Life as an Extreme Sport

Bloggers Bringing It (aka biting a hand that feeds)

Bioethics

Because I’m pretty certain it’s the kind of thing better not said in the comments there: Art Caplan on the New PHRMA Statement on Gifts: Nonsense on Stilts appears to need renaming, to “commentators dogpile Caplan”, or perhaps “bloggers bite back”. Kind of funny to see; I could go back and piggyback off Daniel and Robert’s comments, but I’m not going to. I apparently post too much over in the comments there, anyhow.

This is one of those times I wish I had the “mood” feature enabled, so that I could accurately express just how amused I am, and what glee the mental image brings.

everyone knows dorms are one big experiment, anyhow

Bioethics

University of Michigan students are about to take part in something rather novel: a living flu experiment. The school has decided to take the over 2,000 students who live in dorms, and use them as a live action, what if, flu exposure and prevention test. Since dorm students live in close quarters, sharing resources like bathrooms, kitchens, and even bedrooms, they make an ideal experimental model to track how flu moves through the population, and what methods might stop it.

So this week, prior to any sign of flu, students were broken into three groups. One group was given hand sanitizer and cotton masks, a second received only the masks, and a third group will have no protection at all, other than what they choose to implement. At the first sign of outbreak of flu in the dorms, the students are to begin following the specific protocol they were given.

That, of course, is where all the questions about validity come in to play. Just how many students are going to follow the protocol they were assigned? Has the control group already been “tampered” with, knowing what the other groups will be doing to protect themselves? (And will this encourage the controls to voluntarily quarantine from the sick, wash their hands more frequently, and so forth?) How do you control for other factors, like being high risk, or around high risk for transmission groups from outside the dorms? (Such as working in child care or a hospital.) Will the virulence of the variety of flu be accounted for? And of course, the cynical question of just who’s sponsoring this, anyhow? Purell?

The epidemiologist in charge of the study wants to create less anecdotal and more concrete evidence that masks are a low cost method of preventing the spread of flu. Quite obviously, low cost and easy to implement methods will be very important when the next flu pandemic comes along. I’m just not certain, without seeing the methodology and other factors, that this study will actually contribute to a solid body of empirical evidence, or just further the anecdotal claims.

the weight of time

Duct Tape and Prayers

As I may or may not have mentioned, I’m back in Portland for a few weeks. This is a scheduled trip – no catastrophic issues have come up.

Time is one of those things that we exist with and in, and it’s hard to step back and see just how much it controls. Not something so simple as what time a meeting is, but the big things. I’ve seen this lately, as I watch Mom struggle with one appointment after the next, new tests, waiting for results. Everything is a waiting game – waiting, waiting, waiting. Waiting for the results of the tests on the fluid, waiting for tests on the lumps, waiting for the interpretation of the CT scan, even waiting for the effects of chemo to hit. After every hurdle cleared comes the next, and each one has this guillotine above it, just waiting.

She’s trying so hard to be brave, to be strong, to fight and remain optimistic. But this upcoming CT scan is looming large. They’ll compare the results to the baseline, and have empirical data on the progression, or cessation, of the cancer. She wants, she hopes, for good news, but is terrified of bad. And I keep trying to remind her that there’s also holding steady, which would be better than bad.

And I feel guilty, because when my mother is leaning against me, crying and clutching my hand, I give her the hope she’s looking for. I tell her that she hasn’t had her lungs tapped and drained since December, that she hasn’t been complaining of as much pain or discomfort, that she has more energy, she’s been feeling better, has more colour in her face. I do my best to hand her every shred of hope I can find, as I wipe away her tears, and bite the inside of my lip and wonder “what if we’re wrong? What happens if we do get bad news after the CT scan, after I – we all – have spent this time reassuring her as best we can? What then?”

What then?

Spitzer’s Stem Cell Plan May Not Steamroll Through the Assembly – New York Times

Bioethics, Politics

Thomas had voiced some concerns about how NYS was going to implement their stem cell funding, and now it looks like he might have been right to be concerned. An assemblyman has raised significant flags about the stem cell bill, calling much of it “garden-variety economic development pork that’s hiding behind stem cells.” It seems that Mr. Brodsky is not opposed to stem cell research, but instead the fine print in the proposal, which would allow the money to be used for a number of purposes, including new agribusiness, security technologies and nanotech. This appears to be in violation of NYS bond law, which requires bonds to be issues for a single purpose.

And frankly, even if that law wasn’t there, I would want someone to object if the money for stem cell research could potentially be diverted into other projects. If we’re going to fund stem cells, let’s do it right – and not in a sloppy way that will shoot us in the foot rather than contribute to the whole of scientific knowledge and progress.

torn between two sayings

...and everything else, Politics


Do I complain about hating Mondays, or do I sulk over my cup of coffee and and growl about too much blood in my caffeine stream?

I suspect my mood would be greatly improved this morning if I had a few needed things (answers, say), and if I hadn’t read this utterly depressing Washington Post article about neglected soldiers at Walter Reed. This is our top military medical facility? Covered in black mold, ceilings you can see through, soldiers “lost”, three different computer record systems that don’t work together, and telling people who have crushed skulls and amputated limbs that they didn’t serve in Iraq?

While I am gratified that the article mentions, several times, that the common American civilian is working their tail off to make sure our Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are not treated in the same manner our Vietnam veterans were, I am absolutely appalled at the conditions at Walter Reed. Normally in medical stories like this, I’ll gravitate to the ethical abuses contained within – but I can’t get past my general horror and revulsion to move towards the academic.

To say this is nauseating doesn’t begin to capture my initial reaction, or the sustained reaction of frustration, anger, and the desperate wish that there was something I could do.
Someone has to stand up and make this right, make this better – but who’s going to, when the government denies there’s an issue, and a reporter has to go undercover for four months to see the truth of the situation?