Brained - 2000-12-21

Brained December 21, 2000, Ron Russell, New Times Los Angeles

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The ostrich eggs should have been a tip-off. But Raul Lopez wasn't worried, even though he had paid $30,000 for two of them. The eggs were going to make him rich. After all, his lawyer, Brent Jones, whom he trusted more than his own mother, had convinced him. Jones came highly regarded as a member of the Church of Scientology, the Los Angeles-based church in which Lopez had invested his hope of getting cured of irreversible brain trauma resulting from an auto accident. Never mind that medical experts had concluded that little could be done about his nervous tremor and inability to reason and interact with others the way he did before a big-rig crossed the center line of a Ventura County highway and slammed head-on into his pickup truck in 1985. Without exception, doctors advised him to adapt to his limitations and move on with his life.

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{{cite news | first = Ron | last = Russell | title = Brained | url = http://web.archive.org/web/20010228175431/www.newtimesla.com/issues/2000-12-21/feature.html/printable_page | work = New Times Los Angeles | date = 2000-12-21 | accessdate = 2009-12-20 }}