Stem Cell Tourist Dies From Treatment In Thailand

Posted by timothy on Friday June 18, 2010 @02:30PM from the pays-your-money-takes-your-chances dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Last week, news that Costa Rica was shutting down a large stem cell clinic sparked a debate here on Slashdot about whether patients should be allowed to take the risks that come with untested treatments. Now comes news of what can happen when patients go looking for a shortcut. A patient suffering from an autoimmune disease that was destroying her kidneys went to a Bangkok clinic, where doctors injected her own adult stem cells into her kidneys. Now she's dead, and a postmortem revealed that the sites of injection had weird growths — 'tangled mixtures of blood vessels and bone marrow cells.' Researchers say the treatment almost certainly killed her."

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Re:Aim for the real problem. by dr.+chuck+bunsen · 2010-06-18 15:14 · Score: 0, Flamebait

I agree. It is very frustrating that people can really, truly, be that damn stupid. And I mean that in the meanest possible way. Dumb fucks. However, I don't believe there are actually any explicit laws against using a persons stem cells for treatment. IIRC, the issue was that for research scientists needed the stem cells from aborted fetuses. And then out came the long line of dipshits to shut them down.