Another tidbit:
On HbO2's South African website section aimed at Physicians, they give advise as to what the target patients should be recited to be test subjects to trial use of Hemopure. Surprise! It reads:
Information for Physicians
Hemopure South Africa provides this information as a support to you while you make healthcare decisions with/and for your patient, but not to make these decisions for you. The responsibility for applying this information is yours, the healthcare professional. Should you require additional information regarding Hemopure, please reference the Frequently Asked Questions section of the website, send a comment for technical support, or call our support number.
Training guidelines suggest that the initial patients to receive Hemopure be uncomplicated cases that would allow easy interpretation of any events seen. This education program permits doctors inexperienced with this new concept of a haemoglobin solution to gain their initial exposure in an environment relatively free from complicated disease sequelae, and to best appreciate the unique and different physiology and behavior of a new and novel class of drug. For these reasons, it is recommended that patients selected for initial Hemopure administration during a doctors early experience should fall within the following guidelines:
- The patient should be between 18 and 75 years of age.
- The patient should have no serious life threatening co-morbidity that places them in ASA class IV & V and should be scheduled to undergo surgery
- The planned intervention should be elective surgery or urgent surgery in which moderate and controlled blood loss is expected.
- The patient should have actual or anticipated anaemia and suitable blood is not immediately available.
- Hemopure can be administered to a patient when blood is not acceptable e.g. Jehovah's Witness. [...]
It seems that the makers of Hemopure aren't the least shy in suggesting physicians that they use Jehovah's Witnesses as guinea pigs to their product.
Eden