Is it worth contributing to medical research?

[stauffenberg]

Huge amounts of research money, amounting to billions of dollars, have been collected by medical researchers over the decades, but they have produced little real medical progress in the treatment or cure of disease in response.  The first war on cancer was ordered by President Truman in 1950; then a second war on cancer was ordered by Nixon in 1972, and there are still wars on cancer going on, yet the rates of many cancers are increasing, despite large-scale positive modifications of life-style in the population.  In diabetes, similarly, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund has collected a billion dollars in donations during the last ten years and come up with absolutely nothing by way of progress for the sufferers of that disease.

The reasons for the disconnect between increasing research donations and decreasing scientific discovery rates are well known.  Many medical scientists are utter nerds, who waste research money on entertaining their curiosity with minor theoretical problems related to the disease which have no relation to a potential cure.  Other researchers are lazy time-servers, who research and publish in the most conservative, unimaginative, repetitious way they can, because this is the easiest way to ensure publication, grant money, a Ph.D., and university promotion, given that everyone regards imaginative and revolutionary thinkers as suspect.  Finally, there are the drug companies, which don't want anything cured ever, since the goal is just to keep all sick people alive but treatment-dependent forever, because this is the best way to sell them the most products for the longest time and get the most money out of them or those paying for them.

So putting it all together, I now refuse ever to contribute to medical research funding.  I am convinced it will be wasted on the usual projects, like finding out the rate of fingernail growth in type 1 diabetics in response to a diet of apricots and tofu, or doing another statistical study to find out whether dialysis patients enjoy their treatment.  Maybe the best thing to inspire medical progress is for everyone to give nothing for a while, until the researchers learn we are not willing to pay for their careers and curiosities rather than a cure.

[Deanne]

I don't doubt there is a lot of waste in research. There's a lot of good that comes from it too, though. If it wasn't for research, would dialysis or transplant even exist? A former friend's first hisband died of kidney disease during WW2. Kidney disease was a death sentence then.

My brother has prostate cancer that has spread to a lymph node. His chances of long-term survival aren't great, but without reseach that yielded therapy, his chances would have been 0.

If you have a stroke and get to the hospital right away, medication can almost totally give you back a normal life. Without research, you'd be paralyzed or dead even if you had the stroke right in the hospital.

Turning off the tap isn't the answer to waste. It's like aggressive dogs -- don't blame the breed, blame the deed. Eliminate the waste, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Dang I'm full of cliche's this afternoon!

[livecam]

It is true that vast sums of money are wasted on research that yields little or nothing in practical results but that isn't always the case. Imagine where you and I would be today without the medical research dollars that were spent on kidney disease.  We both know the place, six feet under.  

California recently passed a bond measure that raises several billions of dollars for stem cell research.  Recent press reports indicate that hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent servicing the interest on those bonds before one dollar is released for research work.  States shouldn't really be in the research business anyway, maybe thats a mistake California will learn from.

I don't mind putting money into research.  Who knows if your dollar will be squandered by a wonk or will be part of solving a major problem.

Because of research we have new and novel approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of medical issues and diseases of all sorts.  Just the other day it was announced that early breast cancer can now be detected with a saliva sample.  Thats pretty awesome.  Research did that.  

We have modern dialysis, transplants, better medications, and a better long term outllook for our disease because of basic medical research.

I wouldn't write it all off.

[Ang]

anytime  i'm  asked  to  participate in  clinical  trials(esrd)  i  do  so  cause  i  think  it  may  not  assist  me  but  it  could  help  some  one  later  in  life

[Bill Peckham]

If we don't fund research how would the provision of dialysis ever progress? I think research is producing some exciting, relevant results:
http://www.billpeckham.com/from_the_sharp_end_of_the/2008/01/dialysis-a-futu.html

[KT0930]

Just two weeks ago the University of Minnesota brought a rat's heart back to life. The heart had been dead for a week. Just think what that could mean in the future for those waiting for organ transplants! No more waiting list...simply waiting for them to grow an organ from your own stem cells. This may not assist those of us on this board, but what about those who have children with PKD or other hereditary kidney failure? That must give those parents at least a small amount of hope that their children will not go through the hell of dialysis. That to me is worth funding the research.

[BobT1939]

I don't think we need to be greatly concerned. I doubt that the withholding of Stauffy's medical contributions will bring scientific advance to its knees./bobt

[zepher08]

I never give money for medical research anymore because
I know the truth behind it If a cure by the western
medicine methods were possible, there would already be
cures. Researching is a means of providing JOBS!

[AlasdairUK]

If we don't fund research how would the provision of dialysis ever progress? I think research is producing some exciting, relevant results:
http://www.billpeckham.com/from_the_sharp_end_of_the/2008/01/dialysis-a-futu.html

Thanks for that Bill, very exciting! Even if it might not be realistic ( I hope it is) - where would the human race be if we did not try invent new things, test a new idea. At the very least it gives hope to what might be possible and every now and then they hit the jackpot with a success story, be it that it is often a side effect to something else they where looking for and stumble upon this "unwanted" effect that might have a positive spin off.

[Bill Peckham]

I never give money for medical research anymore because
I know the truth behind it If a cure by the western
medicine methods were possible, there would already be
cures. Researching is a means of providing JOBS!

If by a "cure" you mean an end to disease and an end to death - human immortality, then I agree a cure is unlikely. But if cure means decreasing infirmities and keeping us productive during the years we have, then we have new cures every year. This year a range of debilitating conditions are less debilitating then they were last year. With additional research they will be even less debilitating next year. If you don't like the way we fund western medicine that is one thing but I don't think you can say research doesn't produce results. Research may not produce the results you want and your priorities are likely different than the priorities of every researcher and every scientist but research does work.
 
I'm sure not many people would prioritize research into the impact of unusual diabetic diets on fingernail growth but does every researcher have to have my approval for any research to be worthwhile? Come on. If you want to influence what is researched then fund the research you think is important. As someone who supports and advocates for the creation of a Kidney Research Institute in Seattle I think it is possible to invest in research that will improve the provision of dialysis. Will the research cure chronic kidney disease? No. Of course curing CKD is a fine goal but that is a long term endeavor. I am supporting research that will promote the optimal health, quality of life and independence of people with kidney disease; research to benefit dialyzors tomorrow. I support research that will benefit me personally.

Does it provide employment? Oh, I hope a lot of employment. I think that you could not have too many people working on improving the lives to people with CKD. If the Seattle Kidney Research Institute is a success people will unfortunately still have chronic kidney disease but their lives will be better. They will feel better and they will live longer. This is the research I proudly support.