Healer dies after failing to treat a foot wound

[vino]

A healing therapist who refused to see a doctor died after developing gangrene in his leg.
Russell Jenkins injured his left foot treading on an electrical plug at his home.

The wound later became infected, but the 52-year-old shunned conventional treatment, saying his 'inner being' told him not to go to hospital.

Instead he tried treating it with honey, an ancient remedy for the treatment of infected wounds.

But gangrene spread to his leg and he later died.

SNIP

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/Healer-dies-after-failing-to.4699316.jp

[dropkickpa]

1. Am I a bad person for laughing at this?

A lot? Like, giggling and I think there may have even been a snort in there?

[trotsky]

5. Well, I'm right there with you.

Bwah ha ha ha. Idiot. I don't feel sorry for people who die from willful stupidity. Sorry for their families, friends, and anyone else they may have duped, yes, but not sorry for them one bit.

[progressoid]

2. Good grief.

Wonder what his patrons think of his "healing" powers.

[dawgmom]

3. This is nauseating

Stories like this make me sick. A wasted life, out of willfull ignorance. It's horrible enough when we read of people dying in third world countries because of the lack of medical care, but for someone to die in a country where they have access to treatment than can save life and limb (literally, in this case)??? Sickening.

One of the saddest cases I have ever heard of was through a friend of mine who worked at the Salk Institute. You would think that employees there understand the value of conventional treatments, right? Wrong. It's Southern California, after all. (With apologies to all the rational Californians.) A co-worker of hers was diagnosed with a bowel cancer and instead of undergoing standard therapies, treated herself with herbal remedies and thrice-daily enemas containing all variety of woo weirdness. By the time she finally realized it wasn't working, and wanted to try conventional treatments, it was far too late.

[vino]

4. There is some evidence that those with closer links to

alternative therapy traditions seem to be less impressed by them. (Somehow I managed to cut off my own comment, but I agree with you, such a waste of a life.)

Non-white Med Students Reject Therapies Associated With Their Culture, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2008) — Non-white medical students are more likely to embrace orthodox medicine and reject therapies traditionally associated with their cultures. That is one finding from an international study that measures the attitudes of medical students toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). While seemingly counter-intuitive, white students view CAM more favorably than their non-white counterparts, the study authors say.

SNIP http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081117153205.htm

[Orrex]

9. I wonder if, in the end...

She (and her friends/family) blamed her death on the conventional medicine's failure to cure her, rather than her faith in "alternative" treatments.

[LeftishBrit]

13. Probably

It's like a religion for many of these people.

Sad. I suppose people have a right to refuse lifesaving treatment for themselves for religious reasons, the same as Jehovah's Witnesses who won't get blood transfusions. But when it extends to refusing treatment for their children, or making false claims that lead others to refuse treatment, then it's important to step in.

[dawgmom]

14. My recollection...

My recollection is that the family was very unhappy about her self-treatment, as were many of her friends. My friend told me that the woo friends, however, were overheard at the memorial service making statements about how it was a case that neither alternative nor conventional treatments would have cured (they based this assertion on...???) and also that the conventional treatments were so horrible that she wouldn't have wanted to live with the aftermath and side effects.

Uh huh. So, living with a colostomy bag, that's worse that death? Not in my book. Breathing is always better than dirt.

[lizerdbits]

6. Natural selection in action

unless he reproduced. Praise Darwin!

[TZ]

7. I was just about to say...

Darwin award winner!

[Orrex]

8. Has this been posted to the Healthscare Lounge?

'Cause I heard that honey cures everything. Well, honey plus lasers, of course...

[salvorhardin]

10. Don't you see?

If he had been wearing his Kinoki foot pads he'd still be alive!

[Anarcho-Socialist]

11. Jeez, what a waste

Woo kills.

[moggie]

12. Electricity kills

Those mains plugs are dangerous to step on (British ones more so than those little US ones).

"The inquest heard how neither Mr Jenkins or his partner, Cherie Cameron, 58, a former theatre nurse, had sought medical help."

His wife was a nurse, and she let it go untreated for months? Particularly surprising, given that he was a diabetic, so both of them should have been aware of the danger of gangrene and how early treatment is important.

[onager]

15. It sure does. And damn those furrin plugs!

You're right, those "little US ones" usually just bend. Your big honking British ones don't. Egypt uses the same kind of 220V plugs, with the big round pins.

For whatever reason, the whole Middle East seems to have a...casual attitude toward electricity. I've worked with it much of my alleged career and have a very healthy respect for it. No, make that "craven & cringing fear."

At my job site, they often call in a local electrician. He must be somebody's cousin or brother-in-law. His only tool is a light-bulb socket with the two wires stripped to bare copper, which he uses to find live circuits. If he needs any other tools, from a screwdriver to wire-cutters, he has to borrow them from me.

Every morning I take a shower with an electric water heater mounted on the wall not 5 feet away. I try not to think of all those American soldiers who have been electrocuted in Iraq.

That was mostly caused by poor grounding, which is a huge problem here as well. Once I had to travel around to some remote job sites because we suspected they were having grounding problems.

At one site, a young Egyptian lectured me about how they were very careful with grounding. Everything was connected to the building ground, bla-bla-bla.

While expounding on this, he leaned on an electrical equipment cabinet. Then he touched another piece of equipment...and nearly got knocked on his butt from the shock.

I couldn't help it. I laughed.