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To: Ilaine who wrote (18869)	2/10/1999 12:25:00 PM
From: eddie r gammon	Respond to of 86076

<<Most physicians just know their own specialty, and treat within that specialty, and so you see a heart doctor for your heart, and a liver doctor for your liver, and a kidney doctor for your kidneys, and so on, and each of them gives you a pill or two, and who knows how they interact?>> Been there, doing that (g) <<I predict a terminal at every patient's bedside, all the records kept up-to-date, some kind of feedback loop to scan to see if orders are followed,>> To some degree it is here now. Saberteck(sp) (SBTK) makes a small portable pump similar to the one my wife wore the first time she took chemo. It has a jack on it that you plug into a phone line and the doctor can access the thing and adjust medication etc. I bought the stock a while back when it took a hit because the FDA had some question about another product they made and the stock took a big hickey. I got cute and wrote some calls on it and had it called when it took back off. Good company. erg

To: Ilaine who wrote (18869)	2/10/1999 5:22:00 PM
From: Earlie	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 86076

ERG and CB: A personal worry relates to the significant shift in what the FDA is accepting and approving these days, particularly when a compound is backed by a major international pharmaceutical house. Some of the support data I've perused has appeared perilously close to placebo level, yet on occasion, it gets the stamp. I could name a drug that flunked out as a cancer treatment (toxic side effects) that later was approved for AIDS. The concern for side effect data appears at times to be quite minimal. (then there's the big "V" drug). Political pressure to "do something" as the AIDS epidemic widened seemed to break down what formerly were reasonable standards. (Some were approved on the basis of data-to-follow). Perhaps I'm just a bit paranoid. It can also lean too far in the other direction when the involved treatment is not backed by a big house. A Dr. Byrzinski (sp?) comes to mind. He developed some admittedly radical approaches to cancer treatment, but he also experienced some remarkable results with certain types of tumours. I won't go into details as I'm not an American, but the treatment he received at the hands of the FDA was not pleasant. Close friends of mine went through the agony of watching their happy-go-lucky eight year old son, slowly but surely evaporate due to a brain tumour. That kid wilI live a long time in my memory for fighting his affliction with remarkable courage and cheer. (I did more intensive research during that period than at any time in my life). Both chemo and radiation were tried, with no impact. I checked out Byrzinski as best I could, given the shrinking time frames, and flew the child down to Texas as a last ditch effort. Even though we all knew it was well past the point where one might legitimately have a decent chance, Byrzinski and his clinic took him on and did their best. The doc's bills covered maybe a tenth of his costs as he knew the family had few bucks. He's been fighting the system for clinical trials for years. I hope he gets them. I sure talked to a bunch of doctors labs and patients who had personal experience with some of his successes, yet those who knew little of him labelled him a "quack". The latter group had no data, the former had plenty. Remember how few years ago it was that the whole medical community "knew" that stomach ulcers were caused by stress. (NG) I've a good bunch of docs in my personal circle of friends and they are all dedicated guys. There's no interest in "bashing" in my comments, just a worry. Once something is approved, few ever question it. The results achieved by certain approved cancer treatments is unfortunately, less than encouraging. Best, Earlie