Foreign Clinics Lure Americans With Unproven Treatments

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IMPOSTER - Jerry Margolis

The person using the alias of Jerry Margolis is an imposter.

Harry Depietro is actually writing under this alias.

Harry Depietro is a disgruntled former patient. Disgruntled not because the treatment DID end up saving his life BUT because the management at TheraViate declined on offering him a position within the company.

The man is a hypocritical, lucky-to-be-alive, ungrateful person who is trying to extract his "revenge" for being turned away upon begging for a job within this life-saving company.

Oh yeah...Harry is an American lawyer...go figure.

Dear Mr Margolis

I appreciate your humility and will not even put my url on the site so that you won't be infuriated. By the way, where do you go for medical care (you know where I get mine) and is anyone ever denied access there. I do hope the rates are reasonable as i need good quality affordable care here in the US. Perhaps you will be so kind as to help pay my bills. All I am trying to do is enable folks to get health care. I am sorry is this offends you.

I am curious why you did not offer to aid the 90 year old man in Thailand as you were so concerned. Finally, I do not toss the word "pimp" out and call you names, so you must understand why I responded.

Simply (no url)

Robert Cooper

Robert Cooper

I am sure that you are a fine person with only the best of intentions.

It just seemed obvious to me that you were jumping on an opportunity to get a little free advertising for your web site - which you got - so perhaps we can end this discussion ...?? If I were the moderator of this site, I would have removed your post or at least edited out the URL which adds nothing to the discussion.

As far as nationalized health care in Thailand goes - Give me a break - it is HORRIBLE!! Perhaps you should send some of your clients to a few up-country Thai government hospitals and see what they think? However, this is far off-topic so I will go no further. Feel free to get your last URL plug in by responding because it will be the last opportunity I give you to do it.

Response to Mr Margolis on Medical tourist companies.

Without a doubt you are right that private hospitals are out of the realm of many in Thailand. All medical treatment is out of reach for more than 100 million Americans. If you include the aged and poor who receive Medicaid and Medicare and other government aid (nationalized health) these numbers would be even higher. All hospitals and clinics in the US are "elitist" in your definition. Your name calling does not help the discussion. I am losing my shirt trying to help a segment of a population to get health care. That I can not help everyone in the world should not denigrate attempting to help some. I have a Thai business partner who is a good human being and not an evil money grubbing soul as you imply. I am a house painter and have worked in the trades for over 35 years. I am in this business to help folks and hopefully to make a little bit to live on (right now I am going broke trying to get the word out). Excuse me for attempting to support myself by bringing health and well being to others. I am curious what you think of insurance companies here in the US and Thailand. I believe they exclude many.

Oh, and by the way, nationalized health care is available in Thailand for all. You must know this but instead use the shameful argument that one Thai (and as in any other country there are more) has received what you consider bad treatment. All our clients received bad to shameful treatment in the US for rather prohibitive prices, that is why they went to Thailand. Some, such as myself, couldn't afford the treatment needed to save my life. If you think we are all rich cats living off the poor Thai you are seriously wrong. If the medical system in Thailand brings in money and clients it will encourage more to become doctors, nurses and medical workers. I don't think that is such a bad idea. It is an industry that offers to improve the Thai economy and life style. I would rather do that than encourage more folks to make more clothing in sweat shops. Most important is the health and well being of those that I can help. I can not save the whole world, but what little I can do I will do. Oh,I do volunteer at Father Joe's Mercy Centre (www.mercycentre.org) in Bangkok. Just so you know I am not that bad a person.

Robert Cooper

www.patientvacation.com

Theravitae Stem Cell Therapy

Dear Dr. Pryor,

Since you seem to know so much about TheraVitae's remarkable "results", perhaps you could enlighten everyone about the current status of a few of TheraVitae's first "J-9" direct injection patients' current conditions. They've all appeared in the news at one time or another as TheraVitae stem cell "success" stories; namely:

1) Jeannine Lewis - Dead

2) Calvin Miller - ?

3) Harry DePietro (see above)

4) Don Ho - Dead

5) Esteban Bonilla - ?

Perhaps you can get Don Margolis or his son Robert Clark to contact Mr. Miller and Mr. Bonilla and have them post MRI (not EKG results which are too subjective) results that show they are better today than when they were treated. By the way, did Mr. Bonilla pay full price or did he receive a "discount". If he did receive a discount, might that affect his "objectivity"?

And your following statement is utterly ridiculous::

"...I think I sufficiently trust the medical staff used by TheraVitae to believe that probably 70% of those treated improve significantly by objective measures within months to a year, and probably 1% of those treated die (after all they are dealing with some really sick patients)..."

So you "trust the medical staff used by TheraVitae!!" enough to "believe" that 70% of those treated (is that by catheter or direct injection or both?)improve "significantly" by "objective measures" (what are these measures and who did them and when?) .... and "PROBABLY 1% of those treated die"...(of course, anyone who dies would have died anyway because they were "really sick" right?)

If you bothered to read the "clinical trial results" (and I use that term very loosely) that doctors from Bangkok Hospital Published, you would know that "The 30day mortality was 4.3% and 3.5 % in the DCM (dilated cardiomyopathy) and ICM (ischemic cardiomyopathy) groups,respectively." - need I say more?

I invite you to respond but I also warn you to first consult with Don Margolis or his son, Robert Clark before you do. The genral public might not be ready to hear everything I have to say.

Theravitae

Dear Mr. Stuart,

Could you please honestly answer these questions:

Since being treated have you ever lived in Thailand or have you ever been employed or paid by TheraVitae in Thailand, Robert Clark or his father Don Margolis?

Can you confirm or deny that TheraVitae has in the past offered former patients money or other incentives for each new patient they refer for treatment? What about now?

TheraVitae Stem Cell Treatment

Mr. Cooper, It strikes me as a bit disingenuous of you to comment on the morality and ethics of "withholding medical and health care from those without money and insurance", as someone pimping a web site business that profits on medical tourism by sending Americans to elitist hospitals in Thailand that were built to service wealthy Thais and foreigners who can afford it. These private hospitals' prices are far out of reach to the average Thai citizen. Anyone who has ever lived in Thailand can attest to this.

I live in Thailand and believe me, if you don't have the cash or credit, you won't be getting any treatment at Bangkok Hospital or Bumrungrad.

Perhaps you can become an advocate for a system in Thailand where the average Thai doesn't have to accept appallingly sub-standard medical care while hospitals like Bangkok Hospital and Bumrungrad suck up all the medical talent in order to cash in on foreigners and wealthy Thais.

But then again, there is no 10-15% commission in that for you is there?

I leave you with one example of the "appalling care" available to the average Thai...

I visited an old man in the country who was 90 years old and dying of cancer in his wooden, stilted "house". He was lying on a straw mat in the middle of the floor in 90 degree heat with no fan. The government "doctor" come by while I was there and gave him a "free" shot. Since I can speak Thai, I asked the "doctor" what he gave him. He said, "vitamin B-12" and walked out the door.

TheraVitae Stem Cell Treatment

Yes, the TheraVitae procedure is unproven; just as the space program that landed the first man on the moon was unproven until the first person went. BUT, it is unproven in the scientific sense only because of limited publication of results and lack of published replication by other researchers. To the extent that I have been able to verify the results of others who have undergone the TheraVitae procedure, I believe some have had a doubling or tripling of their cardiac ejection fraction. I think I sufficiently trust the medical staff used by TheraVitae to believe that probably 70% of those treated improve significantly by objective measures within months to a year, and probably 1% of those treated die (after all they are dealing with some really sick patients). At two months post-op I feel better than I have in many years and can stay awake for most of the day, instead of collapsing from fatigue after a few hours like before. While it is true that I do not know what the future holds for me or others who had undergone the stem cell treatment, at least we have started the voyage to find out instead of just waiting to die.

Everyone who has been through the procedure should post their verifiable echocardiogram results and other data quarterly for the first year post-op. That should afford us a “people’s revolution” in medical research – and may well show that 70% get a second chance at life.

Adult stem cell/medical tourism

The discussion has descended into name calling and has blurred the real dilemma. One side is looking to reduce the options by relying on fear, the only thing that we americans seem to respond to. In reality the options should be up to the individual. Are not most studies on drug and medical procedures here in the US funded by the interested corporations? They do not appear objective at all and time and again have been found to be using distorted figures to benefit these same corporations. I don't wish to besmirch the motives for Harry J. DePietro, Esq., but he seems to be rather biased based on his personal results. It looks as if he was hoping to save his own life after running out of alternatives or at least hit the "lottery" by suing if a "miracle" did not occur.

As both a medical tourism business owner (www.patientvacation.com), and, more importantly, a patient successfully treated in Thailand for a badly broken shoulder and, more recently, a heart condition (I had a stent implanted), I can personally attest to the quality of medical care in Thailand. It is true, just as it is in the USA, that all results are not miraculous successes. But I can say without reservation that the care I received in Bangkok on at least 12 occasions-blood tests, colonoscopies, root canals, bone biopsy, emergency visits, physical exams, three surgeries- was far superior in medical quality, timeliness, quality of facilities, and courtesy than anything I have experienced here in the US. These are my personal opinions as well as the sentiments of all our clients at Patient Vacation. And we are not the only company who have found these things to be true. My heart goes out to the pain you are suffering, but do not attack the Thai medical profession and the concept of medical tourism because of personal disappointment.

Calling adult free choice by a patient, without options, seeking radical treatment "ethically suspicious circumstances" seems rather judgmental. But what is morally and ethically wrong is withholding medical and health care from those without money and insurance. Medical tourism is the only option for many. We at Patient Vacation hope for the day when a single payer system treats all Americans equally and insurance is a thing of the past. But until that time we will seek superior healthcare where we find it and where we can afford it. That is free will.