Fw: For everyone looking for an unorthodox cure

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----- Original Message ----- From: kellybee

A Home away from Home a MS Support Board

Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2004 9:43 AM

Subject: For everyone looking for an unorthodox cure

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For everyone looking for an unorthodox cure

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From: kellybee

Suit filed over death after hydrogen peroxide treatment By WARREN WOLFE Minneapolis-St. Star Tribune September 26, 2004 - Bibeau of Cottage Grove, Minn., boarded a plane for South Carolina last March, excited that an unorthodox treatment by a physician might slow or even reverse the progressive and debilitating symptoms of her multiple sclerosis. Instead, a pathologist determined days later, the first of three planned injections of hydrogen peroxide killed Bibeau, 53, a medical technologist who was diagnosed with MS in October 2001. Officials have begun a criminal investigation, and her family has filed suit in federal court in Columbia, S.C., accusing Dr. Shortt of causing her death. Shortt refused to comment. MS is an inflammatory disease that attacks the insulation surrounding nerve fibers. It generally is considered incurable and progressive. "We believed in the medical doctors and neurologists, but she didn't want to stop there," said Bibeau, Bibeau's husband. They altered their diet to include less processed food, added vitamins and took medication to treat tremors in her hand. "We really concentrated on the present, on how to make the best of things now," he said. "In the back of our minds, I'm sure we thought about how the disease might progress, but we really concentrated on how to have the best quality of life right now." Bibeau said he's not sure how his wife found Dr. Shortt or learned about what practitioners call oxidation therapy. On advice of his lawyers, Gergel and Warren Bigelow, he would not say specifically what the family expected from Shortt's treatments. A biography of Shortt on the Cancer Control Society Web site says he majored in emergency medicine at Madonna University, Livonia, Mich., and received his medical degree from the University of the Caribbean in Montserrat. For a time he practiced at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa. He moved to South Carolina in 1996 and is listed as medical director of Health Dimensions Clinic in West Columbia. Those who use hydrogen peroxide argue that it has been effective in fighting or preventing numerous diseases when it is taken orally or injected. They say diseases develop or thrive in bodies lacking sufficient oxygen, and that hydrogen peroxide - a molecule with two atoms of oxygen and two of hydrogen - can increase the body's oxygen, fighting off disease. Although hydrogen peroxide must be labeled "for external use only," the unorthodox treatment has been credited by some practitioners with helping treat more than two dozen diseases, including cancer, asthma, emphysema, AIDS, arthritis, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease. Bibeau first saw Shortt in October 2003. He conducted blood and hair tests, looking for traces of heavy metal, viruses or bacteria that he said might cause the disease, the lawsuit says. Shortt "was unable to identify any such virus or bacteria from his laboratory studies (but) nevertheless recommended intravenous hydrogen peroxide therapy," the lawsuit says, telling her the therapy "would be very good at killing this unknown bacteria or virus allegedly causing her multiple sclerosis." Bibeau returned March 9 for the first of what were to be three weekly injections of hydrogen peroxide. On March 11 she received an injection of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), which practitioners say stimulates the immune system and helps flush out metals in the blood. But at that second visit, she complained to Shortt of bruises on her hand and arm, abdominal pains and heavy menstruation. The lawsuit says Shortt did not conduct any tests or offer treatment of the symptoms. The next day she was confused and in severe pain and was taken to the hospital, where she died two days later, on March 14. The injection caused intense pain, massive bleeding and air bubbles in her bloodstream, the autopsy found. The pathologist, Dr. Clay Nichols, concluded that "this unfortunate woman died as a direct result of iatrogenic (doctor-induced) infusion of hydrogen peroxide. There is no legitimate use for the infusion of hydrogen peroxide in the current medical literature. In fact, many articles caution against its use." Several doctors have been disciplined for administering it in Tennessee, North Carolina and Kansas, and there have been a number of deaths and injuries reported to patients given the injections. However, practitioners who use the therapy contend it has been used often to good effect. "Look, I've used this with hundreds of patients, including patients with MS, and none of them has ever had a problem with hydrogen peroxide," said Dr. Rowen, of Santa , Calif. He is president of the International Oxidation Medication Association, representing more than 100 physicians. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Distributed by Scripps News Service, http://www.shns.com.) View other groups in this category.

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