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Author Topic: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten  (Read 16841 times)

GdGy

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"Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« on: October 07, 2016, 01:13:01 AM »

Es ist eine "private Onkologie Klinik" in Deutschland ... http://www.hallwang-clinic.com/de.html
Angebot: Homöopathie, Ozon, das übliche Quacksalberei.

It is a "private oncology clinic" in Germany ... http://www.hallwang-clinic.com/en.html
offering : homeopathy , Ozone, the usual quackery.
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GdGy

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2016, 02:31:26 PM »

Anscheinend läuft ein Herr Albert Schmierer die Hallwang-Klinik ... https://german-medicalgroup.com/clinics/hallwanc-clinic/
Dieses Albert Schmierer ... https://www.q-potenzen.com/lmeuropa/servlet/Action?pageid=41&navid=2

Apparently a Mr Albert Schmierer runs the Hallwang-clinic ... https://german-medicalgroup.com/clinics/hallwanc-clinic/
This one ... https://www.q-potenzen.com/lmeuropa/servlet/Action?pageid=41&navid=2
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Thymian

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2016, 04:25:13 PM »

Du meine Güte! Was ist das denn!? Da muß ich mir erst eine Mistgabel häkeln. Und das am Wochenende. Igitt.
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Julian

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2016, 09:51:50 AM »

Allerhuldigste, häkelst Du auch mit NATO-Draht?
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Thymian

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2016, 02:58:24 PM »

Ich häkele nur mit NATO-Draht. Seit wann gäbe es denn etwas anderes!?
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RadlMadl

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2016, 07:04:09 PM »

Eine Axt wäre auch nicht schlecht. Da wartet einer schon ewig drauf.
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worelia

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2016, 12:11:11 AM »

"Apparently a Mr Albert Schmierer runs the Hallwang-clinic ... https://german-medicalgroup.com/clinics/hallwanc-clinic/
This one ... https://www.q-potenzen.com/lmeuropa/servlet/Action?pageid=41&navid=2 "


Is there any evidence for that?
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http://www.transgallaxys.com/~kanzlerzwo/index.php?topic=11338.msg27786#msg27786

Thymian

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SCHEISSSSSE !!!!!!!!!! "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2016, 06:00:26 PM »

https://www.gofundme.com/2r2kwanw

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Hi All

Thank you for visting this page for my beautiful partner, Ali's battle with, what doctors have labelled, terminal cancer.

To many she is known as Leah Bracknell, and has enjoyed a 30 year career on TV and stage, and is best remembered for portraying Zoe Tate in Emmerdale for sixteen years. To others she is a yoga teacher who has inspired thousands.

To us, she is Ali, wonderful mother of two, loving partner and daughter. We desperately hope that we , her friends and loved ones, can raise the funds she needs for a potentially life saving treatment. Time is of the essence. Here is a bit of her story, in Ali's own words.

‘Just over 5 weeks ago. I was feeling perfectly well, fit and healthy. Teaching yoga classes and workshops, it was a time of new beginnings : preparing to move house, youngest child fleeing the nest, and excited to be starting rehearsals for a comedy play, being back onstage, going on tour.

But, it turns out that the universe had other plans. Life was about to be unexpectedly turned on its head.
I began to feel breathless climbing stairs. Really breathless. I just put it down to a bit of stress. My abdomen suddenly ballooned- and within a matter of a few days I looked heavily pregnant. I could barely walk or breathe. Then, one Saturday night at the beginning of September I ended up in A & E.

Following a difficult and terrifying night (my heartbeat rose to 180 beats a minute!) I was subsequently given an emergency procedure to remove a large amount of fluid from around my heart, by a very handsome cardiologist from Slovakia. ( Jez really can't see it!)
I was told later, without that, I would have died. So I am beyond grateful. Without it, I would not be here, enjoying the Autumn sunshine, watching the leaves change colour, settling into our new home. I would not know either quite what brilliant, generous and loving friends and family I have.

However, the bad news is that I have been diagnosed with lung cancer, stage 4. In their opinion, that means it's  terminal, not curable, not operable . A fairly brutal and bleak diagnosis but one I am determined to challenge and see from the perspective of "a glass half full", going against a lifetime of pessimism, negativity and fear!!!!

By the way, please imagine me writing this and speaking in quite an upbeat and cheerful voice. Do NOT imagine me sitting here writing through a veil of tears. I am not. Or feeling sorry for myself. I am not (yet).

My priority is getting well and strong, so that I can continue to endeavour to be a good, mother, daughter, wife, or at least the best I can be.
My priority is to defy expectation.
My priority is to love, to laugh, and, as Bob said, to "keep on keepin' on".

With all my heart and armfuls of blessings. I thank you for reading this.'

As you can see, Ali has responded with incredible positivity and determination, like she has throughout her life, being an inspiration to others. This has already had a positive impact on some of her results.

Having done a lot of research, we have found there are incredible breakthroughs being made in the field of immunotherapy and integrative medicine, which are seeing previously 'incurable' cancers going into complete remission. A clinic in Germany called the Hallwang clinic is leading the way in this. The downside is that these cutting edge treatments aren't yet available on the NHS outside of clinical trials, most of which Ali doesn't qualify for, and are very expensive.

Due  to difficult personal circumstances , Ali / Leah has been unable to work in her chosen profession of acting for a number of years which has seen a big drain on her resources. Understandably, she is unable to continue acting or teaching right now.  This is why we are fundraising here.  Away from acting she has volunteered her time and energy for a local homeless charity and recovery project cooking and teaching meditation, she has touched and transformed the lives of many  people through yoga and her work as a healer.

We are looking to raise the money to visit the Hallwang clinic in Germany and help go towards the costs of Ali's treatment, to give her the best possible chances of not only survival, but to thrive. This is an initial target for a first visit and round of treatment, depending on how she responds, more visits may be needed and costs may rise.

Over the years she has given so much to so many. As an award winning actress  and the first lesbian in soap, she helped raise awareness of LGBT issues and later her sensitive portrayal of a Schizophrenic breakdown, brought a lot of attention to mental illness. Her yoga DVD Yoga & You inspired many people onto the path. She still feels she has so much to give and share, not just those she loves, but through her teaching and healing work.

To me she has given love, patience, kindness and shone an incredible light in my world. We want to make sure the light she shines radiates for a long time yet, and are all determined she can beat this.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, please donate generously if you can to help fund this potentially life saving treatment. We will be eternally grateful.

Jez and Ali xx
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Hayley Kalinins
5 days ago
47
Leah, My name is Hayley and i have been treated at the Hallwang Clinic in Germany since Easter. I'm from Derby, UK. My Facebook page is Hayleys Cancer Fight and my go fund me page is Hayleys Cancer Treatment fund. If you would like to get in touch so i can help with any advice and questions about the Hallwang and some of their treatments. I'm happy to chat if you would like to speak to someone who understands send me a message through my Facebook page! The clinic is a truly amazing place and i had fantastic results after just 8 weeks of treatment. Please get in touch if you wish. Hayley xxx

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Shatners Bassoon
4 days ago
21
Surely the Emmerdale producers will help?


Cal Moriarty
4 days ago
13
Hi Ali: have you contacted Professor Christian Ottosmeir at Southampton General hospital he is running a clinical trial via the NHS in immunotherapy treatment specifically for lung cancer. My mother in law had it for 7 months, it was working then stopped. I think they said it works 80% of cases??? They test you first to see if you have the right kind of DNA for it as it can't work for everyone. Please give him a try before you head off to Germany. Very best of luck with it. My mother in law had same diagnosis as you and she is still going over 3 years later and she is almost 80.

+ Read More

Gemma Hill
5 days ago
13
Have you thought about cannabis oil its supposed to work


Mavis Nye
4 days ago
8
Leah Please get in touch with Lecester Hopital where a new trial is going to start of Keytruda and Verastem's drug and never ever give up Positive always xx http://www.pharmatimes.com/news/msd,_verastem,_cr_uk_to_trial_new_immunotherapy_combo_1151262


Darren Mutch
5 days ago
6
Hi Leah,saddened to hear your news if I can be of any help please get in touch,My father is currently being treated at the Hallwang clinic and will be there for the next Month There's a patten forming here with the NHS giving up on people. I wish you all the very best regards Darren Mutch here's my fathers story. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/hopeforkennethmutch?utm_id=2&utm_term=8mPBZrkAW

+ Read More

Jacqueline Marie
4 days ago
5
Good luck Leah with all my heart I wish u well ❤️


Caz Van Plaggenhoef Halls
5 days ago
5
Unfortunately I lost my husband to this cancer in December 15, but what I have learnt is that there is a breakthrough in the uk. ....... Keytruda which is at the Royal marsden and other hospitals and nivolumab... The is the first cure from keytruda. Mavis nye please look her up on google ...if you can't get to Germany it's better to try closer to home and get treatment ASAP. Hope this helps.


Debbie Paterson
4 days ago
4
Leah sorry to hear about your Cancer Diagnosis I send all the love in world to you and you family keep strong take care love Debbie xxx


Reece Slater
4 days ago
3
Leah my name is Reece and I was really upset not to see you in Nobody's Perfect the other day at Blackpool Grand theatre. Where the only information I could find out was that you had taken ill. If you speak to the other cast members they could probably tell you how upset I was. But I now know the upset I felt pails into insignificance when I think of the upset and pain that you, your friends and family must be feeling at this time. My heart felt sympathy goes out to you and although who are blessed with knowing you in their personal lives and all those whose lives you have touched in so many ways. I really hope that the cast and crew of Nobody's Perfect are insisting that they have a collection at the end of every production in every venue they are performing at from now till the end of the tour. Once again with all my heart and compassion I am sorry to hear this news and may you reach your target and much more and continue to bless many more people with all your kind works.

+ Read More

Nick Globs
4 days ago
3
Hi Leah, Going through the same nightmare (lymfoma), someone pointed out the unbelievable effects of injecting vitamin c to fight cancer. I am investigating! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTXSTGGRvKY


Gem Price
4 days ago
3
Sending lots of love, good vibes, hope, prayers & well wishes to you and your family. Kick Cancers butt Leah! We know you can do it xxx


Robert Sheldon
4 days ago
3
Hi Leah, My father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Mesothelioma caused by asbestos. There is a Professor Vogl at the University Hospital in Frankfurt pioneering a treatment involving chemoembolisation which helped my father. Unfortunately we started the treatment too late to make a real difference but it did give him much longer with us than he would have had otherwise. Please consider looking into this treatment if it is still available. I have professor Vogl's email address if you would like it.

+ Read More

John Fennessy
4 days ago
3
Please look up 'dandelion root' and the help toward feeling better when up against cancer!


Richard Brown
4 days ago
3
Hi there really saddened to hear of this devastating news, I have done a lot of research into alternative treatments, at the end of the day everything is worth a try, I have made lots of contacts in alternative treatment, please inbox me if interested or if not at the very least I can share your page if you wanted to my 50k customers on my facebooks and let's see if we can raise some money, my number is 07894 252530 if you wanted a chat.


Gemma Jones
4 days ago
2
Have you looked into Cannabis Oil, very very effective.


Karen McDermott
4 days ago
1
Hi Leah/Ali I am sorry I can't donate at the moment. I too have stage 4 terminal breast cancer and have my own go fund me page. I hope you hit your target and that you get the treatment that you so desparetly need. If it is ok with you I will share your page...please could you share mine. Lots of love Karen


Jill Stirling
4 days ago
1
Really hope you reach your goal. You are an inspiration to others. Sending healing vibes and all the luck in the world in your fight to beat cancer. Xx


Susan Owen Bates
4 days ago
1
I'm from the charity Balls To Cancer and would love to offer you a break at our Burnham on Sea, Haven caravan. Park closes for the 2016 season, end of October and reopens April. If you would be interested please let us know. It won't let me post email address but we are on face book and Twitter


Betty Blue
4 days ago
1
Oasis of Hope - Mexico. Good Luck xxxxx

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Der Patiententourismus muß endlich aufhören. SOFORT!
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.         Im Angesicht von Gewalt ist Höflichkeit gegenstandslos.
.         At face with violence politeness is pointless.

.         (User TNT in the former CDU forum)
--------------------------------------- * --------------------------------------- * ---------------------------------------

FRAUENPOWER

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2016, 12:28:48 AM »

Mehr Nato-Draht! Sofort!
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GdGy

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #9 on: October 12, 2016, 05:43:22 AM »


worelia wrote  "Is there any evidence for that?"

http://transgallaxys.com/~kanzlerzwo/index.php?topic=9113.msg21463#msg21463


The website of homeopathy-makers "q-potenzen.com" is registered in the name Albert Schmierer ... http://whois.domaintools.com/q-potenzen.com

According to domaintools, only 8 websites are registered in the name Albert Schmierer ...

"q-potenzen.com", " zinsser.at", " zinsser.biz", " zinsser.ch" " zinsser.info"
( "Dr [Albert] Zinsser Pharmaceuticals"  is  "q-potenzen.com" ).

The other two websites registered in the name Albert Schmierer are  "hallwang-clinic.com" , "hallwang-klinik.com"

A "Dr Albert Schmierer" ...

"... is also the chief pharmacist for mitochondrial and homeopathic therapy at the Private Hospital Dr Ursula Jacob GmbH as well as the owner and CEO of Dr Zinsser Pharmaceuticals"
http://www.zell-v.com/html/medicalpanel-dralbert.html


Apparently the "Private Hospital Dr Ursula Jacob GmbH" is Hallwang[en] Clinic ...

"Dr Jacob is now the proud founder and owner of the Private Hospital Dr Ursula Jacob GmbH in Hallwangen, Germany, specialising in cell therapy and homeopathy ..."
http://www.zell-v.com/html/medicalpanel-drursula.html
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GdGy

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #10 on: October 12, 2016, 06:01:33 AM »

The "Private hospital" changed its name from "DR. URSULA JACOB GMBH" to "HALLWANG CLINIC GMBH" in 2014 ...

"HALLWANG CLINIC GMBH * Previous name: DR. URSULA JACOB GMBH until 12/05/2014"
http://orbisdirectory.bvdinfo.com/directory-EJFJHICIDIAIDIDIHIAIBIBI.urk
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GdGy

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #11 on: October 12, 2016, 11:50:55 AM »

I see "Dr. Ursula Jacob" had a famous Hollywood film-star as a patient : "Farrah Fawcett" ...

"Treatments in Germany
Ursula Jacob of Germany's Alpenpark Clinic has treated Fawcett. In an interview with Access Hollywood, Jacob says that, in Germany, Fawcett was given "natural supplements and also immune treatments" that were tailored to her specific case".

http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20090515/farrah-fawcetts-german-cancer-care

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrah_Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett died the same year that article was published, 2009

Readers of German would be better able than I am to check out the medical license "Dr. Ursula Jacob".


[URL made visible, OM]
« Last Edit: October 12, 2016, 07:51:46 PM by Omegafant »
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GdGy

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #12 on: October 12, 2016, 12:28:25 PM »

"Zell-V" allegedly anti-aging treatment, is cells from sheep-placenta ...

" Zell-V’s international medical advisory board includes renowned regenerative medicine professionals such as GSTT president Dr
Helmut Brammer, Dr Zinsser Pharmaceuticals CEO Dr Albert Schmierer,  Dr Jacob antiageing hospital owner Dr Ursula Jacob and Dr Ulrich Friedrichson PhD, owner of Private Hospital Friedrichson in Germany. Antiageing doctors prescribing Zell-V are already in the 100’s throughout South-East Asia".

https://inspirebn.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/inspire-2nd-issue-lr.pdf

One way or another, "Zell-V" customers will feel sheepish  ;D
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Omegafant

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Re: SCHEISSSSSE !!!!!!!!!! 'Hallwang clinic' in Dornstetten
« Reply #13 on: October 12, 2016, 04:40:54 PM »

Thymian:
>SCHEISSSSSE !!!!!!!!!! "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
>« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2016, 10:00:26 PM »

https://www.gofundme.com/2r2kwanw

This is disturbing. In some few days a yoga idiot from TV gets over 56k Pounds. On the other hand normal people during months only get some few hundred Dollars. This really is disturbing as it shows how sheep-like narrow-minded people are: blinded by some hyped shit on TV they hail TV "celebrities". This really is disturbing. Normal people do not count. Normal people can shoot themselves.

That very yoga idiot is one of those people who are responsible for the wave of esoteric idiocy spread by TV. Is it some case of justice now? No, since most of these idiots get rich and old. And I am sure that she got a lot of money during her TV time, more money than normal people ever have seen in all their lives.

Why are the gofundme orgies not restricted to really poor people? If you ask me: gofundme stinks.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2016, 04:43:28 PM by Omegafant »
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Steine kann man nicht essen!

GdGy

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #14 on: October 12, 2016, 06:38:51 PM »

Omegafant wrote "Why are the gofundme orgies not restricted to really poor people? If you ask me: gofundme stinks".
http://transgallaxys.com/~kanzlerzwo/index.php?topic=9113.msg21485#msg21485

It stinks even more than that : http://archive.is/WF3Qb#selection-497.0-497.103
GoFundMe own rules say they don't allow fundraising for non-FDA approved products & services]
Some, possibly all, the treatments at Hallwang & Hope4Cancer clinics are not FDA approved.
GoFundMe turn a blind eye to their own rules for 5% of donations.

[URLs made visible. OM]
« Last Edit: October 12, 2016, 07:48:55 PM by Omegafant »
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GdGy

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #15 on: October 12, 2016, 06:41:00 PM »

Whilst we are on the vulgar subject of money, here's what Hallwang clinic charges ...

"The first two weeks cost £58,000 and the third week of treatment another £30,000".
https://www.facebook.com/Dominiccancertreatment/posts/640499626115664
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GdGy

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #16 on: October 12, 2016, 07:05:17 PM »

I made a slight mistake here: http://transgallaxys.com/~kanzlerzwo/index.php?topic=9113.msg21479#msg21479
( I'm not allowed to edit my posts  :'( ).

The Uncle of Hallwang Clinic's Albert Schmierer was called Dr Friedrich Zinsser, (not Albert Zinsser).
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Dr+Friedrich+Zinsser%22+homeopath+T%C3%BCbingen
Apparently he was a big-cheese in the world of homeopathy


[URLs made visible. Embedded URLs not wanted here. OM]
« Last Edit: October 12, 2016, 07:47:28 PM by Omegafant »
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Omegafant

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #17 on: October 12, 2016, 07:44:42 PM »

GdGy wrote: "I'm not allowed to edit my posts"

There is a red line: WE --- they.

WE rule here.

They are allowed to write. It is not a right. It is a privilege.

This is the toughest forum in the whole Net. We are not called this for nothing.
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Steine kann man nicht essen!

Omegafant

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #18 on: October 12, 2016, 07:55:07 PM »

GdGy wrote:
>The website of homeopathy-makers "q-potenzen.com" is registered in the name Albert Schmierer ...
> http://whois.domaintools.com/q-potenzen.com

The name itself is problematic since many people share the same name. The WHOIS is not a valid tool for identifying a person only by name. Aside of name other details must be checked. Using a name is only a first approach.
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Steine kann man nicht essen!

Omegafant

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #19 on: October 12, 2016, 08:13:10 PM »

GdGy wote:
>Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
>« Reply #15 on: October 12, 2016, 10:41:00 PM »
"Whilst we are on the vulgar subject of money, here's what Hallwang clinic charges ...
"The first two weeks cost £58,000 and the third week of treatment another £30,000".
https://www.facebook.com/Dominiccancertreatment/posts/640499626115664 "


So it were £ 88,000. But that is really cheap. To buy a life for only £ 88,000 is really cheap. Unless you don't have  £ 88,000, because then your life is really cheap...

The dichotomy is with the people who shoot at the industry, at the pharma mafia, at the school medicine mafia, because the mafiosi are only interested in cash. And here they do not object any sum, under what moon ever it was brewed...

Alternaive medicine is only for the rich. Like Mc Queen. Like Jobs. Like Fawcett. Which underscores how dumb these people actually are, and which underscores who the frauds aim at: a tiny group of wealthy stupid people. They call the process of filtering out the unwanted "screening".  Checking their prey. Finding the gullible. Doublespeak in real use.

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Steine kann man nicht essen!

GdGy

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #20 on: October 13, 2016, 04:23:26 AM »

Omegafant wrote "WHOIS is not a valid tool for identifying a person only by name ... Using a name is only a first approach".
http://transgallaxys.com/~kanzlerzwo/index.php?topic=9113.msg21492#msg21492

Yes I understand : there could be more than one "Albert Schmierer".

Omegafant wrote "other details must be checked"

http://transgallaxys.com/~kanzlerzwo/index.php?topic=9113.msg21492#msg21492

There is confirmation : the "Albert Schmierer" who is CEO of the homeopathy company "q-potenzen"/"Dr Zinsser", is also the "chief pharmacist" at "private Hospital Dr Ursula Jacob" in Hallwangen, see ... http://www.zell-v.com/html/medicalpanel-dralbert.html  . Since 2014 that  "private Hospital" is called "Hallwang Clinic" ... http://orbisdirectory.bvdinfo.com/directory-EJFJHICIDIAIDIDIHIAIBIBI.urk

It is the same "Mr/Dr Albert Schmierer" in Hallwang Clinic & "q-potenzen": they are both the same homeopath.

I'd be interested to see what Albert's alleged doctorate is in, similarly the alleged doctorates of his associates shown here ... http://www.zell-v.com/html/medicalpanel.html . My inability to read German is making it difficult for me to check which, if any, has real medical degree, and a license to practice medicine.
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GdGy

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #21 on: October 13, 2016, 04:56:05 AM »

Omegafant wrote : Alternaive medicine is only for the rich.

Not true : there is [useless] homeopathy online & in supermarkets for under $10,
e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Single-Homeopathic-Remedies/b?ie=UTF8&node=3767781

Rich & famous customers are doubly-valuable to quack clinics : their high-profile can be exploited to publicize the clinic to generate more business.
A legitimate physician would not discuss their patient's treatment with the press, as Hallwang's Dr Ursula Jacob did ... https://www.google.com/search?q=%22In+an+interview+with+Access+Hollywood%2C+Jacob+says+that%2C+in+Germany%2C+Fawcett%22
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scepticon

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #22 on: December 04, 2018, 04:07:15 AM »

I think there should be a bit more differentiation in regard to the Hallwang Clinic. The Hallwang Clinic (Synonym: Hallwang Private Oncology Clinic) belongs to the so-called board-certified private oncology clinics, located in Dornstetten, Germany, using the campus buildings at the Silberwaldstr. 45. The Hallwang Clinic claims to be unique in the field private oncology clinics, "navigating in a collaborative university institute and hospital network, combining cutting-edge patient individualized precision cancer therapies - utilizing guideline-approved therapies based on Next-Generation-Sequencing (NGS), Exosome and Immune-profiling/prediction, and being able to evaluate and coordinate personalized cancer therapies." The Hallwang Clinic furthermore presents to utilize so-called supportive and supplementary integrative therapies.

The History of the Hallwang Clinic
A lot of articles have been published about the Hallwang Clinic also in this blog - and the most recent literature has cleared the confusion criticism about the connection to the "Privatklinik Dr. Ursula Jacob", the "Waldeck Klinik" and the "Hallwang Clinic". Impressive that so many clinics have used the campus - but obviously the 3 clinics, although completely different, have just been located in the same buildings. The "Waldeck Klinik" was a former rehabilitation center and the "Privatklinik Dr. Ursula Jacob" was a former alternative clinic that was criticized for its alternative therapies.

2014 many things might have changed. The Hallwang Private Oncology Clinic (since 2014):
Since 2014 it appears that a completely new team of board-certified oncologist has taken over the former buildings of the previous clinics that have been mentioned above. Now, the Hallwang Clinic seems to fight against the past of their buildings, as the new clinic faces many predjudices and criticisms associated with the former alternative clinics. One might be surprised about the high number of cases the Hallwang Clinic publishes itself or are published through independent websites. There are indeed many case reports that have been published since 2014 on the Hallwang Clinic website and the social media. Here it appears, that the Hallwang Clinic might have indeed access to comprehensive cancer therapies that seems to lead to long-term remissions in challenging Stage IV cancer patients, including published cases on independent websites, on TV and social media. Following the cases, one can see that some of the patients have unfortunately passed away in the meantime. Furthermore, it appears that the clinic is taking care of internationally re-known politicians, musicians and actors. A more recent famous patient at Hallwang Clinic seems to be the English actress Leah Bracknell. And other Hollywood stars have been recently mentioned in the international press in the context of the Hallwang Clinic as well.

"Alternative" Cancer Clinics in Germany
Most of these alternative clinics in Germany, if not all, do not have board-certified oncologist taking care of their cancer patients. Obviously, this leads to a conflict of interest between the treating non-oncology physician (i.e. naturopath, general practioner, gynacologist, pathologist etc.) and the cancer patient. The cancer patient is usually looking for the best treatment options, not necessarily for only the guideline approved protocols, but at least for an advice by a specialist who is knowledgable about all treatment options, including the guideline approved protocols and the so-called holistic or alternative therapies. Unfortunately, most of the alternative clinics that claim to provide a comprehensive view are very much limited due to the lack of qualifications, leading to combinations of naturopathic, alternative therapies and/or immunotherapies without beeing qualified as a board-certified oncology clinic. There are plenty of these examples, and cancer patients should be highly advised to look for the qualifications of a board-certfication for oncology in Germany, because it appears that in Germany it seems to be possible that non-board-certified oncologist treat oncology patients.

"Pseudoscience" versus "Personalized/Precision Cancer Therapy" and "ImmunoOncology"
For most of us readers, everything that is not approved by our medical agency appears as some kind of so-called "pseudoscience", or with other words therapies with "lack of evidence" - and "evidence based medicine" is used as a keyword for the best cancer therapies currently available/approved. Nowadays, one could indeed challenge this view, since personalized/precision based cancer therapies show very promising results for the individual, highly recognized in the field of oncology, including immune-oncology. It appears the the German medical regulations allow the oncologist to certain degree to consider so-called off-label use therapies which might be the reason why so many patients are traveling to Germany for these so-called "personalized" therapy options.
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Thymian

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #23 on: December 04, 2018, 02:49:42 PM »

White-washing!? Eyh, we need some more barbed wire.  8)

Just these very days the Hallwang folk got a bashing after someone obviously related with them tried to mess up the RationalWiki. Seems we have to push that story.


Here it is:
 

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Talk:Hallwang_Clinic

[*quote*]

Information icon.svg    The 2018 moderator elections
Results!
Talk:Hallwang Clinic
Complaints from someone supporting the Hallwang Clinic

It appears that some members of Rationalwiki have the right to protect misleading non-rational information and details about certain subjects I came across and finally corrected. My question here at Rationalwiki is the following: A critical view is based on information and not false information - why articles get protected after one has corrected the false content? — Unsigned, by: Gnotlin / talk / contribs

    @Dysklyver why did you protect Hallwang Clinic? --It's-a me, 🎄LeftyGreenMario!🎄(Mod) 21:43, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

        An anonymous editor added a lot of text to the article that was poorly written, poorly formatted and contained no references. The edits appeared to be an attempt to whitewash the article. Given the poor quality of the edits the changes were reverted multiple times by @Dysklyver and other editors, including @GrammarCommie and myself. After several weeks of this drive-by editing, apparently Dy had enough and protected the article. Cosmikdebris (talk) 22:20, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

            I don't think Gnotlin has made the same edits, and the user has retained important information that the other editors failed, yet the user's edits were also reverted. That's my observation so far. --It's-a me, 🎄LeftyGreenMario!🎄(Mod) 22:38, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

                If there was evidence backing up Gnotlin's claims, I would have checked them out. In the absence of references I assumed it was vandalism and/or whitewashing and would have done the same thing Dy did in this case, given the past edit history. Let Gnotlin bring his or her claims to the talk page so we can understand the context. Cosmikdebris (talk) 22:47, 3 December 2018 (UTC)


                    Please excuse my English as a non-native speaker - nevertheless I like your platform and would be happy to contribute further also about other topics than the Hallwang Clinic. There are indeed many so-called alternative clinics in Germany that deserve a disrespect due to the misleading practice of non-board-certified oncologist pretending to provide cancer patients a proper oncological second-option without themselves fulfilling the minimal criteria of a qualified evaluation as specialist and board-certified oncologists. And I would be happy to continue this topic at a later time point. There are many international patients who have the impression to be treated by an oncologist at these alternative clinics but ultimately these are just general physicians. - a topic for itself and a hugh problem. As I said I like you platform and the aim of it. Thank you for your feedback Dysklyver, and I want to make it easier to understand my position - hopefully this leads not directly to any prejudices - I didn't intend to delete any information that another one has provided- it just aimed at organizing the details - as you can see all the criticism hasn´t been deleted. I just added further valuable information and I would be happy to provide even further information. I want to add that I'm one of the medical team members from the Hallwang Clinic, myself a board-certified oncologist and member of the German and European Society of Hematology and Oncology. After several years in immuno-oncological clinical research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and a long working period at the comprehensive cancer center Cologne/Bonn in Germany, part of the University Hospital Cologne and the University Hospital Bonn I have been asked to join a team of board-certified oncologist at the Hallwang Clinic. The Hallwang Clinic is a board certified oncology clinic with the idea of a clinic that tries to provide a nearly unlimited spectrum of oncological analysis and therapeutic protocols in close collaboration within a university hospital network. That means that of course the center of dicissions at the Hallwang Clinic are guideline approved therapeutic options - but this should not exlude the strength that we are today able to use personalized oncological therapeutic approaches. Unfortunately, words like "personalized" or "individualized" as as well "immunotherapy" have been misused by alternative clinics to pretend any qualified evaluation for their indeed quackery therapeutic options. The Hallwang Clinic is different to these alternative clinics, not only that we are a governmental board-certified private oncology clinic, we are able to consider and to perform individual modern biomarker or mutational expression pattern analysis for the discussion and evaluation of cancer therapies, including next-generation sequencing data, immune profiling/prediction, tumor mutational burden etc.. Indeed the Clinic is open about supplementary and supportive remedies and this might also come from a certain minimal influence of the history of the building in which we are located, but the main reason is that for a comprehensive therapeutic evaluation and following the idea of an open-minded oncology clinic the knowledge should be also present about these kinds of therapies that surprisingly - even though only partially getting considered being beneficial for cancer patients - as. i.e. one has maybe been quite negative about vitamin substitutions in the past for cancer patients and titled these substitutions as quakery but looking at new (now even quite old) peer-reviewed convincing data about vitamin D substitution in lymphoma patients, we currently see that this is getting a very conventional approach now to consider this. So, this as a simple example of things that sound quackery - primed by our past - but are not anymore. The Hallwang Clinic is indeed facing strong prejudices and false information about therapies that are getting applied at the Hallwang - although this only refers to a clinic that has used the buildings prior to the development of the Hallwang Clinic. The Hallwang Clinic is since 2014 a completely new team of oncologist after the Dr. Ursula Jacob Privatklinik to my knowledge was closed and re-located near to Munich. Besides the fact that one is making a mistake to put the Hallwang Clinic into the same pot as an alternative clinic as wrong it is that we are using RGCC. The new Team at the Hallwang Clinic has re-evaluated Test from RGCC and we came to the conclusion that RGHCC is not fitting our quality-critirias in regard to analyze circulating tumor cells or provide any useful information for the proper evaluation of cancer therapies - as we navigate in a university institute network - we are proving only valid analytic tools provided by university intistutes, as i.-e. the University Institutes in Tübingen and Cologne - lighthouse in pathology, particularly leading the filed of next generation sequencing. My text might be poorly written and poorly formatted - but I'm also not an specialist in the field of writing on websites. - please excuse. Nevertheless - I think the article that you have writing is correct about clinics that operated or still operate like the Privatklinik Dr. Ursula Jacob - but maybe we can find a critical evaluation and debate what would be a more informed and indeed correct article about the Hallwang - without deleting any of the criticism that is present about the Hallwang Clinic. — Unsigned, by: Gnotlin / talk / contribs Gnotlin (talk) 01:22, 4 December 2018 (UTC)

    Are you trying to inform us about this clinic or sell it to us? ☭Comrade GC☭Ministry of Praise 23:41, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

        I think they want to sell it to us. ^_^ This message is approved by Dysklyver Gears.png Ensign of the Duke of Cornwall.svg (brebmyn) 23:57, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

    Basically this diff shows the article had been completely rewritten to effectively remove any idea the clinic is dodgy as hell, while adding a lot of stuff about how great the clinic is and something about board certification. The article has been repeatedly rewritten to this effect by numerous editors (SPA's in Wikispeak) none of which have any interest so far in other articles (as evidenced by the fact they now can't edit the article at the lowest protection setting which anyone with a few edits can bypass).
    After reading the enormously detailed monologue above, I understand it is actually the new staff of the clinic trying to remove embarrassing mentions of their clinics quackery and improve their image, and then when that failed, trying a similar image improvement by leaving the mentions but blaming everything on a former staff member who makes a handy scapegoat. The end result of whitewashing the article into a half-baked advert is much as would be expected from someone trying to do public relations image work.
    Anyway, the evidence so far put forward suggests that the clinic still offers (or did very recently) the same dodgy treatment as it always has and this criticism is likely to be valid, this article for example is only a few months old and suggests the majority of the content changes are bollocks. If these changes are infact legit, then lets see some actual evidence (web-links, or if not on the web, my email is on my userpage and you can send me stuff) and then we can go from there on deciding if Hallwang Clinic is indeed the reformed institution Gnotlin suggests, or still the centre of quackery it seems to have been in the past. ^_^ This message is approved by Dysklyver Gears.png Ensign of the Duke of Cornwall.svg (brebmyn) 23:57, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

                this is a fair offer to start at least somewhere. I will email you - maybe there is also a chance that you call me or I call you - anytime to provide you a full picture. We can also go through your citations- most of them referring to Ursula Jacob and then connected with the Hallwang Clinic. Then your blog entries of a former patient who lived long-term with stage IV colorectal Cancer citing him as being " at the beginning positive" and later XXXX - here you can see that you have overseen that the patient is referring to completely different clinic and physician namend in his blog Dr. Kilarski (?)- he was obviously at the Hallwang Clinic but then decided to use somewhere a GcMAF dodgy treatment. To comment on your citation on respectful insolence would indeed take more time, ...so lets discuss- I think it is a good platform to discuss a critical but also true article - and not just false connections and misleading information - and the end it will have more valuable information. — Unsigned, by: Gnotlin / talk / contribs Gnotlin (talk) 01:22, 4 December 2018 (UTC)


                just since its still quite early in Germany: Oh by the way, you should read and follow the following website providing you an idea why it is so important to look at the details of complicated cases- very talented author : tryingtobeatcancer.org.uk

                Let´s look at your introduction of the Hallwang Clinic article:

"Hallwang Clinic is a private medical facility in Dornstetten, Germany, specializing in integrative cancer treatments." Gnotlin (talk) 01:09, 4 December 2018 (UTC) The Hallwang Clinic is a board-certified oncology clinic. Board certified means that the clinic is run by the government certified, so-called board-certified, oncologist. - with simple words: specialized oncologists. This is indeed a major difference which needs to be mentioned - a major difference to all the alternative clinics in Germany since they are run by mainly or even exclusively naturopath or general practitioners, maybe internal medicine specialist- so an important difference. Since if you have no board-certification you are lacking the qualification as an oncology clinic. Is the Hallwang Clinic "specialized in integrative therapies" - for sure not. But I leave you here with the criticism abut alternative therapies, since the clinic is indeed open-minded to listen to patients who unfortunately got mislead by "alternative clinics". A real example: Just imagine a young adult having the chance of a long-term remission even a curative approach by guideline approved therapies... contacting the Hallwang Clinic, feeling not taken seriously by his "purely conventional guide-line approved thinking oncologist" who gave him some minutes of time to think about HighDose Chemo with Stemcelltransplant- now searching for advice and telling us in first telephone conversation that an alternative clinic has offered him a pure alternative therapy to chemo and he is now planning to go there. The reason why this patient is now, years later, still alive is because he saw that we are open-minded about, let's call them, supplementary therapies, which the patient demanded to have - but on the other hand we were able to convince him in a more than 2 hours long initial phone conversation to perform with us the Chemo and the Stemcelltransplant in the UK. This is a success. The Hallwang Clinic offers supplementary/supportive therapies but only as supplementary/supportive therapies - meaning every patient knows that there is, if, only a supportive aspect given and that supportive therapies are of course not cancer therapies. The Hallwang Clinic is not using supportive therapies as cancer therapies.

                "Up until 2014 “Hallwang Clinic” was called “Privatklinik Dr. Ursula Jacob” [1] : the name of the medical-director of that “oncology clinic”. If Hallwang's Dr. Ursula Jacob has formal qualifications as an oncologist she has omitted to include them on her résumé.[2]"

Gnotlin (talk) 01:09, 4 December 2018 (UTC) Dr Ursula Jacob was the director of Privatklinik Dr Ursula Jacob. She was not the medical director of the Hallwang Clinic. She was not an oncologist.

                'One of Dr. Jacob's famous cancer patients was the American actress Farrah FawcettWikipedia's W.svg[3].'

Gnotlin (talk) 01:09, 4 December 2018 (UTC)correct A more recent famous customer at Hallwang Clinic is the English actress Leah Bracknell.Wikipedia's W.svg (Suspension-of-disbelief is required by actors in their workplace, apparently some have that mindset permanently). Gnotlin (talk) 01:09, 4 December 2018 (UTC)The problem is that due to data protection no feedback to patients at the Hallwang Clinic can be given. So leave it.

                "Hallwang Clinic GmbH" has been in existence since 2007, and they state that they have had "over 7,000 patients"[4], but you'll have a hard-job finding internet-posts by any of those 7000 claiming they've been cured by visiting Hallwang.[5]

Gnotlin (talk) 01:09, 4 December 2018 (UTC) this refers to Dr. Ursula Jacob. The Hallwang Clinic would never and has never claimed this. Gnotlin (talk) 01:09, 4 December 2018 (UTC) Your citation- as you can see in the slide cited by yourself is referring to Dr Ursula Jacob Privatklinik and not to Hallwang Clinic

                "The clinic is not limited to treating people with cancer: patients with a wide-variety of disorders, including multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes, meningitis, irritable bowel syndrome, etc., have received live cell therapyWikipedia's W.svg at Hallwang Clinic. Specifically, they are injected with "fresh" live sheep-fetus cells.[7]"

Gnotlin (talk) 01:22, 4 December 2018 (UTC)ALSO here you are citing Slides from the Privatklinik Dr Ursula Jacob, and then you are saying that these are slides from the Hallwang Clinic - ?!

                "However transplanting sheep cells is a baaa…d idea, as they would be rejected by the human immune system, and would never survive in a person, so could not be "regenerative". So such xenotransplants are doomed to failure, and have some risk attached via the immune-response to the foreign material injected, and possibly via transmission of zoonotic disease.

Gnotlin (talk) 01:22, 4 December 2018 (UTC) I totally agree that this is non-sense, the Hallwang Clinic is not doing it. And your are citing again the slides from the so-called Dr. Ursula Jacob Privatklinik

In conclusion, it is a really superficial and false research that became obvious in the present article about the Hallwang Clinic - since you are mainly citing slides from a former alternative clinic that has used indeed the same buildings in the past . To an extensive degree articles like respectful insolence or sciencebasedmedicine belonging to the same author are doing to same mistake - they are just copying wrong information amplifying fake news until the one site is referring to the other site as a valid source of information. This is about the quality of your reference to "respectful insolence".

If life would be so simple to follow this "superficial rational logarithm" than one might just rent a former office of microsoft and you would think I would be suddenly the CEO of microsoft =)))))


BUT the good thing is - we have the chance to correct this. The question is only whether you are open to unblock your article so that we can work on it, discuss changes and develop a correct article - respecting your criticism about supportive therapies, which I even share. If you thought it might be good idea to combine a story about the previous clinics that have used the buildings at the Silberwaldstr. in Dornstetten then one should mention the Waldeck Klinik, a rehabilitation center, that was prior to the alternative "Privatklinik Dr. Ursula Jacob" in these buildings. Lateron, in 2014 the Hallwang Clinic rented the buildings as a board-certified oncology clinic. But then please make the difference between before 2014 and after 2014. Thank you Gnotlin (talk) 02:05, 4 December 2018 (UTC)

    Your edit was reverted because: 1) Your edit was not well-written. 2) We do not take seriously unscientific appeal to celebrity or anecdotal evidence here as you seem to do. If you want us to take you seriously, you need to cite peer-reviewed clinical studies that support the protocols used at the clinic. Bongolian (talk) 05:41, 4 December 2018 (UTC)

    @ Bongolian: the Article is using false citations - the article is invalid in itself. As you can simply check it by clicking on the links (see above) - you will see the author has used sources, slides, links from another clinic - Dr Ursula Jacob Privatklinik and claims that these links would present any Information about the Hallwang Clinic. — Unsigned, by: Gnotlin / talk / contribs

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Yulli

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #24 on: December 06, 2018, 02:47:14 PM »

Email sagt: NICHTS IST MIT WHYITEWASHING! Das BMJ hat einen Rundumschlag gelandet.


I DO HOPE THAT THIS POST BY X-MOL WILL PREVENT MILLIONS OF DOLLARS (AND POUNDS STERLING, EUROS, AND OTHER CURRENCIES) FROM BEING RIPPED OFF BY THAT SATANIC CLINIC.

THE STORIES ARE HEART-BREAKING.


New employees in the clinic? Who gives a damn about that!? They are expendables. Hire and fire! The owners, that is what counts. Look for the owners! Look at the managers!

http://www.x-mol.com/paper/813851

[*quote*]
当前位置: X-MOL 学术 › BMJ › 论文详情
Is cancer fundraising fuelling quackery?
The BMJ ( IF 23.259 ) Pub Date : 2018-09-12 , DOI: 10.1136/bmj.k3829
Melanie Newman

Crowdfunding sites are helping people with advanced cancer spend thousands of pounds on unproved and alternative treatments. Melanie Newman examines calls to help ensure patients and their donors are not being exploited
Doctors face difficult conversations with patients with metastatic cancer for whom NHS treatment has failed. A growing problem is how to advise patients who opt to pursue expensive, experimental treatments in the private sector, including orthodox therapies given in unproved combinations and doses but also alternative therapies with no evidence behind their use. The BMJ today publishes figures that show how crowdfunding for alternative cancer therapies has soared in recent years (tables 1 and 2). The figures, collected by the Good Thinking Society, a charity that promotes scientific thinking, show that since 2012 appeals on UK crowdfunding sites for cancer treatment with an alternative health element have raised £8m (€9m; $10m). Most of this was for treatment abroad.
Total raised by GoFundMe and JustGiving by country of clinic or treatment up to 1 July 2018
Amount raised by date fundraiser was opened
JustGiving’s own figures show more than 2300 UK cancer related appeals were set up on its site in 2016, a sevenfold rise on the number for 2015.
The phenomenon has allowed less well-off patients to access expensive, experimental treatments that are not funded by the NHS but have some evidence of benefit. But many fear it has also opened up a new and lucrative revenue stream for cranks, charlatans, and conmen who prey on the vulnerable.
The society’s project director, Michael Marshall, says: “We are concerned that so many UK patients are raising huge sums for treatments which are not evidence based and which in some cases may even do them harm.”
Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been crowdfunded for UK patients’ treatment at the controversial Burzynski clinicin Texas, which US authorities have pursued for years over its marketing of unproved treatment and research trial failings. The US Food and Drug Administration issued warning letters to the clinic in 2009 and 2013 listing numerous concerns about the clinic’s research trials, including failure to report adverse events.12 In 2012 the clinic was criticised by the FDA over violations of regulations relating to claims on the clinic’s website,3 and in 2017 the clinic’s owner was sanctioned by the Texas Medical Board for misleading clients.4
Other appeals included in the dataset were for Gerson therapy, which involves coffee enemas and frequent juice drinks and is not only unproved but can harm patients.5
“If these platforms want to continue to benefit from the goodwill of their users—and, indeed, to profit from the fees they charge each of their fundraisers—they have a responsibility to ensure that they do not facilitate the exploitation of vulnerable people,” Marshall said.
JustGiving charges a fee of 5% on donations, and GoFundMe did the same until January 2018, when it became fee-free.
Good Thinking wants the crowdfunding sites to vet cancer appeals and “reject outright proposals that refer to specific drugs that have been discredited, extreme dietary regimes, intravenous vitamin C, alkaline therapy and other alternative treatments.” Marshall says: “If a fundraiser is for treatment for a serious or life threatening condition such as cancer, it ought to be reviewed before it is sent live, especially if it contains terminology that raises red flags for quackery.”
Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University, supports the move, pointing out that crowdfunding organisations already reject appeals involving violence or illegal activity. “Crowdfunding for a terror attack is out of the question,” he said. “Crowdfunding for cancer quackery is not any better and must be stopped.”
GoFundMe, the platform that features most prominently in Good Thinking’s dataset, said it is already “taking proactive steps” in the US to make sure users of its site are better informed and will be doing the same globally over the coming months.
“Ultimately, we'll be monitoring content of this kind more closely in order to provide tailored advice,” a spokesman said. But JustGiving told The BMJ, “We don’t believe we have the expertise to make a judgment on this.”
Any moves to limit fundraising for alternative therapies by patients with terminal cancer will attract the ire of people like Sarah Thorp. She set up a GoFundMe account to pay for her sister Andrea Kelly’s treatment at the Integrative Whole Health Clinic in Tijuana, Mexico. The clinic offers a range of alternative therapies, including coffee and flax seed enemas, vitamin and mineral infusions, and an “Alpha-2010 Spa System” alongside whole body hyperthermia, hyperbaric oxygen, and “extracorporeal photopheresis.”6
Its lead clinician, Jose Henrique, claims a “75% success rate” since 2000 in patients with stage 4 cancers like Andrea.7 Andrea spent three weeks at the clinic at a cost of $21 000 (£16 000; €18 000) and died just over a year after she returned.
Although the sisters became “disillusioned” with the clinic and ended the treatment a week early, Thorp tells The BMJ thatshe remains convinced the trip extended Andrea’s life. “It gave her hope at a point when we had none,” she says. Andrea’s faith in the NHS was damaged after she felt her concerns that the cancer had returned were repeatedly dismissed by her doctors. When the disease was finally detected Thorp claims her oncologist was unsympathetic.
She believes Andrea was helped as much by the feeling of being in control as by the treatments she received. “That empowerment was so useful,” she says. “That was not false hope.” The very process of searching for alternative therapies had a positive effect, Thorp believes. “She was always looking into new things; it kept her going. Doctors shouldn’t disregard or be pessimistic about people exploring these options.”
Working out how best to protect patients and donors—while supporting their informed choices—will be no simple task for the crowdfunding platforms, as David Gorski, a US surgical oncologist who campaigns for evidence based science, explains.
“I support the concept of not allowing crowdfunding for treatment at quack clinics but must admit that I struggle to see how it would work in practice for some of these centres,” he said. “How would they deal with clinics that offer conventional treatments alongside quackery?”
Alternative centres do not usually publish data on treatment efficacy but instead provide testimonials, in which patients often describe being given a short time to live before starting the treatment that “saved” them. “Patients often don’t understand that not enough time has passed to say with any confidence that they are survivors,” Gorski explains.
The largest sums by far in Good Thinking’s dataset, accounting for £4.7m of the £8m identified, were ostensibly raised for trips to the Hallwang Private Oncology Clinic in the Black Forest of southern Germany. The clinic claims that some people have used Hallwang’s name to raise money but have not then proceeded to treatment and, in some instances, have done so without ever contacting the clinic.
The Hallwang carries out diagnostic tests on patients’ tumours and treats them with a combination of experimental immunotherapy, peptide vaccines said to train the immune system to attack cancerous cells, and unproved therapies such as vitamin infusions.8 Drugs offered include bevacizumab, which inhibits growth of tumours’ blood vessels, and pembrolizumab and ipilimumab, two members of a new class of biological therapy known as checkpoint inhibitors. All three drugs have proved benefits for certain types of tumour.
Costs are high: a patient was recently quoted more than €100 000 for an initial 10 day visit.9 However, the clinic states it offers intensive treatment monitoring, with a nurse to patient ratio of 1:2, in a highly private setting and in extremely challenging situations. It says many of its patients arrive with serious complications such as sepsis, tumour associated bleeding, or bowel obstruction, which it treats and manages. It also says that its innovative treatments are purchased at a high price, and because the costs are not met by any third parties such as insurers or charities, they have to be paid by patients. It insists patients only pay for and are given treatments after thorough discussion and with the patients’ explicit approval and consent.
Christian Ottensmeier, professor in experimental cancer treatment at the University of Southampton, has been approached by and treated former Hallwang patients. He uses some of the same immunotherapy drugs prescribed at the Hallwang in his standard clinical practice but in different doses and combinations.
“In my experience 20-25% of the Hallwang’s patients with advanced cancer could see some benefit from taking them,” he says. The Hallwang also uses the drugs for diseases in which they have not yet been tested. “I don’t have a problem with that,” says Ottensmeier. “But it needs a careful conversation with the patient about the chances, the risk, and the costs.”
The Hallwang says that when referring to treatment outcomes, it is important to distinguish between partial and complete remission, and that in cases where life expectancy is only a few weeks or months, a gain in quality of life or being given a few extra months to live is considered a success and something that patients are happy with. The clinic does not publish survival rates.
Ottensmeier does not think Hallwang patients should be banned from crowdfunding pages but says that patients and their donors must be much better informed about what they are paying for. The fundraising sites suggest that some Hallwang patients have had exaggerated notions of their prospects of long term survival. Anastasia Leslie’s Buy Another Day GoFundMe page said she was told by the Hallwang that “all of the ovarian cancer patients (approx 20 to 25 per year in the last 15 years) … are still alive, doing well and in remission.” Despite apparently spending £100 000 in just one week10 at the clinic, her death was announced on the funding page within months of her first trip to Germany. Her appeal raised £155 000.
Rekha Banerji’s appeal for her daughter Rebecca, who had stage 4 breast cancer, said: “Although in the UK, this is a hopeless case, the German doctors are extremely confident Rebecca will gain full remission.”11 The appeal raised £14 645, but her daughter also died within months of starting treatment, according to her GoFundMe page.
The Hallwang maintains that it never gives guarantees to patients and always provides thorough information on its alternative treatment strategies, which it says are state of the art.
Ottensmeier also questions Hallwang’s prices. “For a much smaller sum you can buy the same immunotherapy drugs and have them administered in the UK,” he says.
Patricia Peat, a former oncology nurse who has advised people (box 1) to go to the Hallwang after visiting the clinic herself, says she has now stopped recommending it to her clients.
Sally Major had stage 4 bowel cancer diagnosed when she was 32, after her concerns were repeatedly dismissed by the NHS. The youngest of her four children was just 2 years old.
Sally and her husband, Liam, sought the advice of former oncology nurse Patricia Peat, who now runs Cancer Options, a Nottingham based consultancy that claims to help patients navigate alternative approaches to the disease. Peat recommended the Majors go to the Hallwang Private Oncology Clinic in Germany.
There was a catch though—the Hallwang was extraordinarily expensive. Peat advised it could cost around £80 000. Over the course of the next year, the family spent more than four times that: £350 000, Liam tells TheBMJ. They re-mortgaged their home, took out bank loans, sold their car, and set up an appeal on the crowdfunding site YouCaring.
As the year went by Liam’s pleas on the site and in the media, which covered Sally’s quest and the fundraising effort extensively, became increasingly desperate. “This week has cost us €26 000...our money has finally run out,” he said in a Mirror story in March 2017.12 “Sally can barely stand ... we’re not able to get her home. Equally we can’t afford to stay here so have no option. I am literally begging.”
A few weeks later Sally died while still under treatment at the Hallwang. Less than a year had passed since her first visit.
On Sally’s first visit to Germany in July 2016, Liam was taken aback by the Hallwang’s charges. “We spent around £1000 a day on top of the treatment costs,” he says. But the Hallwang advised that its staff had experience of his wife’s particular cancer and that they hoped to put her into remission, so he wasn’t going to argue over money. “They told us positive stories and never mentioned anyone who had died,” he says. “I did ask for figures on survival rates but was told patients did not want to share their data. If I wasn’t in a desperate situation I might have asked more questions.” He was also asked not to show or discuss his invoices to anyone else, which he thought was “not right.”
The peptide vaccine treatments were the single biggest cost, at €11 000 each, he says. These were not administered by the clinical staff but by clinic manager Maike Luz. The Majors were not told exactly what was in them. “Maike came into Sally’s room on one occasion to give her a vaccine we hadn’t asked for. I stopped her,” Liam says.
The experience of another crowdfunded patient, Claire Cunningham, dispelled his doubts. Claire arrived at the clinic with advanced breast cancer in November 2016 unable to walk or talk and having been offered end-of-life care by the NHS. She recovered sufficiently to return to work and her testimony features on the Hallwang website. She was one of a group of 14 patients, including Sally, who bonded as a group through their shared Hallwang experience.
Today, Claire is seemingly the only one of that group left alive. The BMJ was unable to speak to her but it was reported earlier this year that tumours had returned to her lungs and spine and she was very ill.13
“There’s one man who spent €1.5m. His wife got an extra two or three months,” Liam tells The BMJ. He believes Sally’s treatment bought her “four or five months” and dismisses the suggestion that the extra time Hallwang patients seem to have bought may simply reflect the challenges of making an accurate prognosis. When he first took his wife to the Hallwang “she was about to die,” he says. “I could see that. And she did improve.”
Around two weeks before Sally died Liam asked the Hallwang’s senior oncologist Jens Nolting to re-test her tumours to see if any other drugs might be suitable.
“He agreed to it,” Major says. The cost was around €17 000. “A different doctor pulled me out of the room and told me if the treatment Sally was already receiving didn’t work there was nothing else left to try, so we didn’t go ahead.”
Despite all the energy the Major family and friends spent on fundraising, the family was left £70 000 in the red after Sally’s death, forcing Liam to set up a new appeal to help cover these debts.
If he had a second chance he says he would speak to the clinic about its costs before going ahead.
The fact that patients’ families will pull out all stops to get the treatment is part of their business model, he suggests, because if it were not for crowdfunding people wouldn’t be able to raise the funds.
He now thinks the crowdfunding sites should carry warnings or provisos about alternative treatment centres like the Hallwang.
“Having that support from someone who had been involved in a number of cases would have made me think twice. And I’d have been asking questions at the Hallwang rather than just handing over money.”
“The lack of transparency and communication about both costs and how long they may offer treatment for at the outset is both confusing and misleading,” she tells The BMJ.
Families who embark on treatment at a clinic and are then subject to increasing costs without a clear idea of the likely outcomes are put in a “massively difficult and emotive position,” she says. “The Hallwang is the worst example of this I’ve come across.”
Peat also supports the Good Thinking’s call for crowdfunding vetting. “Something has to be done,” she says. “The pressure on families to achieve a target is enormous. It’s morally unacceptable.”
Newspaper and TV reports on people with cancer drive donors to the crowdfunding sites, sometimes attracting the attention of celebrities, who boost funds. They also encourage others to seek the same treatment. “These reports may look like uplifting human interest stories, but the reality can be much darker,” says the Good Thinking Society’s Michael Marshall. “They rarely highlight the dubious and pseudoscientific nature of some of the treatments involved or just how many of the success stories actually ended in tragedy.”
Many stories follow a familiar narrative: a tragic patient, with everything to live for, is on the mend after “miracle” treatment denied them by the NHS. Gemma Nuttall is one example. The Daily Mail and ITV 1415 reported the young mother was now “cancer free” in February 2018, a few months after treatment at the Hallwang clinic, which was funded in part by film star Kate Winslet. Sadly, a recent update on Gemma’s GoFundMe page said the cancer had returned. This has not been reported.
“If the media want to report on medical fundraising stories, they should seek the advice of qualified medical experts,” Marshall said.
Competing interests: I have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and have no relevant interests to declare.
Provenance and peer review: Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
更新日期:2018-09-13
请求翻译 我来翻译
[*/quote*]
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"Freiheit für Grönland! Weg mit dem Packeis!"

Wer war das?

scepticon

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #25 on: December 18, 2018, 06:28:15 PM »

5 Great Stories of Long Term Triple Negative Breast Cancer Survivors
Trifina Sofian
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure for more info.

[SCHNIPP-SCHNAPP! Weg mit dem getohlenen Zeug!
SNIP-SNAP! Away with the stolen crap!]]

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[The contents stolen by "scepticon" is a bait for health-fraud of a snake-oil-dealer named Trifina Sofian, if that person in itself is not already a fake.

el T]
« Last Edit: December 20, 2018, 03:08:46 AM by el_Typo »
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Cresta_19

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Repugnant frauds from Hallwang
« Reply #26 on: December 18, 2018, 07:31:24 PM »

The post http://www.transgallaxys.com/~kanzlerzwo/index.php?topic=9113.msg24917#msg24917 by scepticon is not related with the Hallwang clinic.

The post by scepticon is not written by scepticon, but is a copy+paste of this blog post: https://www.youngandcancerfree.com/blog/triple-negative-breast-cancer-survivors.

Why does scepticon copy a blog article not written by him and posts it here without any source given?

Because it is an orchestrated con trick. 9 hours ago a "Carly T" made a "comment" under the blog article:

[*quote*]
Carly T 9 hours ago · 1 Like

Hello Trifina, here is Carly, I'm so excited to read your blog!! - We met at the Hallwang Clinic in Germany in 2014 - it might have been even late 2013. We haven't talked that much, everyone was quite busy with the therapies. Nevertheless, I remember that you received the anti-EpCAM antibody as one of the first patients with TNBC to eliminate circulating tumor cells - I was really surprised back then and impressed ... but now everything makes so sense to me. I was a bit more advanced at that stage. I'm so happy to just by chance came across your blog - you are an inspiration! Since 2014 I'm still going to the Hallwang Clinic once a year - it might not be needed anymore, and the medical team is telling me about a continuation after 18 months but I feel better to continue as a precaution - or let's call it maintenance. I also follow complementary therapies as you have mentioned. Unfortunately, there are not so many patients from Australia at the Hallwang Clinic these days :( ... but in the last 4 years it appears to me that similar cases of long-term survival and complete remissions are far more present than in the literature known. I will share your blog to the others at the Clinic!!! I think everyone will be excited!! There is not only a hope for a long-term - there is a chance! I wish you all the best and maybe we see us again at the Hallwang Clinic! Carly T
Preview Post Reply
[*/quote*]


Trifina Sofian answers some 5 hours later:

[*quote*]
Trifina Sofian 4 hours ago · 0 Likes

Hi Carly! It's been so long, I have to say that I don't remember the name but will probably remember your face! Did you go with your Dad by any chance? Anyway, I think you might have got some details mixed up regarding the results I got from the anti-epcam antibodies. Unfortunately it didn't work at getting rid of the CTCs. I came back to Australia and after a couple of months, they were still at the same levels. The expression of epcam on my CTCs was only a mere 20% so I didn't really expect it to have much of an effect so going to hallwang was very much a precautionary measure. It's still unclear what the role of circulating tumour cells have on metastasis but it seems that levels below a particular threshold doesn't increase the risk, and mine is below the threshold. There are now more proven immunotherapy drugs in clinical trials that have shown very promising results such as the anti-PD1 and anti-PDL1 antibodies. I'm not pursuing anymore off label treatments because I'm cancerfree and hallwang was an extremely expensive exercise! I hope you are doing well with whatever treatment you are pursuing and it's great that you are proactive and doing things precautionary. Keep in touch and all the best!
[*/quote*]


Looks like "Carly T" is a conman doing PR for the Hallwang clinic. Looks like "scepticon" is only one more alias of that guy. Looks like it is necessary to warn cancer patients about these repugnant frauds from Hallwang.
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Borodor

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #27 on: January 01, 2019, 03:46:15 PM »

BE WARNED! Patient tourism is lethal.
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Thymian

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #28 on: January 07, 2019, 07:46:12 PM »

"scepticon", the guy who tried to mess around here by dumping advertising shit for the Hallwang Clinic, tried to do it again today. But his shit was moved into the trash bin.

Now, he should not have dared to mess up. Like we already wrote, accomplices of the Hallwang Clinic tried to mess up the Rational Wiki. So, now let's have a look at what happened today at the Rational Wiki.

Let us look at the versions history:


https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Hallwang_Clinic&offset=&limit=500&action=history

[*quote*]
Revision history of "Hallwang Clinic"
View logs for this page
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Diff selection: Mark the radio boxes of the revisions to compare and hit enter or the button at the bottom.
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(cur | prev) 23:15, 7 January 2019‎ GrammarCommie (talk | contribs)‎ . . (13,149 bytes) (-966)‎ . . (Undo revision 2029887 by Gnotlin (talk))
(cur | prev) 23:15, 7 January 2019‎ GrammarCommie (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (14,115 bytes) (0)‎ . . (Protected "Hallwang Clinic": Counter-productive edit warring (take it to the talkpage) ([Edit=Allow only administrators] (expires 14:22, 12 January 2019 (UTC)) [Move=Allow only administrators] (expires 14:22, 12 January 201...)
(cur | prev) 23:15, 7 January 2019‎ Gnotlin (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (14,115 bytes) (+966)‎ . . (Reverted edits by GrammarCommie (talk) to last revision by Gnotlin)
(cur | prev) 23:14, 7 January 2019‎ GrammarCommie (talk | contribs)‎ . . (13,149 bytes) (-966)‎ . . (Undo revision 2029883 by Gnotlin (talk) The talkpage is not blocked, you can edit it any time, and Ping the other editors. Ignoring that discussion in favor of your own opinion is dishonest.)
(cur | prev) 23:12, 7 January 2019‎ Gnotlin (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (14,115 bytes) (+966)‎ . . (Undo revision 2027528 by GrammarCommie (talk) That is because all questions have been answered and still you are blocking the consensus - The HPOC has nothing to do with Dr Jacob)
(cur | prev) 13:11, 4 January 2019‎ Guvax (talk | contribs)‎ . . (13,149 bytes) (0)‎
(cur | prev) 03:23, 1 January 2019‎ GrammarCommie (talk | contribs)‎ . . (13,149 bytes) (-966)‎ . . (Undo revision 2027525 by Gnotlin (talk) That's because you did not reply to others. Conversations require both sides to speak. Edit war again and I lock the article.)
(cur | prev) 02:30, 1 January 2019‎ Gnotlin (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (14,115 bytes) (+966)‎ . . (No Feedback since consensus talk)
(cur | prev) 14:31, 31 December 2018‎ GrammarCommie (talk | contribs)‎ . . (13,149 bytes) (-966)‎ . . (Undo revision 2027312 by Gnotlin (talk) I see things sputtering out due to you not replying ad people not being big on your position. I fail to see a consensus.)
(cur | prev) 14:12, 31 December 2018‎ Gnotlin (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (14,115 bytes) (+966)‎ . . (See Consensus talk)
(cur | prev) 17:26, 4 December 2018‎ GrammarCommie (talk | contribs)‎ . . (13,149 bytes) (-2,648)‎ . . (Undo revision 2018480 by Gnotlin (talk) Wait for a talkpage consensus.)
(cur | prev) 17:23, 4 December 2018‎ Gnotlin (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (15,797 bytes) (+2,648)‎ . . (minor edit with more content)
(cur | prev) 02:16, 4 December 2018‎ GrammarCommie (talk | contribs)‎ . . (13,149 bytes) (-966)‎ . . (Undo revision 2018263 by Gnotlin (talk) Wait until a consensus is reached.)
(cur | prev) 02:14, 4 December 2018‎ Gnotlin (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (14,115 bytes) (+966)‎ . . (Undo revision 2017970 by Dysklyver (talk))
(cur | prev) 22:15, 2 December 2018‎ Dysklyver (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (13,149 bytes) (0)‎ . . (Protected "Hallwang Clinic": sponsored whitewashing ([Edit=Allow only autoconfirmed users] (expires 22:15, 23 December 2018 (UTC)) [Move=Allow only administrators] (expires 22:15, 23 December 2018 (UTC))))
(cur | prev) 22:14, 2 December 2018‎ Dysklyver (talk | contribs)‎ . . (13,149 bytes) (-966)‎
(cur | prev) 22:13, 2 December 2018‎ Dysklyver (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (14,115 bytes) (-3,639)‎ . . (Reverted edits by Scepticon (talk) to last revision by Gnotlin)
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(cur | prev) 15:36, 22 November 2018‎ GrammarCommie (talk | contribs)‎ . . (13,153 bytes) (-148)‎ . . (Undo revision 2014227 by 165.222.180.132 (talk) Childish, poorly written and unsourced.)
(cur | prev) 14:16, 22 November 2018‎ 165.222.180.132 (talk)‎ . . (13,301 bytes) (+148)‎ . . (→‎Geschäftsführer)
(cur | prev) 17:39, 13 November 2018‎ GrammarCommie (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (13,153 bytes) (0)‎ . . (Protected "Hallwang Clinic": Excessive vandalism ([Edit=Allow only autoconfirmed users] (expires 02:22, 14 November 2018 (UTC)) [Move=Allow only autoconfirmed users] (expires 02:22, 14 November 2018 (UTC))))
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[...]

[*/quote*]


"Scepticon" and "Gnotlin"? Oh, really? Seems to be the very same vandal, who showed up here with the name "scepticon".

That guy is at high risk of getting a kick in his snout he will not forget...



Hic sunt dracones.

[YES! Greetings from the DoD's. Julian]
« Last Edit: January 07, 2019, 08:25:18 PM by Julian »
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.         Im Angesicht von Gewalt ist Höflichkeit gegenstandslos.
.         At face with violence politeness is pointless.

.         (User TNT in the former CDU forum)
--------------------------------------- * --------------------------------------- * ---------------------------------------

Julian

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #29 on: January 07, 2019, 08:23:13 PM »

The Hallwang Clinic begs for a special treatment? They can have it. Please, let me serve this article. And be assured that we have a well-filled  armoury.



 

https://longreads.com/2018/03/22/the-last-resort/

[*quote*]
The Last Resort

Private clinics in Germany sell cancer patients hope — and mixed results — at exorbitant prices. Some, like the Hallwang Clinic, cater primarily to foreigners.


This story was funded by Longreads Members
Join and help support great storytelling

Lindsay Gellman | Longreads | March 2018 | 23 minutes (5,754 words)

Read the story in German
Privatkliniken in Deutschland verkaufen Krebspatienten Hoffnung zu Höchstpreisen — mit durchwachsenem Erfolg.
https://longreads.com/2018/03/22/hoffnung-um-jeden-preis/ Hoffnung um jeden Preis



Soon after Kate Colgan’s mother, Janet, awoke from surgery in a hospital near Manchester, U.K., last summer, she made a simple request of her daughter: “Get me to Germany.”

So Kate, then 25, fitted the family sedan with a roof rack and piled it with luggage. She arranged for her mother’s voluntary discharge from the hospital, against doctors’ wishes, and eased her from a wheelchair into the car’s passenger seat. Kate’s then-fiancé Chad drove them, along with the couple’s infant daughter, some 16 hours straight to a private treatment clinic on the outskirts of Dornstetten, a quiet medieval town in southern Germany.

Janet was diagnosed with metastatic stomach cancer in September 2016, when she was 54 years old. British doctors with the National Health Service gave her up to a year to live and offered only palliative care with chemotherapy.

Choosing palliative care felt to Kate like giving up. She scoured the web for other options for her mother, and came across the Hallwang Private Oncology Clinic, a for-profit institution that operates outside of the strictly regulated German hospital system. The Hallwang Clinic has emerged in recent years as the highest profile of a bevy of cancer clinics to gain traction in Germany. It markets itself as a luxury spa of sorts, touting its individualized treatments, pastoral setting in southern Germany’s Black Forest, and delicately plated dining-room meals.

The clinic’s online testimonials looked promising, so the Colgans inquired about treatment. After reviewing Janet’s medical records, a Hallwang Clinic doctor told the Colgans a cocktail of experimental drugs not widely available elsewhere could mean eventual remission for Janet. But the price would be staggering — more than $120,000. The clinic does not accept insurance and typically requires an 80% deposit before treatment can begin.

A chance at remission seemed worth a try — at any cost.

So in February 2017, Kate accompanied her mother to the Hallwang Clinic, where Janet stayed for several weeks and received treatments including immunotherapy vaccines, which are designed to help the body use its own defenses to fight specific cancer cells. Kate said she was given little information about these treatments and knew only that the staff called them “cancer vaccines.” The initial invoice totaled about $127,000. To cover it, Kate cashed out some of her home equity, liquidated both her parents’ pensions, took out a bank loan, and solicited donations on GoFundMe.

According to Kate, after leaving the clinic in the early spring, Janet felt better at first, and was able to go about her daily life. But she soon developed infections and a partial bowel blockage that required surgery. Doctors at a local British hospital, Blackpool Victoria, agreed to operate on her, but were skeptical that she could make a full recovery. Their assessment distressed Janet, who insisted on a return trip to the Hallwang Clinic — where doctors had a more optimistic prognosis — once the surgery was complete.

On a hazy Thursday afternoon last June, I met Kate on a wooden bench outside the Hallwang Clinic. A hillside lush with tall grass and low shrubs sloped beneath us, while behind us rose the clinic, a cream-and-brown complex buttressed by rounded atria. Janet lay in a patient bed inside, steps away.

“I’m going to have to get a lot more money,” Kate told me, shaking her head.

She had recently posted a fresh online appeal for donations for her mother’s treatment, which included a tearful Facebook video. The vaccines had started to work, she tells potential supporters in the video, “but we’re going to run out of money soon. Without you, she’s not going to make it.”

It’s little wonder that the clip garnered more than 91,000 views on Facebook. In person, as online, Kate is warm and articulate, with cropped platinum-blonde hair that she wore pulled back to reveal a quadruple-pierced right ear. She gesticulates often, once pausing to pluck a small spider from my hair.

Kate grew up in the small town of Lytham St. Annes, northwest of Manchester. She is a biochemist by training, and was working in medical sales when we met. She told me she had a particularly close relationship with her mother, whom she called her soul mate.

Kate insisted she wasn’t naive. She said she was aware not only of the long odds of her mother’s recovery, but also of her own susceptibility to anyone offering hope.

“I am a desperate, desperate woman,” she said. When a family member has cancer, she went on, “You’re an easy target — you’re prey.”

Nevertheless, Kate told me she hoped to fund her mother’s continued treatment at the Hallwang Clinic “until she dies.” She drew a distinction between this plan and pursuing the palliative chemotherapy covered by the NHS, citing the Hallwang Clinic’s assessment that its immunotherapy vaccines might lead to Janet’s remission.

“They do perform miracles on people,” she said.

Since its inception in 2009 as Privatklinik Dr. Ursula Jacob, the Hallwang Clinic has treated more than 7,000 patients. It recently generated fresh buzz in the British tabloid press when Leah Bracknell, a British television actress, announced she was soliciting online donations for stage-four lung cancer treatment there. The clinic’s website — available in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic, as well as German — offers few specifics and provides no names of physicians or information on pricing. Patients told me they are explicitly discouraged from speaking with media. Yet a handful of patient testimonials grace the clinic’s website and carefully curated social media accounts.

    In desperation, patients have sold homes, drained savings accounts, and launched crowdfunding campaigns, sometimes spending their last days and dollars with the clinic.

This air of secrecy has become a hallmark of the Hallwang Clinic, which in recent years has found a niche in selling hope to the seriously ill at astronomical prices. Patients, many of whom have been told by other physicians that they are too ill to benefit from further treatments, are drawn in by the prospect of a long-odds last resort: a menu of treatments not always supported by scientific evidence and hard to come by elsewhere. These range from so-called “alternative” therapies, like intravenous vitamin infusions, to the use of unapproved or experimental drugs.

Sometimes the drugs the Hallwang Clinic offers can help extend a patient’s life. But based on conversations I had with more than two dozen current and former Hallwang Clinic patients, their family members, and former employees, as well as on medical and financial documents those patients and families shared with me, the Hallwang Clinic routinely couples unproven treatments with business practices that exploit the seriously ill. Patients and family members told me the clinic’s physicians sometimes pepper initial consultations with words like “remission” and pitch the drugs as potential cures. Treatment bills often reach six figures. In desperation, patients have sold homes, drained savings accounts, and launched crowdfunding campaigns, sometimes spending their last days and dollars with the clinic. Many die within months, often leaving behind families in dire financial straits.

When I contacted the Hallwang Clinic recently, its management declined to answer my specific questions. In an email reply, a Hallwang Clinic representative countered the bulk of my reporting.

“International scientists have acknowledged and confirmed exceptional treatment responses among our patients,” the representative wrote. “Needless to say, we are against any publication that spreads negative and derogative information about our specialized oncology clinic.”

The Hallwang Clinic is part of a larger, loosely regulated ecosystem of private medical centers that Germany allows to thrive. The country’s deep-seated affection for unconventional treatments has lately provided cover for businesses selling experimental drugs to patients under the mantle of alternative-treatment methods like homeopathy. Some, including the Hallwang Clinic, cater primarily to foreigners, who have increasingly been traveling to Germany for health care. Private clinics aren’t beholden to government record-keeping in Germany, where health care is largely decentralized. But the German National Tourist Board says that in 2016 some 259,000 Europeans alone came to Germany for health-related overnight stays, up from 157,000 in 2009.

***

Immunotherapy is a catchall term for treatments that trigger the body’s immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells. It has emerged as a viable avenue for cancer-drug development, and researchers and patients worldwide are optimistic about expanding treatment options. Particularly promising is a class of drugs known as immune checkpoint inhibitors. These drugs aim to prevent cancer cells from deactivating T cells, one of the immune system’s key defenses. They have performed well in recent clinical trials against certain cancers, including melanoma and bladder cancer. Some, including the lung-cancer drugs Keytruda and Opdivo, have already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Another model involves the use of different types of vaccines to help the immune system recognize and build up defenses against cancer cells. Synthetic peptide-based vaccines, made from specific protein fragments, can be designed for a certain type of cancer, but not for individual patients. They guide the immune system to destroy cancer cells that display a particular antigen. Individualized vaccines, by contrast, are made from a patient’s own cells. They are tailored to the mutations found in a particular tumor, and are designed to coax cancer cells to flag themselves for destruction by the immune system. While some peptide and individualized vaccines have shown potential in small-scale experimental trials, they largely have not been approved for clinical use in the United States or Europe.

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Peptide-based and individualized vaccines are widely available, however, at some private treatment centers in Germany, including the Hallwang Clinic. Under German law, operations like the Hallwang Clinic that function independently of Germany’s health-insurance system, employ licensed practitioners, and require patients to sign a waiver have a broad mandate to run private practices as they see fit. This arrangement — an anomaly in Western health care — has made Germany fertile ground for independent enterprises that make unproven cancer drugs available to seriously ill patients, many of whom hail from overseas.

The Hallwang Clinic draws many British nationals, some of whom are frustrated by their overwhelmed public health care system, the NHS. British tabloids like the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror, among others, have breathlessly reported on the efforts of terminally ill British patients like Janet Colgan to raise funds for experimental treatment at German clinics.

“Back from the dead for New Year,” read a January 1, 2016, front-page headline in the Daily Mirror, accompanied by a smiling snapshot of cancer patient Claire Cunningham. The text continued, “NHS told me to go home and die but I crowdfunded treatment in Germany.”

This sort of narrative has become a pattern. When I searched recently on GoFundMe, I found roughly 100 active fundraising campaigns for patients, many of them British, seeking cancer care at the Hallwang Clinic, with some targets topping $490,000.

    In many of the cases I was able to verify, gains appear to have been short-lived.

I reached Claire Cunningham by phone last June at the flooring business she owns in West Yorkshire, in northern England. Claire, who was 49 when we spoke, told me she was diagnosed in 2008 with breast cancer and had a right mastectomy in 2012. Her disease progressed, and British doctors told her in January 2016 that it had metastasized to her liver, lungs, and bones — and that she had six months left to live. In October 2016, she was hospitalized in England and began to suffer from seizures. In November 2016, friends brought Claire to the Hallwang Clinic in a wheelchair.

“Nobody thought I’d come back from Germany,” she said.

During her roughly six-week stay at the Hallwang Clinic, Claire said she received a mix of immunotherapy vaccines, vitamin treatments, dietary guidance, and physical therapy. She has since been able to return to work and was elated to learn that her tumors had shrunk dramatically.

“I am a miracle,” she told me.

Claire’s initial round of treatment cost more than $139,000, which she covered by tapping into her savings, mortgaging her home, selling her car, and launching a crowdfunding campaign. In fact, she told me that my call came as she and her staff were selling tickets to a Las Vegas–themed benefit, the proceeds of which would help fund her ongoing treatment.

In July 2017, the Hallwang Clinic shared a post featuring a photo of a cheerful Claire in an office setting, holding a floral bouquet wrapped in brown paper. According to the caption, Claire had been faced with a choice: “Hospice OR Hallwang!” It continues, “We are so glad, you chose the latter and Claire, you really look great!” The clinic’s website also features a testimonial from Claire and her photo.

In many of the cases I was able to verify, gains appear to have been short-lived.

Among the testimonials on the Hallwang Clinic’s public Facebook page is a post touting “the amazing results achieved” for British patient Pauline Gahan. The update, published in September 2016, includes a link to a Manchester Evening News article highlighting how Gahan, then age 60, had “almost beaten the disease, thanks to treatment in Germany.” The story is accompanied by a photo of Pauline, who is smiling and holding a sign that reads “I’m winning the fight against terminal cancer!!!” A testimonial from Pauline is also available on the Hallwang Clinic’s website.

Claire told me that this post featuring Pauline, whose circumstances she felt resembled hers, was a factor in her initial decision to contact the Hallwang Clinic.

Yet the testimonial ended up outliving its subject. Pauline died in April 2017. (Members of her family did not respond to requests for comment.)

The Hallwang Clinic’s website also features a lengthy first-person testimonial from British breast-cancer patient Kate Douglas, accompanied by a headshot. The clinic has also shared versions of Kate’s story on its Facebook page. The account details how, in September 2016, British doctors told Kate they had exhausted all options for treating her stage-three breast cancer, and that she should simply enjoy her remaining time with her young daughter.

Instead, the testimonial says, Kate sought treatment at the Hallwang Clinic.

“The medical team has since guided my treatment plan every step of the way and I have full confidence in them and as a result my tumor markers have dropped by over half,” the testimonial says. “I am fully reliant on fundraising through GoFundMe and so far I have been blessed.”

This testimonial, too, outlived its subject. Kate died last month, just days after her 40th birthday. Claire attended her memorial.

I asked Hallwang Clinic if its management had specific comments regarding Pauline’s and Kate’s testimonials and the continued use of these endorsements on its website. Part of the clinic’s reply alluded to these questions.

“Many of our patients are currently under a maintenance program for many years now,” the clinic’s statement said. The families of the two individuals about whom I’d asked, it continued, “are actually grateful for the Hallwang Clinic, which has helped both patients in a very difficult situation.”

***

While a smattering of alternative-treatment clinics exist elsewhere in Europe, as well as in Mexico and the United States, Germany’s long history of embracing unconventional treatment methods has helped these institutions to flourish. Homeopathy, for example, originated in 18th-century Germany and continues to enjoy widespread popularity there. The treatment method was developed by the German physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, who theorized in 1796 that a substance that caused a healthy person to experience symptoms of a given disease would mitigate the same symptoms in an ill person. He developed these remedies by diluting material from plants, animals, or other sources in alcohol or distilled water. His ideas have since been widely debunked by modern science.

Yet German insurers typically reimburse patients for homeopathic treatments, and German law extends robust protections to certified nonmedical practitioners, or heilpraktikers, whose training in alternative healing methods like homeopathy permits them to treat patients with non-infectious diseases, such as cancer. The designation traces its roots to a 1935 statute implemented by the Nazi government in an attempt to regulate a growing group of natural healers. The original edict precluded the training of new heilpraktikers, a move intended to phase them out and push medical doctors to incorporate alternative treatments into their practices. Instead, after the war, the ban on heilpraktiker training was overturned.

I spoke by phone with Eugen Brysch, CEO of the German patient-advocacy organization Deutsche Stiftung Patientenschutz. He explained that alternative treatments are now gaining popularity with licensed medical doctors, more of whom have begun to seek out such training as an add-on.

And increasingly, Brysch told me, experimental drugs are finding their way into alternative-treatment clinics, where they have been folded into an older menu of unproven cancer-treatment options, such as ozone therapy (in which the gas is pumped into the bloodstream) and whole-body hyperthermia (in which the patient’s body temperature is elevated to fever range for extended periods). In August 2016, three patients — two from the Netherlands and one from Belgium — died within days of one another at the Biological Cancer Center, a private clinic run by a heilpraktiker near Düsseldorf, in western Germany. They had been injected with the experimental cancer-treatment drug 3 Bromopyruvate, or 3-BP, according to a local prosecutor’s report. The incident briefly reignited debate over whether private clinics should be subject to stricter oversight.

    The experimental-treatment pipeline from lab to private clinic in Germany has grown murky, and, in some cases, rife with loopholes and illegal practices.

Ultimately, though, Brysch told me, little action has been taken beyond barring the practitioner in question, Klaus Ross, from practicing locally and shuttering his establishment. (Last fall, a regional court overturned the ban on Ross.) According to Brysch, some German politicians are reluctant to alienate voters enamored of alternative treatments — not to mention the influential homeopathic lobby, which comprises practitioners as well as suppliers of natural compounds. Heilpraktikers have been growing in rank in Germany, amassing considerable political power. In 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, there were about 35,000 — up from 14,000 in 1998.

Against this backdrop, the experimental-treatment pipeline from lab to private clinic in Germany has grown murky, and, in some cases, rife with loopholes and illegal practices.

Throughout Europe, drugs and vaccines intended for use in humans — even at private clinics — must comply with production standards set by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and meet the quality-control criteria outlined in the international Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) code. This code governs aspects of production ranging from safety to marketing, packaging, and labeling. Compliance can be cumbersome and often drives up manufacturing prices.

To circumvent these hurdles, some physicians offering peptide-based immunotherapy vaccines have an implicit arrangement with laboratories to skirt regulatory controls designed to protect patients. I contacted the University of Tübingen in southern Germany, which has a well-known Department of Immunology, and spoke with the department’s lead researcher, Dr. Hans-Georg Rammensee.

Rammensee confirmed that the university’s lab sometimes produces peptide vaccines for physicians at local private clinics. I asked him whether the lab adhered to GMP standards when filling these orders. He sounded agitated by the question, and warned me that the issue was “a gray area.” Yet he was willing to explain that, in what he called an increasingly common practice in Germany, a physician might place an order with a lab for a particular peptide sequence, designating it “for laboratory use” only — rather than for patient use. Since a request for a compound that won’t be administered to a human patient does not require GMP compliance, a lab can fill it quickly and cheaply, he said. The strategy allows for deniability on the part of labs, who sell the peptides to the clinics at cost. Some labs are aware of clinics’ intentions to administer them to patients as vaccines.

A lab can produce 30 milligrams of a given peptide, or enough to yield about 100 vaccine doses, for roughly $570, Rammensee told me. Often, he said, private clinics go on to administer these laboratory-grade peptides to patients at inflated prices.

“We send them peptides for lab use,” Rammensee said of physicians at private clinics, though he declined to name those his lab has supplied. “They do with them what they want.”

I called Dr. Christoph Huber, a pioneer in custom immunotherapy vaccines, to see if he was familiar with this type of supply chain. Huber was once the director of the Department of Hematology and Oncology at the Mainz University Medical Center. He now serves as co-founder of German pharmaceutical firm BioNTech AG, which he said develops custom immunotherapy vaccines via a GMP-standard manufacturing process and does not sell to for-profit clinics. I relayed to him, in general terms, the process that Rammensee described. He became alarmed and told me that clinics that obtain and sell drugs this way are engaged in “illegal” and “shocking” activity.

I also described this practice in general terms to Klaus Cichutek, president of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Germany’s regulatory authority on certain categories of medicinal products, including vaccines. He told me over the phone that Germany’s local law-enforcement bodies — not its federal institutions — were ultimately responsible for enforcing his organization’s guidelines, and that they ought to look carefully at the drug-procurement practices of private clinics in their midst.

“It is a crime to provide patients with drugs where we do not know the efficacy or safety,” he told me. He then asked me to turn over the names of my sources and other details so that he could launch an investigation right away. (I declined.)

Critics argue that laissez-faire pockets in German health care increasingly threaten to undermine the country’s prowess in medical research, a field in which it has positioned itself as a European leader. Germany’s decentralized, sometimes-uneven approach to oversight might eventually erode its authority in the broader, decades-old debate over what drugs should do.

Since the 1960s, regulators like the FDA and the EMA typically have mandated that medical treatments be proven both safe and effective. Patricia Zettler, an associate professor at Georgia State University College of Law and a former attorney at the FDA, explained to me that when it comes to seriously or terminally ill patients, the balance between safety and efficacy becomes more complicated to strike — and the measure of success more elusive.

    Germany’s decentralized, sometimes-uneven approach to oversight might eventually erode its authority in the broader, decades-old debate over what drugs should do.

In those cases, Zettler said, regulatory bodies are often willing to authorize the use of drugs that might be less safe, or that have not been proven effective, on the basis of compassionate use. These requests pass through formal channels, and pharmaceutical companies must not charge patients more than the cost of the drug. When unproven treatments are exorbitantly priced, ethics-based arguments in favor of such arrangements collapse.

I also spoke by phone with Susanne Weg-Remers, director of the Cancer Information Service at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, which helps patients navigate evidence-based options for cancer treatment. She told me that stronger safeguards are needed to protect patients, especially when it comes to unproven treatments.

“Maybe some of these clinics are taking advantage” of the patients’ situation for profit, she suggested.

For the most part, though, these enterprises operate in Germany with little oversight. Private clinics that employ licensed medical doctors, rather than heilpraktikers alone, seem to be especially inoculated against censure.

***

The Hallwang Clinic website offers few concrete details on the prices of treatments or qualifications of its medical staff. Much of the clinic’s operations seem to mirror the very same opacity.

The clinic’s parent company, Hallwang Clinic GmbH, is owned and operated in part by drugmakers who appear to have a vested interest in the treatments it sells — an arrangement that has raised red flags for potential collaborators. The company’s CEO, Albert Schmierer, a pharmacist by training, personally holds a roughly one-quarter ownership stake in the Hallwang Clinic, according to 2016 shareholder documents available through Moneyhouse.de, a German corporate-records database. Schmierer is also listed online as CEO and owner of Dr. Zinsser Pharmaceuticals, a medical-products company, and runs Rappen-Apotheke, a pharmacy that specializes in homeopathy and is located near the clinic, according to its website.

In the course of my reporting, I spoke with several physicians and practitioners who head private cancer-treatment clinics throughout Germany. Among them was Dr. Joachim Drevs, an oncologist who runs the private clinic Unifontis in the central German town of Sickte. He told me that in 2013, Hallwang Clinic management approached him about forging a collaborative relationship. During their preliminary conversations, Hallwang Clinic executives shared with him their drug-sourcing procedures, including that Schmierer’s pharmaceutical firm produces a significant portion of the treatments offered at the Hallwang Clinic. Drevs said he was distressed to learn of this arrangement.

“If the decisions are made by pharmacists — the owners of the treatments — it’s impossible to stay neutral” in determining the best course of care for a given patient, Drevs told me. He said he ended discussions with the Hallwang Clinic after a few weeks.

At the Hallwang Clinic, Schmierer has presided over a revolving door of staff, former employees told me. The several former employees I spoke with in person and by phone asked that their names be withheld so as not to jeopardize their current jobs. Some said the clinic had them sign non-disclosure agreements, and they feared legal or other retaliation were they to speak on the record. They told me they left the Hallwang Clinic largely due to their concern over managerial tactics that included barring patients from vetoing elements of proposed treatment plans and, at times, revising costs upward before or after treatment began. One former employee said clinic management aggressively solicited payment from a freshly grieving spouse. Ex-employees also said the clinic was at times understaffed, including during a several-month period in 2014 when it had no full-time oncologist on staff.

The Hallwang Clinic did not provide specific responses to my questions about Schmierer or the clinic’s business and staffing practices.

In conversations with patients, family members, and former employees, I learned that the Hallwang Clinic is often willing to treat — and charge — patients that other institutions have deemed beyond help, and sometimes continues to administer expensive drugs even as a patient’s condition deteriorates. And the clinic has marked up the price of some experimental drugs by thousands of times what they cost to produce.

In August 2016, the Hallwang Clinic shared a pair of links on Facebook to clinical results (from 2006 and 2010, respectively) of a peptide-based breast-cancer vaccine. These came from trials led by researchers at the U.S. Military Cancer Institute at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, in Bethesda, Maryland. The vaccine, known as GP-2, works by targeting a particular protein marker called HER-2 expressed in some tumors, and tagging for destruction cancer cells that display the marker.

I called Dr. George Peoples, a professor of surgical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and an author of the studies, to learn more about the trials’ practical significance. He told me the vaccine has not been approved in the United States or Europe. But he said the GP-2 vaccine is simple and inexpensive to produce, and estimated that 1,000 doses could be made to human-grade specifications for as little as $20 per dose. According to patient invoices shared with me, the Hallwang Clinic recently charged more than $10,800 for each of several doses of GP-2.

The Hallwang Clinic did not address my specific questions related to its administration of GP-2 or the vaccine’s cost.

Some patients and their family members also told me the Hallwang Clinic withheld details pertaining to immunotherapy vaccines it administered, including where and how they were produced.

    The clinic has marked up the price of some experimental drugs by thousands of times what they cost to produce.

Miki Martinovic, who was born in Montenegro and was living in Toronto when we spoke, told me over the phone that he spent several months at the clinic over the past two years while his wife, Svjetlana, was being treated there for stage-four glioblastoma. Last summer, as Svjetlana’s condition worsened and treatment costs piled up, Miki grew suspicious of the clinic’s reluctance to provide details about the peptide vaccines she was receiving. He told me he asked one of the clinic’s physicians for documentation validating the provenance of the drugs.

Miki said he persisted until a clinic administrator showed him a sheet of paper, covering the top half with her hands but leaving visible a portion of the document that read “99% purity.”

Miki was livid at the clinic’s repeated evasions. “They are crooks,” he said.

He told me he made his frustration known, and began to confront staff within earshot of other patients. When an administrator presented him with a new invoice, he crumpled the sheet and hurled it in her direction. When Schmierer visited on the morning of July 30, 2017, Miki jeered at him, calling him “mafia boss.” Shortly thereafter, Miki received a memo from Schmierer on Hallwang Clinic letterhead requesting he leave the premises by 3 p.m.

“Unfortunately we have to pronounce a house ban for you,” it said.

His behavior was disruptive, the note continued, and other patients had reported he’d violated the clinic’s rules by offering patients cannabis oil and sedatives. (He had.) The clinic would, however, continue to treat Svjetlana if he wished.

Miki left in search of a new treatment facility. He found a private clinic several hours north, near Frankfurt, that was willing to accept Svjetlana. She died there within days of relocating.

The Hallwang Clinic treatment bill for Svjetlana topped $1.5 million. Miki shared with me dozens of pages of Hallwang Clinic invoices corroborating this figure, which he told me he paid in full by selling real estate he owned in Toronto.

 

The Hallwang Clinic did not address my specific questions about the provenance and production of its immunotherapy vaccines.

 

***

 

A few weeks after I met Kate Colgan in June, she and her fiancé decided to plan an impromptu wedding while Janet was well enough to attend. The couple married in Lytham St. Annes in August. In lieu of gifts, they asked for donations to fund Janet’s ongoing treatment. In photos Kate shared online, she wears a lace-embellished bridal gown and carries a bouquet of peach roses. She embraces Janet, who stands beside her in a cream-colored jacket and a hairpiece with flowers that match Kate’s.

Soon after, Janet’s health again began to decline, and she was no longer able to travel to Germany. She sought care at a British hospice, where she died in October.

As I tried to learn more about Janet’s final months, I contacted a few individuals Kate mentioned in social media posts about the toll of cancer on families.

One was Lynn Wealleans, 49, of Liverpool, who agreed to speak with me by phone about her family’s own experience at the Hallwang Clinic. Lynn told me that her husband, Mark, was diagnosed in September 2016 with late-stage cancer of the peritoneum, or abdominal lining. He was 48 at the time, and ran a rubber-manufacturing business. British doctors told him he had between three and six months to live, and that further treatment would be ineffective.

As she researched options, Lynn came across a newspaper article on the actress Leah Bracknell’s efforts to fundraise for immunotherapy treatment at the Hallwang Clinic. Lynn’s sister contacted the clinic, where staff encouraged the family to send a tissue sample for initial evaluation. They did. After the clinic processed Mark’s sample — which cost about $49,000 — Lynn and Mark traveled to the Hallwang Clinic, arriving on November 14, 2016.

They met with a staff physician, who told the couple that he could custom-engineer a treatment for Mark and proposed creating individualized vaccines. Several rounds would be required, each costing tens of thousands of dollars. The physician did not provide information on where the vaccines would be produced, Lynn told me.

The couple stayed at the clinic for about three weeks while Mark received treatment, then returned home to England. Mark came back to Hallwang alone in mid-December. On December 14, clinic staff informed him that his tumor markers had halved — a sign of considerable improvement. When the clinic closed for about two weeks over the holidays, Mark went back home. Lynn said she noticed he was growing weaker and turning yellow with jaundice.

In January 2017, Mark had tests done at a British hospital which showed his tumor markers had risen since his diagnosis in the fall. The couple returned to the Hallwang Clinic that month for a short stay. According to Lynn, the physician was eager to continue treating Mark with vaccines despite his failing health. By the end of January, Mark was admitted to a Liverpool hospice, where he died a few days later.

    To me, they were just still making money” until Mark died, Lynn told me. “They kept saying, ‘We’ll try this peptide, we’ll try this.’

Mark’s course of treatment at the Hallwang Clinic cost around $294,000. He had critical-illness insurance that paid out a cash disbursement directly to him, which covered the treatment costs. Lynn’s sister also created a crowdfunding page to help with other expenses.

“To me, they were just still making money” until Mark died, Lynn told me. “They kept saying, ‘We’ll try this peptide, we’ll try this.’”

Even putting aside the clinic’s high costs, she told me, it was clear to her — now, more than a year later — that its long-term track record was poor, though some of its treatments helped to extend the lives of patients beyond the prognoses they were given elsewhere.

“Most of the people I met when I was at the clinic have passed,” she told me. While the clinic’s treatments were of little help to Mark, she said, they “bought other families time.”

 

Claire Cunningham, the West Yorkshire patient who felt she was improving last summer, now believes her time is running out. In a phone call earlier this month, she said that, despite having had subsequent treatment at the Hallwang Clinic and spending a total of more than $368,000 there over a several-month span, her cancer has lately returned to her lungs, and she now has at least 10 new tumors in her spine, which limit her mobility.

“I’m in a bad way,” she said.

Meanwhile, she added, more than a dozen fellow Hallwang Clinic patients have died since she began treatment there. And, while a few months ago she participated in the clinic’s promotional efforts — and her testimonial remains on its website — she’s now adamant that she would not return there, even if she could afford it.

“I’ve spent every penny I’ve owned — I don’t have a pot to piss in,” she said. “I’ve been dying for 11 years.”

***

Lindsay Gellman is a reporter based in New York. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. She was a recipient of a Fulbright reporting fellowship to Germany in 2016-17.

***

Editor: Ben Huberman
Translator: Eva von Schaper
Fact checker: Matt Giles
Copy editor: Jacob Gross
Illustrator: Xenia Latii
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[*/quote*]
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Krik

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #30 on: April 02, 2019, 04:12:37 PM »

The newsletter by Healthfraud reports "GoFundMe blocks fundraising for treatment at Hallwang Clinic":


[*quote*]
Consumer Health Digest #19-13
March 31, 2019

###
GoFundMe blocks fundraising for treatment at Hallwang Clinic

The Financial Times has reported that the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe is banning campaigns seeking donations for expensive treatments at the Hallwang Clinic in Germany, which caters largely to foreigners with life-threatening cancer.
[Budryk Z. GoFundMe bans donations for controversial cancer treatments
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/434936-gofundme-bans-donations-for-controversial-cancer-treatments-at
. The Hill. Mar 20, 2019]

David Gorski, MD, PhD has criticized Hallwang Clinic for:

* offering dubious treatments such as homeopathy
https://web.archive.org/web/20160430120041/http:/www.hallwang-clinic.com/your-oncological-journey-cancer-treatment/natural-supplements-ie-dca-curcumin-tbl-12-homeopathy.html

* ozone therapy
https://web.archive.org/web/20160425090924/http:/www.hallwang-clinic.com/your-oncological-journey-cancer-treatment/ozone-therapy-hyperbaric-chamber.html

*  high dose vitamin C
https://web.archive.org/web/20160420022452/http:/www.hallwang-clinic.com/your-oncological-journey-cancer-treatment/high-dose-vitamin-and-antioxidant-infusions.html

* and orthomolecular medicine
https://web.archive.org/web/20160422040847/http:/www.hallwang-clinic.com/your-oncological-journey-cancer-treatment/orthomolecular-medicine-and-micronutrients.html

* in combination with standard treatments

* featuring glowing testimonials from patients who had died

* offering off-label, non-validated uses of expensive drugs

* offering unproven experimental therapies at high prices

* the conflict of interest of its parent company

* failing to publish findings regarding its hyped treatments in medical journals

* failing to ensure that patients have informed consent to receive treatments

* discouraging patients from talking to the press.

[Gorski D. The deadly false hope of German alternative cancer clinics
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-deadly-false-hope-of-german-cancer-clinics/
. Science-Based Medicine, Mar 26, 2018]

He has also commented on recent studies that exposed crowdfunding as a major source of revenue for promoters of implausible treatments:

Crowdfunding: The fuel for cancer quackery
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/crowdfunding-the-fuel-for-cancer-quackery/

and

Crowdfunding: The fuel for cancer quackery (part 2)
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/crowdfunding-the-fuel-for-cancer-quackery-part-2/
.

###
[...]
=================================

Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Consumer Advocate
287 Fearrington Post
Pittsboro, NC 27312

Telephone: (919) 533-6009

http://www.quackwatch.org (health fraud and quackery)
[*/quote*]


The article by the Financial Times is behind closed curtains. But the article by The Hill can be read freely:
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/434936-gofundme-bans-donations-for-controversial-cancer-treatments-at

.
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Julian

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #31 on: January 21, 2020, 06:25:22 PM »

Marke 12:000
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Thymian

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #32 on: January 27, 2021, 08:19:37 AM »

Marke: 13.000
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Thymian

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #33 on: January 25, 2022, 07:03:37 AM »

HOPPLA !!!

Stand: 14790
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Julian

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Re: "Hallwang clinic" in Dornstetten
« Reply #34 on: April 15, 2022, 08:53:24 PM »

Marke: 15000
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