Talk:William C. Rader

Incorrect information cited by countless broken and invalid links

I am currently a medical student and have done extensive research on the application of human stem cells. For my thesis, I have studied the work of Dr. William Rader and other American doctors. What I can't believe is how certain people because of political, religious, or monetary reasons have a vendetta against and try to smear American doctors in the field of Stem Cell Science. We are already falling behind China in one of the greatest discoveries of medical science of our generation. Dr. Rader and other doctors like him are the very few Stem Cell pioneers in the United States. If we keep this up, there will be a grim viability of the application of stem cells in our country.

Most of the information in the article is incorrect, biased and cited by broken links. Don't get me wrong, there is also some valid information cited from ABC News and the LA Times about Dr. Rader. I'm going to do my best to correct this article. I welcome any feedback. Medstudent213 (talk) 03:22, 17 September 2013 (UTC)

Copyright problem. Possible conflict of interest

I reverted to the last version of the article that was not copied from the bottom of http://www.medra.com/faq.html. Please note that administrators will enforce our copyright rules. Text that is word-for-word copied from other websites, unless there is a copyright release, must not be brought into Wikipedia. The Medra site says "Copyright © 2008 Medra, Inc."

There is a possibility that one of the editors of this article may have a conflict of interest. If so please see the warning and general advice provided at {{uw-coi}}. EdJohnston (talk) 03:07, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

An editor has complained that the article may be incorrect

In a recent edit summary, Oldy2 suggested that the article may be incorrect. We welcome your joining the discussion here, explaining any errors you may perceive. The article has received contributions from Super1122 and Oldy2, who are rather new editors who do not edit anything besides this article. Neither of these users has until now left any Talk page comments. We can't evaluate your concerns unless you are willing to explain them! As you can see, the article is heavily cited to reliable sources such as the Los Angeles Times, so you should be specific about the problems you see. EdJohnston (talk) 04:27, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

I am very concerned about the inaccurate information provided in this article. As part of the WikiProject Medicine series, this article is supposed to "use high-quality medical sources." The recent revisions to this page do not include any references to high-quality medical sources. The very concept of stem cell therapy, as conducted via injections, has been thoroughly debunked by numerous scientists and, according to the NIH, is not likely to be available for several years. Their conclusion: "To summarize, stem cells offer exciting promise for future therapies, but significant technical hurdles remain that will only be overcome through years of intensive research.": http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics6.asp

A couple of well-researched reviews warning about pseudoscientific stem cell treatments can be found here:

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=73

http://www.quackwatch.org/06ResearchProjects/stemcell.html

A 60 Minutes special exposing a California-based company that makes false promises about stem cells, performs questionable treatments (in Mexico), and costs tens of thousands of dollars (Medra is mentioned during Part II):

Part I: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6408474n&tag=contentBody;housing

Part II: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6408476n&tag=contentBody;housing

I'm new to Wikipedia and don't have time right now to edit the entry myself. I created an account moments ago just so I could post here. But I at least wanted my concerns to be heard. I'm a professor who has recently counseled a student against considering a $30,000 "treatment" with Dr. Rader. There appears to be no scientific evidence to back his claims. If there was such evidence, why hasn't it been included in this wikipedia entry? How do we know that he successfully treated more than 1500 patients? Because several websites associated with Medra (and one anecdote published in the Reno News and Review) say so? Show me the science, please.Profcritical (talk) 22:37, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

BBC Panorama interview, May 18, 2009

Transcription of a brief online excerpt:[1]

BBC Panorama narrator: But we were here to ask him about what Linda [Oatley] had recorded. For example, what appeared to be his high-pressure tactics.

William C. Rader (on hidden camera in the Dominican Republic): Let’s just do it, forget about it. Let’s just get started. He can go get the money...later.

William C. Rader (interviewed by BBC Panorama in Malibu): Does it ever occur to you that I cared about that woman? That I believed the woman wasn’t phony? That I believed that she was real? That she had all this anxiety? I said, ‘Don’t’… ‘You know what, you’re gonna do it anyway.’ You know why I said that? Because they always do! Unless they have a phony thing like what you were doing. I have never had a patient who came in and said they were anxious and they needed some time, and didn’t come in. That’s never happened. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Minjul (talk • contribs) 00:52, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

Rader's book possibly pulled from publication? (September 2009)

Having provided an advance copy to the BBC, Rader was asked about his forthcoming book in a May 2009 Panorama interview.[2] Apparently titled The Stem Cell Miracle: The Healing Secret From Medicine's Future That's Saving Lives Today (ISBN-13: 9781933771953, ISBN-10: 193377195X), Rader's book was slated for release in January 2010 from BenBella Books in Dallas, Texas. It had a list price of $24.95, discounted to $17.47 for online pre-orders. The book's description, cover image, price, and pre-order option were apparently removed from the publisher's website in September 2009, though they were still visible in Google cache (as of as of September 26, 2009).

The publisher's description of the book was as follows:

DESCRIPTION

If you thought the time of medical breakthroughs was over, brace yourself for the untold story of a doctor who singlehandedly, in the face of disdain from his colleagues and threats from government bureaucrats, made a breakthrough scientific discovery. Dr. Rader discovered how to apply fetal stem cell technology to humans and has saved the lives and eased the suffering of more than 1,500 patients since 1995.

Dr. Rader, familiar to millions as a respected medical expert on ABC-TV, reveals the astounding truth about the most extensive fetal stem cell trials ever conducted on human patients—mostly so-called “hopeless” cases.

The Stem Cell Miracle reveals the science behind Dr. Rader’s breakthroughs, the struggles with the medical establishment and, most important, the detailed results of his work with many hundreds of patients. Now the truth can be told, and it reads like an adventure story, spanning three continents as one doctor dared to defy the FDA, the medical establishment and the drug companies.

As of this posting, Rader's author profile continues to appear on the BenBella Books website. According to Amazon.com, the book is "currently unavaiable" and "[w]e don't know when or if this item will be back in stock." Minjul (talk) 00:52, 26 September 2009 (UTC)