August 26, 2005
ANY DAY NOW THERE'LL BE AN ACTUAL ADVANCE IN MEDICINE FROM WHAT OUR ANCESTORS KNEW:
For FDA, maggots are a kind of device: Larvae and leeches need prescription, advisers decide (Diedtra Henderson, August 26, 2005, Boston Globe)
What do pacemakers, stents, and artificial hips have in common with leeches and maggots?According to the Food and Drug Administration, they are all medical devices.
FDA advisers considering how much scrutiny to give to leeches and maggots used for medicinal purposes yesterday decided they should require a prescription.
Leeches have been used by doctors for centuries to control bleeding. Maggot therapy was used hundreds of years ago by indigenous Australians and has been credited with disinfecting the wounds of World War I soldiers who lay untreated for days in battlefields.
With FDA approval, doctors now use maggots to trim dead flesh with more precision than scalpels, and leeches to draw excess blood that can collect when severed fingers are reattached.
Posted by Orrin Judd at August 26, 2005 2:57 PM
Sometimes you sound like a Christian Scientist.
Posted by: Brandon at August 26, 2005 3:50 PMDon't know much about Christian Scientists, do you?
Posted by: oj at August 26, 2005 3:55 PMI know that the fullback on my high school football team, died with a ruptured appendix because his father would not call a doctor. Anything else you need to know.
Posted by: h-man at August 26, 2005 4:08 PMoj, that's not funny.
Posted by: erp at August 26, 2005 4:22 PMOf course it is--anecdotes are always spurious.
Posted by: oj at August 26, 2005 4:28 PM"Anecdotes" = "history", plus all of the news articles that you post.
One might even say that the point of life is anecdotes, since humans are social creatures.
Posted by: at August 26, 2005 4:48 PMToday they're behind the counter, but it's only a matter of time before we have "Maggots OTC" for $7.95.
Posted by: pj at August 26, 2005 4:51 PMEspecially my anecdotes. But he wasn't a close friend and it was 1963. Seriously though all h*ll came down on his father, from the law, and from the rest of the family. I can't say much else about Christian Scientists or even if such is the prevailing doctrine, and I have no interest defaming them more than I already have.
Posted by: h-man![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://brothersjuddblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at August 26, 2005 4:59 PM
The accumulation of innumerable anecdotes is history, because individual ones are always bunkum.
Posted by: oj at August 26, 2005 5:51 PMThen why did you bother to post Bush's reading list?
Posted by: Harry Eagar at August 27, 2005 12:10 AMIt's interesting to see what the leader of the free world is reading.
Posted by: oj at August 27, 2005 12:14 AMWhen I get sick, will I get cured if I hug Cindy Sheehan?
Posted by: obc at August 27, 2005 11:59 AMNo, you'll get leeches from your barber. He'll be able to diagnose your humours, and possibly read your astral chart while he's at it.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at August 27, 2005 10:00 PMYou get leeches from the doctor nowadays.
Posted by: oj at August 27, 2005 11:20 PM