Dad Uses Alternative Meds, Girl Ends up Braindamaged
Posted by JeanneSager at 10:00 AM on December 19, 2008
The doctor who finally got to look at a little girl after weeks of her father trying alternative medicines to treat an infection of her heart said she was as ""sick as the sickest person I've ever seen in 35 years." That's saying something.
The man's eleven-year-old daughter now uses a wheelchair to move around and has serious cognitive impairment. Prosecutors who secured six months in prison to punish the father say he distrusted modern medicine.
The man apparently opted to feed his daughter Mannatech, a supplement promoted round the world as a means to "enhance the body’s cell-to-cell communication and improve overall health." Last year, the company was charged by the Texas Attorney General for operating an illegal marketing scheme. Attorney General Greg Abbott says his investigators found claims of the supplement's health benefits were being exaggerated to "exploit" families.
In Australia, the father of the sick girl had reportedly given her so much it was stuck between her teeth and clogging her mouth when she was finally brought into the hospital, unable to walk and hallucinating. Her mouth was black and peeling, according to court documents, and the rest of her body was pale. The mother apparently pushed for traditional medicine, but said she was afraid that her estranged partner would deny her access to her children if she pushed further.
Although the fact that more families are using alternative medicine to treat their kids' illnesses gave me some hope that some parents will finally stop rushing to their paediatrician demanding a round of antibiotics for every bump and hiccup, this sort of story is just what I was afraid of.
Raised in a househould that is highly supportive of traditional medicine (my mother's in the health field), I can admit there are alternatives that are beneficiary. Think saline mist to clean out the sinuses, a long sitz bath to soothe the sting of chicken pox, that sort of thing. These are options not only for parents who are uninsured or underinsured but those of us who are lucky enough to have insurance, but don't want to be throwing pills at everything. Sometimes the old-fashioned remedies have passed the test of time.
Should these so-called "health supplements" really be considered alternative medicine? Where does one draw the line?
Image: News.com.au
This article is totally slanted. Looking at the millions of deaths due to toxic drugs, while this is a very sad story, this is not the way supplements should be used. Antibiotics are necessary and the father needed to use both. To support and enhance the body’s ability to protect and defend and then be synergistic to the meds would have been the better way to go. But to just put down a company with top quality food form non toxic science based nutrition which has shown to be beneficial to the body’s health is poor journalism to say the least!
Its all about balance. Modern medicine, here in America at least, can be one of the #1 assistance’s in crisis times. We here in America are in the top ranking for administrative care during emergencies. That being said, I believe we are #37 in “true health care” and preventative medicine.
Acknowledging a condition such as an infection, to the point of severity to necessitate antibiotics would simply suggest and emergency. While nutrition plays the CRUCIAL role in preventative medicine, and restoration of wellness, there are some advancements in Modern ‘Western’ Medicine that are a counterpart in such situations.
I for one utilized modern antibiotics in conjunction with the Mannatech supplements when I was diagnosed with Spinal Meningitis. Although I cannot make a legal claim of the correlation of food supplements and my succeeding and healing, I can say that the doctors gave little hope to the success other wise.
Considering the concept of cell-to-cell communication, and its relevancy, I would feel with out this technology, and its counterpart, certain modern modalities, we would even worse off.