Posted on 06/09/2005 1:06:46 PM PDT by clearsight
Texas Officials, Parents Spar Over Girl's Cancer Treatment Parents Think Doctors Have Not Been Upfront About Treatment Options
UPDATED: 11:41 am CDT June 9, 2005 CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- A judge has postponed until Friday a ruling that could prevent doctors from treating a 12-year-old girl who was taken from her parents after Texas officials accused them of not doing enough to treat her cancer.
It's the latest maneuver in a dispute over the medical care of Katie Wernecke, reported KPRC-TV in Houston. Her parents, Michele and Edward Wernecke, said their daughter's Hodgkin's disease is in remission and she doesn't need radiation treatment after undergoing a round of chemotherapy.
Texas Child Protective Services said her life could be in jeopardy if chemotherapy and radiation treatments don't resume. Speaking Thursday on NBC's "Today" show, Michele Wernecke said her daughter's illness is unique and should be treated as such. "I think they should treat her for what her body calls for and not standard protocol. Nobody will look at that," she said. "Not every cancer is the same. Nobody understands that. Her body is not standard, and her cancer is not standard."
The couple, members of the Church of God, have said they oppose blood transfusions unless they were from Katie's mother. Doctors have said the two aren't a match. The couple's attorney, Daniel Horne, said religion wasn't at issue. Rather, they believe doctors haven't been upfront about Katie's care and have not answered all their questions about the side effects of the radiation treatment.
"This issue is about parental rights, not about religious rights," Horne said. "They just want to be informed of her treatment. They want to be involved in this." Last week, authorities issued an Amber Alert to gain custody of Katie after receiving an anonymous tip about possible neglect.
She was found with her mother at a family ranch, about 80 miles west of Corpus Christi near Freer, on Saturday. She remains at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to undergo tests, officials said. The Werneckes' three sons were placed in a foster home.
Michele Wernecke was arrested on charges of interfering with child custody and was released Monday after posting $50,000 bond. During a court hearing Wednesday, the couple asked juvenile court Judge Carl Lewis to bar doctors from providing radiation therapy until a custody hearing Wednesday.
The judge said he would make a decision Friday, the day before Katie's 13th birthday, because doctors in Houston will have more information then. Katie was diagnosed with cancer in January. In a videotaped statement recorded by her parents, Katie said she's feeling better.
"I don't need radiation treatment. And nobody asked me what I wanted. It's my body," she said. CPS also took custody of Katie's three siblings because their mother refused to cooperate with their investigation into the issue. A court hearing to determine who will be given custody of the children was set for June 15.
Katie's family has maintained a blog on the situation at prayforkatie.blogspot.com. The online journal offers updates on Katie's progress and allows supporters to leave messages for her.
http://www.garynull.com lots of studies there and lots of good reading materials
Radiation treatment and chemotherapy combined are the treatment of choice for Hodgkin's disease.
Then it is strange that they would go along with one and not the other.
Having spent many years in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, I can tell you that everything is geared toward "what can we manufacture that will generate an ongoing stream of revenue," not "what can we manufacture that will cure such-and-such."
That's what I base my OPINION on.
And I stand by it.
You are free to believe whatever you believe.
Casually perusing between the lines (a dangerous and inaccurate thing to do, I'll admit), I think that they are refusing the radiation b/c it's part of a bone marrow transplant and they don't want to have a "blood donation" (donor bone marrow) from someone other than the girl's mother.
If I have time, I'll actually read the whole article and try and see if that is the case.
There is a heck of a lot of interest in natural products. Natural product chemistry is one of the hottest areas of drug discovery right now.
Perhaps you have heard of Taxol? That is the brand name of the drug paclitaxel. Paclitaxel is a natural product from the Pacific Yew tree. Its patent (which has since expired) was held by Bristol Myers-Squibb. Taxol is a proven chemotherapy drug for breast and ovarian cancer.
There has been intense interest in developing analogues to paclitaxel. Research in this area led to the development of docetaxel, which is even more effective than the parent drug. I expect we'll see even more in coming years, because paclitaxel's lousy water solubility is a problem that everyone is eager to get around.
There is no reason why a natural product should inherently be better at some pharmaceutical application than a synthetic variant.
That's the emphasis for "run of the mill" drugs, but there is a whole other section of the industry, pharmacology-oncology, that specializes in very expensive, very short term (single infusions, even; although more commonly 3-5 "cycles" of infusions) treatments. There's definitely money to be made in each approach, and, hopefully, there are medical benefits to be made using each approach.
Also, an "ongoing stream of revenue" can be generated by curing diseases in an individual (their cancer), b/c unless we can find a cure to prevent the development of a disease (the "holy grail of medicine"- think vaccinations for smallpox, for example), there will be a steady stream of new patients that develope the disease- and they will be very willing to take the very expensive chemo treatments if their is a decent chance they will cure or remit their cancer.
Let's face it, while the primary incentive of a pharm company is to make money, an integral part of that is to actually deliver something that works! If it doesn't work, it will (eventually) be found out.
"Uhh, yeah. What alternative treatments would these be, and what successes are you speaking of?"
I sense that you would rather "go with the treatment flow" that the Cancer Industry promotes. I hope you do not have to subject yourself or a loved one to that. Many good, successful treatments exist that are not recognized by FDA, AMA, drug industry. Why? Probably because these treatments work. Cure is a dirty word to the Cancer Industry - jeopardizes their money supply. Many cancer patients die, not from the cancer, but from the radiation, chemotherapy or the surgery. Do some Google searches and see for yourself.
a lot of massachusettians moved to texas.
The only reason ibuprofen and acetominophen exist is because the patent on aspirin had already expired.
Aspirin works better than either aspirin-substitute, but there is more money to be made selling patented drugs.
I worked for a company named Mallinckrodt that was the only legal manufacture of bulk narcotcs (codeine, morphine, fentanyl, cocaine hydrochloride) in the late 80s and early 90s.
During that period, Mallinckrodt multiplied their prices to dosage-form manufacturers by a factor of four each and every year, merely because they had been granted a monopoly by the federal government.
The federal government has also granted a monopoly on cancer treatment.
Monopolies are good for producers, but bad for consumers, in case you hadn't heard.
That sounds like it would fit based on the specification that the only blood donor they would accept would be the mom.
"most of these people are completely ignorant of what goes on in disease processes at a biochemical level and are just stumbling about in the dark"
That sounds like what I have heard and seen of doctors as well. They admit they don't really know what is really going on or why and feel almost as helpless as the patients they treat. Not much of a confidence builder for me.
Jeez, they should ask the molecular biologists.
Don't worry, the people who discover these drugs are into the biochemistry.
God said "Cancer be gone!" And she was cured.
There are none that are particularly effective. My wife tried everything from the most modern to the ancient Chinese to no avail. Miracle cures are only available on the starship Enterprise.
My parents neighbor just died of colon cancer. She actually bought herself time to live by not taking the chemo/radiation. She had a lot more time with her family without being sick from the medicine that wasn't going to cure her at that point anyway. I'm not against these treatments but I do think they are pushed on some people at a point when their use really isn't going to help.
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