Fwd: ] Patients: Oklahomans used as human 'guinea pigs' (PLANETNEWS)

[Guest guest]

" luckypig "

Fri, 5 Dec 2003 23:47:20 -0500

] Patients: Oklahomans used as human 'guinea pigs'

(PLANETNEWS)

 

 

PLANETNEWS broadcast...

 

BL Fisher Note:

 

Unfortunately, the common myth that vaccines are harmless, that doctors are

infallible and that medical researchers are seldom unethical contributed to

the

blind trust that caused this tragedy. The " sacred cow " status of vaccines

must be

replaced with a more realistic understanding that every experimental or

licensed

vaccine, like every experimental or licensed drug, can carry significant

risks for

individuals. The right to informed consent to taking a risk with a medical

intervention,

such as vaccination, should be considered a human right because each human

being has the moral right to voluntarily choose what they are willing to die

for.

 

<A

HREF= " http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=1539828 " >http://www.kfor.com/Global\

/story.asp?S=1539828</A>

 

KFOR-TV, OK

 

November 25, 2003

 

Patients: Oklahomans used as human 'guinea pigs'

 

A cancer research project may have used Oklahomans as human guinea pigs.

 

ALI MEYER reports

 

In late 1996 a Tulsa doctor concocted a vaccine designed to fight deadly skin

cancer. Sources close to the doctor say he believed in his research. He

tested it on about

100 people, mostly Oklahomans, some of whom now believe that research nearly

killed them.

 

Five years ago, Jeff Teel was diagnosed with deadly skin cancer. Doctors

gave him a 20 percent chance of survival.

 

" I mean, I was petrified, " he said, " thinking I was going to die. " Surgeons

removed

a portion of Jeff's arm, but the likelihood of a cancer comeback was high and

Jeff

thought his best chance was an investigational new drug.

 

A public service announcement aired on local TV in Tulsa and starred Dr.

Michael

McGee, principal investigator for the melanoma cancer project at OU Health

Sciences-Tulsa. McGee believes his research could help cure melanoma cancer.

 

" They're told that this is a vaccine designed with a purpose to fight tumors

and keep

tumors from coming back once they've been removed, " said Attorney Robert

Seacat,

who is representing some of McGee's patients in a lawsuit. In 1998 Teel

signed up for McGee's melanoma study. According to the consent form, Saint John

Medical Center

and OU Health Sciences are working together. McGee had an office in the

basement

of Saint John's, the factory for his experimental vaccine.

 

" He said he had a very high success rate, " Teel said. " That there were

minimal side

effects. I was hooked right there. "

 

But, Jeff and Paige Teel soon realized minimal side-effects meant something

very

different.

 

" It was like the worst flu you've ever had in your life times 10 and it was

guaranteed, "

he said.

 

" It was like he was being poisoned, " Paige said. " Like his body was fighting

the

poison in his system. "

 

Despite being violently ill, Jeff endured the poison. At first, the

treatments were weekly, then monthly for two years.

 

" He told me because of my illness, my body was fighting it off. That's what

was

supposed to happen, " Teel said.

 

But while Jeff and about 100 others continued on Dr. McGee's experimental

injections,

a whistle-blower inside the melanoma project was reporting allegations of

faulty research

to the federal government. Attorney Robert Seacat is representing some of

McGee's

former patients in an ongoing lawsuit.

 

" The rats and the monkeys in cages in laboratories have better, adhered to

anyway, regulations and standards of care than what we have in some research

projects, " he

said.

 

According to a Food and Drug Administration inspection, a laundry-list of

violations

were found. They included: failure to report side effects, failure to

properly store vaccine, failure to control how vaccine is administered.

 

" One of my clients, he [Dr. McGee] literally gave her a box of the vaccine.

Told her to

go home and put it in the refrigerator. So she could self-inject at home, "

Seacat said.

 

Four years after it started, the FDA closed the doors on doctor mc-gee's

melanoma research. Subsequent reports from the Office of Human Research

Protection

show the violations extend beyond Dr. McGee all the way up to senior

officials.

 

" It's a shorter conversation to talk about what they did right than what they

did wrong, " Seacat said.

 

Now, patients such as Jeff, are finally learning the real reason for Dr.

McGee's

research. Even though some of the researchers believed the vaccine had the

potential

to ward of cancer, McGee's study was not a test for the effectiveness of the

melanoma vaccine.

 

" The reality is, his study was simply to study toxicity levels, " Seacat said.

" To see

whether it made you sick and how sick it made you. These people all thought

they

were getting on a study that would give them some hope for living. When, in

reality,

he was just using them as human guinea pigs. "

 

Volunteers relying on a miracle were left wondering if an Oklahoma researcher

put

their lives on the line.

 

" He's a Dr. Frankenstein, as far as I'm concerned, " Paige Teel said.

 

The University of Oklahoma settled the lawsuit with the former patients and

issued a statement about their human testing programs. They say they've

completed all the corrective actions spelled out by the Office of Human Research

Protections and fired

the board of administrators supervising Dr. McGee. They now have mandatory

certification for researchers, including education on the ethical principals

for

protecting patients.

 

Lawyers for Dr. McGee said: " the safety of the study participants was never

compromised. " They say an independent audit showed, " no notable pattern of

adverse experiences. " They say " the vast majority of the problems were

administrative in nature, and could've been remedied had the university

provided adequate resources. "

 

Those lawyers also point out, several patients sued to continue taking the

experimental vaccine. We're told they're still taking that vaccine, with FDA

approval.

As for Dr. McGee's supervisors, their attorneys said they were used as

scapegoats

to protect OU's reputation.

 

Dr. McGee is still practicing. He's a general surgeon operating in Tulsa. The

FDA suspended him from further research.

 

 

 

 

 

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