Critiquing: Families run out of hope, money after cancer treatments (USA TODAY NEWS, NATION, Liz Szabo, USA TODAY)

USA TODAY
Liz Szabo
Michael Stravato
Jerry Mosemak
Robert Hanashiro

Before you write a Hack Piece
Check Your Facts Please

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The 3rd, and thankfully final segment of USA TODAY’s “hit-piece” of irresponsible yellow journalism about Dr. Stanislaw R. Burzynski [1], contains the following:
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“Patients stay in hotels while visiting him”
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Pete Cohen made this movie about his and
Hannah Bradley’s trip to the Burzynski Clinic

It does NOT look like they stayed in a hotel [2]
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The article continues:
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“If children deteriorate, they often end up in the closest emergency room, said physician Jeanine Graf, director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, who says she has treated at least a dozen of Burzynski’s patients
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In the 2nd segment of USA TODAY’s yellow journalism “hit-piece,” the reader was advised that Burzynski had treated [3]:
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“ . . . more than 8,000 patients since 1977.”
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Physician Jeanine Graf, “says she has treated at least a dozen of Burzynski’smore than 8,000 patients,”

This means that Dr. Graf has treated LESS THAN 0.15% of Burzynski’s patients
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The article indicates that:
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“Typically, Graf sees Burzynski’s patients after they have become unresponsive, unable to open their eyes or breathe on their own”

“Graf says she’s never seen Burzynski attending to them”
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Why would she ?

Does she ride in the ambulance to and from the clinic ?

As the article makes clear:

“While Burzynski often meets patients on their first trip to the clinic, Jaffe said he is

“not the treating physician of the clinic’s patients”

“The doctors on Burzynski’s staff have admitting privileges at local hospitals and “attend to patients as needed,” Jaffe said”
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And she continues:
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“And describing her personal experience with Burzynski’s patients, Graf says,”

“I’ve never seen one survive long-term.”
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Are we supposed to believe that pediatric physician Jeanine Graf keeps track of the “more than 8,000 patients” that the article claims Burzynski has treated ?
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Continuing on, the article also claims:
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“The unlucky ones end up broke, spending everything on medicine, airfare, hotel rooms and meals while in Houston, Graf says

“Burzynski’s attorney, Richard Jaffe, notes that all cancer care is expensive”

“I think the clinic’s policies are a lot more charitable than the big institutions,” Jaffe says”
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6/25/2013 – Medical Bills Are the Biggest Cause of US Bankruptcies [4]

“Bankruptcies resulting from unpaid medical bills will affect nearly 2 million people this year—making health care the No. 1 cause of such filings . . . according to new data”

“. . . estimates that households containing 1.7 million people will file for bankruptcy protection this year

“Even outside of bankruptcy, about 56 million adultsmore than 20 percent of the population between the ages of 19 and 64—will still struggle with health-care-related bills this year . . .”

“Despite the anticipated 2013 dip, such bankruptcies represent about three out of every five filings
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2007 – How Many Americans Go Bankrupt Due to Medical Purposes Each Year? [5]

“2007, a Harvard study shows that at least 60% of bankruptcies are related to medical bills

“Even people with health insurance are filing bankruptcy”

“Insurance premiums, deductibles, co-pay, and out of pocket expenses cause medical bills to drown individuals and families in medical debt”

“Harvard also discovered that 75% of those filing bankruptcy for medical reasons had health insurance

“It is clear that having health insurance is no guarantee against carrying debt related to health care”
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Burzynski has treated more than 8,000 patients since 1977

8,000 divided by 36 years equals an average of:

222 patients per year

Burzynski is obviously NOT the problem
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Liz Szabo, Michael Stravato, Jerry Mosemak, and Robert Hanashiro

Don’t quit your day jobs

USA TODAY needs to generate readership somehow !!!
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Sarcasm . . . deal with it
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REFERENCES:
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[1] – 11/15/2013
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/15/jeanine-graf-cancer-children/2994675/
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[2]Hannah’s Anectdote:
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[3] – 11/16/2013 – Critiquing: Doctor accused of selling false hope to families (USA TODAY NEWS, NATION, Liz Szabo, USA TODAY):
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https://stanislawrajmundburzynski.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/httpwww-usatoday-comstorynewsnation20131115stanislaw-burzynski-cancer-controversy2994561/
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[4] – 06/25/13 2:29 PM ET—By CNBC’s Dan Mangan @danpostman
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http://www.cnbc.com/id/100840148
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[5] – 2007 – Written by James Hirby | Fact checked by The Law Dictionary staff
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http://thelawdictionary.org/article/how-many-americans-go-bankrupt-due-to-medical-purposes-each-year/
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Critiquing Wikipedia: Burzynski Clinic – 2013 BBC documentary, Curing cancer or ‘selling hope’ to the vulnerable?

Wikipedia must be too busy accusing me of using multiple Internet I.P. addresses to try and change every wiki article under the sun, instead of keeping their Burzynski article up-to-date

I await the in-depth analysis which breaks down my blog, Twitter, and Internet activity, showing that it was humanly possible for me to do all that has been claimed

But then again, maybe I’m NOT human !

HAL ?

Is that you HAL ?

Anywho, WP took a crack at addressing the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) Panorama documentary [1]

I did some critiques on the documentary article, documentary, and WP’s “credible source,” Dr. David H. Orac … Gorski [2-4]

“Burzynski exploits a legal loophole”by treating patients” with antineoplastons do so as part of a clinical trial, so the drug does not need a licence” for twenty years.” [66]

“Legal loophole” ?

Really ??

Not so much

It’s the law

“The Skeptics™” have had years to get it changed in Congress if it were a “legal loophole”

“According to Watford Observer, the mother of Luna Petagine, a young girl with a brain tumor, “cast doubt” on Burzynski’s “expensive treatment.” [67]

“Expensive treatment” ?

Based on what objective criteria ? [5-6]

The Reading Post said, the Panorama investigation shown on Monday questioned whether the Burzynski Clinic was ‘selling hope’to families” which doubted the statistics provided by the Burzynski Clinic. [68]

Based on what objective criteria ?

“They say 776 patients with brain tumours were treated in trials before 2008.”

“And that 15.5% had survived more than five years, which compares favourably to other treatments.” [6] (see #13)

Where’s Wikipedia’s survival rates for:

a) Chemotherapy

b) Radiation Therapy

c) Radiotherapy

d) Other

and their comparison of possible adverse effects of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, radiotherapy, other, compared to antineoplastons ?

The issues I had with the documentary were:

1. “The report includes interviews with experts like Professor Richard Grundy of Nottingham Children’s Hospital”

“Prof Richard Grundy treats children with cancer, and runs one of the UK’s biggest research projects into brain tumours.”

“He says it is “unethical” for Dr Burzynski not to share his findings:”

In my ‘opinion,’ it is “unethical” for Professor Grundy to NOT share his findings re Dr. Burzynski’s 2003-2010 phase 2 clinical trial preliminary reports [7]

2. “Unfortunately the results from Dr Burzynski’s clinic are not published in any form that’s acceptable to the scientific community.””

Explain [7]

3. Dr Jeanine Graf

“She sometimes treats patients from the Burzynski Clinic who have become critically ill, but she has never known any of them survive.”

How many patients ?

Richard Bilton asked for numbers from Burzynski, so he should be consistent and have asked Dr. Graf the same question

4. “He must believe in what he’s doing, but I have not been convinced by the existing scientific literature that his therapy has any efficacy.”

Where is Dr. Graf’s “in-depth” review of Dr. Burzynski’s above-listed publications ? [7]
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REFERENCES:
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[1] – Wikipedia: Burzynski Clinic – Legal Issues: 2013 BBC documentary, Curing cancer or ‘selling hope’ to the vulnerable?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic
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http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic
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http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Burzynski_Clinic&mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop
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[2] – 6/4/2013 – The British are Coming, The British are Coming: Critiquing
“Curing cancer or ‘selling hope’ to the vulnerable?”
:

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https://stanislawrajmundburzynski.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/the-british-are-coming-the-british-are-coming-critiquing-curing-cancer-or-selling-hope-to-the-vulnerable/
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[3] – 6/7/2013 – IT MAY NOT BE SCIENCE: Critiquing “Curing cancer or ‘selling hope’ to the vulnerable?”:
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https://stanislawrajmundburzynski.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/it-may-not-be-science-critiquing-curing-cancer-or-selling-hope-to-the-vulnerable/
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[4] – 8/4/2013 – Critiquing Dr David H. “Orac”
Gorski, M.D., Ph.D, LIAR: Stanislaw Burzynski versus the BBC:

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https://stanislawrajmundburzynski.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/critiquing-dr-david-h-orac-gorski-m-d-ph-d-liar-stanislaw-burzynski-versus-the-bbc/
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[66] – Richard Bilton

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http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/wxxjy/panorama–cancer-hope-for-sale—panorama
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there for posterity on YouTube

http://t.co/YOlSjCg1d0
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THIS IS IT!

http://fb.me/LYCqmKrh
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http://t.co/6cDJapt6eM
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http://t.co/nFpwlQg275
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[67] – Watford Observer
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http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/10470494.print/
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[5] – 4/25/2013 – Burzynski: Costs of Cancer treatments:
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https://stanislawrajmundburzynski.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/burzynski-costs-of-cancer-treatments/
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[6] – 7/18/2013 – Critiquing: In which the latest movie about Stanislaw Burzynski “cancer cure” is reviewed…with Insolence:
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See #10
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https://stanislawrajmundburzynski.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/critiquing-in-which-the-latest-movie-about-stanislaw-burzynski-cancer-cure-is-reviewed-with-insolence-2/
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[68] – Reading Post
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http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/amelia-saunders-family-mislead-burzynski-4051287
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[7] – 8/7/2013 – Burzynski: Phase II Clinical Trials Preliminary Reports:
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https://stanislawrajmundburzynski.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/burzynski-phase-ii-clinical-trials-preliminary-reports/
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