Tom received a total hip replacement from an injury sustained in a beating shortly after capture - and aggravated by lack of treatment since.   A bad right knee that has had two surgeries and yet still requires a complex brace that was ordered by a physical therapist and canceled by a BOP bean counter.  And surgery on both shoulders to repair injuries from forced blood takings.  [The blood was to be used as evidence against a comrade, so Tom refused to surrender it.]  The left shoulder was operated on in January 2002 (an open repair of rotator cuff through a deltoid splitting incision) and the right shoulder is to be repaired on July 8th 2002.  Though neither surgery was don in time to save Tom's longhead bicep tendons (left and right).   The need for these shoulder repairs were diagnosed by a 1989 floroscope.  These long un-attended joint injuries - compounded by arthritis, that an ortho dooctor compared to that of a 70+ year old, keeps him in quite a bit of pain.  There are still painful complications with Tom's hip replacement.  During the procedure, the inside of his left femur (marrow) was electro-cauterized to stop excessive bleeding.  Now Tom Suffers severe pain, that comes and goes with certain movements, as though the rod is moving inside the leg bone.  The excessive bleeding was due to Tom's being on blood thinning medicines (an existing heart condition) that, for security concerns Tom was not told to discontinue.  He was taken to an outside hospital for the surgery and the custody people didn't want him to have any pre knowledge of when that would be.

Past Chronology of Tom Manning's Hip Injury:

"I was captured, along with my wife Carol and our 3 children on April 24, 1985.  On Friday, June 7th, while our children were being held incommunicado and I was on hunger strike protesting the holding of the children, I was beaten by FBI agents, city detectives and city jail guards.   During this beating I was in leg irons, belly chains and had black boxed handcuffs attached to my waist. At one point during this encounter I was lifted from a prone position by 3 men to a height of 6 feet and slammed to the concrete, my left hip being the first part of my body to strike the floor. I received a very painful injury to the left hip, marked by severe swelling and discoloration. I was never given any medical attention, X-rays, etc. The pain remained and has stayed with me over the years. I have demanded and been X-rayed in all the prisons I've been held since. At USP Marion X-rays revealed degenerative joint disease; X-rays at ADX Florence and USP Leavenworth have confirmed this condition...   The latest X-rays reviewed by doctors here, who both concur  that hip replacement surgery is necessary.   An orthopedic surgeon from the outside agreed with their diagnosis. On November 3, 1998, the doctor here placed me on medical no-duty and assigned me a cane. On the same day I was told that someone at the medical designation office in Washington D.C., BOP Central Office, canceled my scheduled surgery."

Jaan Laaman [anti-imperialist political prisoner, friend and comrade of Tom's - ed.] writes from USP Leavenworth, Kansas: "the decision to not send Manning to a medical prison was made in Washington at the BOP headquarters. Essentially they are saying, yes we know you are in great pain and in need of an operation but you won't get it. So here is a cane, we know you can't work any longer, limp around until you can't walk at all and then we'll put you in a wheelchair in some cell somewhere - and thus Tom Manning is no longer any threat or problem to the BOP and the USA!

What You Can Do !!!

Send letters and faxes to following address demanding immediate and adequate medical care for Tom Manning's  medical  condition.  If you have a background in healthcare please let them know that and add your additional wisdom.  Same if you have a background in law.

Director - Ms. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer
Federal Bureau of Prison
320 First St., N.W.
321 Washington, D.C.
20534 USA
Email: cmahan@bop.gov
Phone: (202) 307 3198
 

Write to Tom Manning:

Thomas W. Manning
10373-016
P.O. Box 4000
MCFP
Springfield, MO 65801-4000