A renegade here, a renegade there . . .

I spoke with the front office of the NY “outlaw doctor” this afternoon. They have agreed to treat me and have scheduled me for back-to-back appointments on Wednesday and Thursday, October 1 and 2. I asked the administrative assistant if that meant the doctors thought they could help me. She replied that they wouldn’t have agreed to treat me if they didn’t. Not exactly a guarantee that anything productive will come out of the visit, but about as close as you get in this business. Of course I’ll be signing the obligatory “Patient Consent Form and Covenant Not To Sue”. But still, this guy has experienced successes with cases that conventional medicine has considered at least as grim as mine. So it’s always good to have options. As previously stated, however, he will have to sweep me off my feet with hard data and a solid plan if I’m to place my fate in his hands . . .

Not more than fifteen minutes after that phone call I received a call from my primary care physician. It seems he had just received an urgent notice from LA1 (home of the clinical trials of Trabectedin and Brostallicin) that I will be immediately initiating chemotherapy at their facility and asking for his concurrence. It seems that this is necessary in order to ensure insurance coverage. Just a couple of problems with this . . .

I advised him that I was still in the process of considering my options and that I am scheduled for consultation with LA2 late next week to discuss their clinical trial. He asked if I wanted him to process the paperwork for LA1 anyway. I replied that I did NOT if that meant that if I ultimately decide to enroll in the LA2 trial I was going to have a problem with the insurance company approving a second clinical trial. He agreed that might be the case. He then indicated that it only takes him 24 hours to process such requests, so we concurred that he should wait until I have made a decision before filing any associated paperwork.

I’m sure LA1 is just trying to get the ducks lined up on my behalf, but still I’m a little put off that they would make false representations about decisions that I have not yet made.

And why does my insurance have to pay anything for a clinical trial? Shouldn’t all associated costs be the responsibility of the pharmaceutical company? That would certainly encourage a higher standard of confidence as to the efficacy of a drug prior to recruiting guinea pigs for clinical trials. And that might be good thing for all involved . . .