It's a shame that The Record doesn't allow you to comment on their articles like other newspaper websites do. This seriously needs some public discussion about the application of skepticism to medicine as well as some about lack of proper investigation by the journalist.
Today there is an article about a woman who is going to go to Costa Rica for a very controversial surgery to help alleviate/cure multiple sclerosis. "Controversial" is right! The surgery is based on a hypothesis by a vascular surgeon that blocked veins in the brain and spinal cord are the cause of MS rather than a result. The surgery is some angioplasty to unblock the veins and reestablish normal blood-flow patterns.
Now I understand how a person suffering from MS might want to try something, anything that might cure it, but this article never actually says anything about what this woman herself wants - we don't even find out this woman's name until near the end. It seems like they only interviewed her mother. Also, while they printed comments of a neurosurgeon on the mechanics of the surgery, the article never once touches on why the procedure is so controversial.
It's because there's no evidence to support that the the correlation of blocked cerebral veins in MS sufferers is actually the cause of MS rather than being caused by it. The hypothesis under which the surgery is performed is based on a single preliminary survey, published in December 2009, and as of yet that preliminary survey has not been replicated by a more in depth study. A group from the University of Buffalo is working on it, but they have yet to publish any results, positive or negative.
People die from this surgery, like Mahir Mostic. He is another Canadian who also went to Costa Rica to have this surgery and died on 19 October from complications. In a few months will we hear in the news that this woman has also died from complications after this risky surgery when just a dab of skepticism could have saved her life like it might have saved Mostic's?
In my opinion, doctors performing controversial surgeries like this that are not based on evidence are acting unethically and breaking their Hippocratic oath.
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