Analysis Of Paul Muizelaar's Bacteria On The Brain

Improvement or Deterioration

In modern society many doctors and scientists have distinct thoughts about the many cancer treatments that they believe will defeat the disease. Some scientists and doctors question whether or not the new advanced treatments in the medical field actually benefit cancer patients.

There are many new treatments being made in the cancer medical field which include infection, surgery, and new combinations of medicine. In Emily Eakin’s article, “Bacteria on the Brain”, she explores Paul Muizelaar’s treatment of infecting cancer causing brain tumors with Enterobacter Aerogenes to lessen the tumor. Terri Bradley and Patrick Egan were two of Muizelaar’s patients who went through the treatment. Terri Bradley, suffering from

In Muizelaar’s case, he was sued by two of his clients; one of them, Janet Bradley daughter of Terri Bradley, claimed that the treatment only “prolonged her suffering”(Eakin 62). Some people go as far as saying that chemotherapy, the leading cancer treatment for many, kills patients instead of healing them. These people’s logic includes how “it attacks and kills not just cancer, but also all the living, healthy cells in the body and completely cripples the body 's immune system” (Luisa). This leads people to believe that all chemotherapy does is kill cells, whether this helps or damages a person. Although some treatments kill healthy cells and sometimes shorten a person’s life expectancy, experiencing new treatments becomes a great idea due to the fact that experimenting and finding new treatments can help make a person live longer than what was expected. In Bradley’s case, she was able to live for a year longer other than her diagnosed three months. In Michael Specter’s article, “The Gene Hackers”, he mentions that by making new treatments and experiments people are able to comprehend more about the cells and how they function. Even though “every cancer is a specific personal disease” (Specter 57), it is important to research and test new hypotheses or else it will stay unknown as to what can either help or ruin a person 's recovery. Eric Lander believes that “there will be an enormous chat... it will contain the therapeutic road map of every trick that cancer cells have - how they form and all the ways you can defeat them, and all the ways they can escape and defeat a treatment” (Specter 57). By having more and more treatments, whether risky, life shortening or prolonged pain, doctors and scientist will soon be able to find proper treatments that bring life back