How Modern Medicine Killed My Brother

[Guest guest]

(They kill untold millions every year. Most people in the USA have their lives

shortened and their quality of life ruined by either " modern medicine "

(allopathic), " modern foods " (industrialized, processed, genetically altered,

etc.), or some other such " modern industry " (chemical producers, etc.) all the

while being governed and regulated by a " modern government " ( best government

money can buy) with the whole system putting " modern dollars " above human

considerations.

 

 

 

 

http://www.mercola.com/2004/nov/24/modern_medicine.htm

 

How " Modern Medicine " Killed My Brother

 

 

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

 

I know you are overwhelmed with too many things to read and I am part

of the problem but PLEASE take time out of your life to read this

incredible story of one our main contributing editors, Dr. Russell

Blaylock. Dr. Blaylock is a valued colleague and friend and he tells

the story of the untimely and unnecessary death of his brother, a

real-world sequel of sorts to our Death by Medicine series we ran

about this time last year. It is absolutely amazing that one of the

country's leading natural medical physicians could be treated so

poorly as he sought to help his brother in his struggle with cancer.

 

Folks, this is simply a classic example of why the current

conventional paradigm is fatally flawed. There is simply no reason

that these situations should ever happen. I believe that after you

read Dr. Blaylock's true life personal tragic experience with the

current system you will become remotivated to continue to help us

change the system by encouraging everyone you know to sign up for the

newsletter.

 

I truly believe my friend's brother was a victim of a madness that

passes for health care in this country, which is why I'm so focused on

sharing my vision for a new health paradigm with you. After reading

Dr. Blaylock's story, I think you'll agree.

 

Dr. Russell Blaylock is a board-certified neurosurgeon and author of

the highly recommended books, Health and Nutrition Secrets That Can

Save Your Life and Natural Strategies for Cancer Patients.

 

By Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.

 

Earlier this month, I traveled to Monroe, La., to bury my dear older

brother, Charles. Charles was not only a wonderful brother, but he was

a man with a heart of gold who always put the needs of others and his

family before his own. Charles, unfortunately, began smoking when he

was in law school, something I warned him about repeatedly.

 

Approximately four months ago, I noticed that he was getting horse. He

brushed it off and continued his hectic schedule. When I again visited

him a month later, he was still having the hoarseness. I advised him

to see someone about it. He took my advice and saw a local physician

group. The doctor was actually too busy to see him and had his nurse

see him.

 

Before he went to the doctor, I told him it was critical that he have

the doctor examine his vocal cords. The nurse looked in his throat,

but wasn't trained to examine his vocal cords.

 

Two more weeks passed during which his doctors assured him that it was

nothing more than bronchitis. They treated him with steroids and

antibiotics, but no one examined his vocal cords.

 

Misdiagnosis After Misdiagnosis

 

I pleaded with him to see an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor, but he

trusted his doctor. For the next two and a half months, he was treated

with steroids and antibiotics. Finally, he developed pneumonia and was

admitted to the hospital, what was supposed to be one of the best

hospitals in the area.

 

At the time, I was on vacation in North Carolina. He told me the

doctors told him he had a bruit in his carotid artery, a sign of

atherosclerosis, and that they wanted to do an arteriogram. I advised

him against it, suspecting he, in fact, had a cancer and attempting an

arteriogram on someone with such poor pulmonary function would be

disastrous. The arteriogram was cancelled. Still, no one had examined

his vocal cords.

 

When I arrived, I called a friend of mine I had gone to medical school

with, and asked him to see Charles. Prior to this, I asked the doctor

in charge of his respiratory care to add vitamins and magnesium to his

IV. While he promised he would, he didn't. Every attempt to get

Charles' laboratory studies was met with obstruction based on the

Patient Privacy Act. He soon signed the necessary forms and finally I

was able to see this closely guarded data.

 

When I asked his doctor why the magnesium had not been added to his

IV, word was sent back to me through the nurse that she had never

heard of using magnesium. I sent copies of selected articles showing

the immense value of magnesium on pulmonary and cardiovascular

function. Still there was no response from the doctor. Not once did

this doctor call me, or answer my pages.

 

Finally, The Diagnosis is Made

 

My ENT friend did a very good workup and discovered Charles had a

large cancer in his left lower lung that was impinging on the nerve to

his vocal cord, causing one cord to be completely paralyzed. At that

point, a pulmonary physician did a bronchial biopsy and diagnosed a

poorly differentiated lung cancer, with no evidence of spread. Once

the diagnosis was made, an oncologist was naturally called, who wanted

to start a complete course of chemotherapy drugs.

 

I advised my brother against it, knowing the cancer would not respond

and the toxic drugs would dramatically increase his breathing

difficulties, hastening his death. He took my advice. Then, a

radiation oncologist suggested radiating the tumor to shrink it. I

wasn't supportive of this treatment, but my brother wanted something done.

 

Soon afterward, he started five and a half weeks of radiation

treatment. At that point, I started him on a nutrition program and he

began to feel better, his breathing improved and he was able to go

back to work.

 

However, the oncologist told Charles he was losing too much weight and

he needed to eat more bread, pasta and even sweets to gain weight.

Charles, at the time of his diagnosis, was grossly overweight and

needed to lose the weight. I told him that losing the weight would

make it easier for him to breath. I had given him a copy of my book on

the nutritional treatment of cancer and told him it was critical he

follow the advice exactly.

 

Unfortunately, Charles decided he didn't like the taste of the

blenderized vegetables and would do what the oncologist suggested. He

began to eat ice cream, cookies and other items that cancer patients

should never eat. Once he finished the radiation treatments, he

developed fever, severe shortness of breath and had to be admitted to

the hospital.

 

The " Evidence Based " Physicians Take Over

 

Sadly, he chose a hospital that was even more rigid in its control of

the patient than his previous hospital. It was a local hospital

affiliated with the Louisiana State University Medical Center. Charles

was admitted to the intensive care unit, where he had to be intubated

and placed on a respirator.

 

Again, I was out of town, in fact, giving a talk at the Westin Price

Conference in Washington, D.C., on nutrition. As before, I could not

pry any information about my brother concerning his laboratory test,

chest x-rays or the reason he was deteriorating so rapidly. His doctor

refused to call me, despite numerous attempts by my sister and me to

have her call.

 

In all my 26 years of neurosurgical practice, I have never seen a

situation where a doctor treating a gravely ill patient would not

discuss the case with a family member who is a physician. It was as if

my brother belonged to the hospital and his physician and the family

was to be kept in the dark.

 

Finally, I was able to speak to one of the consulting doctors, who

told me my brother had a very low hemoglobin count. I asked him if he

was giving him blood.

 

After a long pause, he answered, " No. " I responded, " Well, with him

unable to breath, don't you think it would be a good idea to increase

his oxygen-carrying capacity by giving him blood? " He mumbled in

agreement. I told him that I wanted my sister and her son to give the

blood and that they were in the process of doing that as we spoke. He

agreed. Yet, before my sister could have the blood transferred to

Charles, the doctors had already given him blood from unknown donors.

 

I rushed to my brother's side and found him awake, on a respirator and

very frightened. He was receiving no magnesium in his IV and was

getting a tube feeding-formula that contains significant doses of

glutamate, something known to cause pulmonary deterioration. Again,

his doctor never heard of that.

 

An Incredible Admission

 

At that point, Charles was lapsing into a coma. Still his doctor had

not contacted me or communicated with me in any way. Disgusted, I told

the nurse to have her come to the room and I didn't want any excuses.

I asked to speak to her in private. She insisted a nurse remain with

her. I told her of my absolute amazement that a treating physician

would not speak to the family, especially when one of the family

members was a doctor. She denied she had ever gotten a message, which

was a bold-faced lie.

 

I then told her that I wanted my brother to have certain supplements

that had been shown in careful medical studies to improve lung

function. She had never heard of them, but agreed to give them if her

superior, the Chief of Medicine, agreed. Therefore, I gave her a stack

of medical abstracts and told her to let me know if there was a problem.

 

Within five minutes, she returned and stated that he would not agree

to it and responded that the Chief of Medicine told her that he would

not agree to change the treatment based on abstracts. I told her I

wanted to talk with him that minute.

 

He arrived, looking very arrogant and self-important. I decided that I

would try to calmly discuss with him my brother's case and why he

needed the supplements. Again, I asked for a private meeting. He

wanted Charles' doctor to be present.

 

I explained to him what I was asking for was backed up by

peered-reviewed studies and that none of the supplements had ever

shown any harmful side effects in any dose. In a very arrogant tone,

totally unsympathetic to my concern for my brother, he stated that he

only read and trusted four journals:

 

* Lancet

* New England Journal of Medicine

* Annals of Internal Medicine

* Journal of the American Medical Association

 

Shocked that anyone would admit to being so intellectually limited, I

told him there were thousands of peer-reviewed medical journals, most

of which were reputable. He responded that he didn't have time to read

or look up additional material.

 

What an admission!

 

I reminded him I practiced neurosurgery for 26 years and was a hell of

a lot busier than he had ever been. I also told him I had managed to

write three books and 30 articles for peer-reviewed journals in

addition to three chapters for medical textbooks. He had no comment.

 

I told him I found it inconceivable that a physician holding the

position of Chief of Staff in a teaching hospital would:

 

1. Admit they read only four journals

2. Didn't have time to research material that would improve a

patient's care

3. Would be so obstinate and filled with so much self-importance

they would allow a patient to die rather than try something that had

strong clinical evidence of benefit without any complications

 

The doctor still refused to change his mind.

 

I pointed out to him, for 20 years there was a mountain of evidence

that magnesium offered tremendous protection to the heart and brain,

but because of people like him, it was only recently that magnesium

has been added to the " protocol " for heart patients. I, then, reminded

both of them that tens of thousands of patients died during that

20-year period because of their unwillingness to use a harmless

mineral like magnesium. Then I said, " Is my brother to die because of

your narrow mindedness and arrogance " ?

 

I pointedly asked him if he could see the logic, the reasoning behind

what I was asking. He responded that he did up until to the point

about all the people that must die because of waiting for the elite of

medicine to make up their mind. I turned to the female physician and

asked her the same question. She said she agreed with the logic but

trusted her chief.

 

Blind Leading the Blind

 

I asked the Chief of Medicine if he would want the same treatment for

his brother. He thought a minute and then said, " Yes. " He again,

appealed to the fact that he didn't have time to research all these

things. I reminded him that his job was to do whatever was necessary

to provide his patients with the best medical care, based on the

latest medical evidence available no matter how much time he had to

sacrifice. He could not fall back on time constraints or the fact that

he trusted only four journals.

 

The Chief of Medicine left, a lot less openly arrogant and

self-assured. He was not able to give a single argument to support his

intellectually bankrupt concept of medicine.

 

It reminded me of the title of a book I had recently purchased:

Intellectual Morons. He certainly fit the description. Before he left,

I reminded him it was doctors like him who were the problem in modern

medicine -- arrogant, condescending to patients and certain the

medical care protocols established by the elitist academians were holy

writ. Further, it was because of such an attitude that patients by the

millions were leaving the medical care system, and seeking answers

from so-called alternative medicine.

 

Patients were fed up with having drugs and treatments shoved down

their throats that only led to more misery and rarely helped their

disease.

 

The Danger of Regimentation

 

The practice of medicine has changed drastically in the world,

especially in this country. When I first entered the world of

medicine, doctors were able to practice independently, always

maintaining a close relationship between themselves, the patient and

the patient's family. Creative, caring doctors could alter their care

to match new developments in medicine and nutrition to the greatest

benefit of their patients. Third parties such as insurance companies,

government and medical elite were held at bay.

 

Yet, the new thinking is that the practicing physician, and especially

the patient, is unable to make these decisions. Instead, they are to

follow a system of regimented medicine that assigns treatment

protocols the physician is to blindly follow.

 

Elite boards appointed by medical associations, such as the American

Medical Association, American Academy of Family Practice and others,

design these treatment protocols and hand them down to the " ignorant

automatons " making up the vast majority of treating physicians. They

are to follow these regimented treatments without question and to the

letter.

 

The new breed of doctor, like my brother's doctors, fits this new

pattern well. They are convinced this " cookbook " medicine is superior

and their elite journals and medical associations know best. Like

members of the society Aldous Huxley described in A Brave New World,

they are mere cogs in the wheel of the state's machinery. They do not

question the authorities or the wisdom of their decrees. They do what

they are told. They are unable to think for themselves.

 

In fact, I asked Charles' doctor, " Can you not think for yourself? "

She looked at me sheepishly and said, " I just trust the Chief of

Medicine. "

 

I also reminded the arrogant Chief of Medicine these elite

decision-making bodies have been racked with scandals that involved

financial connections to pharmaceutical companies and other medical

product manufacturers. In addition, similar scandals occurred among

the editorial staff of one of his favorite journals, the New England

Journal of Medicine.

 

This collectivist regimentation of medicine will only get worse.

Families are now excluded from medical care decisions, doctors do not

talk to families, the entire hospital experience is shrouded in

secrecy and patients have no say in their care. While more innovative

doctors can alter the protocols or even reject them, soon they will

not have that option. To deviate from the collectivist plan is to

invite the wrath of the legal system.

 

Fear of Financial Ruin

 

Litigation pushes many physicians into following elitist protocols out

of fear of financial ruin. In fact, these protocols have become the

" standard of care " used by the legal system. Unfortunately, doctors,

like those who killed my brother, are being turned out of medical

schools all over the country like robots. They repeat the mantra of

collectivism as if they thought of it themselves. To this new breed of

doctors, individualism and independent thought is to be discouraged

and reviled. Dependence on elite leaders will be automatic.

 

As an example, I recently spoke to a large group concerning the

harmful effects of glutamate, explaining it is now known that

glutamate, as added to foods, significantly accelerates the growth and

spread of cancers. I asked the crowd when was the last time an

oncologist told his or her patient to avoid MSG or foods high in

glutamate. The answer, I said, was never.

 

After the talk, a crowd gathered to ask more questions. Suddenly, I

was interrupted by a young woman who identified herself as a radiation

oncologist. She angrily stated, " I really took offense to your comment

about oncologists not telling their patients about glutamate. "

 

I turned to her and asked, " Well, do you tell your patients to avoid

glutamate? " She looked puzzled and said, " No one told us to. " I asked

her who this person or persons were whose job it was to provide her

with this information. I, then, reminded her that I obtained this

information from her oncology journals. Did she not read her own journals?

 

Yet, this is the attitude of the modern doctor. An elitist group is in

charge of disseminating all the information physicians are to know. If

they do not tell them, then, in their way of thinking, the information

was of no value. Of course, 10 or 20 years from now, it may be the new

standard and on all the protocols.

 

How many cancer patients will have died during the long wait for the

elitists to conclude the information was important? A million? Five

million? Do they even care?

 

In my conversation with the two physicians responsible for my

brother's " care, " they obviously didn't care.

 

It is too late for my brother. But, maybe, just maybe, if enough

people decide they do not care to leave their fate and that of their

loved ones in the hands of these arrogant regimented physicians,

something will change.