Texas wastes $2 million taxpayer dollars on clinics supposed cure to PTSD, a zero gravity chair2/22/2016
NBC5: The gyrating chair, cocooned inside a gleaming oval capsule, looks like an astronaut’s training device. Patients spin upside down and sideways after they buckle in. White-coated healers sitting at a computer control the angle and speed. Aging Dallas Cowboys like Tony Dorsett and Randy White, their brains and bodies battered, said it made them feel better. A retired general said it improved his vision. And a Texas governor with presidential aspirations wanted to use it to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injuries in war heroes. So the state of Texas said yes, sure, and poured 2 million taxpayer dollars into a study to see whether a spinning chair — described as an “Off Vertical Axis Rotational Device” — could help. Experts say there was no medical reason to think that spinning traumatized combat veterans upside down could help them — and every reason to think it wouldn’t. Most of the researchers in the study were chiropractors, not medical doctors. They didn’t work at an established research lab, but at the Carrick Brain Centers, a chiropractic clinic in Irving that opened its doors about six months before the state funding began. Veterans suffering from PTSD who participated in a state-funded research project were treated in a gyrating chair at the Carrick Brain Centers’ clinic in an Irving office building. (David Woo/Staff Photographer) But the clinic still won a no-bid contract. There were virtually no checks and balances on the study. The number of patients grew from about 50 to about 140. The original cost was $800,000 but grew to $2.2 million. The clinic claimed “remarkable results.” Scientists say the research was a waste. The study was designed so poorly that the clinic’s claim of success is suspect, experts say. And they said that joining the study may have discouraged veterans from getting the mental health care that’s known to work. “This study is essentially useless,” said Dr. Paul Appelbaum, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University in New York. “So if the taxpayers of Texas are out $2 million, I feel badly for them.” Now, tell me what is the difference between the "treatment" above and the side simulation given to tourists at the Smithsonian below. Let me lay out a few things so you can understand my point. The first video is what happens when you take the second videos machine and put $2 million into research and development.
You can't blame Texas for trying. They have one of the largest veteran populations in the country. I really wonder how someone came up with this idea. There was, "no medical reason to think that spinning traumatized combat veterans upside down could help them". Was it a clairvoyant reason? That was my first guess after I read the article. Ghouls, ghosts and spirits are constantly telling me to take taxpayer money and create bullshit medical studies. Do I actually do it though? I've tried. I have tried multiple times. Turns out, it is a lot harder to get state funding then the Carrick Brain Centers makes it out to be. Before anyone gets all riled up about this just think, if a ghoul, ghost, goblin or spirit asked you to steal large quantities of state taxpayer money would you? Obviously we would all say yes, Ghost, ghouls, goblins and spirits are scary shit. If they are asking for taxpayer money its most likely going to a good cause or at least a hilarious one. Who the fuck thought spinning people at all different kinds of angles would do anything? Give that man a contract. Any contract, he just needs one. Actually don't. Do not give him a contract, I will. Everyone's entourage needs an ideas man. Think about all the successful organizations that utilize an ideas man. The Always Sunny gang has Charlie, Mystery Inc. had Shaggy, even OJ's Defense team had Ross. Comments are closed.
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