A Doctor’s Remorse

From the Desk of Dr. Lieberman

When I was 17 years old I read John Gunther’s book Death Be Not Proud. It was the story of his son’s struggle with a brain tumor and ultimately his untimely death. I had experienced the death of an aunt shortly before from a similar tumor of her brain. As I was motivated to be a doctor, I became a volunteer worker in the pathology department of the Beth Israel Hospital which was just across the street from my high school. Each week after school I filed slides and typed autopsy reports. As a reward I was given a summer job which gave me a wonderful opportunity to see into the world of medicine. One day, while reorganizing blocks of paraffin containing surgical tissue I realized I was holding in my hand a block of tissue from my aunt’s brain tumor. She died postoperatively despite having one of the most famous neurosurgeons.

Each month in the pathology department a world-famous pathologist would come to the department and study the brains of autopsied cases. Everyone in the department would gather around this famous man glued to every word he said as he sectioned and studied the brain tissue. I’m not sure I fully appreciated the experience I was having. Years later as an intern at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, I was assigned the case of a man who was to be operated upon for an aggressive tumor of his brain. I was asked to scrub in for the surgery. The operative site, however, was very small so I basically just stood around and observed. Suddenly, as the surgeon plucked the tumor out of the brain, the patient began to bleed profusely. The surgeon shouted for blood and after many units the hospital had exhausted the supply of his specific blood type and the patient died.

Today, I stand back powerless as history once again repeats itself. My friend, Dr. John McMichael, the Center’s mentor in immunology and a contributor of many of our advanced signal therapies, stands as did John Gunther beside his son who struggles for his life from a brain tumor.

This essay spans 60 years and very little has changed despite so many great advancements in medicine. My purpose in writing this is to remind us that we must do everything we can to prevent disease as there may be little available to successfully treat disease once we have it.

The Importance of Nutrition

Many in established medicine ridicule us for believing in the importance of nutrition. Don’t believe them. The science of clinical nutrition is vast and very convincing. Schroeder for example wrote, “If you can tell me what the concentration of Selenium is in your soil I will tell you the incidence of cancer in your country.” Similarly, the incidence of cancer in the North is twice that of the South because the level of Vitamin D3 that comes from the exposure to the sun is less in the North. Research data indicates that you can reduce your incidents of many cancers by raising your Vitamin D3 level to 50 to 70 ng. To do this requires anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 international units a day. If you are not taking adequate levels of Vitamin D, you should be.

Radiation is unequivocally related to cancer and there is no level of radiation that can not cause new mutations and malignant transformation. So why would you radiate your breasts year in and year out when there are safer alternatives? You must know nutrients like Quercitin, Rosemary, and Melatonin are radiation protective and are further enhanced by antioxidants.

Drugs can be lifesaving but a knowledge of nutrition may prevent us from ever having to use them. The Center will continue to update you on the latest information regarding the role of nutrients in the treatment of disease. Please do not underestimate the importance of Vitamin D and Vitamin K2 as Menaquinone 7. These two alone can reduce your risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis.

We can help, just ask.

Sincerely,

Allan D. Lieberman, M.D., F.A.A.E.M.
COEM