BAM! New York Times says Jeb's "renowned" quack is RIGHT WING ACTIVIST

[Proud2BAmurkin]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/24/national/24doctor.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1111640536-C2r3N9Vo7Zw2DsNJo9OzuQ

william P. Cheshire Jr., the Florida doctor cited by Gov. Jeb Bush yesterday in his announcement that he would intervene again in the case of Terri Schiavo, is a neurologist and bioethicist whose life and work have been guided by his religious beliefs.

Dr. Cheshire directs a laboratory at the Mayo Clinic branch in Jacksonville dealing with unconscious reflexes like digestion, and he is director of biotech ethics at the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, a nonprofit group founded by "more than a dozen leading Christian bioethicists," in the words of its Web site.

<SNIP>

Mr. Bush called Dr. Cheshire a "renowned neurologist," but he is not widely known in the neurology or bioethics fields. Asked about him, Dr. Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, replied, "Who?"

<SNIP>

Dr. Ronald Cranford, a neurologist and medical ethicist at the University of Minnesota Medical School who has examined Ms. Schiavo on behalf of the Florida courts and declared her to be irredeemably brain-damaged, said, "I have no idea who this Cheshire is," and added: "He has to be bogus, a pro-life fanatic. You'll not find any credible neurologist or neurosurgeon to get involved at this point and say she's not vegetative."

[sonicx]

1. what a surprise!

[rodeodance]

2. "A Diagnosis With a Dose of Religion" good headline also

A Diagnosis With a Dose of Religion
By JOHN SCHWARTZ and DENISE GRADY

Published: March 24, 2005

[rodeodance]

4. he opposes stem cell research also (no hope of growing new neurons)

......A search of his publication record in the online medical library PubMed yielded articles in medical journals, with a focus on headache pain, in particular trigeminal neuralgia, a painful disorder originating in a cranial nerve called the trigeminal. None of the papers dealt with persistent vegetative states.

His papers show a fondness for puns, as in the title of a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine about a patient whose fillings caused an electrical current that made her condition worse: "The shocking tooth about trigeminal neuralgia."

He was also the author, with others from the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, of a paper opposing stem cell research.

The center's Web site notes that he and his wife and four children are members of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Jacksonville and that he has done medical missionary work in Honduras and Siberia.......

[AuntiBush]

6. Someone quick copy/download those files before they delete um!

[Hard Attack]

3. Oh how I am NOT surprised. - Thank God for the NY Times!

[LincolnMcGrath]

5. Recommended Topic for Greatest Page

[sonicx]

8. ditto

[Turn CO Blue]

7. Man, those bush* brothers just keep steppin' in more crap

everyday. I hope they keep this up...

[gulfcoastliberal]

9. Letter my dad wrote to Mayo:

As a Professor of Psychiatry at ** *****, I was astonished to learn on television that Dr. Cheshire, a neurologist at your institution, made a medical diagnosis on a patient he did not examine but only looked at. I learned as a first year medical student that such behavior would be totally unethical. Do you have different standards or is this the "state of the art" at your medical center. Do you have any intention of disciplining Dr. Cheshire for his egregious action? I am sending a copy of this email to the Florida Medical Board. I hope that if you don't take steps to remedy Dr. Cheshire's actions, the Board will.

***** ********, MD

[FunkyLeprechaun]

11. I'm even more astonished to learn that..

Dr. Cheshire works at the Mayo Clinic. I have family that works at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and it's a fabulous place for health care.

Dr. Cheshire stinks up the institution. He should leave.

[tishaLA]

17. I'm even more astonished to learn that...

he's supposed to work in bioethics and he makes diagnoses without examining patients. This is what passes for ethics these days? Lawdy.

[LynneSin]

25. He went to the "Dr Frist school of diagnosising stuff on video tape"

:eyes:

[Nordmadr]

30. He must have got his MD from the same school

where Guckert got his journalism certificate.

Olaf

[newyawker99]

31. Hi Zenzic!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[seabeyond]

12. good for your father, pat him on back for me please

maybe there will be an influx of mail to mayo clinic. they do have a reputation i am sure they would loke to keep

[magellan]

10. Any doctors in the house?

Dr. Cheshire directs a laboratory at the Mayo Clinic branch in Jacksonville dealing with unconscious reflexes like digestion

I'm no MD, but I call bullshit on the use of 'unconscious' here. Isn't digestion professionally defined as an involuntary reflex?

These criminals are masters at framing.

[Zynx]

13. I think that's just a misused word.

Hell, it might actually be the correct word. I don't know jack about medical terminology.

[Clark2008]

16. You're correct, and I'm no MD, either

But, think about it - do you sit around and will yourself to digest food or breath or make your heart beat? Hell no.
You CAN, however, control your dream sequences depending upon your mood, attitude and will. Unconscious isn't the same as involuntary.

[deadparrot]

14. Didja read his poem?

http://www.ethicsandmedicine.com/17/2/17-2-exitramp.htm

[FunkyLeprechaun]

15. I'm holding back on..

releasing the email... Dr Cheshire's bio doesn't have his email nor does Google have it (bio here: http://www.mayoclinic.org/neurology-jax/11736755.html). However, I do know how the Mayo Clinic does its emails for each doctor, and it's really easy to remember (I was having trouble with the email of a doctor who I was going to meet with and decided to type in the email as people used it and it turned out it was the right email).

Should I release it or not?

[Bozita]

18. Bernie Ward's blasting that neurologist now -- listen in

http://www.kgoam810.com/listenlive/listenlive.pls

enjoy.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

19. Also...

Did you notice that the article also mentions Focus on the Family? Dr. Cheshire's in cahoots with Dr. "Spongedob Stickypants"!

[Cooley Hurd]

26. Yep (and welcome to DU, Zenzic!)

:hi:

From the same NYT article:

<snip>
In an article last year in Physician magazine, published by the evangelical group Focus on the Family, Dr. Cheshire, 44, said doctors are too quick to declare that a patient is in a persistent vegetative state.

"I'm not sure the diagnosis is used consistently," he told Physician. "I am sometimes asked if a patient is in P.V.S., but it's only been a few days. By definition, you have to wait at least a month."
</snip>

[Selteri]

27. How about 15 years? Hypocrite! NT

[Bonhomme Richard]

41. If you wait too long the person could end up President n/t

[LosinIt]

20. Let's look at these competing 'experts' shall we....

Check out the Curriculum Vitae of Dr. Cranford who examined Terri for the courts:
http://www.bioethics.umn.edu/faculty/cranford_r_cv.pdf

vs. the paltry info I could find on the "renowned" Dr. Cheshire:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/neurology-jax/11736755.html and
http://www.cbhd.org/aboutcbhd/staff/cheshire.htm

the second link being from the Center for BioEthics and Human Dignity, the RW outfit mentioned above.

A search in PubMed of "Cranford RE", as I found him listed as from a list of search results on just "Cranford", gave me a hitlist of 58 articles from Medical Journals with titles like:

- Discontinuation of ventilation after brain death. Policy should be balanced with concern for the family
- Brain death
- Hospital policy on terminal sedation and euthanasia
- What is a minimally conscious state?
- Termination of treatment in the persistent vegetative state
- The vegetative and minimally conscious states: ethical implications.


Meanwhile a search in PubMed of Cheshire WP Jr., as I found him listed as from a list of search results on simply "Cheshire", gave me a hitlist of 12 articles from medical journals with titles like:

- A callused clue fingers the diagnosis
- Unilateral black hairy tongue in trigeminal neuralgia.
- Body mass index is reduced early in Parkinson's disease.
- Headache in divers
- Hypotensive akathisia: autonomic failure associated with leg fidgeting while sitting.
and my two favorites:
- The shocking tooth about trigeminal neuralgia.
- Cysticercosis: pandemonium in pigdom.

So this expert has published NOTHING on the subject of the persistive vegetative state. The record speaks for itself.....

[Cooley Hurd]

21. Kick - great find!

Thanks, P2BA!:thumbsup:

This guy is up to his ears in bullshit (from the NYT article):

<snip>
"Although Terri did not demonstrate during our 90-minute visit compelling evidence of verbalization, conscious awareness or volitional behavior," he wrote, "yet the visitor has the distinct sense of the presence of a living human being who seems at some level to be aware of some things around her."
</snip>

That's not medicine, that's QUACKERY!

[Selteri]

28. Funny, sense of presence

is just what people often think about people in a PVS.

That's not just quackery, that's really unethical.

[Plaid Adder]

22. He's running a LAB at the Mayo Clinic.

I have a friend who's looking for work and one of the things she's been looking into is becoming a lab administrator. Places that do medical research have these giant research labs and they need people to organize them so all the doctors and so on who have grants and are using them get to share equipment, space, etc. and get what they need for their research in a fair and peacefully coexisting kind of way. It's a very important job, but your ability to administer a research lab hasn't necessarily got much to do with your ability to actually, you know, discover stuff. Or treat patients.

He is listed as a 'consultant' in neurology so maybe he is treating patients too. But I bet that out of all the neurologists there, he does not have the fullest dance card.

C ya,

The PLaid Adder

[sonicx]

23. BTW, if you read the article, the moron admits that Terri is unconscious

and can't talk...

"Although Terri did not demonstrate during our 90-minute visit compelling evidence of verbalization, conscious awareness or volitional behavior," he wrote, "yet the visitor has the distinct sense of the presence of a living human being who seems at some level to be aware of some things around her."

It's just a cold! :eyes:

[LynneSin]

24. Let me guess - he is also a Nobel Prize Nominee

:puke:

[Ganja Ninja]

29. I am shocked, shocked I tell you!

not! Who didn't know Jeb would produce a Neo-Con Christian cultist? Anyone still think Jeb's not running in 2008?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

32. WHAT??? He's a quack-quack??? I am shocked beyond words!!

[burythehatchet]

33. But you see it doesn't matter

Fox news will "report" the renowned doctor comments, but this info will never be seen by their audience. As far as they are concerned, mission accomplished.

[Number9Dream]

34. Cheshire teams with "Dr. Bill"

I'm hoping people from all over begin sending videotapes to Frist, asking him to diagnose their illnesses. Imagine thousands of tapes pouring into Frist's office. Perhaps the "Dr. Bill" TV show, where Frist prescribes medical treatment to fundies with not more than 99 seconds of videotape.

[MGKrebs]

37. Or " Dr. Laura"

She is kinda the trendsetter here right? A "Dr." who is diagnosing out of their field based on cursory observation.

[killbotfactory]

35. JEB 3:16!

There new rallying cry can be: "remember the vegetable!"

[Rassah]

36. Uhh...

Hey, can someone tell me what is the difference between "persistent vegitative state," which she apparently is not in, and "state of limited consciousness" that she is in according to this quack?

[janetle]

38. And what if there is slight awareness??

In my opinion, this whole thing would be even more tragic if she has slight awareness like Jeb is now claiming. How awful if she has even the slightest inkling of the state she is in. This is even more reason to let her go--let her die in peace and with dignity so that her suffering can be ended.

[Karenina]

39. That's EASY!!!

snp<amiW0E KL< ÖU Ä Ö UH IANSFAJG JKAL J BALK A. (See: footnote #18)

[mzmolly]

40. Wow.

These people never cease to amaze.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

42. For whatever it's worth...

I checked the CRISP database, which shows all projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, going back to the mid-1980's and there's no record of a William Cheshire having ever received an NIH Grant. Now it's possible to be a "renowned" neurologist without ever receiving an NIH Grant, but it's highly unlikely. In addition, a search of Pub Med shows only a single entry for Cheshire, and that from the American Journal of Bioethics published just last year.

The fact is that he's an Associate Professor (which means he may have an appointment but no salary) at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and is a "consultant" (whatever that may mean) to the Mayo Clinic Department of Neurology. His Masters Degree in Bioethics is from a Christian-Based institution that does not offer advanced degress in any of the research sciences, much less a Medical College. Their other two graduate programs are in "Counseling Psychology" and "Communications & Culture."

Long story short, he's a quack.

[spooky3]

43. What's next? Bringing Miss Cleo the Psychic back?

[eddieb]

44. Heal! HEAL! GOD COMMANDS IT!

Isn't it odd that God has not called upon His Money Changer Evangelical Faith HEALERS to save the day? I also wonder why their followers aren't begging them to insert their God given powers into TERRY and CURE HER? Hmmm I suspect, like Professional wrestling both Faith Healers and their followers really don't want to know what they really are, FRAUDS. Why isn't anyone questing GOD for not saving Terry? Frankly I think God has answered MY prayers. So far that is. :)

[trogdor]

45. Cheshire isn't the only quack making the rounds.

Check out the Eschaton, and you'll read about another one who was "nominated" for a Nobel Prize by some FL congressman, and goes around calling himself a Nobel nominee for purposes of spreading bullshit around.

http://haloscan.com/tb/atrios/111167658720077029

[riffraff_va]

46. I don't like this

Did you hear that wacko pastor comparing the removal of the Schiavo's feeding tube to African-Americans not being able to eat at a restaurant because of their skin color??

Anyway, this been going on for a while. When there's a fact is out there that disagree with their views, Republicans always find at least one person to dispute it. They did it with science and evolution, they do it with the economy, and they are doing it now with the Terri Schivo case.

And shame on those pastors that tried to paint Michael Schiavo as evil villain. He been on his wife side for 15-years, they been on Terri's side for a few weeks.

[riffraff_va]

47. But wait a minute..

But aren't Christians the same ones that was against science technology such as feeding tube because by prolonging life, we was playing God? And why hasn't anyone called these Christian out for that? In my opinion, God called Terri Schiavo home 15 years ago, it was man and science that kept her here. If anything Christians should be happy that she's moving on to a perfect place like heaven. A place where she won't be in a vegetable state but conscious and happy.

And where are those pastors that be healing people like Benny Hinn? And if Republicans really care about life, then why isn't this argument about all people on life support? Because its not about saving "lives" its about saving "Schiavo".

And I have a bad feeling after she is gone, the Republicans are going to blame all Democrats and the "activist" judges for her death. 2005 isn't going to be pretty for either side.

[eddieb]

48. Blame

They're already blaming those radical out of control activist Judges! I don't understand why none of them are blaming GOD? After all even the supremes say "In God we trust" or is that the almighty dollar?

[librechik]

49. swallowing is a reflex, not (necessarily) conscious

so when Terri tests as NOT having a swallow reflex, it illustrates how far down her brain functions have slid. She can breathe, she can blink, but she can't swallow. Lizard brain level.

[moobu2]

50. Gee, you think this will be all over the MSM? ....doubt it n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

51. Dr. "Thumbs" Cheshire, Neurology and TV Repair. 30 Day Guararntee.

Gift certificates available for Prayer Beads, Jesus on Velvet Portraits, and used antennas.

*Guarantees do not apply to ill people or broken TV's.