Clinical Trials and Medical Miracles

Experts shared their personal stories and professional research on medical miracles to a group of over 200 caregivers, patients, book lovers, writers, and fans of the ABC television series, Grey's Anatomy, at the Tucson Book Festival on March 14, 2009 on the University of Arizona campus.

Anyone can be a Medical Miracle

Authors Allan J. Hamilton, MD and Alex O'Meara spoke to a mixed group at Tucson Festival of Books. However, the few fragile souls in wheelchairs, accompanied by caregivers, were not lost on Hamilton or O'Meara. Their overlying message throughout the discussion was that there is nothing holding patients back from being medical miracles.

The Scalpel and the Soul

Allan J. Hamilton, MD, spoke first. He is the Exec. Director at University of Arizona's Health Science Center, ASTEC, Chairman of the Department of Surgery, Rancho Bosque Equine Assisted Therapy Program Co-Founder/Co-Owner, and Neurosurgery Medical Advisor for the ABC-TV series, Grey's Anatomy.

Hamilton shared insights on his book, The Scalpel and the Soul, opening the lecture with examples of his part in witnessing unexplainable patient miracles and of the power of doctors' words in helping patients heal or in dooming patients to give up on life.

He said doctors easily give statistics to patients, often frightening them. In doing so, usually the whole truth of statistics is left out. The reality is that statistics are only accurate for very large numbers of people. Individual people are not statistics. Nothing stops anyone from being medical miracles.

Chasing Medical Miracles

Alex O'Meara, is known for his work as a journalist for many media sources, including: Tucson, Arizona's NBC-TV's station, Newsday, Chicago's City News Bureau, the Baltimore Sun and others. Alex is the author of the book: Chasing Medical Miracles, to be published in late spring 2009 by Walker Books.

O'Meara shared his insight on clinical trials regarding his own struggle with Type 1 Diabetes, and his research on how clinical trials impact US healthcare.

The Business of Clinical Trials

Patients who consider joining clinical trials do so with the hope of a medical miracle for no financial cost. They do not think clinical trials can come with great health risks. The reality is that clinical trials are not proven medicine, yet.

Alex said successful clinical trials are big business for drug corporations in the USA. However, Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regulations slow the process and increase the cost with required screenings and patient compensations. To save money, those companies conduct clinical trials in other countries where patients get no compensation for time or travel.

The Future of Medical Miracles

In closing, Hamilton and O'Meara emphasized:

• Statistics represent large numbers of people. They do not represent an individual.
• 2% of clinical trials are bad, and 98% are good, according to O'Meara.
• FDA's new leader, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, appears to be ringing-in a new era of openness and transparent records, to eliminate repeating the FDA's selective disclosure practices of the past.

Hamilton summed-up his thoughts in two sentences: "Medical mistakes are the 4^th leading cause of death in the USA. I'm out to decrease those odds!"

That's why it is called the "practice" of medicine.

Source: Personal Knowledge of Herstory/Lynn Pritchett as 03-14-09 Tucson Festival of Books Participant