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Whilst watching Emily Hamilton (on Eye to Eye with Connie Chung last night)when she first started having neurological symptoms at three, I wondered if any of the nine doctors who originally saw her figured she had cerebral palsy. I also wonder how many children are misdiagnosed cerebral palsy when in fact it is Parkinson's disease. How many people are in mental institutions diagnosed as catatonic when in fact they are advanced parkinsonians with akinesia. On thinking back when I was a nurse with the VNA I remember seeing patients I wonder now whether they were really retarded, really had cerebral palsy, really were catatonic schizophrenics, as diagnosed. Levadopa was just coming on line then and not much was known about PD. It's a worry. Maybe a course of levadopa should be tried on such patients to rule out possible PD. Barbara Yacos <[log in to unmask]>