[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 128 (Tuesday, September 23, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1823-E1824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN 1995, MEDICARE PAID 393 DOCTORS MORE THAN $1 MILLION FOR SERVICES; 
 3,152 DOCTORS RECEIVED BETWEEN $500,000 AND $1,000,000. NOW A GREEDY 
                             FEW WANT MORE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 23, 1997

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, the Medicare agency tells me that in 1995, 
Medicare paid 393 doctors more than $1 million for services; 3,152 
doctors received between $500,000 and $1,000,000. Now a Greedy Few want 
more.
  Despite the ability of doctors to make a fortune from Medicare by 
providing lots of services to beneficiaries, a few doctors are pushing 
an amendment by Senator Kyl to let doctors privately contract with 
Medicare benefits.
  Strip away the rhetoric, and a private contract is a contract between 
a doctor who holds his life in your hands in which he demands that your 
give up your Medicare benefits and that you promise not to file a claim 
with Medicare. Instead, you agree to let him charge you anything he 
wants--because you are desperate for your health. We like to think of 
contracts between equals, negotiated fairy. There is no equality, there 
is no fairness in these contracts.
  Want an example of a private contract? Look at today's Washington 
Post, page B-3, where a doctor in Manassas, VA is being investigated 
for charging a Medicare-eligible patient $12,000 for the injection of a 
massive dose of aloe vera into the stomach in order to combat lung 
cancer. The investigation is due to the fact the man died in the 
doctor's office after the injection. Medicare does not cover quackery. 
It does not pay $12,000 for an injection. But this man and this doctor 
had a private contract. There will be a lot more of this murderous 
nonsense if the Kyl amendment succeeds.

               [From the Washington Post, Sept. 23, 1997]

         Va. Doctor's Treatment of Man Who Died Is Scrutinized

                            (By Leef Smith)

       A Texas man who had lung cancer died in the spring in the 
     office of a Manassas physician to whom he had gone for a 
     costly intravenous treatment that is not officially 
     sanctioned but that he hoped would save his life, according 
     to Virginia State Police.
       The man, Clarence Holland Lander, 83, became ``violently 
     ill'' shortly after the $12,000 treatment was administered, 
     and he died May 17, according to records in Prince William 
     County Circuit Court.
       The physician, Donald L. MacNay, an orthopedic surgeon, is 
     under investigation in connection with Lander's death and 
     with the treatment allegedly employed--intravenous 
     administration of ``a concentrated form of aloe vera and 
     other substances,'' police said. Aloe vera, a cactus-like 
     member of the lily family, is known to have some healing 
     properties.
       Police said that their investigation is continuing and that 
     MacNay has not been charged with any offense. MacNay, who 
     investigators said still is licensed to practice medicine, 
     did not return phone calls to his Manassas office yesterday.
       An assistant to MacNay, Ronald Ragan Sheetz, 41, of 
     Manassas, was arrested Thursday and charged with nursing 
     without a license. According to an affidavit that accompanied 
     the request for the arrest warrant, MacNay ordered Sheetz to 
     give Lander the aloe vera injection.
       ``This procedure was carried out by the subject believed to 
     be Ronald Sheetz who has no medical license of file, under 
     Dr. MacNay's direction and presence,'' the warrant states. 
     State Police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell said MacNay also is 
     under investigation in connection with Sheetz's action.
       ``We're looking into questionable medical practices, drug 
     transactions and suspicious cancer treatments of this 
     doctor's office,'' Caldwell said. ``At this time we're trying 
     to determine how wide-reaching the practice here may be. It's 
     still too early to say.''
       A spokeswoman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 
     said that the intravenous aloe vera treatment has not been 
     approved by the agency and that officials with the National 
     Cancer Institute said they are not studying aloe in 
     connection with cancer treatment.
       At the same time, the healing properties of aloe are being 
     studied by researchers exploring alternative medicines to 
     treat diseases, and papers and advertisements about oral 
     aloe-based concentrates are found easily on the Internet. 
     Experts say that as many as 50 percent of the cancer patients 
     in the United States try some kind of therapy that is not 
     officially sanctioned.
       Such treatments include special diets, vitamins, mental 
     imagery, wearing magnets, coffee enemas and consuming 
     cartilage and oil from sharks.
       Lander's son, James Lander, said that his father was in 
     excellent health before the terminal cancer was diagnosed and 
     that he jumped at the chance to beat the disease. He said his 
     father learned about the aloe treatment from reading an 
     article and found MacNay through word-of-mouth referrals.

[[Page E1824]]

       ``The treatment gave him hope,'' James Lander said. ``He 
     completely brightened up. You could just see it. I'm sure he 
     thought it would cure him or he wouldn't have gone to 
     Virginia'' from his home in Waco, Tex.
       In a search warrant affidavit filed Friday in Circuit 
     Court, investigators said they were seeking ``patient files 
     and other records related to appointments and [the] treatment 
     of other patients who have received this treatment and have 
     both lived and died.''
       An affidavit was filed yesterday in Fairfax County Circuit 
     Court to obtain a search warrant for an office in Annandale 
     that police said MacNay opened in July.
       Sheetz was released from jail on personal recognizance. If 
     convicted of the felony charge, he could be sentenced to up 
     to five years in prison.

     

                          ____________________