Many of us who have pvns are desperate to find any treatment modalities that may offer us a chance at irradiating this flesh eating monster from our joints. In doing so we must be very careful and ask many questions before participating in clinical trials. I thank everyone who has participated in a clinical trial and I'm neither for or against any given treatment option. With that being said I am very concerned... What Happens when Profit Margins drive Clinical Research? Check out this article to find out. http://www.motherjones.com/
I am not a physician and the above is in no way to be taken as medical advise. This is my interpretation of what I have been told by my physicians and from what I have read. Always consult with a professional for case specific accurate information.
Carol good points!
ReplyDelete-Profits for the drug companies.
-Researchers who are arrogant and wanting to be published for this nice rare disease.
Yep sometimes! I'm rehabbing from surgical clinical trial knee surgery (unrelated to PVNS) and I am finding that the Doctor is likely (at least somewhat) motivated by the latter statement above. While I am still glad I did the procedure (and in the long run will be better off) I am not amused by the lack of human awareness of the doc. And it has affected my recovery. I work in the research field (social & behavioral) first off is 'do no harm' which is supposed to be the case in the medical field as well...clinical trials, research or otherwise. Sorry for the rant. A lot of coffee and I just left the doc's office and am waiting for my PVNS doc follow up appointment. So too much time and too much coffee. :) Noni
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DeleteNoni you always make me laugh. Now I just got the craving for some java. Thanks a lot. Ha, ha. I don't feel that it is wrong to provide incentives. The problem is that the patients should be made fully aware of them. I'm finding people enrolling in clinical trials not understanding the risks involved and many times there is absolutely no benefit for them personally. The worse that I've seen is when a patient is enrolled in a clinical trial believing that it is a necessary treatment for pvns when in fact it is a safety trial for a variety of tumors. Now there is nothing wrong in participating in a safety trial (it’s admirable) but it must be made clear that it is not a treatment if that is the case.
ReplyDeleteI’ve participated in many clinical studies over the years because if I have to go through something anyhow I want others to be able to learn from it if possible. The problem is that medicine has become to big of a business and it's attracting people into the profession for the wrong reasons. If your primary motivation for going into the healthcare industry is for prestige and money then at some point your integrity is going to be severely challenged. Even a doctor that enters the field for the love of healing is challenged from the stresses coming from the hospitals/$, insurance companies/$, pharmaceutical companies/$, vendors, employees and all of the other issues of running a business.
It is not by chance that doctors prescribe one drug over another. If two drugs are similar but you have a drug rep that visits your office on a regular basis supplying samples, lunches for your staff and education which drug are you going to prescribe even if it may cost your patient more money out of pocket. If you have a financial interest in an out patient surgical clinic verses a less expensive hospital, where are you going to send your patient. We haven’t even touched on the complex system of trading referrals. Many of these practices end up costing patients more and may or may not effect quality of care. On an individual scale many of these practices appear to do no harm but if you look at the global impact some of these practices have very negative effects and are counter productive to finding cures because the money is in maintenance not in the cure.
Anyone having success from anything? I.e. Radiation, clinical trials, etc?
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