On 18th
July 2011, Dr. Arthur Caplan, Director of the Center for Bioethics at
the University of Pennsylvania, reported in an article that despite
the fact that the therapeutic use of stem cells outside of bone
marrow transplants is not yet proven to be safe, a large number of
clinics around the world are offering stem cell therapies as
treatments for conditions including, but not limited to, multiple
sclerosis, spinal cord injury, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis,
heart disease, autoimmune diseases, cerebral palsy and autism.
According to the article, one such clinic has claimed on the Internet
that it has treated more than 800 patients for the above conditions,
without stating how many of these treatments have been successful and
to what extent.
Moreover, Heidi
Ledford, one of the editors of Nature (the leading international
weekly journal of science), reported on 28th June 2011
that the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has
been threatened by a group of lawyers representing industry clinics
established in countries with relatively weak governmental medical
oversight. The ISSCR is a not-for-profit organization that brings
together over 3500 scientists from across the world and facilitates
stem cell research. It had a website that used materials already
published in the scientific community to provide correct information
about the reliability of the stem cell therapies proposed by the
above described clinics. It was also going to upload on this website
additional information useful for potential patients, such as which
of these clinics had ethics committees for the oversight of
unconventional medical procedures and which of these ethics
committees adhered to the rules of legal agencies like Food and Drug
Administration or the European Medicines Agency. However, the ISSCR
was forced to bring down this website because they did not have
enough funds to fight the above lawsuits, even if they were to win in
the end.
This example raises
important questions: How essential is it to increase awareness about
novel medical technologies amongst the common masses? Is it possible
that some doctors would take unfair advantage of the lack of
knowledge of their patients by offering them risky, expensive medical
procedures? How 'informed' were the consents that the above mentioned
800 patients gave before they were treated with untested stem cell
procedures? The very fact that the ISSCR was threatened with lawsuits
by these clinics indicates that these clinics were not revealing all
the information to their patients and were afraid of losing potential
patients should the website go up.
According to me, the
onset of medical technology (and stem cell technology in particular)
does provide an opportunity for the cure of diseases that were
previously thought to be incurable but it also provides an
opportunity for the misuse of the lack of knowledge of the public to
fill the pockets of doctors and clinics. Hence, I think it is
important that this technology is allowed to grow just like any other
technology in the past, but with a significant amount of involvement
from the government with the prime purpose of protecting the common
man from exploitation. More money needs to be spent to make sure that
every medical institution that offers unconventional medical
procedures to its patients does have an established ethics committee
for review, and the cases approved/disapproved by this committee can
be periodically evaluated by governmental agencies and appropriate
action taken. The government can also provide funds to legitimate
organizations such as the ISSCR which would enable them to spread
more medical knowledge, thereby helping patients make better
decisions. If we are to ensure that people are greatly benefited but
not harmed at all from this new and powerful technology, I think the
government must play an extremely active role.
Sources:
1. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/43760409/ns/health-health_care/#.UVnKV1HVDZs
2. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3035344/
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