(no subject)
So apparently, there is this relatively,new show on ABC called Off the Map, which I had thought looked interesting when it first came on, but had never really watched. Last night, I had it on in the background for long enough that today I decided to watch the episode on Hulu.
So part of the plot line that I didn't get to preview last night was on Stem Cell Tourism. For those of you who aren't aware, I know a little more than the average person on the topic thanks to working with Dr. Levine.
So, here is the gist of the plot from last night. A random patient goes to South America to receive a stem cell treatment to treat his ALS. The port that was used for the injections in his treatments gets infected, and thus causes him to go to the clinic where the show is set to have it looked at. The family finds out about what is going on and begs him to stop. Eventually he realizes that he should accept his own death, and when the Stem Cell doctor arrives, he tells him where to go because all stem cell doctors in the third world are quacks.
Okay, honestly this depiction of Stem Cell Tourism makes me really mad. This is a topic that many people find intriguing, but most are honestly ignorant about the details. When a show on a major network, like ABC, by some of the biggest names in the production of the modern medical drama (these are the same people who create Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice) depict stem cell medicine in this manor most of their viewers will accept that this is how it is in the real world.
I'm not trying to say that there aren't clinics out there that exist only to prey on the people who are willing to try for a cure at any cost, because there are. These places honestly, however, are typically found out and forced to bounce from country to country.
That, however, is actually the exception in stem cell treatments even in the developing world.
Most treatment facilities provide the complete package in a standard roughly the same as what would be expected of a non-major hospital in the United States. They are clean and professional, and many US trained doctors choose to practice overseas to avoid the red tape of legislation at home. There is no chance that the patient would be allowed to get that infected without a nurse alerting the doctors. The patients are watched closely for adverse effects from the treatments.
In fact, the very fact that the patient ended up at the random clinic makes me mad. The patients pay a fairly good amount of money to stay in the hospital and receive not only the stem cell treatments, but other therapies as well (which does make it hard to conclude whether or not the treatments are effective). Even in the cases where the people did not stay in the hospital proper, they were well observed following injections. It is unlikely that a person visiting a foreign country could get away from their entire family for the amounts of time needed for treatments.
(Most treatment facilities seem to provide the injections into the spinal column which requires laying completely still for several hours afterwards. This was not the method used in the show, however.)
Okay, I will admit that these shows need to have excitement, and there are clinics where the scenario from the show does more or less happen, but it really gets on my nerves the way this was portrayed as entirely negative. The people who get these treatments usually do so with the support of their families, and are desperate for a treatment that they cannot receive in the US. When people are taught via popular media that all this medicine is quack, they will be less likely to accept it when the research comes from IRB approved empirical studies in the Western world.
Is it really so hard to portray this in an even remotely positive light?
(Sorry, that this is epic and follows no real order)
So part of the plot line that I didn't get to preview last night was on Stem Cell Tourism. For those of you who aren't aware, I know a little more than the average person on the topic thanks to working with Dr. Levine.
So, here is the gist of the plot from last night. A random patient goes to South America to receive a stem cell treatment to treat his ALS. The port that was used for the injections in his treatments gets infected, and thus causes him to go to the clinic where the show is set to have it looked at. The family finds out about what is going on and begs him to stop. Eventually he realizes that he should accept his own death, and when the Stem Cell doctor arrives, he tells him where to go because all stem cell doctors in the third world are quacks.
Okay, honestly this depiction of Stem Cell Tourism makes me really mad. This is a topic that many people find intriguing, but most are honestly ignorant about the details. When a show on a major network, like ABC, by some of the biggest names in the production of the modern medical drama (these are the same people who create Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice) depict stem cell medicine in this manor most of their viewers will accept that this is how it is in the real world.
I'm not trying to say that there aren't clinics out there that exist only to prey on the people who are willing to try for a cure at any cost, because there are. These places honestly, however, are typically found out and forced to bounce from country to country.
That, however, is actually the exception in stem cell treatments even in the developing world.
Most treatment facilities provide the complete package in a standard roughly the same as what would be expected of a non-major hospital in the United States. They are clean and professional, and many US trained doctors choose to practice overseas to avoid the red tape of legislation at home. There is no chance that the patient would be allowed to get that infected without a nurse alerting the doctors. The patients are watched closely for adverse effects from the treatments.
In fact, the very fact that the patient ended up at the random clinic makes me mad. The patients pay a fairly good amount of money to stay in the hospital and receive not only the stem cell treatments, but other therapies as well (which does make it hard to conclude whether or not the treatments are effective). Even in the cases where the people did not stay in the hospital proper, they were well observed following injections. It is unlikely that a person visiting a foreign country could get away from their entire family for the amounts of time needed for treatments.
(Most treatment facilities seem to provide the injections into the spinal column which requires laying completely still for several hours afterwards. This was not the method used in the show, however.)
Okay, I will admit that these shows need to have excitement, and there are clinics where the scenario from the show does more or less happen, but it really gets on my nerves the way this was portrayed as entirely negative. The people who get these treatments usually do so with the support of their families, and are desperate for a treatment that they cannot receive in the US. When people are taught via popular media that all this medicine is quack, they will be less likely to accept it when the research comes from IRB approved empirical studies in the Western world.
Is it really so hard to portray this in an even remotely positive light?
(Sorry, that this is epic and follows no real order)