Posted on 06/29/2004 10:24:16 AM PDT by Michael.SF.
The government has lent its seal of approval to a marketing an age-old medical device -- leeches.
The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that Ricarimpex SAS, a French firm, is the first company to request and receive FDA clearance to market the bloodsucking aquatic animals as medical devices....
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
I think I'll pass.
"trial attorneys?"
As long as it ain't maggots....*shudder*
If those suckers really work, why not?
FDA Approves Lobotomy As Medical Devices
That's what I call progress....
I read that they can help increase blood flow - eg. reattached body parts.
Geez, I thought it already was approved. A couple of years ago I defended a case where a guy got his ponytail caught in a driveshaft and was scalped. The doctors used leeches to try to re-attach the scalp. It didn't work.
Ah, brings back memories of us kids swimming in the creek.
Maggots only eat dead flesh and are about as good as it gets for cleaning wounds.
With that said, if they ever want to use maggots on me they're going to have to put me under first.
Is there more to say?
Today, more than 200 hospitals in the U.S. and Europe have prescribed maggots to treat patients with infections from injuries like pressure ulcers ("bed sores"), leg and foot ulcers, stab wounds, and post-surgical wounds that won't heal. In fact, about 5,000 laboratory grown and disinfected (microorganism-free) maggots are delivered to hospitals across the U.S. every week!
Reminds me the FEAR FACTOR !
Clearly a case of illegal fundraining by Democrats.....
Clearly a case of illegal fundraining by Democrats.....
Hell, I use them for fishing.
What possible good can a lawyer do as a 'medical device'?
In 1994, a woman's scalp was ripped off when her hair was yanked into moving machinery. Doctors performing micro-surgery at the University of Southern California reattached the scalp, but one area swelled with congested blood. They applied leeches, one at a time for eight days, to suck up stagnant blood. Eventually new capillaries, or tiny blood vessels, formed in the scalp wound, leading to healing circulation.Leech saliva is also full of other important curative chemicals. One is called hirudin, which keeps blood from clotting. Scientists have devised a method to genetically engineer hirudin, which they hope to prescribe as an alternative treatment for unclogging blood vessels during heart surgery.
A little bloodletting and some boar's vomit, and he'll be fine!
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