Medical Study - Fake blood given to trauma patients WITHOUT permission

[debbierlus]

This is a must read and important article that I urge everyone on DU to take a look at:

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/nation/ci_3560922

Highlights from the article:

Snip:

Thursday, March 02
CHICAGO (AP) — Imagine being in a car crash, lying unconscious and bleeding in an ambulance. With no blood on board, paramedics give you an experimental substitute, but even at the hospital, you get fake blood for several hours before doctors try the real thing.
Medical ethicists say a study that is doing just that on hundreds of trauma patients without their consent should be halted.

It's a renewed attack on research that began in 2004 after Northfield Laboratories got federal approval for its study of the blood substitute Polyheme.

Snip:

Debate was reignited by a Wall Street Journal story last week that suggested the company tried to hide some crucial details about another blood substitute study back in 2000. The Journal reported that 10 heart surgery patients in that Polyheme experiment had heart attacks, while other patients given real blood did not.

This is ATROCIOUS. And, it is sign of the times.

The dems need to start explaining to people the CONSEQUENCES of the policies that the Republican government is enacting. They are peeling away right to sue laws. They are taking away FDA protections. They are lifting restrictions on pollution. They are destroying the checks that have been hard fought to safe guard all the American people's health. We are experiencing record numbers of cases of childhood asthma due to air pollution in the North East. Toxic mercury levels in pregnant women's blood streams.

It is ALL about reducing accountability & maximizing profit. Experiment on human beings like lab rats, who cares? The corporation will eventually develop a workable product and so what if some people die of heart attacks? Got to break a few eggs to make an omelet.

We need a political policy of educating the American people about what happens when Republicans draft legislation that puts corporate profit above human life.

I believe it is time for the democrats to start hosting national town meetings to explain what is going on. EMERGENCY town meetings. And, any democrat that votes with these horrendous policies needs to be viewed as a Republican and thrown out.

I am so angry. What has become of us? Profit over everything. Consumerism and greed have broken this country apart. American life for the pursuit of material gain and convenience above soulful community and personal awareness. Value of things and money over people.

It is SICK. I am so angry.

[undergroundpanther]

1. corporations and the government

have been using citizens as lab rats for years.

I hate both institutions.

Because of profit everyone is hands off about these criminals Why they are not forced to reveal their"trade secrets"Is well criminal. I wish people would just go after CEOs and tear down their gated communities and take their corporate secrets reveal them,and raid their files and expose them and eventually under aggressive demands all this shit would be laid bare and the criminals will held responsible (jailed or killed)It's the only way to stop corruption is to force accountability transparency and if kid glove"officials" fail it's time for the people to do it, and we must keep the wealthy under such public control and LIMIT THEIR WEALTH so they cannot hurt people on the sly to test their toxins and buy complicity from government officials in power who are already corrupted..

[debbierlus]

3. It is sick. We have a WOEFULLY ignorant population

[Quakerfriend]

2. Thx for posting this! And, as we speak they are trashing our

food labeling laws on the floor of the Senate!!

I highly rec'd emergency meetings. Great idea!

And, Rep. L. Slaughter said yesterday on C-Span that, although the general public thinks that everything must go through the House first, the Repugs just simply BYPASS the House MOST OF THE TIME!!

[debbierlus]

5. I did not know that - although I am not surprised.

It is snowballing out of control. The Republican's seem hell bent on everything that has made this country good and just.

Talk about a bunch of soulless monsters!

[quiet.american]

4. The problem is, where do we start? Where do we focus?

The majority of the citizenry of this country have been like frogs in warm water for so long, not feeling the heat, that now that the entire country is boiling over from the full-out assault of corruption and greed from Republicans, where do we start?

There is SO much to be addressed -- where do we focus.

As for the Democratic leadership, the failure to filibuster Alito has really given me pause about whether the will exists amongst them to actually DO anything.

[debbierlus]

6. We start at the beginning

We allie with the few politician's that actually are in it for the people.

Then, we help them educate the public. We get off our computers. We work at a local level.

What is stopping us from holding informational meetings?

What is stopping us from distributing literature?

Having daily local sign protests to expand awareness?

Calling our reps and inviting them to speak on a pertinent issue?

Off the computers and into the communities.

[quiet.american]

8. Sounds good, but still what issues, and how do we focus?n/t

[enlightenment]

7. This is disgusting.

An exemption from informed consent?

How do they notify the entire community? A flyer in the mail? An ad in the paper? They sure as hell did not get the entire community at those briefings.

Will they bother to tell the community when the study is over? Or will the hospitals just start using this substitute all the time?

I wonder how many other "studies" have been exempted from informed consent?