Word: patients
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Casting off the shroud of mysticism, the Greek physicians replaced it with the thesis that the causes and cures of every disease are not only quite natural but also discoverable through the careful study of each patient. Thus curiosity, keenness of observation and the value of scrupulous record keeping became paramount priorities in the new philosophy of care. And as knowledge grew and was shared within the guild, the experience of a single physician became the experience...
Berde and his colleagues inserted a spinal catheter and gave the boy a local anesthetic and an opiate. The patient had been screaming; now he became comfortable and alert and was able to go home. Although that treatment had been used to control pain in adults, Berde says, "I don't know if it had been used much in kids. We had no protocol for it. But he clearly was terminal and not relieved by massive amounts of morphine...
...Berde's research interests is developing local anesthetics that will work for days or a week after surgery instead of for six hours, as existing drugs do. Prolonged pain after chest or abdominal surgery is not just unpleasant; it can be harmful as well, keeping a patient from taking deep breaths or coughing--things they need to do. Pain can also keep people bedridden, impeding their recovery. "Our major aim is to get people up quickly," Berde says. "They're less likely to develop pneumonia, lose muscle mass and have trouble sleeping." Ambulatory adults are also less prone to blood...
...point, he turned to fenfluramine, a European weight-loss drug. Because fenfluramine acts on both serotonin and dopamine, it has the unfortunate side effect of putting its users to sleep. That is why doctors came up with fen/phen; the "phen" (phentermine) is an amphetamine-like drug that wakes the patient up again and boosts the metabolism to burn calories faster. Wurtman separated fenfluramine into its two component chemicals, levofenfluramine and dexfenfluramine. The latter has revealed itself to be a powerful weight-loss medication. He patented the drug for M.I.T., founded a company called Interneuron Pharmaceuticals to manufacture it under license...
...health agencies and launched a number of scientific studies in which some mothers were given short treatments with AZT and some, for the purpose of comparison, received a placebo. It is the inclusion of these placebo groups that the critics find objectionable. Giving a sugar pill to an AIDS patient is considered ethically unacceptable in the U.S. To give one to a pregnant African, Dr. Angell writes, shows a "callous disregard of [a patient's] welfare for the sake of research goals...