[lippyzippy]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

Have you watched the documentary or read the articles lippy?

does it say anywhere that the boy with cancer is better off on the run avoiding any doctors and medical advise?

[lippyzippy]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Tough call for all concerned.

I do feel for the mother in this case, and indeed the father. Treatment options for cancer and other life threatening illnesses are often complex and the odds of surviving versus the odds of complications can be a difficult thing to balance.

I don't have a great deal of faith in doctors to be honest, having lost several family members to medical malpractice or negligence (an aunt who was told by her GP that the persistent pain she kept visiting her about was a symptom of depression - six months later dead of cancer; an uncle whose surgery was delayed on the grounds that there was 'no bleed' in the brain, when in fact their scans had shown the exact opposite - dead in 5 days; another uncle whose operation was messed up when a piece of medical equipment was left inside, and then on the second operation an accidental cut to the spleen, followed by several blood transfusions because they didn't realise he was internally bleeding to death, and a grandparent who effectively starved to death in hospital). But - I don't mistrust them any more than any other professional.

Doing some research, getting a second or third opinion and not assuming that your doctor knows everything isn't a bad thing necessarily. Sometimes there is disagreement over the best way to treat something. Treatments shown to be effective elsewhere sometimes take time to become available in our system, and sometimes treatments and practices simply become accepted as the done thing and are therefore not questioned as much as they should be.

But: her reasoning fell apart utterly when she made the decision that homeopathic/natural remedies were somehow a better option. For anything, let alone for cancer.


This from wiki sums up why:



If you start googling this stuff in relation to cancer treatment, you enter a world of anti-science paranoia and pro-alternative medicine propaganda.

theres only 1 person to feel for and that's the sweet innocent 7 year old boy with cancer who clearly needs expert help

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Tough call for all concerned.

I do feel for the mother in this case, and indeed the father. Treatment options for cancer and other life threatening illnesses are often complex and the odds of surviving versus the odds of complications can be a difficult thing to balance.

I don't have a great deal of faith in doctors to be honest, having lost several family members to medical malpractice or negligence (an aunt who was told by her GP that the persistent pain she kept visiting her about was a symptom of depression - six months later dead of cancer; an uncle whose surgery was delayed on the grounds that there was 'no bleed' in the brain, when in fact their scans had shown the exact opposite - dead in 5 days; another uncle whose operation was messed up when a piece of medical equipment was left inside, and then on the second operation an accidental cut to the spleen, followed by several blood transfusions because they didn't realise he was internally bleeding to death, and a grandparent who effectively starved to death in hospital). But - I don't mistrust them any more than any other professional.

Doing some research, getting a second or third opinion and not assuming that your doctor knows everything isn't a bad thing necessarily. Sometimes there is disagreement over the best way to treat something. Treatments shown to be effective elsewhere sometimes take time to become available in our system, and sometimes treatments and practices simply become accepted as the done thing and are therefore not questioned as much as they should be.

But: her reasoning fell apart utterly when she made the decision that homeopathic/natural remedies were somehow a better option. For anything, let alone for cancer.


This from wiki sums up why:



If you start googling this stuff in relation to cancer treatment, you enter a world of anti-science paranoia and pro-alternative medicine propaganda.

What horrible experiences dana, I can see why you would be sceptical towards medical professionals following these failings.
I thought the documentary very one sided, it was touching in that you could see they were so very desperate to try anything to avoid invasive treatment.

The medulloblastoma he had was curable without radiation, and the most interesting thing to me was in her interview on Channel 5 news yesterday evening she said the action she requested would be available on the NHS in the UK from 2017....
The alternative therapies were in addition to and not as well as treatments.

Oxygen and nutrients can't cure cancer but they can aid the autoimmume system to support the bodies fight.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by lippyzippy

does it say anywhere that the boy with cancer is better off on the run avoiding any doctors and medical advise?

When she was 'on the run' neon did not have cancer.

[DanaC]

I would add this caveat to my post though: I do have a great deal of faith in modern medicine. And I am far more inclined to accept the assessments of medical professionals than of homeopaths and internet groups.

Whether or not I trust an individual medical practitioner depends on a lot of factors, including whether or not they have engendered a level of personal trust during my interactions with them.

Alongside the above catalogue of horrors, I have also had very good experiences of doctors and hospitals.

[Indy]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I would add this caveat to my post though: I do have a great deal of faith in modern medicine. And I am far more inclined to accept the assessments of medical professionals than of homeopaths and internet groups.

Whether or not I trust an individual medical practitioner depends on a lot of factors, including whether or not they have engendered a level of personal trust during my interactions with them.

Alongside the above catalogue of horrors, I have also had very good experiences of doctors and hospitals.

I have the same issue, especially when it comes to treatment for my son. My grandmother had my grandfather drive her 30 miles to the hospital because she knew something didn't feel right. They dismissed her as "paranoid old lady" and sent her home. The next day she had a chiro appt (aka "quack doctor appt"), told him about it, he did an exam, immediately identified the problem, sent her back to the hospital with his own directions on what to examine, and she was rushed into surgery an hour later. The problem they couldn't be bothered to check out the day before had nearly killed her.

Similarly my mother. She contracted meningitis. The last 3 months of her life were spent in hospitals and nursing homes, even though she was only in her 50's. They wrote her off as moody and temperamental, even though we all kept telling them she wasn't herself, she was delusional, sometimes had total memory lapses. AFTER it was too late they realized she'd had a stroke (or more correctly, a series of strokes), most likely when her fever spiked from the meningitis. For months they would only administer pain meds if she asked for them, but she wasn't capable of asking, because she didn't even know what day it was. One day she insisted her cousin was on a horse outside her window...her room was on the third floor. They couldn't be bothered to follow up on those things, though, and by the time they finally figured out what was going on, she was so out of it a spinal tap didn't even make her flinch. She was gone 2 days later.

When I hear someone say they don't trust the doctors to do the right thing, I completely understand. People tend to forget that not only are doctors human and subject to the same prejudices as the rest of us mere mortals, they also have some of the highest rates of alcoholism and drug abuse. Whether I agree with the specific reasons that mother had or not, I'm well aware that too many people are far too trusting of others, simply because there's an MD at the end of their name.