Join the Military, Become a Guinea Pig Redux

[MedicalCorpse]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15790137/

Fair Use quote from above URL:

"'It's a completely irresponsible and inappropriate use of a very, very dangerous drug,' said Dr. Jawed Fareed, director of the hemostasis and thrombosis research program at Loyola University in Chicago and a specialist in blood-clotting and blood-thinning medications."

In 16 years of anesthesiology practice, I have never heard of this drug being used on normal humans with dilutional coagulopathies.

Did a little Googling for "Novo Nordisk" on .mil domains. Wow, that's a lot of millions of dollars: http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&...t=i&as_sitesearch=.mil&as_rights=&safe=images

Check this out: http://www.nomi.med.navy.mil/SWMI/SWMIRef/TRAUMA TALKS/rFVIIa Field Use SOP.pdf

Also, this (see page 36 for a scientific treatment; off label, indeed...): http://das.cs.amedd.army.mil/PDF/J04_7_9.pdf

"The use in patients with known atherosclerotic disease is a relative contraindicated (sic)."

And these are the people we entrust with our children's lives?

Informed consent? Feres doctrine protecting malpractice?

Comments?

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R

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[delicatefade]

“When it works, it’s amazing,” said Col. John B. Holcomb, an Army trauma surgeon and commander of the Army’s Institute of Surgical Research.

To me, this was the scariest and most telling part of COL Holcomb's response...

 

[Galo]

This is something most people do not realize. When you sign on, you are theirs in every way including experimental vaccines, (anthrax), and drugs such as this one. Without fear of being liable, the military pretty much does what it wants. Not always with soldiers best interests at heart.

 

[MedicalCorpse]

This is something most people do not realize. When you sign on, you are theirs in every way including experimental vaccines, (anthrax), and drugs such as this one. Without fear of being liable, the military pretty much does what it wants. Not always with soldiers best interests at heart.

I did a bit of research today. Only one RCT for NovoSeven(R) (as it is called). This RCT was sponsored by (tick tick tick): Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer. And it found (tick tick tick) no difference in survival. At all. Nota bene: this study does not include the findings of hypercoagulability/thrombosis noted in the original article...

My problem is this: In the U.S., at least people pay lip service to informed consent/compassionate indications for experimental trauma treatment modalities. In country, no one cares: our soldiers/sailors/airmen/marines are treated with whatever, whenever, with no choice, autonomy, or oversight.
Also, at 20K per treatment, where is the ROI? What meds/bullets/Kevlar could be bought with this money? Don't even start me on the preventive medicine/immunizations that could be funded with this kind of loot.

Also: how many 20 year old troops would rather bleed to death with an honorable battle wound rather than live as a cripple after a devastating thrombotic CVA which confines them to a wheelchair and a feeding tube ad infinitum? Sign me up for the "let me die with dignity" cohort.

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R