In the 'Week in Review' section of the New York Times, Sunday April 2, 1995,
Gina Kolata who previously wrote a lengthy and somewhat critical article
on pallidotomy (Parkinson's Sufferers Gamble on Surgery With Great Risks)
follows up with a story entitled, 'The Lure of Surgery:Searching for the
Quick Fix.'
She writes, and I'm quoting quite extensively, "In medicine, particularly
at the fuzzy boundaries where medical science meets the unknown, the knife
has long been the patients' therapy of choice."
As an example she discusses studies done of coronary bypass surgery showing
that patients as well as physicians were convinced that the operation was
a far better alternative than drug therapy though there was no proof that
such was indeed the case. "Why does surgery have an allure that a pill
cannot match" she asks. "Why do unproven surgical procedures so entrance
people who would scoff at being part of a trial of an experimental drug?
The reasons are unclear, but it is clear that the cachet attaches to not
only effective operations but also untested procedures that may kill
patients or leave them worse off.
Reporter Kolata quotes a neurologist saying that "when many patients
learn of a new surgery for Parkinson's disease, they point to their heads
and say 'Put the hole here.' But if he asks them to participate in a drug
study, 'they may say they don't want to be a guinea pig. They have this
concept that surgery is going to cure everything. Its like an
appendectomy and you're all better. That's just not the case with
neurological diseases.'
Continuing her article under the subheading 'Like Lemmings' Kolata asserts:
"Patients, facing a diagnosis of cancer, heart failure or other debili
tating disease, seek surgery out of desperation ... patients often 'rush
in like lemmings."' "Overly optimistic" patients hear only what they want
to hear. "Two years ago ... a 60 year-old Parkinson's disease patient ...
was desperate to have a pallidotomy, the highly experimental brain
surgery that destroys nerves thought to be overactive in the disease. At
the time, she thought her surgeon, Dr. Robert Iacono of Loma Linda
University Medical Center, ' walked on water.' She now claims to be
worse off than before the surgery. "Yet," the article goes on, "despite
the absence of reliable data on the safety and effectiveness off a
pallidotomy, Parkinson's patients are begging surgeons for it."
Experimental surgery, Kolata observes, is not as well controlled or
documented or scientifically evaluated as is drug experimentation. The
article concludes by observing that patients seeking a miracle --whether
it be drugs or surgery -- have no choice but to depend on medical
professionals whom they deem to be honest and competent.
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| Sid Roberts [log in to unmask] |
| Youngstown State History Department |
| University Youngstown, OH 44555 |
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