Death Of A 6-Year-Old Sparks FDA Investigation On A Doctor For Selling False Hopes To Cure Cancer

The death of a six-year-old boy Josia Cotto’s mom and dad had no choice than to let him rest peacefully as their child was fighting a brain tumor that was inoperable for a period of 10 months. His mother said that they knew that they could do nothing about their son as they say he was unresponsive and did not open his eyes. They covered him in a soft blanket in white and blue and held on to the tiny hand one last time before the ambulance took him to a local hospital. She said that they told Josia that he had two choices – one to keep fighting with the condition and the other, to keep peace with God.

Though the couple was ready to pay anything to get his life back, they chose to cling on the hopes offered by Stanislaw Burzynski. He is a doctor based in Houston who claimed to cure even the inoperable tumors of pediatric cancer. Though doctor’s can cure over 83% of pediatric cancer in America, there is no hope for Josia’s tumor as there was only 5% survival.

Being an internist with no board certification for oncology training formally, Burzynski had said publicly that he could cure more than 200 kids per year who had brainstem tumors. The 70 year old doctor terms his drug as antineoplastons and adds that he has treated over 8000 patients since the year 1977. He said that the synthesized sodium based drugs were derived from blood and urine. The urine was collected from public utility areas like parks, bars and other areas that explains the pungent odor in it. Though not approved by FDA, he began to prescribe the drug for cancer therapy, AIDS and lupus.

While some patients claim that, it cured them of different medical conditions, National Cancer Institute has said that there is no proof that even a single patient has been cured so far by Burzynski and helped them live longer. It also said that the drugs formulated by him have potential risks such as coma, brain inflammation and death among the patients. The FDA report says that the blood sample from Josia prior to his death showed a high sodium level in the blood of 205 miiliomoles pl which is fatal. It is notable that FDA forbade the doctor from using his medicines to children on 30th July, 2012, six weeks after Josia’s death.