Wealthy Americans Turning To Europe For Medical Treatment 519
theodp writes "Fox Sports' Jay Glazer reports that prior to undergoing recent neck surgery, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning flew to Europe for stem-cell therapy that's used overseas but not yet in the United States. Earlier this year, Fortune reported that prior to his liver transplant, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took an unpublicized flight to Switzerland to undergo an unusual radiological treatment which was not available in the U.S. Some Americans are willing to go abroad to seek what they can't find at home in hopes of improving — or saving — their lives, and health providers are eager to respond. 'It moves fast, this industry,' said the director of Medical Tours International in 2007. 'They think, 'Look at all these sick, rich patients.''"
Re:dodging anti-science? (Score:5, Informative)
No, it doesn't.
It comes from the US law that medical devices and drugs cannot be marketed without FDA clearance. 21 CFR 820 and so on. That takes a lot of time and money.
It also comes from the US hospitals being very conservative when it comes to offering new procedures. Technically doctors can do just about anything. Even use devices and drugs "off label", by passing FDA requirements. But in reality, doctors must get approval from hospital IRB's before doing something experimental. IRB's are conservative, political, and slow. Most docs prefer to just stick with routine stuff.
But if you are rich, you can bypass those safety check and go to another country for experimental procedures using uncleared drugs and devices.
Overly Simplistic (Score:5, Informative)
If you're looking for a general overview of the quality of care in a country, look at the survival rates of the widespread ones within a group.
For example, if judging cancer survival, you might look at prostate, breast, colon, and rectal.
"The highest survival rates were found in the U.S. for breast and prostate cancer, in Japan for colon and rectal cancers in men, and in France for colon and rectal cancers in women, Coleman's team reports." [webmd.com]
Re:More Like Patients Dodging Federal Regulation (Score:5, Informative)
So it's all about the fetuses.
I see...
Re:Happy "Talk Like a Faggot" day (Score:4, Informative)
Be sure to tell anyone who talks like a pirate today that they are a faggot.
You fool - I just tried it and now I've been keelhauled.
Re:More Like Patients Dodging Federal Regulation (Score:4, Informative)
and some of that is to blame on halting embryonic stem cell research but even the Republicans are okay with non-embryonic stem cells [slashdot.org].
Your post is spot on, with one minor common misconception.
Embryonic stem cell research was not "halted". Since there was no federal funding for stem cell research at all, you may not halt something that never existed. President Bush's order forbade federal funding for embryonic stem cell research on new stem cell lines only. Research on embryonic stem cells from lines that existed at that time was to be funded, where it wasn't before, and there was no restrictions on non-embryonic stem cell research.
Re:This can't be true! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:FDA (Score:4, Informative)
when you asserted that "the market" will determine efficacy more quickly and cheaply than a clinical trial...
- what do you think happened before FDA?
Look at the way doctors have cooperated in the past to pass the information they gathered about treatment of different conditions and different cases. Private market provides huge exposure to any type of treatment, and if it is safe of-course, it will quickly be understood whether there is enough evidence that the treatment works. People exchange information without government, did you know that?
Look at the way Mayo clinic was established - people were exchanging information and that made that clinic very competitive, people used to come to USA from all over the world to visit Mayo clinic because of CREDENTIALS, that were EARNED, not dictated by any government.
It was competition that drove people to that clinic, which quickly disseminated similar approaches to treatment and information sharing among professionals everywhere in the world.
It's like an iPhone - once one exists, everybody is going to emulate it based on success, which is measured in sales and profits.
Profits are the feedback mechanism, which is the way the market tells the entrepreneur that he is on the right track. This is the same with iPads and health care.
Re:This can't be true! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This can't be true! (Score:5, Informative)
Well, not exactly - Cuba gets the best bang for the buck, but in terms of patient outcomes the World Health Organization thinks France has the best health care system in the world. The US, by contrast, ranks 37th, and Cuba 39th, despite Cuba spending a fraction of what the US does per capita.
Re:Christ versus Christians (Score:4, Informative)
Clearly you haven't read the Old Testament. God is an asshole. See, oh I don't know, the story where God commands Abraham to kill his son and then says "lol jk", the story where God lets Job's family get killed but then gives him an even better one, the story where God spends a couple of months trolling Jonah by doing various weirdly passive-aggressive things to him, or hell just any one of the stories about the Israelites raping and pillaging their way across the countryside, with God's blessing.
The only difference between the Old and New Testaments is that in the NT, God's an asshole who just got laid. It's been two thousand years since the last Messiah with that particular origin story, so I'd assume that the rosy afterglow has worn off.
If there is a God, he's sitting up there going "trolololo".