MIRACLE OR HUMAN ERROR?

Ms. Franco and Neurosurgeon.

You may have recently seen the hype concerning the old woman in Florida who regained her sight after neurosurgery. She had been blind for 23 years. This is a coincidental 'miracle' for me since I just wrote a post yesterday on Anti-Science as it appeared in two mainstream films. Perhaps the heavens bestowed this fodder for my blog. I am unconvinced. You see, I have survived medical screw-ups, and I know those who have fared worse after doctors screwed up and denied it.  

The woman in question, Mary Ann Franco, reports that she completely lost her vision after a severe car accident led to spinal surgery which resulted in a blinding stroke during surgery, so she was told, in 1993. A recent fall led to a new surgery on her upper spine which resulted in the so-called miracle. But, as her neurosurgeon explained, the previous blindness 'may have' been corrected during the recent surgery by alleviating spinal bone pressure from an artery leading to the optic nerve. 

The religious Ms. Franco proclaims a miracle. The surgeon, seen in an NBC video, seems nervous and non-committal. Well, why wouldn't he be? Is it not probable that the assumed stroke in 1993 wasn't a stroke (transitory blood clot) at all? Duh? It seems more likely that there was no stroke. The reason for her blindness was very probably surgical error, due either to technical limitations or surgical ineptitude in 1993.   

I don't begrudge Ms. Franco her fame or her exuberance. She served her time as a blind person with guts. She led a full life after she went blind. Brava. Frankly, I think she should be compensated by her previous surgeons and physicians for not finding this practical cure earlier. 

I am disturbed at the evil in the medical establishment and corporate media which would collude in promoting the excuse for her surgically based blindness which was a documented outcome of her 1993 surgery. Doctors are supposed to be scientists first in treating, evaluating and informing their patients. Watching Ms. Franco's surgeon cover his ass and the asses of those involved in the 1993 surgery in national media is disturbing but not surprising. It is a common betrayal of what is ethical and scientific. The true miracle is that Ms. Franco's blind trust in her 1993 surgeons has kept them from being sued.