The Blood Clot and O. J. Simpson
From James Donahue’s Journal
It was in June of 1994 that I experienced pain in my left leg, just below the knee and I suspected a blood clot. I went to Dr. Richard Hall in Cass City, who had taken over Dr. Donahue’s practice. Hall examined the leg and said he doubted if I had a clot but agreed to send me across the street to Hills and Dales Hospital for ultrasound, just to make sure. The ultrasound showed that I did, indeed, have a blood clot in my leg. Thus I was admitted to the hospital, put on Coumadin, a rat poison which, when used with care, thins the blood and dissolves clots. I was also confined to total bed rest, not even allowed to even use the bathroom. The danger was that the clot would break loose, follow the blood stream to the heart or brain, and kill me from either a heart attack or stroke.
Thus it was that I had a lot of time to read, visit with the hospital staff (many of whom I knew because they worked with Doris and we were well acquainted), study the Cass City landscape from my second-floor window, and watch a lot of television.
It was while I was in that state that the murder case against football hero and film star O. J. Simpson was heating up. Simpson was accused of the murders of his estranged wife, Nichole Brown Simpson and her boyfriend, Ronald Goldman, after their stabbed bodies were found outside Brown’s California condominium. On June 17, instead of voluntarily turning himself in to police, Simpson staged a lengthy slow-speed pursuit in his white Ford Bronco that continued for what seemed like hours through the twisting highways of Los Angeles. It was the strangest thing we had ever seen. I watched with other patients and staff from my hospital bed as a fleet of police cars followed, some of them running alongside of the Simpson vehicle. Simpson had a chauffeur driving the Bronco and he was apparently riding as a passenger. No shots were fired and there was no violence. Eventually Simpson’s vehicle returned to his home where he surrendered to the police.
That fall Simpson went on trial for the murders. He hired a bank of famous lawyers to argue for his defense. They included Johnnie Cochran and F. Lee Bailey, among the best-known defense lawyers in the nation at the time. The trial was televised, and it became so mesmerizing I found myself spending every day glued to our television. In the end I agreed with the jury that there was reasonable doubt of guilt. A lot of people thought Simpson was guilty and bought his way out of prison. Whatever the truth, it was the most watched criminal trial in history.
From James Donahue’s Journal
It was in June of 1994 that I experienced pain in my left leg, just below the knee and I suspected a blood clot. I went to Dr. Richard Hall in Cass City, who had taken over Dr. Donahue’s practice. Hall examined the leg and said he doubted if I had a clot but agreed to send me across the street to Hills and Dales Hospital for ultrasound, just to make sure. The ultrasound showed that I did, indeed, have a blood clot in my leg. Thus I was admitted to the hospital, put on Coumadin, a rat poison which, when used with care, thins the blood and dissolves clots. I was also confined to total bed rest, not even allowed to even use the bathroom. The danger was that the clot would break loose, follow the blood stream to the heart or brain, and kill me from either a heart attack or stroke.
Thus it was that I had a lot of time to read, visit with the hospital staff (many of whom I knew because they worked with Doris and we were well acquainted), study the Cass City landscape from my second-floor window, and watch a lot of television.
It was while I was in that state that the murder case against football hero and film star O. J. Simpson was heating up. Simpson was accused of the murders of his estranged wife, Nichole Brown Simpson and her boyfriend, Ronald Goldman, after their stabbed bodies were found outside Brown’s California condominium. On June 17, instead of voluntarily turning himself in to police, Simpson staged a lengthy slow-speed pursuit in his white Ford Bronco that continued for what seemed like hours through the twisting highways of Los Angeles. It was the strangest thing we had ever seen. I watched with other patients and staff from my hospital bed as a fleet of police cars followed, some of them running alongside of the Simpson vehicle. Simpson had a chauffeur driving the Bronco and he was apparently riding as a passenger. No shots were fired and there was no violence. Eventually Simpson’s vehicle returned to his home where he surrendered to the police.
That fall Simpson went on trial for the murders. He hired a bank of famous lawyers to argue for his defense. They included Johnnie Cochran and F. Lee Bailey, among the best-known defense lawyers in the nation at the time. The trial was televised, and it became so mesmerizing I found myself spending every day glued to our television. In the end I agreed with the jury that there was reasonable doubt of guilt. A lot of people thought Simpson was guilty and bought his way out of prison. Whatever the truth, it was the most watched criminal trial in history.