Spiro
Scholar
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2005
- Messages
- 115
Today the British General Medical Council struck off Robert Trossel, a doctor who had treated multiple sclerosis patients with injections of stem cells http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11425435. The doctor had exaggerated the benefits of the treatment, which were 'based on "anecdotal and aspirational information"'. At an hearing several months ago http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8452874.stm it emerged that there was no evidence that the material injected contained any stem cells, and that the treatment was 'wholly unscientific'.
Now, one might reasonably wonder why this doctor got severely disciplined for treating patients with unproven remedies that didn't even contain an active ingredient, while thousands of other doctors prescribe or refer patients for treatments such as homeopathy, chiropractic, and all the other hundreds of worthless remedies much appreciated by the gullible. Two possible reasons spring to attention. The first is that whatever Dr Trossel injected into his patients contained bits of bovine nerve material, with its attendant risk of causing new variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease — the 'mad cow' problem. The second is that the doctor charged phenomenally high prices for his treatments — typically £10,000 and more.
In reality, the risk of transmitting vCJD is unbelievably low (the 'mad cow' epidemic has still not reached 200 patients after some 30 years!) so the potentially toxic side effect of the treatment is more hypothetical than real. So I guess that, as usual, economic considerations take a dominant place over pure reason when it comes to deciding when someone should be disciplined. Dr Trossel's mistake was to try to make too big a profit.
One of the most remarkable aspects of UK law (IMHO) is that the offence of 'practising medicine without a licence' is applicable only to someone who practices 'proper' medicine. The endless stream of quacks, charlatans, mentally disturbed and deluded people who claim to diagnose diseases with pendulums (and the rest) and treat them with mysterious 'energies' (and the rest) are not pretending to practise medicine. And, whether qualified or not, a person peddling woo medicines only gets disciplined when he or she deprives their patients of their life savings. Humbug!
Now, one might reasonably wonder why this doctor got severely disciplined for treating patients with unproven remedies that didn't even contain an active ingredient, while thousands of other doctors prescribe or refer patients for treatments such as homeopathy, chiropractic, and all the other hundreds of worthless remedies much appreciated by the gullible. Two possible reasons spring to attention. The first is that whatever Dr Trossel injected into his patients contained bits of bovine nerve material, with its attendant risk of causing new variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease — the 'mad cow' problem. The second is that the doctor charged phenomenally high prices for his treatments — typically £10,000 and more.
In reality, the risk of transmitting vCJD is unbelievably low (the 'mad cow' epidemic has still not reached 200 patients after some 30 years!) so the potentially toxic side effect of the treatment is more hypothetical than real. So I guess that, as usual, economic considerations take a dominant place over pure reason when it comes to deciding when someone should be disciplined. Dr Trossel's mistake was to try to make too big a profit.
One of the most remarkable aspects of UK law (IMHO) is that the offence of 'practising medicine without a licence' is applicable only to someone who practices 'proper' medicine. The endless stream of quacks, charlatans, mentally disturbed and deluded people who claim to diagnose diseases with pendulums (and the rest) and treat them with mysterious 'energies' (and the rest) are not pretending to practise medicine. And, whether qualified or not, a person peddling woo medicines only gets disciplined when he or she deprives their patients of their life savings. Humbug!
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