Katelyn Adams
Jessica Robinson
Honors English III
23 December 2008
Pick the Pocket of the Patient: Infamy in the Medical Industry
Most people know about today’s important blood diseases like the AIDS virus and hemophilia, but most people do not know about a blood syndrome that is affecting over three million Americans right now (Pollak). The syndrome that is being refered to is von Willebrand Syndrome. Although this syndrome may have a silly name, it is a very serious hematological disorder. Von Willebrand Syndrome is the most commonly inherited coagulation disorder, but little is known about it, and very few people who have von Willebrand Syndrome actually know that they have it (Beutler). Von Willebrand Syndrome occurs due to a defect with
Figures 1 and 2 [Shows how the body forms a clot]. Digital image. Allaboutbleeding.com. 25 Aug. 2005. HONcode. 17 Nov. 2008 <http://www.allaboutbleeding.com/vwd_and_you/view.asp?id=4634>.
the eighth factor of the blood, the von Willebrand Factor (Enersen). Without factor eight, one of the thirteen blood clotting factors, blood will not clot properly (“von Willebrand Disease.” National Hemophilia).
Since there are various degrees and types of factor eight deficiencies, there are also various degrees and types of von Willebrand Syndrome. Type 1, which is a mild deficiency of factor eight. Type 2, which has five subcategories, the most severe subcategory is Type 2B, all of Type 2 categories have a different mutation of their factor eight. Type 3, which is when there is no measurable amount of factor eight (Type 3 is the most severe form of von Willebrand Syndrome). Pseudo von Willebrand Syndrome “is similar to Type 2B, but the defect is in the platelets instead of in the factor” (Greenburg; “Von Willebrand Disease.” Kids). Von Willebrand Syndrome is one of few hematological disorders that does not have a recessive form, so if only one parent has Von Willebrand syndrome then the child is likely to either not have von Willebrand Syndrome at all or have a light form of von Willebrand Syndrome (such as Type 1) and the child’s case could be so meager that it could go unnoticed (“Von Willebrand Disease.” National Heart). Unfortunately, if both parents have von Willebrand syndrome, their child is more likely to have a severe form of von Willebrand Syndrome, such as Type 3 (“Von Willebrand Disease.” National Heart). If neither parents have von Willebrand Syndrome, it is highly unlikely that a child would get von Willebrand Syndrome, unless it is acquired von Willebrand Syndrome; acquired von Willebrand Syndrome is caused by a “Wilms tumor, Congenital heart disease, Systemic lupus erythematosus and Hypothyroidism” (Greenburg). Von Willebrand Syndrome has been known to cause spontaneous bleeding in patients, as well as incessant bleeding; patients with von Willebrand Syndrome have a higher risk of losing massive amounts of blood and potentially dying every time they have surgery or even get a shot (Rahmer; “Von Willebrand Disease.” Kids). Patients with von Willebrand Syndrome have to be extremely careful with even the simplest medications such as aspirin because it could make their blood even less susceptible to clotting. Due to their limited choices of help, patients find that there are both pros and cons of expensive medicine; it is helpful that research can be done to help future patients, but it is discouraging that the money spent by patients is being used for the miscellaneous debts of corporate providers. Medications to help prevent excess bleeding in von Willebrand Syndrome affected patients are expensive and limited. Are there reasons that there are extra charges on the tests needed to tell if a patient is affected by von Willebrand Syndrome, and the prices of the medicines for von Willebrand Syndrome treatment? Do these extra charges benefit the patient?
There are many reasons that corporate marketers add extra charges onto medical tests. The most popularized reason would be that more money is needed for research. With research von Willebrand patients could have less to worry about, and they could finally stop worrying about how much blood they could lose due to the smallest of cuts. As it was mentioned, Type 3 von Willebrand’s Syndrome is the most severe, but a treatment is on the horizon; currently researchers are conducting tests to see if plasma derived factor eight could be used to help patients with type 3 von Willebrand Syndrome (“Von Willebrand Disease.” Clinical). As of yet, two drugs, Neumega and Optivate, are undergoing research to see if they can help von Willebrand sufferers (“Von Willebrand Disease.” Clinical). Although these two medications are new and are still undergoing testing to see how they affect factor eight problems, they could potentially save patients hundreds of dollars, and thousands of hours that were to be spent on worrying (“Von Willebrand Disease.” Clinical). Potentially Neumega (oprevelkin) and Optivate (Antihemophilic factor-von Willebrand factor complex) could work better than Desmopression acetate and Humate P to help patients. The best possible results for Neumega and Optivate would be to decrease the mortality rate of von Willebrand patients that undergo surgery (“Von Willebrand Disease.” Clinical). Even though a menstrual cycle is a big hindrance in ordinary women’s lives; menstrual cycles can pose a danger to women to have von Willebrand Syndrome due to the large amount of blood they will lose. Currently researchers are developing a Mini-Pill to help prevent massive amounts of blood loss for von Willebrand women (“Von Willebrand Disease.” Clinical). Perhaps the most versatile effect of medical research for von Willebrand Syndrome is that most of the treatments that have been found to be successful in von Willebrand patients are also successful in other hereditary factor eight deficiencies; potentially treatments could also help a wide range of hemophiliacs (“Von Willebrand Disease.” Clinical). Although the research could potentially help patients, is it really worth their money, and is that the only thing that their money is being spent on?
Although it is amazing how the research will help von Willebrand sufferers, research is not all that patients money is being used for. Mostly, the extra money patients pay on tests goes towards paying off the medical corporations legal fees. The fees that patients pay off include malpractice suits, as well as the high-end lawyers needed to fight those legal cases (Fink). Have you ever noticed the medicine advertisements on television? The ones that end with “Ask your doctor about [whatever medical product]” (Fink)? Well, those are not the only advertisements that medical bureaucracies use; they also advertise in health magazines, informational brochures, and they advertise directly to doctors so that the doctor will recommend their product (Fink). That is a lot of advertisement, a lot of expensive advertisement that the patient’s money is paying for (Fink). Logically, inflated testing prices should be used to prevent errors with the treatment as well as the testing, but it is not so (Cannon). Instead of using a large percent of the extra charges for error prevention, medical monopolizes use the money for personal gain (Pearlstein). Corporate offices need the extra money to pay off their employees’ yachts, porches, and country club memberships (Pearlstein). Not only do the corporate officers profit from the medical testing prices, but doctors do also. Doctors seem to no longer make the choices best supported by the Hippocratic Oath; rather doctors prefer to make “cost effective” decisions that are supported by corporate providers (Schmidt). These “cost effective” decisions tend to not help patients because they are not chosen because of how well they will help the patient but how much they cost (Schmidt). These obviously unnecessary costs negatively affect the patient’s finances as well as the patient’s trust for the medical industry.
Patients with von Willebrand syndrome pay a substantial amount of money in order to subsidize their medical debts. Conveniently, the internet does not mention the price of von Willebrand Syndrome testing, and hematologists “beat around the bush” when testing prices are asked of them, but one can find the price of testing by asking a lab technician or a patient. According to Patty English, a local blood testing technician at Carteret General Hospital, “The tests would cost forty to fifty dollars, but sending those cultures off would cost a couple of hundred [dollars].” Although that may not seem very expensive, von Willebrand sufferers are required to undergo repetitive testing in order to effectively decide whether or not they have von Willebrand Syndrome; eventually “a couple of hundred [dollars],” would add up to be a couple of thousand dollars (English). In an interview Barbra Rahmer, a patient with von Willebrand Syndrome, admitted that “[The tests] were very expensive; I don’t remember how expensive, but I know they were very expensive”. These hundreds of dollar tests probably put a dent in the Wisconsin-mother-of-four’s pocket (Rahmer). It cannot be moral for these testing clinics to give tests that are unreasonably costly.
It is not right for companies to charge patients so that they may pay off their own agendas rather than spend said money on research. Most people believe that hospitals and doctors benefit from the price of the tests, but it is the medical giants who assign the costs of the tests that benefit. Instead of personally profiting from the testing costs medical corporations could be finding ways to prevent the side effects that are caused by the von Willebrand treatments. Some of the side effects that are caused by the treatments are, potentially, worse than von Willebrand Syndrome itself. Desmopressin acetate, for example causes: upper repertory infections, pinkeye, nosebleed, vomiting, and swelling of the male genitalia (“Desmopressin”). Humate P’s side effects, on the other hand, seem to worsen the patient’s case of von Willebrand Syndrome as well as liver problems: “swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue; […] coughing up blood; dark urine; […] new or worsening bruising or bleeding” (“Humate-P”). The up-and-coming drugs Neumega and Optivate also have serious side effects. Neumega has been known to cause anaphylactic shock as well as other serious side effects including: anemia, or even a highly severe problem known as “capillary leak syndrome” in which blood will disband from the circulatory system into surrounding tissues (“Neumega.” Chemo; “Neumega.” Rx). Optivate, since it is derived from human plasma, is likely to pass on viruses and other disease causing agents (“General”). It is hard to imagine how the head officials of medical corporations can allow medications with serious side effects to pass-on to the general public.
Although substantial charges on medical tests and medicine may be used for research, that is not enough. The research is shadowed by the fact that there is an enormous amount of the patient’s money that is not being used purposefully. Patients blindly give their money away in the hope that there will be a better future on their horizon, and the medical corporations crush that dream by squandering the funds. These corporations also corrupt doctors into violating their Hippocratic Oath; sly businessmen promise bonuses to doctors that prescribe the faulty medicine. Whilst patients die, the Armani wearing men think of another reason that they can add prices to tests. Honest, pious, researchers are vastly outnumbered by the notorious, uncaring, chairmen. There is not an ounce of morality in what corporate giants do, and it is in no way fair to the patients who are locked in their diamond studded claws.
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Works Cited
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