Re: Re: A Gal From ABC Called Me Today...

August 4, 2005

Hi - I think this is the best news - is ABC a big network? Because it

amazes me that doctors still perform major surgery on 7 - 12 months old

babies to correct the club foot, with numerous ensuing problems, when

there is a perfectly documented non-surgical alternative, requiring

just a little extra time and commitment from the parents - the Ponseti

technique! People might be interested to know that in the UK there are

only a handful of doctors who do Ponseti - likewise in Aus, also in NZ

- only one (but now increasing). In Starship hospital, Auckland, (the

children's wing of Auckland hospital) there is a young consultant

(early 40's) practising Ponseti, working alongside older paediatric

orthopaedic surgeons who still insist on doing the surgical

alternative, with all its problems, despite seeing the miraculous

benefits from the Ponseti method!! What are these guys like? Part of

a closed old-boy network, that's what they're like - very reluctant to

even look at alternatives. I can't help thinking that the American

parents are luckier than the UK parents - there seem to be far more

Ponseti doctors in the USA. I really feel for parents who don't have

the luck to learn about Ponseti or read parents' testimonials from this

Group.

I won't forget the parent, whose I can't remember at the moment, whose

hospital told her " Oh yes, we're Ponseti - the doctor knows him very

well actually - if it wasn't for the parent ringing around, and this

Group (was it ?) checking with Ponseti himself, then that

UN-qualified Ponseti doc might be doing the C/F now, and with what

results???? That's almost like blatant lying, isn't it...(in fact,

come to think of it, it is!)

So good luck with the ABC interview, and lets hope it gets huge amounts

of publicity

from Pete , Henry's Dad, bi CF 11.11.01

> Holly,

> Not sure if it was the same person, but Dr. Dobbs has been contacted

> by ABC news as well. He asked me if it would be okay to give them my

> number so I could be interviewed for a piece they are doing. I

> haven't talked to them yet but will be talking to her hopefully

> tomorrow. I think it is great, I would be interested to know if it

> was someone from one of our groups here who contacted them.

>

>> Hi Everyone,

>> Today I received a call from a gal from the Medical Unit of ABC - she

>> said she got my name and telephone number from Dr. Ponseti. She asked

>> me lots of questions about clubfoot, our treatment experiences, etc.

>> She said that she's not exactly sure where they'll head with the story

>> (if anywhere). When I asked why she was prompted to do this, she said

>> a parent had approached ABC (not sure if via email, letter, phone?)

>> about their clubfoot story. She said this parent didn't know of the

>> Ponseti method and wished she had. She wants to get the word out

>> there.

>>

>> I'm curious if anybody else received a phone call and what you might

>> make of it?

>>

>> I'm going to call Dr. Ponseti later this week to verify that they

>> indeed did give my name/number to this person -

>>

>> Curious,

>> Holly

>

August 4, 2005