those activities seriously jeopardized the national security of the United States. 

In the second case, the British sought to discredit Secretary of State Randolph because he was in direct opposition to John Jay’s treaty with Great Britain. As George Washington wavered between ratifying the treaty or not, the British took covert action, and as a consequence, ruined the career of a truly honest and good man. 

In both cases, foreign agents of influence changed America’s course. In the first case, it severely weakened John Jay’s ability to bargain from a position of influence. In the second, it ruined a man’s political and private life and set American on a course of war with France.

The Jay Treaty

The British originally no reason to change or augment the 1783 Peace Treaty. Once the United States, under the Articles of Confederation, failed to comply with the treaty agreements, the British felt they held the high ground not upholding their own end of the bargain. However, while the Congress tried in good faith to uphold the peace treaty, the British did not, and simply used the Articles’ shortcomings as an excuse not to abide by the agreement. 

All that changed with the creation of the new constitutional government. Now, for the first time, the central government could enforce treaty obligations. Furthermore, outside influences from Europe encouraged the United States to join them in an “armed neutrality league.” The British were alarmed that the new league, in conjunction with French and Spanish forces on land and sea, might be enough to destroy their own superiority at sea. Therefore, they agreed to meet with the Americans to resolve the 1783 treaty issues. 

President George Washington and Secretary of State Randolph first considered sending Alexander Hamilton to negotiate the new treaty, but Hamilton noted his Federalist influences meant Republicans would not accept anything he came back with. So instead, Hamilton recommended sending John Jay in his place. Currently presiding as Chief Justice of the United States, Jay had plenty of experience, was not completely disliked by the Republicans, and was extremely sensitive to the mission’s importance of settling a dispute that might otherwise lead to war between the United States and Great Britain. "On May 12, a thousand New Yorkers cheered from the docks as Jay sailed to England, hoping to avert war." Republicans doubted Jays mission. “Madison had a nagging intuition that Jay would surrender too much to England and rupture Franco-American relations." Jay understood the treaty could ignite a firestorm and warned Hamilton, “We must not make a delusive settlement that would disunite our people and leave seeds of discord to germinate.” (485)

September 30,1794 Jay held the high ground on September 30, 1794, "in a draft submitted by him on that date." (136) Bemis, who wrote the monograph on Jay, found that draft in the London National Archives, but nowhere else. (136) That draft indicates, "A stupendous retreat by the American plenipotentiary," and, "It would have been a most embarrassing document for the Federalists, or for Jay individually, to have had submitted to the Senate. It is doubtful whether any person outside of the Foreign Office, except Jay, ever saw the document." (136) According to Bemis, the final draft, read side by side with the September 30 draft, leaves no doubt of the retreat. (136)

So why did Jay retreat from the high ground? Someone leaked a private letter from Secretary of State, Randolph to John Jay in the Aurora stating Randolph believed in the "immense value" of harmony between GB and the USA. Randolph claimed the treaty needed to be worked out to "prevent war and to preserve perfect neutrality." The news article "severely attacked Jay," and sensationally claimed Jay’s instructions were to agree to anything to prevent war, including selling the United States back to Great Britain if necessary.  (133)

September 13,1794, The first full account of the progress of negotiations is contained Jay’s letter to Randolph. (133) This letter contained drafts of a proposed treaty by Grenville and by Jay. 

September 20,1794, Hammond writing to Grenville stated Hamilton confidentially told Hammond, "with great seriousness and with every demonstration of sincerity . . . that . . . it was the settled policy of this Government in every contingency, even in that of an open contest with Great Britain, to avoid entangling itself with European connexions which could only tend to involve this country in dispute wherein it might have no possible interest, and commit it in a common cause with the allies, from whom, in the moment of danger, it could derive no succor." (Note: Succor is defined as assistance and support in times of hardship and distress) (137-138)

Thus assured that there was no longer any danger that America would join the Baltic powers in an armed neutrality league, Grenville had no difficulty in defeating Jay's proposals. “Jay, anxious to have some kind of treaty which to prevent war, retreated, and, as stated, signed the so-called Jay Treaty." (138)

November 12,1794, Randolph answered Jay’s letter about the Grenville draft. Unfortunately, the instructions did not arrive before Jay signed the Treaty.

November 19,1794, "On the day the treaty was signed [Jay] wrote to Ellsworth, Washington, Hamilton, King and Pinckney that the treaty was concluded and he thought we had reason to be satisfied; no further concessions could be obtained; if this treaty failed he despaired of another." (138) Therefore, “Jay, anxious to have some kind of treaty which to prevent war, retreated, and, as stated, signed the so-called Jay Treaty." (138)

(NOTE: This may explain why G. Washington later signed the document - Washington understood that if the Jay Treaty was not ratified, war could result. Furthermore, since the US was no longer willing to join the Baltic neutrality league, the US would be on its own against GB. France had already refused to allow the US envoy, Pinckney into France as the United States ambassador and had effectively closed relations with the United States.

December 15,1794, Randolph makes detailed criticisms of Grenville's proposals,"based on scanty information supplied earlier from Jay. (133) 

February 15,1794, Monroe to Randolph February 15, 1795, complaining the French had heard a treaty with GB had been signed in secrecy, that Jay had retreated from the US position, and that Jay refused to tell Monroe about the treaty or what had happened in London. (139)

May 30,1795 , Randolph to Monroe in France: Once the treaty finally arrived, Randolph wrote on May 30,1795 to Monroe that neither he nor Washington approved the Jay Treaty and asked Jay to explain parts of the treaty. (140) 

June 1,1795, Jay’s reply did not place the treaty in a better light. (Anderson 140) 

July 1,1795, The full text of the Jay Treaty was leaked by a Republican Senator. Madison claimed the effect was “like an electric velocity: imparted to every part of the union.” (487)

July 3,1795, Washington sent the Jay Treaty to Hamilton to evaluate.

The treaty's deficiencies were exaggerated in the partisan discussions of the time. It did prevent war for a period; granted East Indian trade; secured western ports; but secured no compensation for Negroes carried off after the Revolution; gave up the contention that free ships make free goods; ignored impressments, and left the subject of contraband unresolved. (141 - 142) The unresolved question of contraband meant the British continued to stop, search, and seize US ships heading to France." (142)

June 27,1795, Randolph wrote Washington stating the French Ambassador, Fauchet, asked that any US-B treaty be withheld from ratification until after Adet, the new French Ambassador arrived in Philadelphia.

June 29,1795, Washington refused to wait and instead, on June 29, submitted the Jay Treaty draft to the Senate, with Randolph's concerns about it. By doing so, the Senate discussed the treaty as it was written, complete with the noted problems. (142)

From this point, the Jay Treaty and the Randolph Case overlap and the best way to talk about one is to include the other:

June 30, 1795, The former French Minister, Fauchet, told Randolph that Jay's mission weakened the political bonds between France and the US. (143)  The new French Minister, Adet, agreed and explained in a letter, dated 30 June 1795, given to Randolph, that the Jay Treaty violated the US Treaty already in force in France because it included a list of contraband, articles formerly excluded in the treaty with France. The Jay Treaty also outlawed the arming of foreign ships in American Ports, something the French had been allowed by their treaty. After meeting with Adet, Randolph then wrote to Washington recommending the Jay Treaty not be ratified until after the provision listing contraband, that the French needed and wanted, be removed. (144)

July 2, 1795, Randolph wrote to all the minsters abroad warning them that he recommended the Jay Treaty not be ratified, and that it was unlikely Washington would sign the Jay Treaty until it returned from England with the article, and the British order for the seizing of provisions going to France removed. (148)

July 14,1795, Randolph to Monroe (in France): "The late British order for seizing provisions is a weighty obstacle to a ratification. I do not suppose that such an attempt to starve France will be countenanced." (147-148) (Countenanced: verb: admit as acceptable or possible). 

July 22,1795, Washington formally asked the Cabinet to submit their opinions about the Jay Treaty. Randolph wrote the Treaty should be ratified, but with the article concerning contraband omitted. (146)

July 24,1795, Washington, now at Mount Vernon gave permission for Randolph to write Hammond, the British minister, explaining Washington's position, that he "preferred to ratify the treaty rather than keep alive the seeds of discord," but that the British royal authority to seize US ship cargo on the way to France kept Washington from doing so. This was meant to help elevate the internal pressures of the treaty. However, for Randolph, the letter backfired. (146 -147).

July, 1794, Randolph’s response to The Whiskey Rebellion led the British to understand that G. Washington valued Randolph's opinion. (Randolph saw the rebellion as a danger because Hamilton wanted to use the rebellion as an excuse to raise a powerful standing army. Because Washington ultimately agreed with Randolph’s views, "Randolph represented the party of peace and the sending of commissioners was due to his influence over the mind of the President." (150)

July 26,1795, Mr. Hammond revealed a letter to Hamilton's successor, Oliver Wolcott, at a dinner to which he had invited the new Secretary of the Treasury. When questioned about how the letter came into the British hands, Hammond claimed the British Man of War Cerberus, captured the French corvette, Jean Bart, supposedly carrying this dispatch. A French officer had thrown the packet of papers overboard to keep it from falling into British hands. The packet, once retrieved, was sent to Lord Grenville, who then sent it to the British Minister, Mr. Hammond. (150-151)

July 27,1795: Hammond wrote to London. The Americans now had the intercepted letters. Hammond promised to make such use of them as would "be productive of the most beneficial effects to the general interests of His Majesty's service." (151) "The originals of the French letters are particularly interesting, and will, I am persuaded, if properly treated, tend to effect an essential change in the public sentiment of this country with regard to the character and principles of certain individuals, and to the real motives of their political conduct." (152)

July 28,1795, Hammond gave a copy of the "original letter" to Timothy Pickering, the Secretary of War. 

July 29,1795, Hammond and Pickering visit the Attorney-General, who then agreed that President Washington should be informed. Washington was then asked to return at once to the Capital.  

July 31,1795, Pickering letter to Washington said in part, "I confess I feel extreme solicitude, and, for special reason, which can be communicated to you only in person. . ." (149) It was enough to get Washington return to Philadelphia from Mount Vernon. He arrived on August 11. 

For the following week, George Washington tried to decide what to do. Finally, on August 19,1795, he called Randolph into his office. According to witnesses, Randolph read the statement and became enraged and indignant. He had no idea that the covert action had taken place and his immediate response was to leave George Washington. Randolph went to his office with a copy of the damming letter against him. That night, he formally resigned as Secretary of State.

On August 20,1795, Washington had no choice, and formally accepted Randolph’s resignation. The October 31, 1794 fabricated letter was just too powerful to overlook. From the time of his resignation Randolph's conduct was that of a desperate man, determined on one point only, his vindication. Randolph chased down Fauchet at Newport on his way home to France, and obtained from his a "certificate" emphatically asserting, 

"Mr. Randolph never received, either directly or indirectly, by himself or by another for his use, one shilling from myself or by my order, or according to my knowledge, here-say or belief, from any other public officer of France. I declare that he never made to me in this respect a single overture; and that no part of the above circumstance has the least relation to him personally. Although the explanation gives the occurrence referred to in his intercepted dispatches is difficult to comprehend, his explicit and emphatic assertions of Randolph's innocence, accompanied by Randolph’s own emphatic denials, should in the absence of any other evidence to the contrary be accepted, especially as the original account on which the charges are based is itself so confused and incomprehensible. Having gone carefully over the evidence again, I am of the decided opinion, that Randolph is not only not proved guilty but that Henry Cabot Lodge -- no great admirer of Randolph -- was right when he said "that the Secretary of State was corrupt, no one who knew him, as Jefferson said, for one moment believed. Whether he disposed of this charge or not, it was plain to his friends, as it is to posterity, that Randolph was a perfectly honorable man." (154-155)

"Randolph may have been voluble, imprudent, indecisive and unstable, but he was not dishonest, and there is no evidence that he betrayed his government or was more free in his discussions with foreign ministers than was unfortunately the custom of the day." (156)

Randolph ultimately published his elaborate Vindication, and then returned to Richmond. He returned to the practice of law and soon became a leading attorney and was senior counsel in Aaron Burr's defense. However, according to the law at the time, the Secretary of State was responsible for any funds for foreign relations, including any losses that might be sustained. After Randolph resigned, an audit found Randolph owed the United States $499,154.89. After two court cases, the amount still not payed in 1887, showed the Randolph estate now owed, with interest, a balance $61,355.07. There is no word on if the balance was ever paid off. Randolph died September 12, 1813.  (158-159)

In the end, the British covert action succeeded. It successfully thwarted Randolph’s opposition and influence over the Jay Treaty. Before the covert action, Randolph’s opposition had been enough to keep the Jay Treaty from being ratified. However after the action, public attention had been diverted away from the treaty’s inadequacies and towards the manufactured international incident. Then, George Washington had enough leeway to sign the document that favored the British, ratifying the treaty. Furthermore, the British covert action had one more ramification, it increased America’s leanings toward British commerce while increasing the distrust of France. For the British, it was the best of both worlds. For the French, it was nothing short of a formal military and commercial allegiance with their sworn enemy and the French nearly declared open war on the United States. 

As shown, covert action against the United States is not new. Foreign agents tried to influence American politics from the very beginning. The Jay Treaty and Randolph's discrediting are just two successful examples of espionage that took place in the earliest days of the United States by foreign agents of influence. These examples changed America’s influence and course for many years. In the first case, agents stopped America from bargaining from a position of strength and becoming strong enough to defend itself from foreign aggression, and in the second, it undermined the Office of the President to make a decision free from foreign influences. 

Final thoughts about why these two cases are still important: 

Today, covert action continues. Agents of Influence are often found in America's largest international corporations. As the heads of American businesses continue to put profits ahead of national security, covert actions will continue even as overt action become commonplace. America is now directly attacked or indirectly through Agents of Influence probably on a daily basis. Most people involved, as illustrated in the Randolph case, do not know they are being used as an agent of influence. False flag operations, in which one country claims to be another, is no longer the easiest way to influence Americans. Instead, countries like China are influencing America openly through commercial ventures. By concentrating on capitalistic and corporate greed, they have found American's primary weakness -- apathy. For many American's, national security no longer matters as long as there is a buck to be made. 

Bibliography:

Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2003, and Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin Press, 2004

Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2003

Dice Robins Anderson, PH.D., LL.D. "Edmond Randolph: Secretary of State (January 2, 1794 - August 19, 1795)." In The American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy, edited by Samuel Flagg Bemis. New York: Alfrd A. Knopf, 1927.

President John Jay: May 17th: The Anniversary of His Death

It may seem confusing at first, but before George Washington took office as America's "first President of the United States of America," nine other men held the office! These men were all presidents of the United States (Congress). The first president of the United States Congress is immortalized on the Declaration of Independence. He signed his signature very large, and even today we sometimes hear people say, "Put your John Hancock here." This references the overly large signature of "John Hancock, President of the Congress of the United States."

John Jay was President of the Congress of the United States from 1778-1779. In 1780, he resigned from the Congress and represented the United States on a mission to get formal diplomatic recognition and much needed monetary assistance for the United States from Spain. The mission failed for a variety of fascinating reasons, but that is the subject for another of my blogs about American History.

Most people today do not realize that America had nine presidents before George Washington took office as :America's first President." Each man held the office for a single year and was addressed as "President of the United States."

One of the men, John Jay, is famous today for two reasons: First, he was America's first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Having been offered any position John Jay wanted other than that of Vice-President by President George Washington, John Jay stated he was most qualified to be that of a judge. George Washington knew and respected John Jay's abilities and capabilities and immediately signed the order. No one in the Senate disagreed and Jay's nomination proceeded without a hitch. Second, he is famous for writing five chapters of the world famous Federalist Papers. One question often heard about John Jay is why he only wrote five pamphlets. Without going into a long explanation here, the answer is two-fold. He was too busy holding the office of Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the Articles of Confederation, and second, the writing took a great deal of time and effort. Normally, official correspondences were written by a professional secretary who transcribed John Jay's abysmal handwriting. However, writing the arguments for the Constitution under strict secrecy meant John Jay had to physically write his own arguments legibly enough for the printer to read. Unfortunately, it is evident that John Jay probably had carpel tunnel problems. So when combined with his enormous professional workload, his obligations in trying to secure a treaty with Spain to settle the southern boundary of the United States and to reopen the Mississippi River to Americans.

John Jay left Spain in 1782 for Paris, depressed and angry and newly indoctrinated into the world of espionage. Someone had been intercepting his mail. In 1780, John Jay wrote Congress strongly suggesting America needed a diplomatic service to deliver its correspondence to Ambassadors and that some sort of coded system should be used. His advice proved valuable and eventually, Thomas Jefferson successfully created a coded system that remains almost unbreakable today. That cypher system remains one of the standard system of encryption that is taught and used today in intelligence organizations around the world.

Once in Paris, John Jay joined Benjamin Franklin. America was still at war with Great Britain. The American's had just won their second major battle and Great Britain needed to save face some way. Congress had instructed Jay and Franklin not to enter into any peace agreement without the consent and advice of France and Spain. While Franklin felt obligated to follow the instructions, Jay did not. Jay knew that France and Spain did not want a strong America for several reasons. He had also experienced their subterfuges first hand and did not trust either country to look out for America's sovereignty. He also knew spies were reporting everything to England, France, and Spain. We now know that Franklin's private secretary was spying for England.

With Franklin laid up in bed with gout, Jay took over as lead negotiator.  Since Adams had not arrived from the Netherlands, Jefferson still at Monticello, and Henry Laurens was being held as a POW in the Tower of London, John Jay was not only the lead negotiator, but the only negotiator available.

The first thing he did was demand England agree to the sovereignty of the United States. Jay refused to treat with anyone from anywhere who did not recognize the sovereignty. Under Franklin, the British negotiators kept calling the United States, "colonies in rebellion." Franklin did not protest, but Jay did. Once the second major battle was won and England knew it had lost the colonies, they immediately came to the table and settled terms. Under Jay's guidance and insistence, France and Spain remained ignorant of the talks between John Jay and the British peace commission.

The peace was signed without consent or advice of France or Spain. This created a rift that nearly created a war with France. John Jay left Paris for England to see first hand how the British people felt about American Independence. He left England even more disgusted than before. He now had no blinders on and no rose colored glasses about foreign affairs. He had seen and experienced too much. The Congress knew and understood John Jay's experiences made him the perfect candidate to fill the position left vacant by John Jay's wife's uncle, Robert R. Livingston. So while John and Sara Jay and their children were returning to New York by ship, Congress elected John Jay to be the second Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

John Jay remained Secretary of Foreign Affairs and elevated the office to what we know as the Secretary of State today under the Constitution. After the Constitution was signed, John Jay remained as the acting Secretary of State for several months until Thomas Jefferson took over as the official first Secretary of State. When that happened, John Jay left the State Department for the Judicial Branch as its first Chief Justice.

As Chief Justice, one of the most important things he did was to formally separate the Judicial Branch from the Executive Branch. George Washington had written Jay to ask for his opinion concerning a treaty obligation. Jay wrote back in a now famous letter signed not only by Jay, but all the other justices as well telling the President that the Supreme Court could not offer any opinions to the President because the court is not part of the Executive Cabinet. The only suggestion the court could offer to the President was to get the Congress to write a law signed by the President concerning the issue. Once the law was signed, it could be challenged in the court. But until then, according to the Constitution, the Judiciary Branch could not be consulted about the constitutionality of a proposed law because it is not part of the Executive Branch.

Since then, the Supreme Court has struck down numerous laws. The several states responded by creating new constitutional amendments to circumvent the inadequate laws. The most direct example of this was the eleventh Amendment to the Constitution which was in response to a person living in one State trying to sue another State for services rendered. The Eleventh Amendment settled a question concerning state sovereignty and legitimacy that the Supreme Court could not address on its own.

If asked about John Jay in the 1830s, most people would have remembered him as the man who almost tore apart the United States. The Jay Treaty, as it has become known, did its job of keeping America out of a war with Great Britain, but it ignited a firestorm that pitched the North against the South, Federalist against Republican, Farmer agains Manufacturer, and Slave Holder against Abolitionist. Worse yet, it placed the United States in the uncomfortable position of either going to war with Great Britain or with France. For most Americans, there seemed no way for America not to go to war.

President George Washington, Vice President John Adams, John Hancock, Aaron Burr, and the other great leaders of America collectively held their breaths. America was in no position to fight another war. It had no standing army or navy. Its new government was under siege from within and from without. Politics was a deadly and viscous way of life. Only the angelic like George Washington seemed to be unscathed by the public. But after the Jay Treaty, even George Washington was attacked in the press. No one was safe. John Jay once joked that he could have traveled at night from Philadelphia to New York by the fires burning his effigy. Even in New York, John Jay was not safe. His house was attacked, but thankfully the Jay family was gone at the time.

Jay left politics and the Supreme Court in 1800. By then, war had been everted. From 1800 until his death on May 17, 1829, John Jay worked with his local church helping people. His reputation is now thoroughly repaired and his philanthropic work well documented. Now, on this anniversary of John Jay's death, I hope his hard work and dedication will be newly re-appreciated too.

John Jay: He did not sign the Declaration of Independence. He did not sign the Constitution. He is not remembered as one of America's Presidents. However, he is remembered for writing part of the Federalist Papers and as the first Supreme Court Justice. But now, I hope you remember him for more; Patriot, Founding Father, and Ambassador, John Jay was instrumental in not only creating the United States, but for keeping her free once she gained her independence. John Jay did not fire a gun in anger. He used the law to propel American into the modern world. His work lives on.

Antiphospholipid Syndrome: The Need to Support "Obama Care"

Antiphospholipid Syndrome:

Today’s blog is mostly personal, partly informative, and somewhat angry. My wife, we’ll call her “C” for the purposes here, was diagnosed with Antiphospholipid syndrome in 1993 after experiencing two spontaneous fetal abortions. We were lucky then to find out one of the doctors who discovered the syndrome in Boston currently worked at our hospital. We were both x-ray technologists there, and it turned out our Radiologist’s spouse was one of the first eight women studied in Boston, when the syndrome was named. He put us in contact with the doctor who knew more about the syndrome and pregnancy than nearly anyone else at the time. Long story short, nineteen years later, we have two healthy teenage boys eating us out of house and home. And yes, that is a good thing. 

However, the story does not end there. Antiphospholipid syndrome causes blood clots, preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy), rashes, heart valve problems, bleeding problems, movement disorders that make limbs sometimes jerk uncontrollably, cognitive problems like poor memory and dementia, sudden hearing loss, depression and psychosis. Additionally, it may cause strokes, sudden shortness of breath, chest pains, coughing up blood-streaked sputum, and swelling in the legs. To date, my wife “C” has experienced almost every known symptom, except stroke. 

“C” spent the last three days in the hospital because her platelet count, the clotting ability of blood, first got too thin and then too thick. Too thin and internal bleeding can develop where the blood literally leaves the body like water. Too thick, and the blood clots can cause a stroke and death. For three days, the hospital tried to regulate her blood. Eventually, the local hospital simply gave up, saying there was nothing more they could do, and sent her home with several vials of very expensive self-injectable drugs with instructions not to participate in dangerous activities like driving heavy equipment or playing full contact rugby. 

So what causes antiphospholipid syndrome? No one can say for certain why antibodies in the body do not normally attack growing fetuses in the human body. After all, a fetus is very similar to a tumor. Why does the body not simply send blood clots over the placenta feeding the fetus to kill it? With Antiphospholipid syndrome, it does. Women with this syndrome end up losing their baby unless they use proper medication to keep the blood clots from clotting the placenta. Similarly, in Antiphospholipid syndrome, the body mistakenly produces antibodies against the proteins, similar to fat in the bloodstream responsible for, and playing a key role in clotting the blood. These antibodies attack the binding proteins, the ones responsible for creating the weblike mesh that begins the clotting itself. That’s when the problems begin.

As the Mayo website points out, no one knows what the primary cause of Antiphospholipid syndrome is, but it is considered an autoimmune problem that may be caused by a number of things. Even so, it is likely passed on from generation to generation through carriers. The syndrome is most likely found in women, but men get it too. The carrier may not ever exhibit symptoms, or may produce any or all the symptoms. 

Complications may include kidney failure, strokes, cardiovascular problems, lung problems, pregnancy complications, false positive syphilis tests, hearing loss, dementia, blood clots throughout the body; bleeding from the mouth, nose, ears, rectum. Other problems include high blood pressure and fetal death. When combined with epilepsy, which may also be a part of the syndrome, the compounded problems make treatment extremely difficult because so many of the various medications needed to treat the syndrome counteract with one another. 

The problem is that most doctors only treat the symptoms of Antiphospholipid syndrome, and not the underlying condition or the patient in a whole body aggregate approach. Often times physicians do not know the syndrome is, that it exists, or how to treat the syndrome. Instead, they simply treat the individual symptoms and refer the patient to others to treat other symptoms. The over result of care is wanting. 

Today, we called the famous Mayo Clinic for a referral and help. We simply wanted someone, anywhere, who knew, understood, and could help “C” overcome the massive numbers of problems she is experiencing. “C”  no longer has private insurance because no company will cover her condition. After having both heart valves replaced and on so many medications, "C" is simply too expensive to cover. When the person at Mayo found out we lacked insurance, she said that she was sorry, but Mayo cannot help. She might have just as well of said, “We don’t take patients like you who are on public aid.” It was a slap in the face and a reality check. Even the famous Mayo Clinic is bound by money issues. Mayo no longer treat the most difficult patients unless they can pay the fees for treatment.  

For years, as an radiographer technologist, I had always heard, “If you want help and cannot find it where you live, contact the Mayo Clinic. They are the best in the world at helping people with serious medical issues and problems.” Today, I found out that may simply not be true. Simply put, if you have a serious medical condition and need help, but don’t have insurance, don’t bother calling the Mayo Clinic. 

If you are reading this and know of anyone specializing in Antiphospholipid syndrome who is willing to take on a difficult case, please comment. The syndrome is difficult to effectively treat, not well done documented, and not well known. Few physicians know much about it, and those who do, do not treat it as a specialty. 

For further information, please look up Antiphospholipid Syndrome on line. I am not a doctor and do not claim to provide any medical advice for anyone. However, if you have this syndrome, I hope you find someone who does help you, and not simply someone who pushes you off on the next physician, like so many in the Rockford, Illinois area, or like the Mayo Clinic who refused to even evaluate my spouse. 

Many people claim "Obama Care" will lead to socialism and socialized medicine. Given the choice between being treated for life threatening medical conditions without worry and not being treated because we cannot pay for the treatment and dying, I'll take "Obama Care" every day of every year of ever lifetime. I've seen first hand the British System of making sure their citizens are given the medical care they need. When compared to the United State's system of only providing medical care to those who can afford it, to that of the British system of taking care of everyone regardless of their ability to pay for long term care, I would much rather have the British system of medical care.