SUMMARY: Recent death of German Shepherd dog diagnosed with both CV19 and Lymphoma stirs controversy about care, diagnosis and treatment. Additional discussion of challenges faced by those believing in benefits of treatment with Hydroxychloroquine. Brief informative call to action narrative elicits ‘Perspectives’ of author, Dr. Gregory Beroza August 1st, 2020
DOG DIES CV-19 & Rx CONCERNS ‘Perspectives’ by Dr. Gregory Beroza August 1st, 2020
I start this broadcast with my constant admonition that the following facts, theories, and arguments are mine and mine only. They are not gospel, nor supported by any outside sources. They are strictly my opinions. So digest them and assess them based upon your own perceived merits.
Today’s CV-19 Pandemic is taking its toll on civilization and stressing us in ways we find difficult to fathom. A beloved German Shepard named “Buddy”, belonging to the Mahoney Family recently died and was confirmed to have harbored the CV-19 virus. His actual cause of death was attributed to him also having lymphoma, a non-contagious often fatal cancer affecting both animals and people. The summation of factors producing “Buddy’s” late CV-19 ID and the other substantiated factors of his death are a quagmire of mixed-emotions and incomplete medical facts; thereby creating a timely media story.
While the circumstances involving the causative disease identification and death in Buddy and other animals is incomplete, the methods of treating people and animals harboring the CV-19 virus are equally upsetting and even disingenuous. Our constitutional Amendments were written to protect our citizens, hence the phraseology “We the People”. Yet our doctors are barred from using appropriate medications, even off-label, and even with patient or owner consent. Well trained and licensed professionals, carrying appropriate DEA licenses for prescribing the most potentially lethal of substances are barred from using much less dangerous medicinals to protect their patients’ lives.
As a well-educated and highly credentialed veterinarian, I have been licensed by several states and the federal DEA for over 40 years to treat every type of animal on this planet. I’ve treated goldfish, to rhinos and elephants, to chimpanzees and race horses; all except people. And, I am well versed in all clinically pertinent aspects of the proper practice of medicine and surgery. I have always functioned within appropriate medical boundaries to prescribe off label medications, even those intended exclusively for people, if they are the best choice for any of my patients. That constitutes good faith “Freedom of Practice”.
No medication whose use has proven to be within safe boundaries of practice should be barred from the armamentarium of drugs available to any doctor practicing good medicine, especially our personal physicians. And no citizen should be barred from having such medication being available to potentially safeguard their health. Physicians are obligated to protect their patients and to fully explain all the pros and cons regarding the use of any medication or procedure; outside of the realm of any such situation proven to be dangerous to their patient’s health. Until CV-19 was elucidated, Hydroxychloroquine was available to prescribe or purchase by any licensed doctor in America. It no longer is.
There are inexplicable reasons why Hydroxychloroquine is being excluded from the treatment of CV-19, along with its appropriate off label uses. Besides the numerous reports that have been removed from social media, there are many other equally challenging reports that Hydroxychoroquine has been safely used for many years and should be considered in the early treatment of CV-19. Many Americans even believe that this relatively inexpensive medication should be readily available to any citizen via their local pharmacy.
So what’s the real problem? I don’t know, but why hasn’t 60 Minutes or any other professional media outlet done a fully investigative expose’ of the true facts. I think all Americans of every denomination, every economic strata and all party affiliations have the right to choose how they best want to protect their own lives. It’s time for “We the People” to contact our elected representatives and ask them to scrutinize this situation on our behalf and explain to us, “So, what’s the problem?”
See original articles about the Mahoneys and ‘Buddy’ via National Geographic publication:
