Ok. I agree that in the case of minors, the courts have to make decisions in the best interest of the children.
What I have a problem with in your "fact-filled" statement is that you complain about the side effects of chemotherapy and that the use of this treatment is basically only for the benefit of the companies that produce it. You very briefly mention "alternative treatments," but don't give any statistics or name any viable and effective alternative treatments that could be used besides chemotherapy that would provide the child with this type (or any other type) of cancer with a "cure" or even better chance of a quality life.
There are other poisons out there that in high doses will kill, but in modified, lower doses are healing. It's too early in the morning to think of them (my coffee hasn't circulated yet), but they have been used for centuries and are still in use.
So, all I want to say is that if you're going to put down one therapy and claim there are others, then name some of the others and give statistics as clear and precise as the ones you gave for your argument against. That's what's wrong with debates these days. Everyone can come up with their reason against something, but, for some reason, can never or will never put up the information to support their other claims that make their view better.
I'm not saying you're wrong. I believe that alternative treatments like reiki, reflexology, meditation, etc. are helpful, but they don't cure anything. They are good for pain management and that's about all. I don't know of any alternative treatments that are safer than chemo and would produce the same or similar results. I'd be interested in knowing what they are if you know of some.
I have a friend who went through all that and survived and is still cancer-free. No alternative treatments, just the standard chemo/radiation therapies.
More info please!
Tricia
The question was not what alternative methods are available to treat cancer. The question was about that boy and chemotherapy and if it is right to force chemotherapy against his and his parents will. As far as I know he had already had 1 "treatment" and after HE refused to take any more. Aside according to abcnews the parents and the boy had asked for a less 'rigorous' chemothreatment than what the doctors wanted to give.
I am glad to hear that your friend went through all the standard treatments, survived and is still cancer-free. I don't know any details on what your friend's diagnosis, how long ago that was, so i can't really comment on that but I am happy for her. I think as long as people are aware as to what the risks are in oppose to the actual benefits I have no problem with the decision of going through chemotherapy. What I do have a problem with is that people are NOT given a choice and the decision is made for them. Maybe i have a different risk assessment than my doctor and maybe I have different priorities, just like those parents. But that doesn't seem to important.
I was diagnosed with breast-cancer, had a bilateral mastectomy and decided against the advice of conventional oncologists to forego chemotherapy/radiation and instead opted for alternative / naturopathic treatments after looking at the actual statistics of "cure" rates of chemotherapy which are pitiful if you look past the trumped up claims.
There are many different alternative therapies and to go into those in detail would be a book in itself. Aside I moved out of my house on Friday and am staying at a friend's house until I find a place of my own so I don't have any access to my computer files or books. I will just stick to the basics and point you to some books that may be worth reading for people who interested in alternative therapies. Reiki, reflexology, meditation don't do anything to "kill" cancer cells and is only used in conjunction with other treatments not as a standalone.
High-dose vitamin C
http://www.naturalnews.com/022200.html
Modified Citrus Pectin
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FDN/is_6_5/ai_68727255/
LDN (low dose naltrexone)
http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/ldn_and_cancer.htm
Vitamin D
http://www.healthbulletin.org/cancer/cancer33.htm
Zyflamend
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/news/press_releases/zyflamend.html
Immunetherapy
Chinese Traditional Medicine
Protocel
Detoxification
Gerson Therapy
Coley's Toxins
http://www.cancerguide.org/coley.html
You won't find many "clinical trials" when it comes to alternative therapies, the reason being that there is not much much money in alternative therapy and research costs money, lots of it. With chemotherapy, the pharmaceutical industry funds 75 to 90 % of the clinical trials. The question is how unbiased is the research if the ones who make the money on the drug are the ones who fund the research?
The major complaint of conventional medicine is that alternative therapies are "unproven" and don't adhere to the gold standard of RCTs (randomized clinical trials). If you realize how clinical trials are run and how they are reported I don't find much of a gold standard.
For a chemotherapy drug to be approved by the FDA it has to show that it shrinks the tumor by 50 % over a period of 28+ days. If shrinking a tumor would heal cancer, it would be great but unfortunately that is not the case. If you then also know that the drug companies can pick and choose which trials they submit to the FDA for drug approval, they only need two studies that show with statistical significance that the drug is working. In other words, they can have 10, 50 or 100 failed attempts that the average person will never know about, as long as they have two that showed that it worked in a few people, the drug will be approved.
The patients who drop out of the clinical trials due to side effects or because they die are not considered in the final analysis of the study. To me that is not very scientific and in fact really deceiving.
Now, when i went to my first conventional oncologist, he told me that chemotherapy only works in 10 % of people but they don't know which ones so they give it to everyone. According to their own numbers 1 out of 10 benefits from chemotherapy and still almost everyone who is diagnosed with cancer receives chemotherapy and people can die from the side effects of the treatment. Does everyone die from the effects of chemotherapy? No, of course not! Does everyone die from smoking cigarettes?
Of course there are always people who survive cancer and attribute it to one or the other. In the case where there were only primary tumors that were removed through surgery and no detactable metastasis how do you know that people survived cancer BECAUSE of chemotherapy or did they survive DESPITE of it? I don't know the answer to this but neither does the medical community!
What I will say though is that what those people who do survive cancer whether they use chemotherapy or alternative medicine have in common is that they change their lifestyle and diet because after all whatever treatment people decide they want to do, i think everyone is very clear about the fact that cancer is a disease where the immunesystem at some point broke down. To deplete your immune system even further does not make much sense to me.
Chemotherapy does not work on the underlying cause, it shrinks tumors at least shortterm. Chemotherapy works like spraying a pesticide, there will always be some bugs that survive and become immune against further treatment and can come back with a vengance. If chemotherapy such has such tremendous cure rates why is it then that so many people who go through chemotherapy have reoccurances?
Are there cases where chemotherapy may be warranted? Sure! But I still think it is a personal choice and should not be forced by the government or the medical community.
Recommended books / movies
Questioning Chemotherapy by Ralph Moss
The Politics of Cancer and How to Win the Losing Cancer War by Samuel Epstein M.D
Cancer - Step Outside the Box by Ty Bollinger
Chemotherapy Heals Cancer and the Earth is Flat by Lothar Hirneise
Comprehensive Cancer Care: Integrating Alternative, Complementary and Conventional Therapies by James Gordon and Sharon Curtin
The China Study by T. Collin Campbell
Healing Cancer from the Inside Out (can be downloaded on iTunes)
