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There's another side though. Do you want to see pseudoscience stem cell "therapies" sold on late night infomercials as a panacea? A balance has to be struck bet

There's another side though. Do you want to see pseudoscience stem cell "therapies" sold on late night infomercials as a panacea? A balance has to be struck between the number of people that could potentially be helped and the number of people that could potentially be harmed. We can debate how this balance should be struck without assuming bad faith on the part of those that disagree with us. On the internet, when startups overpromise, misrepresent, and take risks, the worst that usually happens is that a few million people lose their data or get their embarrassing photos shared with their coworkers. In health care the consequences of an overhyped technology are far more grave.

tomjen3 14y ago
How would you react if your father couldn't get the kind of treatment that he needed because the FDA wouldn't let him? If the supplier is lying, that is fraud (and can be prosecuted even after the fact); If they find out that it was a good deal after he has died, how does that benefit him?
- gus_massa 14y ago
  They will say that it's not a fraud. It was only an experimental treatment fundamented in abstract "principles" and they had some signs that it improves some of the symptoms in a few patients. Regrettably all the new studies proved that it doesn't work but the risk were clear in the small letter of the contract. Luckily now they realized that this treatment can be possible useful for another illness and/or they have another experimental treatment for this illness.
ataggart 14y ago
>Do you want to see pseudoscience stem cell "therapies" sold on late night infomercials as a panacea? Mandatory FDA approval is orthogonal to over-the-counter sales. Surely you don't think the government should prohibit a medical decision between a patient and her doctor... > when startups overpromise, misrepresent, and take risks, the worst that usually happens... Yes, the risk people are willing to bear is proportional to the damage it can cause. This is probably why terminal patients are willing to risk experimental drugs.
rdouble 14y ago
Do you want to see pseudoscience stem cell"therapies" sold on late night infomercials as a panacea?" This already happens in Koreatown. http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/11/beyond_boba_tea_koreatown_galleria_tenant_advertises_pet_cloning.php http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/11/beyond_boba_tea_koreat...

tomjen3 14y ago

How would you react if your father couldn't get the kind of treatment that he needed because the FDA wouldn't let him? If the supplier is lying, that is fraud (and can be prosecuted even after the fact); If they find out that it was a good deal after he has died, how does that benefit him?

gus_massa 14y ago
They will say that it's not a fraud. It was only an experimental treatment fundamented in abstract "principles" and they had some signs that it improves some of the symptoms in a few patients. Regrettably all the new studies proved that it doesn't work but the risk were clear in the small letter of the contract. Luckily now they realized that this treatment can be possible useful for another illness and/or they have another experimental treatment for this illness.

ataggart 14y ago

>Do you want to see pseudoscience stem cell "therapies" sold on late night infomercials as a panacea? Mandatory FDA approval is orthogonal to over-the-counter sales. Surely you don't think the government should prohibit a medical decision between a patient and her doctor... > when startups overpromise, misrepresent, and take risks, the worst that usually happens... Yes, the risk people are willing to bear is proportional to the damage it can cause. This is probably why terminal patients are willing to risk experimental drugs.

rdouble 14y ago

Do you want to see pseudoscience stem cell"therapies" sold on late night infomercials as a panacea?" This already happens in Koreatown. http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/11/beyond_boba_tea_koreatown_galleria_tenant_advertises_pet_cloning.php http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/11/beyond_boba_tea_koreat...