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THE CONSERVATORY OF MEDICAL ARTS AND SCIENCES
XVII
THE SEARCHLIGHT MESSENGER
THE SEARCHLIGHT MESSENGER
Blog
LEUKEMIA, THE PARADIGM MIRACLE
| Posted on May 20, 2017 at 7:25 PM |
comments (385)
|
 Another year has gone by, and in two short weeks, we celebrate National Cancer Survivor’s Day. When this day arrives, I am always taken back and remember those who never had a chance to celebrate this day. Having practiced medicine for more than three decades, as a physician I was firmly involved with the care of little children. As a Family Doctor, Internist, and Hospitalist, I saw my fair share of childhood diseases. One could truly say, I was allowed to save many lives with help from others on the medical teams I was proud to work with, and of course the cutting edge technologies afforded those of us who are privileged to practice medicine in the United States. It is interesting, the things in life which will push a man toward a life of education, and prepare him for the profession of medicine. One of those things was an event in my childhood in the early 1960s. When I was a boy, I had many friends in school and outside of school alike. Growing up on a ranch in Nebraska, it was not unusual to have many friends who lived in small towns come to visit. One of my friends outside of school lived in a nearby town, but came over often. David and I were both eight years old. I remember fondly of playing “army” with David in the yard, and board-games indoors when he would come over. I liked him. He was friendly and got along with my sister and little brother too. We became fast friends, and I would always get excited when David came over or we went to his family's house. We were both Cub Scouts but in different troops. You would always hear about how much David loved Scouting.  Soon though, the visits became fewer and fewer. David seemed to look frail and discolored to me as time went by. The color thing really bothered me. I know this sounds awful, but in addition to his color, he had an odd smell around him that seemed to worsen every time I saw him. What's worse, is it seemed that I was the only person that thought he smelled funny. I asked Mom, “What’s wrong with David?” Mom said, “He’s sick, honey. He has cancer of the blood. It’s called leukemia”. As you can imagine, this was a little difficult for an eight year old to take in, but as time went by, I learned more and more. David’s parents were good friends of my parents, so we saw each other as families often. After he became ill, we saw less and less of them. Very rarely did I get to see my friend. David had an ever advancing condition of weight loss, bruising, sore joints, infections, was easily brought to tears, and after a while, his hair even looked funny. How does an eight year old process this inevitable plunge? As children; David, his sister, my brother, my sister and I, we were not emotionally mature enough to process this whole thing. At home we would get the occasional phone call that he was back in the hospital. My parents were great. When we would get these calls, Mom and Dad would sit with us and try their best to explain this thing called leukemia. Understand, this was 1961, and leukemia was known as an unrelenting killer of children. There were no cures. Not even a good treatment. The medical community was desperate for a foothold. One night we received a phone call from David’s father. David had passed away at the young age of eight. I remember, it was really the first time I heard those words, “passed away”. It was also the first funeral of someone that caused me to take pause, and realize we are mortal. I know, I was just a child. I had seen two grandfathers buried, but I was very quiet and overcome by this intense event. All of these grownups I knew as strong, would breakdown and start to cry. I never the less watched in a surreal world of sadness, my parents’ good friends bury my buddy, David…. And that image which is still so clear…. My friend, asleep in his Cub Scout uniform.  All the while I was there, I remember thinking David might come running out from behind that marble stone, but he never did. Why had this happened? I seemed to feel a pull even then, “The Calling”, so many of us drawn to “Medicine” and trained as healers, will occasionally and quietly talk about. Time went by, but I often thought of David and how unfair it had been for him and his family. The early 1960s saw almost all children die who had leukemia. The five year survival rates of children then, were only one in ten. All any family could do, was wait and watch while their babies died in agony. He never had a chance, I often reflected. A sweet kid, taken from his family at such a young age. He never got the chance to do anything after he became sick. Never got to be an Eagle Scout, play baseball, be cool at school, or fall in love. How scared he must have been. I come to tears just writing about this.  Time marched on and while in high school, I would hear of small advances in the fight against cancer and leukemia. Then, in the early 1970s, when I was in college studying chemistry, we began hearing about new therapies. Although the drug, Methotrexate, had been used with some promise through the 1950s and 1960s, the survival rates continued to be low, and drug resistance was always a glaring problem. It killed leukemia cancer cells by attacking their ability to process folic acid for DNA synthesis. But the 1970s and 1980s brought Bone Marrow Transplantation and Craniospinal Irradiation. Huge game changers which produced not just remission, but cures. I had grown up with kids who had polio, but now, it was gone. Diphtheria was gone. Small pox was all but vanquished (completely eradicated by 1982). Psychiatric hospitals were giving way to more advanced neuroleptic drugs, allowing former patients to re-enter society and become productive citizens. They had just invented the CAT Scanner. They had started to use lasers in ophthalmology. And, I thought, even William DeBakey is transplanting hearts with Denton Cooley down in Texas of all places! Things were really happening in Medicine, and I wanted to be on the inside not the outside. I had an epiphany. Already a man of science, I realized then, that I was going to be a doctor. As time went by, more of these anti-metabolite drugs became available and we started to see a real dent in childhood mortality from leukemia. Soon after, in the late 1970s, when I was a biochemist and starting my medical career, a drug from a flower called, “The Rosy Periwinkle”, which only grows in the rain-forests of Madagascar(go figure), gave us a new drug called Vincristine. A drug that could only be brewed in mother nature’s kitchen. We were now seeing high cure rates and remissions. Lives were now being saved in this war.  My friend David had what we call one of the “acute leukemias”. There are many types of leukemia, but there are two well known leukemias that prey on children. They are Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, ALL, the one David had, which generally seeks out kids two to ten years of age, and Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, AML, which generally hunts down our babies under one year of age.The acute leukemias are proliferating bone marrow tumors of cancerous precursor white cells still in the immature blast cell phase. The cells do not work like healthy white cells to combat infection. They multiply wildly, creating havoc in the body, literally consuming the patient to death, a condition we call, "cachexia". Patients have intense bone pain, anemia, infections, swollen lymph nodes, enlarged spleens and livers, and, for some, meningitis, strokes, heart attacks, and kidney failure. Without treatment, they are dead in a few weeks to a few months. We still do not have a full grasp on their cause. Most are caused by oncogenes, which are mutated cancer inducing genetic codes for programming carcinogenisis and disrupting programmed cell death we call “apoptosis”. What causes this, is the head scratcher. Many of us feel it is radiation exposure, or certain viruses. Perhaps environmental toxins, or even cosmic radioactive bursts. And of course, man-made toxins are obvious suspects. By the early 1990s we were seeing cure rates in both ALL and AML of fifty percent and remission rates in the eighty percent range. What a leap. In just 3 decades we saw a paradigm shift in the treatment and outcomes of our children with leukemia, moreover, a shift in therapies which utilized a team approach to protect our children from the acute depression and other collateral illness which accompany these diseases. Newer drugs like Daunorubicin have accelerated this to even better outcomes. Although this drug is very effective, it is extremely cardiotoxic and not generally used in children. However, it should be noted that we are now seeing ninety five percent remission rates and sixty percent cure rates in our children with ALL, and AML, a true shift in mortality that could only be dreamed about just thirtyfive years ago. Drugs like Methotrexate are still at the heart of leukemia therapy, and are used in combination with other drugs, along with bone marrow transplants and radiation treatments. Unfortunately, these drugs are very expensive, which creates an obvious ethical dilemma.  But now, what treatments are on the horizon for leukemia? There is a new drug. This drug arrived on the cancer chemotherapy shelves about fifteen years ago, but shows outstanding promise even outside of cancer therapy. Used mainly for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, CML, a leukemia seen mostly in older adults, it is highly effective. Rendering oncogenetic codes for cancer cell induction dead in their tracks. It is a target drug aimed at a specific chromosome translocation defect which exists in more than 90% of CML patients, called the Philadelphia Chromosome. The drug, Imatinib, was built from a rational drug design based on biochemical research already in place regarding the specific allele the Philadelphia Chromosome codes from, and shuts down the production of a protein called tyrosine kinase which induces cancerous breakdown of normally functioning white cells. Imatinib has been used as therapy for other leukemias including refractory ALL and myeloproliferative disorders (bone marrow cancers) with outstanding success. But what is also very interesting is its experimental applications which are currently being investigated.Imatinib has been touted as a treatment for pulmonary hypertension, a rapidly fatal form of high blood pressure in the lungs. It has been shown to reduce outcropping we call smooth muscle hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the pulmonary vascular tree. In systemic sclerosis, the drug has been tested for potential use in slowing down pulmonary fibrosis. In addition, current laboratory investigations show promise in stopping the progression of atherosclerotic vascular disease. Yes, a treatment for coronary artery disease. At Emory University in Atlanta, there are promising studies suggesting that Imatinib could be used as an antiviral against smallpox. Why is this important? Although this disease has been wiped off the face of the earth with the remarkable efforts of the World Health Organization, and no case has been identified in over thirty-five years, We continue to believe a weaponized form of small pox launched from a rogue nation is possible. Studies also suggest that a modified version of imatinib can bind to the protein which increases the production and accumulation of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease, rendering it inert. Yes, a treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease. But with all of this in our doctor bags, there is still a dark and ominous specter. Although great strides have been made, and I was privileged to meet and take care of children with leukemia, and even watch them overcome the illness and move on with their lives, one patient stands out. I was working the Emergency Department one night in 1995. It had been relatively quiet that evening, when at approximately two in the morning a man walked in carrying his teenage son. We acted quickly and helped him get his son to a gurney in an open bay. The staff and I immediately recognized the man’s son as Eric, a well known high school football star. The father said he found his son crawling on the floor trying to get to the kitchen to get a drink of water. Eric looked awful. There was that damn color again. Eric was delirious with fever, weak, and poor to respond. We went to work on him immediately. His dad said that he was fine just a month ago, but had developed a sore throat at about that time, and was seeing one of our local doctors who just kept giving him antibiotics. We managed to get young Eric stabilized. Just as we were settling him in and making his father comfortable, I received a call from the laboratory. The lab tech asked me to come down to the lab. I ran to the laboratory. When I got there the tech was shaking her head as if to say, “this is really bad”. I looked at the blood count machine’s screen. “my God”, I said to the tech. “His white count is seventy thousand”. I looked in the microscope. “Blast cells”. I knew right away we were looking at an acute type of leukemia, but couldn’t recognize it with just light microscopy. We needed more tests.  When I dashed back to the Emergency Department, Eric was coming around a little. I spoke with him and reassured him. But the look on my face when I turned to his dad? He knew I didn’t have good news. We talked at length, then, I called in Eric’s regular doctor. They talked while the team and I continued to work on Eric. I called in the helicopter, spoke with the Hematology Fellows at the university, returned to Eric and his dad, made sure they knew what we were doing, and flew them both to University Hospital. All eyes turned to the Hematology Oncology Service with hope that they could help young Eric. One week later, while seeing patients in my office, the Hematology service at the university telephoned me to say that Eric had “passed away”. You sit by yourself and reach for introspection when these things sting you as a healer. When we lose children, most of us as doctors weep in quiet seclusion and solitude (We all have PTSD). I wondered. How does a robust young athlete get sick with leukemia, fail in health so quickly, and die in one month? As it turned out, Eric contracted a type of AML, called Promyelocytic Leukemia, one of the most deadly forms of AML, one which preys on teen-aged children, and takes them away from us with stealth and quickness. So you see, our job is not done. I am reminded as to why we call it a “practice”. Our knowledge of the genome, stem cell technology, oncogenetics, and nanotechnology races onward. Our ability for rational drug design is extraordinary, and the technical savvy to produce these great magic potions has been nothing short of miraculous. In just over four decades, we have all but squashed the disease that took my friend, David. But as you can see with Eric, we are not finished. I still think of David fifty-five years later, and how his death stirred in a young boy, "The Calling". If I was educated only to save but one human being, it was all worth it.  We already have at our fingertips two technologies that must be placed into motion. Stem cell research has already given us the ability to crush this killer, and should never be interrupted. And, the science to manipulate the oncogenes so responsible for the fuel that drives these diseases. My hope is that with our new technologies, in the near future, we will not need any drugs for leukemia. We will simply turn off the genetic machinery of bone marrow cancer, and not allow leukemia even to exist, and therefore, never threaten our children again. Dr. Counce |
"The Affordable Care Act" (and Its Impact)
| Posted on January 31, 2016 at 12:14 AM |
comments (518)
|
 In the United States, The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a
health care ordinance established by the federal government (it is commonly
referred to as Obamacare). The Act was adopted as a law by US President Barrack
Obama on March 23, 2010. The goal of this law is to reform the United States
health systems by providing and improving access to quality and affordable
health care, health insurance, and providing American citizens with more rights
and protections by reducing health care expenditure for both individuals and
the government. The law also aims at expanding private and public insurance
coverage, as well as, regulating the insurance industry. It is a fantastic
thought, if it only worked as planned. As we all know now, it is not completely as advertised. For
those of us in the middle class we have realized all too well that it crushes
us. It means more taxes. A staggering Five Hundred Billion Dollars in increased
taxes and fees. This is passed down to us through higher pricing on medical
expenses that we need. You must purchase insurance, if you do not, your federal
income taxes will be penalized. You will no longer get the return that so many
count on every year. If you are covered with insurance through your employer,
you should tread lightly. Thirty-five million people could lose existing
coverage because the government has created incentives for employers to drop insurance
benefits.
There are higher premiums and costs associated with
the ACA. For a family of four earning ninety thousand dollars annually, take
home income would be about sixty-nine thousand dollars after local, state, and
federal taxes have been taken out. If these families lose their workplace
coverage and move into the exchanges, they could find themselves paying as much
as twenty-five percent of their take home pay on an average policy. That is a seventeen-thousand-dollar hit to their annual pay. That's the money they could have used to buy a car, save for college, or payoff their house. Throughout my research I have interviewed
Doctor Kem Hor, Doctor Charles Counce, and have read many articles both for and
against ACA. I have also learned that the ACA really hurts Doctors. At the
beginning of 2014 it has dumped an additional twenty million Americans into
Medicaid. I personally had to start receiving Medicaid. What I have noticed, is
that it is very hard to find a Doctor who accepts new Medicaid patients, let alone see them at all. For
my family of five, that is very difficult. We have three younger
children who need medical attention from time to time, and it can be extremely
difficult to get them seen, sometimes taking up to a month to get an
appointment.  Doctors feel overran by Medicaid patients. Some have stated
that they don’t have enough time with their patients any longer. It feels to some patients
that we are just a number. It shouldn’t be that way. Doctors are healers. Sometimes a little extra time with the patients can go a long way. Medicaid only
pays Doctors approximately fifty-six percent of what private insurance pays. [Understand that insurance systems are also a discount contracted with doctors to lower their fees to see a group of patients. This means that Doctors lose as much as eighty percent of their fee everytime they see a Medicaid patient. They can't even pay the overhead associated with the patient's visit.] Doctors are put
in a tough spot, whether to accept Medicaid patients at a lesser rate or not
accepting Medicaid patients at all. America is projected to face a shortage of nearly ninety-two thousand doctors by the year 2020. Just here in the greater Colorado Springs area
there is a shortage of two hundred sixty doctors. Many surveys state that doctors have a
negative view on the ACA and its impact on the medical field. One survey found
that the ACA on top of all the other mandates like Tort Law costs, Skyrocketing Liability Insurance, this year's "ICD10", "CLIA", "OSHA", and "HIPAA" has become too much to bear, motivating forty-three percent of doctors to move up
their retirement within the next five years. My overall thoughts on
this Affordable Care Act, is that it might be a good idea on paper, but after seeing it in action, it
has caused many more headaches than not. It has forced many doctors out of the
field to pursue other options. Doctors should not have to wait four to six months to
get paid by Medicaid or Medicare. I understand that doctors need to get paid for services
rendered in a timely fashion. They have bills as well as employees to pay, in addition to college and medical school tuition loan obligations and
bread for their table. It should not take patients a month to see a healthcare provider either.  I have been waiting to see a specialist (a ninety minute drive north to Denver) for two and a half months now. The system is not working, and should never have been approved in its present form. Unfortunately, it is here to stay. So says the Supreme Court. We will all have to get used to it.Obviously the Affordable Care Act does need a lot of improvements to actually do what it was meant to do, giving Americans better access to quality healthcare. [It has managed to do almost the opposite, by draining our pocketbooks, and scaring away the only people who can care for us.]  |
The Craziest Frivolous Malpractice Lawsuits
| Posted on October 11, 2014 at 10:10 PM |
comments (498)
|
 With their hands basically tied, what doctors didn't have in many states until recently, was the ability to counter sue to win back at least their legal fees after successfully defending a malpractice litigation. It took decades to make changes to tort law, as most congressman lawmakers when not working in congress, are attorneys making money in "trial law". So they always slanted the law toward the consumer to guaranty their cash flow. Yeah, I know!Remember that most lawsuits are pursued by most people because there is little or no financial risk to them. Almost all trial lawyers accept tort lawsuits on a contingency fee. Basically telling the so called plaintiff that they pay nothing until the lawsuit is won. These fees are usually in the range of 30% to 50% of the award. So when a person happens to win a large award, say 4 million dollars, the attorney just made 2 million. But remember, even legitimate malpractice cases are usually not won by the plaintiff. Doctors win malpractice law suits brought against them, 80% of the time, but have to assume all risk, paying for attorney fees up front in the tens of thousands. Yes, they still end up losing large sums of money just defending themselves, let alone lost work hours, as well as stress to their practices, families, and reputations. The other fact you need to realize, is that we doctors have a red flag anyone can see. Yeah, it's called millions of dollars of malpractice insurance money that consumers and lawyers are drooling to get there hands on. They can see it, so they go after it. Many people do not know that 25 years ago, to press their point that many malpractice cases were pursued in this regard, many doctors in "lawsuit crazy" Florida, went bare (no malpractice insurance). Many physicians and surgeons in high risk practices (Obstetrics and Neurosurgery) who averaged 4 to 5 malpractice suits a year, stated that after they went bare, they were no longer sued. This move created a huge shift in attitudes in Florida, calling for tort reform immediately. Don't get me going about what goes on in Florida. Today, if you sue a doctor and lose, you will face a counter suit. The result? Now the doctor owns your house, your car, your boat, and your first born. That's right! So if you go after a doctor to get in on "the medical lottery", you better know what you're doing, because the doctors have more money than you do, and will hire attorneys who will eat your lawyer for supper. Frivolous lawsuits are a different animal all together, and tax both the legal community and the doctor community to absolutely unbelievable limits. Read on. Physicians have long complained about
frivolous malpractice lawsuits. The assault on their reputations and the
emotional upheaval they face can be traumatic even when the lawsuit is
obviously fraudulent.  The situation has improved to a degree,
but baseless lawsuits still happen. As long as there is larceny in the human
heart and an expert witness willing to advance ridiculous theories in court,
they'll always exist. Most states now require plaintiffs to
submit an affidavit from an expert witness that a physician's treatment fell
below the accepted standard of care before they can file suit. That has
drastically cut down the number of frivolous cases, say defense attorneys and
insurers. Experienced plaintiffs' attorneys say
that they must spend $50,000-$75,000 in expenses long before trial to secure
and review medical records and expert testimony. "We can't afford to file
frivolous cases," said Armand Leone, MD, a radiologist and attorney in
Glen Rock, New Jersey. "We'd go out of business." Although frivolous cases have declined
significantly, they still exist, and some are truly outrageous. Some of the
wildest examples are new, and some are decades old. We've compiled some
notorious cases; some boggle the mind that they were ever even brought against
a physician. See whether you agree. The
Patient Who Cut Off His Hand One historical case that is surely the
most bizarre that we found "was so idiotic that it defies belief,"
said veteran defense attorney John R. Fitzpatrick of Denver. A construction worker with a long psychiatric
history claimed that he saw a "666, the sign of the devil" on his
right hand. To rid himself of this perceived demonic possession, he used a
power saw to slice the hand off at the wrist. Horrified workers at the
construction site packed the severed hand in ice, which was transported by
helicopter along with the patient, Thomas Passmore, to Sentara Norfolk General
Hospital in Virginia. The incident took place in 1997.  Hand surgeon Tad Grenga, MD, was called
in to attempt to reattach the hand. Even though the patient seemed coherent
when he gave consent for the operation, Dr. Grenga asked for a consult from a
psychiatrist, who said the patient had the legal mental capacity to consent. The patient was prepped for surgery and
given sedatives. Just as he was being wheeled into the operating room, he
changed his mind. "He said that if Dr. Grenga reattached his hand, he'd
cut it off again," Fitzpatrick said. Dr. Grenga again called for the
psychiatrist, who found that the sedatives hadn't impaired the patient's
capacity to give or withdraw consent. "The operation needed to be
performed as soon as possible for any chance of success, and Dr. Grenga knew
that self-mutilators have a high propensity to do it again," said the
lawyer. "The surgeon and a hospital risk
manager asked a local judge for advice," said Fitzpatrick. "The judge
said that as long as a psychiatrist certified that Passmore was competent, Dr.
Grenga couldn't perform the operation against the man's will. If he did, he
could be charged with criminal assault, and sued civilly as well." Dr. Grenga told the patient that
delaying the operation would mean the hand could never be reattached, but the
patient again refused consent. The surgeon then closed up the wound. The patient soon consulted an attorney
and announced that he would sue the surgeon and hospital for $3 million. His
legal theory: The doctor should have known that he was psychotic and therefore
didn't have the capacity to give or withdraw consent. Dr. Grenga should have
attempted to reattach the hand no matter what he said.
"You may wonder how a case this
frivolous was allowed to proceed, but the plaintiff's attorney had expert
witnesses lined up saying that the surgeon and hospital should have
operated," said Fitzpatrick. "As long as an expert was willing to
testify, the judge felt he had to let the case go on." The
Trial Was Surreal The trial lasted nine days and was more
than a bit surreal. When sworn in as a witness, plaintiff Thomas Passmore
raised his right arm, a silver hook where his hand was formerly. The jury took only 30 minutes to find
in favor of Dr. Grenga. Several jurors congratulated him for being such a good
doctor. "Passmore also sued the psychiatry
group at the hospital, which settled before trial for an amount believed to be
in the mid- six figures," Fitzpatrick said. Defending Dr. Grenga cost his
insurer more than $70,000.
"I disagree that frivolous suits
are a thing of the past. It's easy to find an expert witness to advance bogus
theories," he said. "Plaintiffs' attorneys know that most cases
settle, and they figured Dr. Grenga would settle to avoid the nuisance and risk
of the lawsuit."
Twitching
Breasts? Fitzpatrick had another outrageous case
about 10 years ago. A 35-year-old woman believed she was at risk for breast
cancer and had a surgeon perform a double mastectomy. The reconstruction didn't
use a traditional breast implant, but instead used the patient's abdominal
tissue.
"The patient developed a romantic
interest in the surgeon and wrote him several suggestive love letters. When he
rejected her advances, the patient filed a lawsuit claiming that her breasts
now 'twitch' when she has sexual activity," said Fitzpatrick. "Her
lawyer found an expert who said this must be the surgeon's fault."  "The case went to trial. Her
lawyer wanted to put on a demonstration to show how the breasts twitch, but the
judge wouldn't allow it. The trial lasted five days before the judge finally
threw it out."
Psychic
Can No Longer Practice Her Special Powers A historical malpractice case that
achieved international notoriety and was cited during political campaigns as
the "poster child" for tort reform concerned a psychic who claimed
she suffered severe headaches that rendered her unable to practice her
profession as a psychic or to read auras after having a dye injected into her
as a prelude to having CT.
Psychic Judith Haimes had assisted
several law enforcement agencies in the Northeast in finding bodies and solving
crimes. She sued Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, saying that her
severe reaction to the dye used in CT scans led to chronic and disabling
headaches, which prevented her from going into the state of deep concentration
necessary to read auras. A jury took just 45 minutes to
deliberate and awarded her $600,000 plus $386,000 in interest. Common Pleas Court Judge Leon Katz said
the verdict was "so grossly excessive as to shock the court's sense of
justice." He said it was likely that the jurors had disregarded his
instructions that they could consider only whether Haimes should receive
damages for the pain and mental anguish she suffered from the immediate allergic
reaction. He'd ruled that her attorney had failed to provide any evidence
linking the CT scan and her continuing headaches that impaired her psychic
abilities. He ordered a new trial. The parties ultimately reached an
undisclosed settlement.
Nerve
Block on the Wrong Knee In 2012, an anesthesiologist
administered a nerve block to a patient who was prepped for minor knee
arthroscopy; however, he administered it to the wrong knee.
The orthopedist realized the mistake right away and never started the
operation, said John Hart, a malpractice defense attorney in Portland, Oregon,
who represented the anesthesiology group. "The surgeon and anesthesiologist
immediately told the patient of the mistake and apologized. They offered the
patient the opportunity to still do the surgery on the correct knee, and the
patient agreed," he said. "The patient was grateful for their candor,
and the operation was successful. "They told the patient the effects
of the nerve block would wear off within 48 hours," he said. "The
patient was fine with that, and neither doctor heard anything for almost two
years. However, in 2014, one week before the statute of limitations was to
expire, the patient sued both doctors." The amount he asked for? $825,000. He charged them with negligence for
causing pain and disability by anesthetizing the wrong knee. "The attitude
of judges is that as long as there's a question of fact, let the jury take care
of it," Hart said. "Some judges are fearful of being reversed by an
appeals court. Judges could do more to encourage settlement, but they often
don't." The case is still pending.
When
Patients Represent Themselves  Hart adds that pro se cases (ones in
which a plaintiff brings suit and represents him- or herself, without an
attorney) are notorious for frivolous claims. "Sometimes the plaintiff
fails to comply with deadlines, or they don't even show up for hearings,"
he said. "But judges will bend over backward to give the plaintiff a chance.
If I were a judge, I might do the same. People should have access to the
courts, even when there's not an ice cube's chance in hell of winning." Stephanie Sheps, director of claims at
Coverys, a professional liability barrier based in Boston, agrees with Hart.
"I've seen judges go the extra mile to make sure a pro se plaintiff
is treated fairly. In one case involving a neurologically impaired infant, the
damages were severe, but there really was no liability by the doctor.
"The plaintiff had trouble finding
an expert witness," she said. "The judge took it upon himself to hire
an expert that the state paid for. The court hired one of the top ob/gyns from
a Massachusetts teaching hospital. He found that there was no malpractice, but
the judge wanted the plaintiff to have every chance she could. Judges are very
hesitant to take away someone's day in court."
Vasectomy
and Circumcision 'Mishaps' Dr. Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD, is a
neurosurgeon who started Medical Justice, an organization that provides
physicians with legal resources to fight frivolous suits and brings complaints
before bar associations, state licensing boards, and professional medical
societies. He tracks outrageous cases.
A couple of examples are illustrative.
About 10 years ago, a patient had a vasectomy. His postoperative sperm count
was zero, as expected. One year later, the patient's wife became pregnant. The
man sued his urologist. However, a paternity test quickly explained what
happened, Dr. Segal said: The wife had had an extramarital affair, which
resulted in a pregnancy. The lawsuit was dropped. In another case, a urologist was sued
for not removing enough foreskin during a circumcision on an infant. That led
to a revision a year later. The doctor was sued in 2000, and the case was finally
settled 12 years later. "One can always remove additional foreskin
later," said Dr. Segal. "On the other hand, if a urologist is too
aggressive… Well, enough said."
Doctor
Never Met the Patient
Ob/gyn Ward P. Vaughan, MD, was sued
over an obstetric procedure performed at a Virginia hospital where he never had
privileges. He also never even met the patient. Plaintiff's attorney Michael P.
Weatherbee had reviewed an operative report that noted the lead surgeon was
assisted by "Bob Vaughan," according to court records. Several
Vaughans were listed on the Virginia Board of Medicine's Website. Weatherbee
wrongly assumed he'd picked the correct one. Dr. Vaughan was ultimately dismissed
from the case and then filed a complaint with the Virginia State Bar
Association, which determined that the lawyer had committed professional
misconduct, including filing a frivolous lawsuit and failing to act with
competence and diligence. Cleveland, Ohio, orthopedic surgeon
Michael A. Banks, MD, won $4500 in attorney's fees for defending a lawsuit
filed against him, even though the patient told her attorney that he was not
the doctor who had mistreated her. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld the award.
When
Doctors Fight Back  Attorneys don't always carefully
investigate a claim before filing suit. Sometimes, they hope the doctor will
settle rather than face a trial. Gastroenterologist Zev Randy Maycon, MD, was
the on-call physician at Mercy Medical Center in Canton, Ohio. He ordered care
for a patient whose gallbladder and colon were perforated during a liver biopsy
performed by another doctor. Dr. Maycon was one of several doctors
sued by the patient in 2002. The plaintiff's expert witness never criticized
him in his report. Still, plaintiff's attorney Catherine C. Little refused to
dismiss him from the case. She suggested to his attorney that he could be
released if he made a settlement offer. Dr. Maycon was ultimately cleared in
the malpractice suit, and then sued attorney Little. A judge ordered the lawyer
to pay the physician $6000. An appeals court upheld the ruling, calling the
malpractice case "clearly frivolous." West Virginia thoracic surgeon Saad
Mossallati, MD, was sued in a wrongful death case involving a patient he'd
never seen. His name was briefly mentioned in the chart when a nurse suggested
contacting him. It took four years before plaintiff's attorney William E.
Parsons II would dismiss him from the case. Dr. Mossallati countersued the
attorney and won an undisclosed settlement. "Doctors should hold the legal
profession accountable when attorneys overstep," he said. "Give them
a taste of their own medicine, and ask for damages." The number of frivolous cases has
declined significantly since various tort reform measures have been enacted. If
physicians are lucky, outrageous cases will be dismissed before too much
expense is incurred. And fighting back could be a useful tactic for physicians. |
The Milgram Experiment, an Ethics Milestone
| Posted on August 21, 2014 at 10:50 PM |
comments (689)
|
Milgram began the experiment with a public announcement stating; “Persons needed
for a study of memory, we will pay you $4.00 for one hour of your time.” This
baited hook brought in over 600 people for Milgram to test and study. Once
people accepted the announcement they pulled straws to fill three roles; the
teacher, learner and the observer. Once the roles were distributed the
experiment could begin. Milgram started by having the teacher assist the
observer in connecting shock inducing electrodes to the learner. The teacher then
read off a list of words that the learner would have to memorize and repeat
back. If the learner gave any wrong answers, the teacher was instructed to
shock the learner. With every wrong answer given, the voltage of shock
increased; starting at 15 volts, and increasing by 15 volts until the voltage
reached 450. The shock machine in front of the teacher was set up like a switchboard.
The machine consisted of 30 switches with the voltage and description of shock placed
next to the switch. The 10 level or 150 volts was “strong shock”;
the 17 level or 255 volts was “intense shock”; the 25
level or 375 volts was “danger severe shock”; while the last two switches 435
volts and 450 volts were simply marked XXX standing for “ultimate pain”. Milgram’s results
shocked him and the rest of the psychologists in his community. 65% of the
teachers completed the experiment by reaching 450 volts. All of the volunteers
continued the experiment to 300 volts. Milgram repeated the experiment 18 times
changing multiple variables in order to confirm the idea that it was human
nature to follow orders. With a change of location, obedience dropped to 47.5%. When
there was less personal responsibility, obedience increased to 92.5%. When the
teacher got physical with the learner, obedience dropped to 30%. When the
authority figure was giving orders from a distance, obedience fell to 20.5%.
Milgram’s
experiment received, and continues to receive a great deal of criticism. In
1968, Orne and Holland made the statement that Milgram’s experiment lacked
“experimental realism”. Experimental realism is the
extent to which situations created in social psychology experiments are real
and impactful to participants. The concept of experimental realism was
developed in response to criticism; in that most social psychology experiments
take place in artificial laboratory settings, [and thus], are invalid for
examining how people truly think and act. Another complaint, was that Milgram’s
study was all Males, and the question still remains would the results stay the
same if females were tested. The final complaint was that Milgram’s experiment
cannot be seen as representative of the American population as his sample was
“self selected”. Meaning that the teachers of the experiment were all
responding to an advertisement found in the paper and are assumed to have a
volunteer personality which not everyone has. Although the complaints about the experiment are valid, it
becomes very easy for others to point out the faults or mistakes in another’s
study. Experimental realism, although very useful, is hard to accomplish in any
study, in any field. The main problem comes down to weather the person being
studied is truly being honest during the study in which they are taking part.
This simply boils down to human error, because we can never truly know what
another person is feeling or thinking. While the second complaint seems
applicable, Milgram was doing the study based on the testimonies given by the
Nazi soldiers who were 90% Male. The new argument could be that Milgram should
have performed the study with 10% of the volunteers being women. However,
during World War II, it was said that Nazi women were not in the position to
harm, or given orders to harm anyone. If Milgram included women in the study,
the results would be worthless in inquiring whether the accused had a valid
defense. As for the volunteers, every experiment needs volunteers. No one can
make anyone do an experiment against their will. So, even with the volunteer
personality they will find the closest most realistic results that anyone would
be able to obtain in the given circumstance. While people will always have criticism, more people have
problems with the ethical issues behind Milgram’s study. Deception; the
teacher’s were unaware that they were not actually shocking the learner.
Protection of the participants; the teachers were exposed to tremendously
stressful scenarios that could have lead to psychological problems. The signs
of tension showed in the teachers; trembling, sweating, stuttering, laughing
nervously, and biting lips, while three teachers had uncontrollable seizures. Right
to Withdrawal; British Psychology Society states that, “the researchers should
make it plain to participants that they are free to withdraw from the experiment.”
With Milgram's four motivators, the psychology society feels that the teachers
were given no chance to withdraw from the experiment.
With every criticism that came Milgram's way, he had a retort.
As far as deception went, Milgram explained, “Illusion is used when necessary
in order to set the stage for the revelation of certain difficult-to-get-at-truths”.
When it came to the psychological well being of his volunteers, Milgram
debriefed them right after the experiment and set up an interview with them after
one year had past. After that year, over 80% of the volunteers had been “glad
to be a part of the experiment” while less than 2% wish they had never taken
part. The psychological well being of the volunteers is a big part of the
experiment. While no one wanted the volunteers to walk away with psychological
problems, it would have been a huge insight into the mind of a human who could
do harm to another human simply by “following orders”. After Milgram had debriefed
the participants at the end of the experiment, the stress levels and signs of
tension decreased dramatically. During the follow-up meeting a year later
Milgram noticed no long lasting psychological problems, so even with the risk
of psychological harm, it was necessary to the experiment.
The British Psychological Society says that everyone should have
the right to withdraw from an experiment. With the way Milgram's “motivators”
were phrased, the psychology community believes that they made it nearly
impossible for them to withdraw from the experiment. However, Milgram pointed
out that while the “motivators” might have made it difficult to withdraw from
the experiment, withdrawal was still possible, because 35% of the volunteers
withdrew from the study. “Only in action can you fully realize the
forces operative in social behavior. That is why I am an experimentalist. For me
and my beliefs, I think that history repeats itself, and for us to be better
prepared for the future, we have to understand the past, making this study appropriate.
With technology and science where they are today, I see no better way to
execute this study. Maybe as imperfect beings we cannot create a perfect study,
but to stop trying because of obstacles makes us failures before we even have
the chance to succeed.” Milgram saw success through his obstacles and succeed
in accomplishing one of the most well-known social psychology studies of the twentieth
century.
 |
WHY ARE WE SO AFRAID OF THE FLU?
| Posted on March 1, 2013 at 9:42 PM |
comments (626)
|
Just this last January, The New York Times reported that
this year’s influenza outbreak had crossed into the epidemic domain, having hospitalized
record numbers and killing thousands of Americans, despite an ongoing and very
active vaccination program. This flu is a Type A flu, for which we prepare vaccines designed
on apparent new strains each year. This winter, the H3N2 variant, appears to be
the real culprit wafting the flames of death from pneumonia this now well
documented killer brings. It appears that the epidemic reached its zenith in
January, but the influenza outbreak remains, and its effects a real concern for
future outbreak patterns, attacking and killing most of us over 65 with
concomitant disease or poor immune response and even some who have been
vaccinated, with stealth and speed. Having had this flu in January, I can count myself as one
of its survivors, fighting back with antiviral medication, anti-inflammatory
drugs, and other “magic potions” for palliation of my very icky symptoms. The
illness I experienced lasted about 10 days, with the first 4 seeing me miss work
due to extreme difficulty in breathing through my nose and throat, making it impossible
to eat, all the while coughing my head off, reeling from throbbing headaches,
muscle pain, and running a fever. But at no time did I feel my health was in
danger, as my symptoms were initially very intense but tapered quickly and only
involved catarrhal effects. And unlike many of my friends and colleagues who
suffered the flu this winter, I felt fully recovered after 2 weeks. But I also
attribute this to a vegetarian diet, my bicycle, and a personal fitness trainer who never lets up, even when I’m ill. A subject which will be discussed in future posts. This whole experience prompted me to discuss why we worry
about the flu so much, vaccinate against it annually, and have government
agencies watch each new strain so carefully. In addition to being a physician
and professor of medical science, I am also an American History professor. So
for me, the answer is quite obvious when we peer back 95 years. An epidemic of
influenza occurred then that literally brought the world to its knees, and keep
in mind that the First World War was in full swing. But the epidemic killed
more than this horrible war could ever consume. This plague killed so many that
the death toll from the war paled when compared to this assault on Mankind.  A true pandemic, The 1918 Flu, also known as the Spanish
Flu, Infected 500 million humans worldwide, and estimated to have killed 50
million. In eleven short months between January and November of 1918 it killed
700 thousand humans inside the borders of the United States alone, shutting
down whole cities and local governments. Some states went as far as to shut
down their legislative sessions to thwart exposure to our leadership. To this
day, it is considered the worst human natural disaster in history. And many
have almost forgotten this epic and even “Biblical” event.
Because of the ominous size of the war and its inevitable
line changing outcome, to maintain morale, Department of War censors minimized
early reports of illness and mortality in Germany, Britain, France, and the
United States, but the press was free to report the epidemic's effects in neutral
Spain, where the grave illness and subsequent recovery of the King of Spain,
Alfonso the XIII, created a false impression of Spain as especially hard hit, thus
the pandemic's nickname, the “Spanish Flu.” It is not truly known from
where it was spawned, perhaps the battlefields in France, and Belgium, where
most of the western front was fought. A trench war where axes of advance moved
so slowly they never really budged until the war’s final weeks. A trench war that lasted 4 years. A trench
war of deep mud, sewage, and blood, that stretched for hundreds of miles on
each side, dug ten feet deep to protect whole columns of men, and shored up
with dead bodies and body parts of humans, and horses. Body parts that soldiers
utilized so often, they became inert to the macabre vision of this war torn
Martian Landscape. If you can only imagine protruding arms, hands, legs, and
other body parts as utility hangers and weapon racks. Or a dead man’s face
staring at you while you set your cup of coffee on the side of his cheek to
lean it against the blood streaked mud, while bullets fly over the trench’s
roof of ashen and putrid sky. “The war to end all wars”, it was called.   What we do know for sure? Modern
transportation systems made it easier for soldiers, sailors, and civilian
travelers to spread the disease, and spread it throughout the planet very
quickly. But here’s the deal. Back here in the United States,
there were 2 niduses of outbreak that are now well accepted. In January of 1918
there was an outbreak at Fort Riley in Kansas followed by an outbreak of an
apparently more virulent strain in Boston 6 months later. By November, 700
thousand Americans lay dead. Not overseas fighting a war, but at home, minding
their own business. What is really scary is that this viral attack on humanity
was especially evil. Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill little
children, elderly, or already weakened patients. But in contrast, the 1918
pandemic killed predominantly robust healthy young adults. Yeah, the strength
and future of our post war nation, succumbing to a hemorrhagic pneumonia
sometimes within 24 hours of initial infection. 
Needless to say, America was horrified and almost morally
undone by this specter of death and an ongoing war in Europe. Understand, we
didn’t know it was a virus back then, and even though the nineteenth
century had heralded in the great science of microbiology and the knowledge of
bacterial infectious disease, little was known about viruses, and many
considered virology a fringe science.
Let’s put this in perspective. If there was an influenza
outbreak now that started in January and killed almost a million Americans by
November, we would be a nation in full panic, buying hand sanitizers; antiviral
medication; folk medicine and herbs of all kinds; gloves, masks, and
respirators; never going out; staying away from any public event; not allowing
people into our homes; and certainly not travel from city to city. Police and
fire fighters would be slow to respond to anything. We would be absolutely
terrified and paralyzed. But the real truth is this. If you translate those
numbers from 1918 to the equal and proportionate numbers in 2013, the
frightening and ominous specter speaks for itself. And this is why we as
physicians and scientists pay very close attention to “The Flu”. If the same
pandemic of 1918 occurred now, 10 million Americans would be killed in less
than 10 months, 500 million would be dead worldwide, that’s half a billion!
Seven percent of the world’s population snuffed out in less than a year. So
maybe now, you understand just how big the 1918 Flu really was.  A plague so big, only the infamous “Black Plague” of
medieval Europe which killed nearly 200 million in five years can even come
close. But the Black Plague was a bacterial infection from Yersinia pestis, spread by rodents and flees, hanging around for
years, possibly burning out after a decade, it still pops up annually all over
the world and is treated with antibiotics. The Spanish Flu on the other hand,
vanished almost as quickly as it attacked. It apparently hit us so hard that
it’s host sources died fast, leaving only exposed survivors who were now immune
to this virus, leaving no one to infect. “A self cleaning oven”. So what do we know about this truly brutal and powerful threat
that brought us to our knees almost a century ago? In 2005 the genetic
sequencing of this virus was reproduced, revealing it to be an H5N1 variant
type virus. Yeah, an Avian Strain. A "Bird Flu" which had mutated into
a human killer. And now you know why we have a government employee stationed at
every airport in the United States whose sole purpose is to monitor all
individuals who travel to our country from countries where bird flu deaths have
been reported. We will never, and I mean never let this happen to us again.  So why did this virus cause such death and destruction on
a scale unseen before? No one answer is reachable, and many of us in the
medical profession continue to scratch our heads. One thing is evident though.
In the late twentieth century, victims of the 1918 Flu were exhumed and
studied for pathogenic profiling. What we found, especially in our young adults
who died so quickly, was evidence of a Cytokine Storm. Cytokines are part of an
immunomodulating cascade of proteins that can flood our vascular system when
prompted by a strong pathogen. Especially in robust battle hardened immune
systems, this can go awry, releasing immunologic agents in a vicious feedback
loop of inflammatory response and phagocytosis that destroys alveoli and
capillary vascular beds rapidly, leaving the victim with hemorrhaging and
infected lung tissue and imminently quick death, thus, killing humans with
strong immune systems. You guessed it, killing our healthy 20 to 30 year olds.On the battlefields of Europe in 1918, there were no
field radios. There were no telephones or telegraphs to communicate from the front to
the rear command centers. In the “No Man’s Land" of Trench Warfare there were no
telephone poles to run wire. There weren’t even any trees on the scorched surface
of Europe.
Isn’t it interesting that during World War I, both sides
used Carrier Pigeons to send messages back and forth from fighting on the
fronts to their rear guards and commanding brass. One can only suspect what
gave birth to the most vicious killer of humans in history. So yeah, we pay very close attention to Influenza, particularly
the A strains and their ever changing variant intruders.
In my next article we will discuss how vaccination
changed humankind forever. I will leave you with this. One hundred years ago
any American’s definition of “good health” would have been “the absence of
disease”. Keep in mind that the top killers in 1913 were Tuberculosis, Small
Pox, Diphtheria, and Influenza. What would you say is your definition of good
health now, especially those of you who are into “personal fitness”?
Dr. Counce  |
WHY NOT TRY FENTANYL? HEROIN Part II
| Posted on September 16, 2011 at 5:11 PM |
comments (336)
|
This article is Part II of my recent syndicated article on the use of Heroin in hospice patients. I think you will find it informative and historically interesting. If you haven’t read the first article, it is entitled “Heroin, Why It’s Here, And Where It Stands”. Read on.  FENTANYL In as far as the treatment of hospice patients, certainly, an argument could be made for fentanyl, the most potent opiate pain killer ever synthesized by man, and available in the United States. Also known as Duragesic®, and Sublimaze®, the drug’s ability as a pain palliator is legend, but much like morphine, it is more specifically designed for pain and questionable in delivering the euphoric side effect available from Heroin. Keep in mind that fentanyl is a highly selective opiate mµ receptor agonist. Binding the receptor tightly, fentanyl is built perfectly for pain control. As the synthesis of opiate compounds has evolved, the reach for better pain control with fewer side effects has been the goal in pharmaceutical science. The “dirtier” or less refined the opioid, the more of accompanying side effects, including euphoria, tend to be present. For instance, opium, codeine, and hydrocodone are considered “more dirty” by practicing physicians. As a drug is refined and we move toward better pain control, one finds drugs like oxycodone, hydromorphone, meperidine, and morphine, ultimately reaching the pristine fentanyl. Interestingly, the dirtier the opioid, the lower on the controlled substance list we find the drug. Go figure. Fentanyl is what we in Medicine call a “designer drug”. Born in the streets of California, it found its way into the U.S. Pharmacopeia in a circuitous fashion. In 1973, when the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) was disbanded and the Department of Justice reformed it as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the well known list of controlled substances and the scheduling system for control types was published and made into law. This list included all known opiate compounds at the time. What resulted from this was a group of black market chemists beginning a campaign to outwit the DEA by modifying opiate drugs, bending their molecular structure so as not to appear on the DEA’s list. A modification would occur and appear on the streets, illegal profits would be made, and with time the DEA would catch up. The DEA would then add the new street drug to their list, but the chemists would move on to a different modification not on the list. This went on for years. The products of this “make and chase” routine, were “designer drugs”, made by black market chemists to escape the controlled substance list and prosecution by the federal government. One of these designer drugs ended up on the street as a “new Heroin”, dubbed “China White”. When it first showed up, many Heroin addicts who first tried it at doses to which they were accustomed, died from overdoses. The drug was extremely potent and much lower dosages were required. The Ld50, what we refer to as the lethal dose which will kill at least 50% of those who consume the drug, was tiny when compared to Heroin’s Ld50. Although China White has been the center of much fiction in literature and film lore, the real China White was a designer drug from the black market now known as fentanyl. That’s right! A pharmaceutical firm eagerly observing and following this war between the DEA and criminal street chemists, isolated the compound, patented it, got FDA approval in the U.S., and reintroduced it as a legal controlled intravenous pain killer under the name Sublimaze®, and later, the transdermal form, Duragesic®. To this day, Janssen Pharmaceuticals plays this down; vehemently assuring the medical world that Dr. Paul Janssen synthesized the drug in 1960. However, those of us in the medical profession know that they garnished the drug from the streets of Los Angeles and didn’t invent it on their own. Not surprisingly, the profits made from this “legal form” of the drug were in the billions of dollars. So yes, we have excellent pain nullifying drugs available, they even have a colorful history, but what Medicine seeks is a comfortable place for our patients who are dying with malignant pain. Many in the profession would say, “All we seek for our patients is a peaceful and comfortable calling back to Elysium”. We have come full circle, and here we are, back at Heroin. We can only wait to see what the future of opiate and even cannabinoid “receptor binding” research brings. Hopefully a drug that is safe, a drug which is perfect for our hospice patients, and with no stigma attached to it.  Dr. Counce |
HEROIN: Why It's Here and Where It Stands
| Posted on June 9, 2011 at 10:49 PM |
comments (413)
|
Although Heroin is a highly addictive opiate narcotic, it is an extremely effective pain killer and anxiolytic. In fact, in the United Kingdom, it is used the same way in which we physicians in the United States use Morphine. That's right. In the UK, Heroin is manufactured and prescribed as the drug, Dimorphine. We U.S. physicians feel this is unnecessary, and potentially risky, as Dimorphine is quickly metabolized by the liver into Morphine, the so called, “ultimate warm blanket" of the opiate world. It seems, however, that the side effects to Heroin make it an "electric warm blanket" when talking about it with IV Heroin users. Having interviewed many former intravenous Heroin users, they consistently tell me that they feel the euphoria from Heroin is much more intense than Morphine. Interestingly, because of this more intense effect, many have started thinking outside the box regarding this medication's ability to treat the hospice patient. Certainly, Europe is leaning in this direction concerning palliative therapy in terminal patients with malignant pain. Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands have legalized its use in this regard, and currently Norway and other European Union nations are considering a move in this direction. It seems that of the first world nations, the Union of Europe always leads with the Caduceus first. In a humanitarian effort to make a more dignified and comfortable place for the dying patient, one should not be surprised that Europe made the first move, moreover, Germany, the worlds engineering guru, would be first. It is very interesting that Germany advances this particular type of therapy. As you may have guessed, Heroin is a German Invention. Historically, Heroin had an interesting birth. After Dr. Bayer of Bayer Laboratories (a German company to this day) isolated acetylsalicylic acid from willow bark, he was able to move forward with other work. Aspirin, the very first in an important class of medications now known as Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, is what he isolated from willow bark. After this great discovery, his now wealthy laboratory went to work isolating isomers of the central nervous system’s mu receptor agonists we call opiate compounds. What Bayer Labs isolated was diacetylmorphine. You guessed it, Heroin. The company went to work immediately, packaged the drug in liquid form, and began selling it over the counter in the United States as a non-addictive cough medicine patented with the brand name, Heroin, meaning “hero within”. That's right. Heroin is a registered trademark of Bayer Laboratories. Go figure. This marketing campaign went on from 1895 to 1910. Then, reports from the U.S. began to mount from a concerned American public, and undermine Bayer's marketing efforts, warning of the morphine metabolite and addiction. Bayer capitulated with embarrassment and removed the product from the marketplace. Of interest, is that the U.S. Congress would install the Harrison Narcotics and Tax Act, making Heroin illegal, 4 years later. By 1924, it was a felony to even possess the drug, and has been ever since. Chances are, Americans in general, will never accept this drug for any therapy, no matter what argument is laid on the table. Americans, the first industrialized people to have dealt with this dragon on a gigantic scale, at war with cartels who push it through our southern borders, and dealing with a monster which runs wild in our streets to this day, will probably never accept or tolerate its presence in our pharmacopeia. Dr. Counce |