Ethic Soup

Three-year-old Cancer Patient Auctions His Art To Pay Hospital Bills

Liam Myrick of St. Louis is just three years old and he has a tumor on his kidney, a stage four neuroblastoma.

A VULNERABLE PRESCHOOLER

He's undergoing excruciating chemotherapy. About a week ago, Liam had a bone marrow stem cell transplant and must stay in his room at the St. Louis Childrens' Hospital and visitors must wear masks, so as not to infect the vulnerable preschooler.

Liam began painting artwork as part of his therapy. His mother, Shawna, said  that when Liam started painting "he didn't care about the fact that in a couple hours they're going to come in, poke around and it's going to hurt. He just lives for the moment," reported News 13 of Orlando, FL.

EXPENSIVE MEDICAL CARE

His parents are already facing more than $500,000 in bills for his hospital care.

So, to celebrate Liam and his art, the Myricks are auctioning his paintings on Facebook to help defray the costs of his medical expenses.

Follow-Up: Another Face Burned in Surgical Fire

          Tommy Beams, Washington State,latest burn victim of surgical fire 

 

It was just a few days after a similar horrible surgical fire in Florida, that a man undergoing routine surgery in a Grays Harbor Community Hospital, Washington state, had a fire erupt on his face  -- while he was unconscious and under anesthesia. Tommy Beams (pictured above)was burned on his face and head. 

Beam was undergoing a one-hour procedure to remove a bump on his head when he said his oxygen mask caught fire. He was rushed to Harborview Medical Center after the accident last Thursday.

"The physical pain is tremendous," Beam told the Baltimore Sun. "My lips, my face ... on fire."

No More Late Nights with Smarmy Bigot David Letterman

  

I won't be staying up late nights, watching David Letterman on the Late Show anymore.

Letterman's physical appearance isn't a pretty picture to look at these days.

He used to be cute, with all of that thick curly hair. It's not just his receding hairline or all of the snow on his roof. Before he was an old man and had his bypass heart surgery, his smile produced little crinkles near his eyes, not those giant crows feet he's got now. But, that's not really the problem either. Though, a little plastic surgery couldn't hurt. He is a TV star, isn't he? I noticed during his nightly monologues that the camera didn't zoom-in for as many close-ups anymore.

PETTY DETAILS

The petty details discussed above, about Letterman's physical appearance, is an attempt to replicate Letterman's mean-spirited 'humor' about the physical appearance of others. Of which, I've had my fill.

Sadly, Letterman was one more old man who was anxious to pass on his genes by becoming a father in his senior years -- asking his live-in girl friend to become his breeder. No, no he didn't offer her marriage for her motherhood. Even guests on his Late Show would ask Letterman on-air: "When are you going to marry the mother of your child?" 

More Evidence That VA Hospitals Can Kill You: Now 1,800 More Vets May Be Infected with HIV?

ONCE AGAIN a VA hospital is under fire after discovery that it exposed almost two thousand veterans to life-threatening diseases like hepatitis and HIV.

Now soldiers who served and risked their lives still have to worry about their personal safety -- not from al-Qaeda or Taliban-- but the Veterans Administration.

This time the hospital is in Missouri. The John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis recently mailed letters to 1,812 veterans telling them they just might contract hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Why? Because they went to the medical center for dental work.

Damn! What does it take to be safe? Surprise -- sterilization.

SIMPLE STERILIZATION

Not 'human' sterilization, but sterilization of dental instruments. Although, preventing stupid humans from procreating ... What are the chances that their progeny will also risk the lives of so many others?

Little Cat Loses Paws to Combine Harvester: Now He's World's First Bionic Cat!

Art Copyright by Ethic Soup.Com

WHAT'S A FAUX PAW OR TWO?

Little Oscar, a two-and-a-half-year-old black cat, made a faux pas by sleeping in the maize field while it was being harvested. A giant combine harvester sliced off Oscar's two back paws.

But wait, he's okay now. In fact, the little cat from Jersey -- in the British Channel Isles off the coast of Normandy -- is the world's first bionic cat, sporting new prosthetic paws.

A faux pas in the maize field led to two faux paws and world-wide fame. Oscar's a star!

NO ITALIAN STEW, THANK YOU

It's a good thing Oscar isn't Italian. He might have become the main ingredient in a Chef Beppe Bigazzi cat meat stew. 

Here's how it all came about:

Oscar's sleeping in a Jersey maize field, while it's being harvested. The combine gets him. Good-bye paws.

Millions of Americans Can't Afford Cancer Treatment, Go Without Medical Care

TO BE OR NOT TO BE is the ultimate question when you have cancer. A new study reveals that 18 percent of U.S. cancer survivors, or more than two million persons, did not get needed medical services because they didn't have the money to pay for them.

COSTS POSE THREAT TO CANCERN SURVIVAL

Cost concerns have posed a threat to cancer survivorship for some time, reports Bloomberg Businessweek, particularly with the advent of new, life-prolonging treatments. This study raises troubling conerns about the long-term survival and quality of life.

"We've known for a long time that cancer can have a negative impact on the financial health of survivors," explains the study lead author Kathryn E. Weaver at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. "But we didn't know what implications this financial stress might have for their ongoing medical care, even long after their diagnosis."

Who's Your Daddy? Drinking A Lot of Cola and Caffeine Lowers Sperm Count

WANNA COLA, DUDE? WHOA! DON'T WANNA LOWER YOUR SPERM COUNT! If you're like most guys, having plenty of sperm is important to you. 

Significant is the fact that a reduced sperm count increases the risk of eventually becoming infertile -- no future "Got any money Dad?" or "Come watch me quarterback the big game Pop."

REAL MEN

Real men may not care much for quiche, nor can many spell it; but, real men have lots of fertile sperm and hairy chests. One you can see without a microscope and one you can't. That's why men describe a manly man as having big balls. Balls, of course, are testicles; and, testicles are where the sperm reside.

Everyone knows that you don't mess around with  Mother Nature because it can mess up your sperm, like taking a bunch of steroids so you can have bigger, stronger muscles. That's a case of 'What you see is NOT what you get.'

WHAT LOWERS SPERM COUNT?

Men who smoke have a 13-17 percent lower sperm count than those who do not smoke. High alcohol intake can significantly reduce the sperm count and motility. Tight fitting clothes and prolonged periods of sitting can lead to a reduction in sperm count through excessive heating of the testes. So, switch to wearing boxer shorts.

Cannabis, cocaine and anabolic steroids all reduce the sperm count, affect motility and number of normal sperm. And now there's cola.

Airport Security Forces Disabled Boy, 4, To Remove Leg Braces or Else No Disney World.

LITTLE RYAN Thomas just turned four-years-old and hadn't been walking on his own all that long. Ryan is developmentally disabled and just got a pair of corrective braces. He was born 16 weeks premature, his ankles are malformed and his legs have very little muscle tone -- He cannot walk without the braces.

For his birthday, his mom and dad, a Camden, N.J. police officer, were taking Ryan on his first airplane flight, to visit Disney World in Orlando, Florida. How exciting!

HE COULD BE A TERRORIST!

That is until TSA screeners at Philadelphia International Airport decided 4-year-old Ryan could be a terrorist.

"Now we know how the 'Crotch Bomber' got through security -- TSA screeners are busy terrorizing disabled toddlers," says CBS News.

As Mom Leona Thomas walked Ryan through the metal detector (pictured right), the alarm went off.

TAKE OFF THE BRACES!

The screener told them to take off Ryan's braces.

Dad Bob Thomas told them the boy can't walk on his own without the braces.

Answer: "He'll have to take them off."

Then Mom said she would walk Ryan through the detector after they removed the custom-made braces, composed of metal and plastic.

HE MUST WALK ON HIS OWN

The screener said no. The boy would have to walk on his own.

By this time, Dad, a 53-year-old cop in Camden's emergency crime suppression team, was steaming. But he and his wife complied with the TSA screener's demands. Mom went first, then Ryan, backed up by Dad. That way Ryan wouldn't get hurt if he fell. But Ryan made it through the detector.

Why in the world didn't the TSA have a policy that would have let the parents help their child to a private screening area, where Ryan could have been swabbed for traces of explosive materials? asked columnist Daniel Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer.

Long after the fact, the TSA apologized and said the boy never should have been told to remove his braces.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) often operates with little common sense. We might as well have robots performing the services of TSA screeners.

SPEAKING OF ROBOTS:

TO READ "DEAR SANTA: I WANT A ROBOT THAT LOOKS LIKE ME"CLICK HERE.

 by Sharon McEachern

Minority and Special Needs Kids Tasered by Cop in Classroom 'Demos'

 
HEY KID -- Hold still now. ZZZZzzaaaap! ZZZZzzaaaap!

This time the public knows that it happened -- not once, not twice, but at least three different times.

A white cop used minority kids as subjects in what he called classroom 'demonstrations' of a Taser gun -- while the school principal and teachers looked on. Parents believe other children, suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and learning disabilities, were similarly Tasered.

TASERED OVER TWO YEARS?

Just so you'll understand the atmosphere -- the cop Tasered two boys and one girl, but not before he placed newspapers under one child, in case he defecated or urinated as a result of the shock. The kids were Tasered in March and October 2009 and in January of this year, however parents say its been ongoing since 2008.

It happened at Kankakee Junior High School, in Kankakee, Illinois, about 67 miles from Chicago. Kankakee police Officer Lonnie Netzel Tasered the children, while witnesses Principal Jason Worden and teachers Bradley Netzel and Kyle Flanigan watched.

TORTURE WITH RACIAL OVERTONES

While Officer Netzel called them 'demonstrations', parents of the children say it was torture with racial overtones and that their children were subjected to this abuse and pain without cause or justification. 

Placebos Are As Good As Drugs For Mild to Moderate Depression

There are millions of Americans who suffer with horrible, debilitating depression and millions who take antidepressants daily.

Antidepressants have been available since the 1950s. Still, unbelievably, few studies have focused directly on how the pills affect people with milder symptoms.

"After all these years -- and all those prescriptions -- you'd think we'd know everything there is to know about how antidepressants affect the people who take them," writes Alix Spiegel on National Public Radio's blog. 

MOST DEPRESSION IS MILD TO MODERATE 

In fact, almost 70 percent of depressed people on medication have moderate to mild symptoms. Why haven't we studied these folks?

"Because drug companies fund the vast majority of clinical trials, and obviously drug companies are interested in having their clinical trials show the efficacy of their antidepressant medications," Brett Deacon, a psychologist at the University Wyoming told NPR's All Things Considered.

A recent study finds that, for people with mild to moderate depression, taking an antidepressant is no better than swallowing a placebo. Pharmaceuticals versus sugar pills and sugar wins. 

AN ETHICAL CONUNDRUM

This presents us with an ethical conundrum.

How about doing right by the patients involved in research, the ethical obligation toward those who are randomly assigned to get a placebo?

Will the pharmaceutical manufacturers admit to the public that their drugs are only helpful for severe depression? Don't bet on it.

Will physicians stop prescribing the drugs and increase prescribing placebos ?

Who makes all the profit from placebos? The pharmacies or manufacturers? Numerous other studies have found that patients believe a medicine's value is evidenced by its cost. A drug that is cheap doesn't work nearly as well as an expensive drug, most of us think. The same applies to placebos.

Do the pharmacies or manufacturers split the profits from sugar pills with the prescribing doctors?

And the big one -- Is lying to a patient ethical -- Telling her that you're prescribing a real drug and withholding the fact that it's really a placebo?

Will any of the above-mentioned tell us the truth?