Monday, October 25, 2010 11:30 PM
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Helen Cosburn
The recently published news of the death of a baby at a Stem Cell clinic in Europe, as well as the near death event of a second young patient, has raised questions and now an investigation into the Dusseldorf based clinic. The clinic is considered Europe’s largest stem cell clinic, and is reported to treat thousands of patients including hundreds of British patients each year. The clinic, and a doctor who worked at the clinic, are under investigation. The clinic is being accused of “bungling the operations and failing to respond quickly enough when the surgery went wrong”. The clinic is under scrutiny following the death of a child in August, only months after a 10 year old boy nearly died from a similar procedure. The 10 year old boy, was transferred from the clinic to the local University Hospital, for life saving emergency surgery, not possible at the clinic. Dr. Michael Sabel, Chief of Neurosurgery at University Hospital Dusseldorf, has accused the clinic of failing to reach quickly enough when the 10 year old boy began to suffer internal bleeding. These sad cases raise some tough questions, and act as a strong reminder that life is medicine can be unpredictable. This is not meant to scare anyone, but rather to encourage you to do your own due diligence when you are selecting a treatment center for yourself. Do you know the important questions to ask a potential healthcare provider? Here are few helpful discussion points to review when deciding where you should be treated:
- What are the accreditations or standards that support the facility?
- Is the facility a clinic or a hospital?
- What are the risks of the treatment?
- Can they handle these risks within the facility or will you need to be transferred? If you must be transferred, ask How? How long will it take? Where will go you? Ask about that facility too? (Keep in mind, that a hospital is much more prepared to deal with the “what if’s” should they arise.
- Have they had adverse outcomes before? (It’s ok, if there are some – but take this opportunity to ask, how it was handled and what the final outcome was).
It’s important to understand the ins and outs of the facility who will be treating you and how they handle the “what if’s”. It may be uncomfortable to think about the potential negative outcomes, but it may just save your life. For more info on selecting a treatment provider for CCSVI treatment, visit www.ccsvi.mx or attend a free online webinar and ask the CCSVI medical team directly. To register visit www.ccsvi.mx and click on "webinar". Next webinar tomorrow - Tues. Oct. 26 @ 12pm PST/ 3pm EST.
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