MartinLeeAnderson.com

Justice for Martin Lee Anderson, who died of suffocation at the hands of Charles Helms Jr, Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Henry Mcfadden, Joseph Walsh II, Kristen Schmidt. Martin died after enrollment at Bay County Boot Camp in January of 2006. Dr Charles Siebert ruled Martin Lee Anderson died of complication of sickle cell trait, manner of death was natural causes. Forced ammonia inhalation and occlusion of the mouth suffocated Martin Lee Anderson. The ammonia caused a spasm of the vocal cords, the hand of the mouth blocked Martin Anderson’s airway.
Justice for Martin Lee Anderson, who died of suffocation at the hands of Charles Helms Jr, Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Henry Mcfadden, Joseph Walsh II, Kristen Schmidt. Martin died after enrollment at Bay County Boot Camp in January of 2006. Dr Charles Siebert ruled Martin Lee Anderson died of complication of sickle cell trait, manner of death was natural causes. Forced ammonia inhalation and occlusion of the mouth suffocated Martin Lee Anderson. The ammonia caused a spasm of the vocal cords, the hand of the mouth blocked Martin Anderson’s airway.
Justice for Martin Lee Anderson, who died of suffocation at the hands of Charles Helms Jr, Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Henry Mcfadden, Joseph Walsh II, Kristen Schmidt. Martin died after enrollment at Bay County Boot Camp in January of 2006. Dr Charles Siebert ruled Martin Lee Anderson died of complication of sickle cell trait, manner of death was natural causes. Forced ammonia inhalation and occlusion of the mouth suffocated Martin Lee Anderson. The ammonia caused a spasm of the vocal cords, the hand of the mouth blocked Martin Anderson’s airway.
Justice for Martin Lee Anderson, who died of suffocation at the hands of Charles Helms Jr, Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Henry Mcfadden, Joseph Walsh II, Kristen Schmidt. Martin died after enrollment at Bay County Boot Camp in January of 2006. Dr Charles Siebert ruled Martin Lee Anderson died of complication of sickle cell trait, manner of death was natural causes. Forced ammonia inhalation and occlusion of the mouth suffocated Martin Lee Anderson. The ammonia caused a spasm of the vocal cords, the hand of the mouth blocked Martin Anderson’s airway.
Justice for Martin Lee Anderson, who died of suffocation at the hands of Charles Helms Jr, Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Henry Mcfadden, Joseph Walsh II, Kristen Schmidt. Martin died after enrollment at Bay County Boot Camp in January of 2006. Dr Charles Siebert ruled Martin Lee Anderson died of complication of sickle cell trait, manner of death was natural causes. Forced ammonia inhalation and occlusion of the mouth suffocated Martin Lee Anderson. The ammonia caused a spasm of the vocal cords, the hand of the mouth blocked Martin Anderson’s airway.
Justice for Martin Lee Anderson, who died of suffocation at the hands of Charles Helms Jr, Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Henry Mcfadden, Joseph Walsh II, Kristen Schmidt. Martin died after enrollment at Bay County Boot Camp in January of 2006. Dr Charles Siebert ruled Martin Lee Anderson died of complication of sickle cell trait, manner of death was natural causes. Forced ammonia inhalation and occlusion of the mouth suffocated Martin Lee Anderson. The ammonia caused a spasm of the vocal cords, the hand of the mouth blocked Martin Anderson’s airway.
Justice for Martin Lee Anderson, who died of suffocation at the hands of Charles Helms Jr, Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Henry Mcfadden, Joseph Walsh II, Kristen Schmidt. Martin died after enrollment at Bay County Boot Camp in January of 2006. Dr Charles Siebert ruled Martin Lee Anderson died of complication of sickle cell trait, manner of death was natural causes. Forced ammonia inhalation and occlusion of the mouth suffocated Martin Lee Anderson. The ammonia caused a spasm of the vocal cords, the hand of the mouth blocked Martin Anderson’s airway.
Justice for Martin Lee Anderson, who died of suffocation at the hands of Charles Helms Jr, Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Henry Mcfadden, Joseph Walsh II, Kristen Schmidt. Martin died after enrollment at Bay County Boot Camp in January of 2006. Dr Charles Siebert ruled Martin Lee Anderson died of complication of sickle cell trait, manner of death was natural causes. Forced ammonia inhalation and occlusion of the mouth suffocated Martin Lee Anderson. The ammonia caused a spasm of the vocal cords, the hand of the mouth blocked Martin Anderson’s airway.
Charles Helms Jr
Henry Dickens
Charles Enfinger
Patrick Garrett
Raymond Hauck
Henry Mcfadden
Joseph Walsh II
Kristin Schmidt

 


Dr. Charles Siebert

I am not here to attack Dr. Siebert, I have said that from my perspective, he is medical professional and his opinion is important. However, Dr. Siebert, despite undergoing what some have referred to as a "witch hunt", is not the victim here. I have not questioned his integrity, but only the accuracy of his rulings.

Dr. Siebert contends Martin's death was of natural causes, a "consequence of an undiagnosed sickle cell trait", not the result of any treatment he received at the hands of the guards.

“Nothing at this time indicates that trauma caused or contributed to his death.", "...not a result of physical trauma." -Siebert, News Herald - Click here to read article

There has been an argument that the treatement Martin recieved did not cause any trauma. Below is a quote from a letter Dr. Siebert wrote to Dr. Wolf in March of 2006.

“He[Dr. Vernard Adams] doesn’t believe the trauma was significant enough to kill him.”

Again, I am not trying to imply that the trauma caused Martin's death, but rather that there was trauma. Momentarily operating off the assumption Dr. Siebert's opinion is right, that is, Martin died of complications due to sickle cell trait(exercise related death). That being said, the trauma, both physical and mental, cannot be overlooked as contributing factors. Even if the individual contributions where minor, the death is no longer "natural".

“My conclusion, based on more than a decade of practice, is that the exertion from exercise triggered Mr. Anderson’s sickle cell trait which caused Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC), resulting in hemorrhaging,” -Dr. Siebert AP - Click Here to read article

Stating it was the "exertion from exercise" tends to take away blame from the drill instructors, who caused the "trauma", that neither "caused or contributed to his death". To believe this, we have to believe Martin was going to die no matter what. I have not found a medical professional to make such a statement nor could one based on any scientific data.

"Siebert said the red blood cells, which carry oxygen in the blood, deformed or “sickled” in Anderson’s system through a combination of exercise and stress placed on him by drill instructors" -News Herald - Click here to read article

"Siebert said drill instructors aggravated the undiagnosed disorder by pushing Anderson beyond his physical limits, then put additional stress on his system with their handling of him." -New Herald - Click here to read article

Essentially what Dr. Siebert is saying in these statements is the "trauma" did not play a role in young Martin's death, but "their handling of him" did? I would like for Dr. Siebert to explain what the difference is. At any rate these statements seem to contradict others made by the doctor.

"There's always that question of whether the guards did make it worse," he said. "That's certainly a possibility." - SP Times - Click here for article

Earlier I quoted Dr. Siebert saying his opinion is, "based on more than a decade of practice", which sounds impressive. The statement also leads one to think the doctor actually has knowledge concerning sickle cell trait. In order to make a sound determination, would you not have to?

Recently, Dr. Siebert was a guest on the Burnie Thompson Show. Samantha called in and asked the doctor if a person with trait, died from a gunshot wound, or in a car accident, during the autopsy, would you be able to find sickled cells?

"it is very unlikely that you will see any evidence of sickle cells at the time of the autopsy, with deaths such as them.", "It is not as likely you would see it in those scenario's." Dr. Charles Siebert -

Not as likely? As what, in Martin's case?

During my conversation with one sickle cell trait and exercise related death expert, who did not wish to be identified, I asked him the same question. He told me that you will see sickling postmortem in the same scenario's. As I understood him, at the time of death, sickling occurs as a natural process due to ceased oxygenation.

Excerpt from 'Letter to Editor' , Willarda Williams President and COO - Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc. (SCDAA) - Click here to read letter.

"The finding of sickle red blood cells at autopsy of a person with sickle cell trait is expected.  When red blood cells of people with sickle cell trait lose all the oxygen they carry (as would be expected at death), they will turn into sickle cells. "

On Monday, Oct. 8. Dr. Bruce Levy was a guest on the Burnie Thompson show. In the few minutes he was on, he stated the fact that you would expect to see sickled cells during autopsy. This contradicts Dr. Sieberts previous statement, that he "would not expect" to see them.

Dr. Siebert is adamant about Martin's cause of death, and what did or did not play a role. Yet by his own words it is clear he does not possess fundamental specific knowledge regarding sickle cell trait. Perhaps this is also the reason Dr. Siebert returned to the hospital and questioned RN Cassie Elliot as to what Martin's PH levels were. He had already ruled on the autopsy, so why the questions? The doctor has stated he did not make his ruling based off the autopsy results, but rather the "clinical picture". Yet, by the doctors own actions, it is clear that not only did he ignore the biggest piece of evidence in this case, he also rendered his opinion with out the entire "clinical picture". If this information was important enough to motivate Dr. Siebert to return to the hospital and question the RN, after his ruling, should he not have been seeking these facts before his final decision?

Oct 12, 2007, after the verdict came down, Dr. Siebert was the guest on CourtTV's website chat. Below is an excerpt.

Question from queen: Why weren't blood slides shown at trial? To prove sickling of cells?

Dr. Charles Siebert: The sickling on the slides is not good enough in and of itself to prove sickling because blood specimens taken after a person had died would also show some degree of sickling. To prove the death is caused by it you have to look more at the clinical picture at the time of the death.

There seems to be some confusion on the part of Dr. Siebert, at some point between Samantha's question, and the CourtTV chat, he was motivated to do some homework. This has been a major source of the problem in the Martin Anderson case. We have professionals giving their expert opinions, and these opinions have not always been "expert", when given the facts at hand. Ockham's razor...

 

 

Quick Links

What Happened - 10/17/07
Autopsies - 11/01/07
Court of Public Opinion - not available
Matter of Law - 10/03/07
Ammonia Facts - 10/03/07
Sickle Cell Trait and EHI - 10/10/07
Dr. Siebert 10/13/07
Dr. Adams
Dr. Andrews 11/26/07
Dr. Gravenstein 11/29/07
Dr. Downs 10/29/07
Dr. Steinberg 11/27/07
Dr. Eichner
Science for Suffocation - Must read 10/10/07

This site is dedicated to the memory of Martin Lee Anderson. For information, send mail to justice@martinleeanderson.com