American women persecuted for having miscarriages?

[Jester]

This whole thing, this whole push, just makes me nauseous. Do we really want to go the way of El Salvador? Is a Third World backwards small Latin American country the role model that the fetal advocates want us to emulate? Aren't we supposed to be the "beacon of hope" for the rest of the world? And yet on so many issues, including and especially this one, we are more Third World than a lot of Third World countries. And apparently heading deeper down that dark rabbit hole.

George had it right. We place entirely too much emphasis and importance on children in this country. Well, I agree with him: fuck the children.

Thalidomide is back on the market...

What? What fucking genius okayed THAT?

So, why is this the medical professions job. It is a patient's responsibility to know what the side effects of their medications are, and to deal with those side effects.

And it is a doctor's responsibility, both ethically and legally, to advise his/her patient of potential side effects of any drugs said doctor may be prescribing to said patient.

I do not believe a doctor who does this can or should be held responsible for irresponsible acts of their patients with said drugs, whether we're talking about pregnant women or anyone else. I do, however, have no problem with a doctor being charged with malpractice if they do not adequately advise their patients about the drugs being prescribed. I have seven cousins who are doctors, and I don't know shit about drugs or their potential side effects, so I rely on my doctor to advise me on such things, just as my bar customers rely on my expertise to advise them on what cocktail to get. (Clearly my professional responsibility to my clients does not carry the same legal ramifications as that of doctors.)

I'm rather surprised you haven't heard about this technology; it's been around for about a decade now.

I am rather well read and rather well-informed about current events and news, and I can honestly say that today, here in this forum, is the first time I've ever heard of such a thing.

[fireheart17]

Thalidomide is back on the market, and yes we've had more "flipper babies" born because of it.

What? What fucking genius okayed THAT?

That would be the FDA apparaently, since it's only meant to be treating leprosy. Yet if it's on the market.....we all know what'll happen.

So glad that most of the nuttiness has stayed OUT of Australia...

[Andara Bledin]

Actually, from an unrelated article I stumbled over last night, it may be able to help control cancer and possibly AIDS. The very property that causes such horrible birth defects can be invaluable in the treatment of other issues.

Remember, most of the time the difference between poison and medicine is dosage and application.

^-.-^

[Jester]

My bad. I just assumed when I heard "back on the market" that that meant it was back for the same purpose it had been used for when it was pulled the first time. Never even gave a thought to the possibility that it might be back for use in other applications.

[SkullKing]

Actually Thalidomide has been back on the market under a different name for many years.

the truth is that there two types of it "cis" and "trans". they have the same physical properties, but different chemical properties and only one of them is harmful to babies.

When Thalidomide first went on sale the existence of those two types weren´t known, when it was discovered they created a process to separate the two and started selling the non-harmful one.(under a different name due to marketing reasons)