J Todd DeShong – Baylor Health’s online AIDS diagnostician – UPDATED

Normally I wouldn’t want to waste this much time or bandwidth on such a matter, but the questionable activities involved justify calling this insignificant gnat out.  He’s finally irritated me enough that I have to swat him.  Besides, I’m off my feet for a few days and have some extra time on my hands, or maybe it’s just a side effect of the  antibiotic.

The leg

I recently woke up with a sudden, acute bacterial infection in my left leg, the same leg that has had two DVT blood clots in three years and has a history of recurring and slow-healing sores.  The name for the condition that results in this type of skin problem in the leg is called venous insufficiency and the sores are venous ulcers.  It is not uncommon (unlike, say… Kaposi sarcoma).

I know what the problem is and I am aware of a treatment center I want to go to that offers a non-invasive and drug-free protocol that even Medicare is convinced helps.

I posted a picture of my leg, seeking opinions about using antibiotics to treat it, on the website AIDS Myth Exposed, which I help moderate. I  had some ulterior motives, as I wanted to see what members’ reaction would be, considering some them seem to be opposed to all allopathic interventions, regardless of circumstances. I expected a variety of responses and got some.

Unsolicited email diagnosis and digital sleuthing

J Todd DeShong, in over his head

I was pretty surprised when that post resulted in a comment on this, my personal blog, from an anti-“AIDS denialist” activist who is well known among some of us AIDS questioners for his taunting and abusive personality and caustic, even toxic writing style. I really wasn’t so much shocked that J Todd DeShong would email me with his “concern”  as I was amazed that he advised me from his workplace, Baylor Health Care Systems in Dallas, that I seek medical care for Kaposi sarcoma, a serious and rare cancer!

The IP address in question was included in the email WordPress forwards to me with every new comment, and it belongs to Baylor Health Care Systems.  This same IP address is one of, if not  the  most frequent visitor to the resistance is fruitful blog, according to statcounter.com, a tracking service I use. I’ve been curious for some time who this regular visitor to my blog might be. Now I know. (Hi Todd!)

DeShong has visited this blog from his work IP address at least eighteen times in the last month or so, even though I haven’t blogged for weeks. Curiously, he also spent nearly an hour yesterday at my domain (resistanceisfruitful.com), which hosts only a redirect to this blog at WordPress.  There’s not a lot to do there, unless one is searching the non-visible directories that contain some photos and documents, most of which are linked to from here.  What the heck was he trying to find there, and why was he doing it from his employer’s computer?

I am reprinting below for posterity the comment DeShong sent me. I have also emailed Baylor Health Care Systems, the owners of the servers that were used to post it, and asked whether they condone the use of their equipment for such purposes, but they have yet to respond. I’ll update if and when they do.

New comment on your post #2 “who am i?”

Author : J Todd DeShong (IP: 65.248.93.200 , 65.248.93.200)

E-mail : jtdeshong@hotmail.com

URL :

Whois : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=65.248.93.200

Comment:

Hi,

I know you probably know who I am and that I am a believer in the orthodox science.

I am truly writing because I am concerned about your health. I saw the picture of your leg at AME and it looks to me like the black/purple spots are Kaposi’s Sarcoma.

I am only writing to you because from what I read by you, you are not seeing an orthodox doc.

I am just suggesting that you see a doctor (especially since you are considering antibiotics).

I am not writing to make you mad or upset.

Sincerely,

Todd.

For context: the personality type

If you’re unfamiliar with DeShong, you might think the above is a very polite and considerate note of concern. Unfortunately, those of us who know DeShong from his blog are aware of his truly nasty style.  I couldn’t stand to visit very long, but I managed to quickly  cherry-pick just a very few choice examples from a couple of his recent posts:

Now, are we clear? Henry Bauer just proved he is either a lying jerk~wad, or just plain ol’ stupid! (My vote is BOTH!)

At least Christine Maggiore died with some dignity, living her lie to the very end, despite all the blood dripping from her hands! Take a lesson from the ultimate denialist, your St. Maggiore.

Jesus, you hypocritical, lying douchebags! Make up your fucking AIDS demented minds! Either HIV is killing you or it ain’t. You can not have it both ways!

So shut the fuck up you sad, pathetic impotent dumbass!

Clark Baker is such a douchebag of immense proportions!!

BTW, I found Brian’s youtube videos. I would bet money he used to be a crackhead!

Makes one just want to hug him and add him to their friends list, doesn’t it?

I responded to Todd once and do not intend to engage him further.  He has since sent three emails attempting to justify his behavior and position. In one of them he states: “I also looked up KS pics on the internet and the ones on all the legs on the internet looked like the ones on your legs.”  Too bad Todd didn’t bother to google venous insufficiency pictures to see what that looks like. Or, since he was already at work, he could have queried his own employer’s website for information such as this, or this.

Ms. Diagnosis… or DeShong is wrong

Here’s a picture of Kaposi sarcoma that Todd probably saw, as it comes up as one of the first in google:

and here’s a picture of legs with venous insufficiency (there are much more hideous ones if you care to look for them):

here are the pictures I posted of my lovely leg:

Who among my readers would care to diagnose my condition based on pictures? Many conditions can present with similar appearances and photographs can be deceptive.

It is a ludicrous diagnosis for a non-medically trained employee to make from his cubicle at Baylor Medical on company time, and I hope the hospital he works at investigates the documentation I’ve provided them.  Isn’t the cost of medical care high enough without paying salaries for medical support staff to carry on such activities at work?

Putting DeShong on the couch

DeShong is locked into the same HIV/AIDS mindset as many people in the medical world  that makes it damn nigh impossible for people like me to get proper medical care.  Everything MUST be related to my HIV status. Does DeShong really think that I could cure my leg by taking Atripla?!  This leg has been seen by dozens of doctors and medical specialists, including HIV and wound care. Not a single one of them has ever suggested or suspected KS.  It doesn’t look like KS, it doesn’t act like KS. It isn’t KS.

DeShong claims that his outrageous commentaries and behavior is justified because he has lost friends to AIDS and because he is living with an HIV-positive diagnosis.  Both of those conditions are true for me as well. My friends died while taking their AIDS cocktails.  From my perspective, what Todd calls “AIDS” could just as easily be called ARV drug effects, especially after long-term use.

DeShong believes very strongly that ARVs are keeping him healthy. Given his fanatical conviction that they are lifesavers, even I would recommend he continue to take them.  I’m not an absolutist on this question.  However, my experience is quite different and my messages are for those people (especially my gay brothers) who are questioning the wisdom of treating a disease that supposedly causes immune collapse with immune destroying drugs that will ultimately destroy every major organ in their body.

DeShong’s position is supported by the AIDS establishment (though I suspect they may not want to claim him as one of their own).  Mine is supported by a growing number of questioners and rethinkers who are ostracized and even threatened for daring to doubt and for seeking other possible answers.

Joining the DeShong shit list

DeShong and I could agree to disagree, but he seems incapable of expressing any point of view without resorting to smarmy, vicious and  mean-spirited statements that suggest to me that he is privately getting a hardon by trying to damage others’ reputations.  Why is he surprised that I suspect the sincerity of his message?

While DeShong tells me he has “no issue with [me] personally,” and therefore will not trash me on his blog, the truth is he has already used my words out of context there and has attributed his own alternative meaning to them. In his latest email, he warns me that those who urge people to stop taking their meds will become his targets for abuse.

WTF?! After all those visits here from a Baylor computer, hasn’t J Todd DeShong even read my blog or writings?  Of COURSE I urge every person on HAART to consider stopping their drugs!  Didn’t he read my post LOTTI: Take a vacation from AIDS drugs a couple of months ago?! (also available on youtube)  I know he’s read my page surviving “aids” without drugs, as his now known IP address is stamped all over it  in the tracking logs.

Enough attention for J Todd DeShong from this blogger. He should be quite excited to get this much of it from me, but I really do have other things I’d rather get on to.

UPDATE 09/30:

This is the response I got from Ashley Howland, Senior Marketing & Public Relations Consultant for Baylor Health Care Systems:

Hi Jonathan, Thank you for responding to my comment on your blog. As I mentioned to you in my last comment, rest assured that Baylor takes your concerns very seriously and is looking into this matter. Please understand that the views of individuals on Social Media websites do not necessarily reflect the views of Baylor Health Care System. We do have policies in place and will respond appropriately. We appreciate your understanding that we aren’t able to comment further about confidential personnel matters.

Thanks again for bringing your concerns to our attention.

Sincerely,

Ashley Howland

Do not necessarily reflect… so,  maybe they DO?

Post closed.

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