Another study found that 408 campaigns raised more than $1 million for unproven stem cell interventions. More than 1000 medical crowdfunding campaigns for 5 treatments that are unsupported by evidence or potentially unsafe raised more than $6.7 million. We identified 9 named practitioners and 8 countries that campaigners intended to visit, including clinics in Germany and Mexico for homeopathic or naturopathic cancer treatments, a New Orleans clinic offering HBOT for brain injury, and clinics in the United States, Panama, Thailand, India, China, and Mexico for stem cell therapies. One hundred fourteen campaigns raised $689 363.67 of a desired $2 162 221.33 to fund long-term antibiotic therapy for chronic Lyme Disease. Stem cell therapies for brain and spinal cord injury generated 188 and 93 campaigns, respectively, raising $1 249 597.42 of $5 913 905.33 sought for brain injuries and $590 446 of $2 578 990 for spinal cord injuries. The 190 campaigns seeking funding to access HBOT for brain injury raised $785 421.92 of $4 012 408.33 sought. The most money was raised by the 474 campaigns collecting funds for homeopathic or naturopathic cancer treatments at $3 464 871. Included campaigns raised a total of $6 779 700.01 (24.9% of funds sought) by the end of data collection. No campaigns that met our inclusion criteria were found on CrowdRise or FundRazr 1038 (98%) were found on GoFundMe. Of the 1636 campaigns identified, 1059 mentioned intention to direct funds to 1 of the 5 treatments, seeking a total of $27 249 487.99 ( Table 2). We collected any specific practitioner names and treatment destinations to contextualize our analysis. The number of campaigns and the funds sought and raised for each treatment were tabulated. Only campaigns with evidence that the fundraisers intended to direct all or some of the raised funds to the targeted treatment for an individual were included. 5įrom November 14 to December 11, 2017, we identified all existing campaigns posted since November 1, 2015, in the United States and Canada by searching for terms related to each treatment. Stem cell therapy for central nervous system injury 4 and long-term antibiotic therapy for chronic Lyme disease can result in serious adverse events. Homeopathic treatments for cancer 2 and HBOT 3 for brain injury are ineffective. Using the native search engines, we systematically searched for a set of terms related to the 5 treatments: homeopathy or naturopathy for cancer, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for brain injury, stem cell therapy for brain injury and spinal cord injury, and long-term antibiotic therapy for “chronic Lyme disease” ( Table 1). We chose 5 treatments that yielded numerous results during preliminary searches of a list of poorly supported or potentially dangerous treatments. We selected the largest crowdfunding platform (GoFundMe) and 3 other well-trafficked sites that permitted medical crowdfunding (YouCaring, CrowdRise, and FundRazr). No rankings of medical crowdfunding sites exist. Shared Decision Making and Communication.Scientific Discovery and the Future of Medicine.Health Care Economics, Insurance, Payment.Clinical Implications of Basic Neuroscience.Challenges in Clinical Electrocardiography.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |