Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Readers Respond (October 07, 2008)
From Josie (October 07, 2008)
Here is a story for you. I think you will find it interesting. I was diagnosed with MS a couple of years ago....before going on any of the pharm meds I wanted to be sure I tried everything else, natural. I went to a naturopathic Dr, who I really liked. I read books on diets and drastically changed that and started taking the vitamins they say help people with MS. After a year of doing this, I still declined and decided to go on the drugs (with continuation of everything else). After a year of being on the drugs, I broke out in severe hives and decided to go off of the meds, as advised by my MS Doc. I was going to a general practitioner for the hives and was on and off of Steriods until they finally subsided.
This is when it gets weird. A couple of months later I get a call from the Dr's office saying they wanted me to come in for extensive blood work. I got excited because I wanted them to do this in order to find out if I was allergic to anything besides the MS meds, which were helping. I thought...great, I finally got a Dr who is being proactive with my health. I got there and they took 8 vials of blood. WOW....the Dr., who I have never seen before, came in and sat down and started talking about treating me as a whole and getting to the root of my problem. He then started to talk about Whole Food vitamins. I told him I took one already that I get from Whole Foods. He then told me about Juice Plus and wanted me to buy some and gave me the information with the website. I just sat there and looked at him...and thought this is weird. Did he call me in here for this???!!!! He really can't belong to one of those pyramid scheme things can he...??? A Dr??...Well, sure enough, it looks like he was/is. I of course didn't order any of it.
This Dr saw that I had MS and is trying to take advantage of someone with a chronic illness. It makes me sick!!! Luckily I am an educated person in regards to my illness and these types of things. He actually poked jabs at my MS Dr and said most of these specialists are only concerned with getting you on pharm drugs. I think it is important for Dr's to make their patients aware of the benefits of being healthy and taking vitamins, but to me this crossed the line. He saw my report from my last MRI come across his desk...noticed I had MS and probably got excited about making a few bucks. Is this even legal??!!!!
JPRB Reply
Thanks for writing Josie. We most definitely find the story interesting. There is no question that the physician’s actions were highly unethical. As to the legal ramifications, if he contacted you after looking at your test results or patient information without your consent, then it would in all likelihood be a legal violation. It would also be illegal if the physician is a Juice Plus distributor and made claims implying that Juice Plus could cure or treat MS or its symptoms.
We suggest that you report the incident immediately to the American Medical Association and your state medical board. A call to the Office of the Inspector General and your State Attorney might not be a bad idea either. You may also wish to let your regular MS specialist know that this other physician was bad mouthing him and pushing Juice Plus on you. It might help if an incident like this were to come up again with one of your regular doctor's patients.
It would also be helpful if you could provide us with the physician's name so that others can be warned of their predatory and unethical behavior. We will be happy to followup by researching the background of this physician and we can offer our assistance if you wish to file a complaint.
Here is a story for you. I think you will find it interesting. I was diagnosed with MS a couple of years ago....before going on any of the pharm meds I wanted to be sure I tried everything else, natural. I went to a naturopathic Dr, who I really liked. I read books on diets and drastically changed that and started taking the vitamins they say help people with MS. After a year of doing this, I still declined and decided to go on the drugs (with continuation of everything else). After a year of being on the drugs, I broke out in severe hives and decided to go off of the meds, as advised by my MS Doc. I was going to a general practitioner for the hives and was on and off of Steriods until they finally subsided.
This is when it gets weird. A couple of months later I get a call from the Dr's office saying they wanted me to come in for extensive blood work. I got excited because I wanted them to do this in order to find out if I was allergic to anything besides the MS meds, which were helping. I thought...great, I finally got a Dr who is being proactive with my health. I got there and they took 8 vials of blood. WOW....the Dr., who I have never seen before, came in and sat down and started talking about treating me as a whole and getting to the root of my problem. He then started to talk about Whole Food vitamins. I told him I took one already that I get from Whole Foods. He then told me about Juice Plus and wanted me to buy some and gave me the information with the website. I just sat there and looked at him...and thought this is weird. Did he call me in here for this???!!!! He really can't belong to one of those pyramid scheme things can he...??? A Dr??...Well, sure enough, it looks like he was/is. I of course didn't order any of it.
This Dr saw that I had MS and is trying to take advantage of someone with a chronic illness. It makes me sick!!! Luckily I am an educated person in regards to my illness and these types of things. He actually poked jabs at my MS Dr and said most of these specialists are only concerned with getting you on pharm drugs. I think it is important for Dr's to make their patients aware of the benefits of being healthy and taking vitamins, but to me this crossed the line. He saw my report from my last MRI come across his desk...noticed I had MS and probably got excited about making a few bucks. Is this even legal??!!!!
JPRB Reply
Thanks for writing Josie. We most definitely find the story interesting. There is no question that the physician’s actions were highly unethical. As to the legal ramifications, if he contacted you after looking at your test results or patient information without your consent, then it would in all likelihood be a legal violation. It would also be illegal if the physician is a Juice Plus distributor and made claims implying that Juice Plus could cure or treat MS or its symptoms.
We suggest that you report the incident immediately to the American Medical Association and your state medical board. A call to the Office of the Inspector General and your State Attorney might not be a bad idea either. You may also wish to let your regular MS specialist know that this other physician was bad mouthing him and pushing Juice Plus on you. It might help if an incident like this were to come up again with one of your regular doctor's patients.
It would also be helpful if you could provide us with the physician's name so that others can be warned of their predatory and unethical behavior. We will be happy to followup by researching the background of this physician and we can offer our assistance if you wish to file a complaint.
