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Science & Technology
Gulf War Veteran Gets Placebos Instead Of Real Medicine
2006-03-05
A Gulf War veteran undergoing medical treatment said he was given placebos -- or sugar pills -- instead of real medicine.

Like thousands of other soldiers, Army veteran Mike Woods said he developed bizarre symptoms after serving in the first Gulf War -- blackouts, chest pain and numbness in the extremities.

Woods looked to the Veterans Administration for help. He said his VA doctor prescribed him a drug called Obecalp. "She told me there was this new drug out that would really help me with all of my physical conditions, and my pain. She really wanted me to try it," said Woods.
Name of the doctor?
But when the pill provided no relief, Woods did some research and learned that Obecalp isn't a medicine at all, but a sugar pill. He was shocked to learn the word "obecalp" is placebo spelled backward.
How could he be shocked? It is exactly 'placebo' spelled backwards.
The American Medical Association said placebos should only be used as part of a clinical trial and doctors must be extremely thorough in obtaining informed consent from patients that they may not be getting a real drug.

"Nobody ever said, 'You might be part of a study? You might get a placebo?'" asked reporter Alison Burns. "No. Never. I never signed up for a study in my life, much less with the VA," said Woods.

Woods recently shared his ordeal with members of Congress investigating complaints about how the government is caring for patients with Gulf War Syndrome. "The first step to fixing any problem is to recognize the problem is real," said Woods. "It is absolutely ridiculous that they're giving Gulf War veterans a sugar pill to cure pain. It's like giving a cancer patient a sugar pill to cure cancer," said veterans' advocate Steve Robinson.

"To me, it's so wrong. It's immoral," said Dr. Damian Alagia, Medical Society of Washington, D.C.

Algia agrees that prescribing placebo to patients who haven't provided their consent is unethical. Although, he said research shows placebos are often effective in making a patient think he's getting better. "Thirty-five percent of the time placebo will work," he said.

But it did not work for Woods --who said getting Obecalp is one more way the government is letting him down after he served his country. "That's how they treat Gulf War illnesses -- give you a placebo and send you down the road and hope that your mind will cure itself," said Woods.

It might not just be a problem for veterans. Eyewitness News found a number of reports about doctors who admitted giving unwitting patients sugar pills to make patients think they're getting real treatment.

No one from the VA could explain why Woods got a placebo prescription. They said, as a rule, VA doctors are not supposed to use placebos as medical treatment.
No one could, eh? Name of the VA spokesman?

I call bullshit. First of all, we docs, and the hospitals we work in, don't stock placebos. Really. You can't get one outside of a clinical trial unless you've been bogarting them somehow. It's not like I can write an order: "Placebo, 1 really big one, red with a white stripe, qid and prn". It doesn't happen.

Second, the VA would never condone this. The fall-out, if such a thing were to be true, would be considerable. Most VA administrators I've encountered are very political and also very chicken when it comes to attracting the wrong kind of attention to themselves. When they get VA spokescritters on the record on this one, maybe I'll begin to believe it.

Oh by the way, Mr. Woods, got any of those pills left? I'd like to run an analysis ...
Posted by:Anonymoose

#12  There may be a little clarity, here. Apparently, placebos are, or at least were given to two classes of ordinary patients. Known addicts, who have been trolling for narcotics; and the larger class of the grey area including demanding hypochodriacs, TEETH (Tried Everything Else, Try Homeopathy) patients, and DAJ (Dead Already, Jim) patients who are not in pain, but want a pill anyway.

Anecdotal mentions:

http://tinyurl.com/rug7o

Use of "Obecalp" at Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center alleged.

http://tinyurl.com/oj5bd

Nurse inquiring of the use of "Obecalp"
Posted by: Anonymoose   2006-03-05 17:18  

#11  Placebin---the new miracle drug.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2006-03-05 17:01  

#10  Story stinks to high heaven. No placebo is labelled as obecalp. Total bull. Not even when prescribed to get rid of 'chondriacs. There is a common label. That ain't it.
Posted by: Hupomoger Clans9827   2006-03-05 13:47  

#9  Well, anyway, the left, especially the ACLU, is trying to make a 1st Amendment issue out of this deal, trying to imply that the hospital chief of human resources, some GS-13 NOBODY, was acting on orders from the administration.

Don't you know? Not a sparrow falls that isn't the Bush administration's fault.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2006-03-05 11:44  

#8  I'm sorry glad those last names weren't reversed.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2006-03-05 10:59  

#7  References: Google the nurse, Laura Berg, or Catbert, Mel Hooker.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2006-03-05 10:44  

#6  Special note for the editor, in re: VA administrators.

Right now, the left is beating the drum about the chief of a VA hospital human resources division in Albuquerque.

Some nurse at the hospital sent a letter to the editor of her local newspaper which called Bush a "poopy-pants", more or less. Big deal.

The chief of HR (Catbert) ordered the "information security" people at the hospital to confiscate her work computer to see if she had used it to write and send the letter. She hadn't.

Then, when she inquired as to why her computer had been snatched, he FOOLISHLY said that he HAD to investigate all suggestions of, and I quote, "sedition".

SEDITION?! What an idiot. Well, anyway, the left, especially the ACLU, is trying to make a 1st Amendment issue out of this deal, trying to imply that the hospital chief of human resources, some GS-13 NOBODY, was acting on orders from the administration.

Ergo, it is all Bush's fault, and he is having people investigated for criticizing him, etc., ad nauseum.

Now, this of course has little bearing on the use or misuse of placebos at some other VA hospital. However, it does point out that at least ONE VA administrator is an utter idiot.

(One last note: the nurse's union rep did everything in his power to exacerbate the situation, suggesting that Catbert had even called the FBI in to investigate the nurse, a charge Catbert denies.)
Posted by: Anonymoose   2006-03-05 10:42  

#5  Even if a doc could proscribe placebos, the word wouldn't appear on the presciption or the pills. It would defeat the purpose.

Add in the lack of names, and, yeah, this doesn't just smell like bullshit, it is bullshit.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2006-03-05 10:13  

#4  But, but it could be true! Just because it stinks to high heaven doesn't mean that there's no perfume on this planet. It's a very truthy piece.
Posted by: 6   2006-03-05 09:40  

#3  I believe the perspective is courtesy of Dr. Steve White, M.D., A.o.S.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2006-03-05 08:53  

#2  I suppose I should add the link.

Unfortunately one needs to subscribe to read the entire article, but the summary is regarding the innovative approach undertaken by the US Army in addressing Battle Stress issues.

http://sciammind.com/article.cfm?&articleID=00067306-43AE-13D9-810183414B7F0000
Posted by: Incredulous   2006-03-05 03:22  

#1  Nice to have a bit of clarity from a military perspective, thanks Anonymous.

To contribute - I've been working as a (civilian) psychiatric nurse for coming 20 years, often with PTSD sufferers (Vietnem Vets and Gulf 91), and in that time have never witnessed a single placebo prescribed or administered.

That's not to say that that placebo effects don't occur, just in a different context. That is, often patients respond to the medication before they've had the chance to be absorbed or to work. However this has hardly anything to do with orchestrated deception.

For those interested in PTSD and the current effects on US soldiers in Iraq (and the very responsible interventions undertaken by the US Military for PTSD and Battle Stress), check out "Scientific American Mind" Magazine, Feb/March 2006.

PS. No letter bombs please. Last time I contributed like this I got some surprize emails, but being legitimate, check out the links first.
Posted by: Incredulous   2006-03-05 02:55  

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