faller
02-02-2009, 02:13 AM
Fugitive Steroid Doctor Unapologetically Condemns Steroid Witch-Hunt by Government
Posted on 06:03 January 29th, 2009 by Millard Baker
Dr. Jesse Haggard, former clinical director of Revolution Medical Centers, has become a federal fugitive after being indicted by prosecutors in the Applied Pharmacy Services steroid investigation. Dr. Haggard unapologetically condemned the United States government’s witch-hunt against him and defended the therapeutic use of anabolic steroids during the course of his medical practice in his recently published book “Demystifying Steroids“. Dr. Jesse Haggard told a local news station that he wrote the book as “a way to ensure my message to the public was not distorted.”
Timothy Holt, the attorney for Dr. Haggard, accused the United States Attorney’s Office in Mobile of political grandstanding while defending his client’s prescribing of anabolic steroids for legitimate medical purposes (”Phoenix doctor indicted in federal steroid probe,” January 23).
I am troubled by the inflammatory language used by the U.S. Attorney in the indictment. It is clearly political grandstanding. Dr. Haggard’s treatment of his patients did not just meet the medical standard of care, in many ways his approach to treatment helped to establish the standard of care in these types of cases. Dr. Haggard did nothing more than order medications from a pharmacy that may have been engaged in illegal conduct with other people unknown to him. That the federal government has decided to prosecute him for this forces me to wonder if the DEA has successfully rid the U.S. of all serious drug problems and has nothing better to do.
In “Demystifying Steroids,” Dr. Jesse Haggard was highly critical of law enforcement and federal steroid law that had prioritized steroid use in sports over steroid use in medicine.
The concern of steroid use in sports has become so extreme that efforts to restrict steroid use in sports have spilled over to health-care. Since the recent steroid problems in professional baseball were highlighted by the media, the health-care field has suffered unwarranted scrutiny and negative changes. Medications have been limited and discontinued altogether from government influence. Compounding pharmacies have been greatly restricted on their ability to generate custom medications for patients, as well. Patients’ private and personal health-care information has been inappropriately exposed to the government and public. Many doctors and pharmacies have been criminally penalized for their involvement in steroid medications used for medical purposes.
These changes in healthcare are completely uncalled for, and steroid use in sports may simply be a shroud and excuse for the government or other organizations to gain more power and economic advantage. The government has increased restrictions and control in healthcare, and many large drug companies have increased revenues all in the name of sport fairness and equality. I encourage the public to beware of such drastic changes made so quickly and hope the public opposes these changes to preserve their freedoms in healthcare.
Dr. Jesse Haggard was indicted on steroid charges involving patients with which he had a bonafide face-to-face doctor-patient relationship unlike other indicted doctors in the Applied Pharmacy Services and/or Signature Pharmacy steroid scandals; other doctors were paid to write prescriptions for patients not seen.
While Dr. Haggard claims to have prescribed steroids for over 2,000 patients, the seven counts of dispensing and distributing anabolic steroids only cite four patients and include the steroids trenbolone acetate, (injectable) stanozolol, oxandrolone and testosterone cypionate. (Regrettably, Dr. Haggard did not provide the therapeutic basis for his use of the non-FDA approved medications trenbolone acetate and injectable stanozolol in his book.)
Dr. Jesse Haggard’s book “Demystifying Steroids” provides an impassioned defense of anabolic steroids for a wide variety of conditions especially whenever they have the potential to improve the quality of life for his patients.
Society could experience many benefits from widespread appropriate medical use of steroids. Deficient individuals usually experience more drive with mental and physical capabilities with steroid use and minimal adverse effects. Improving these traits in a significant amount of the population, especially the elderly, may reduce unemployment, disability, assisted living and other health conditions. As a society, I feel we should embrace this medical tool and experience its true potential by promoting steroids and reducing any negative connotations with their use.
Dr. Haggard believed medical treatments involving anabolic steroids should be available to a broad number of people.
Who should be able to receive this treatment and who should not. I believe any person who could improve their quality of life and especially risk of mortality should be allowed access to this medicine. However, people wanting to use steroids solely for improving physical performance even to superhuman function in sports or in general may compromise their health, and their use of steroids should be limited. Using steroids to create body distortion and deformation is not healthy for anyone in the long run, and most physicians will not lead patients down such a destructive path. [...]
People who do not want to use steroids under a doctor’s supervision should not be allowed to use steroids. [...]
[S]teroids became largely effective in my practice for a variety of conditions and, in my opinion, could be offered sooner by other doctors for various medical conditions and to achieve improvements in quality of life.
Dr. Haggard did not feel that supraphysiological dosing should necessarily have negative connotations.
In regard to steroids, though, I feel most people react to the concept of supraphysiological dosing negatively with immediate thoughts of sports enhancement and bodybuilding. In contrast, it seems that people have no reservations or negative connotations for themselves or another person to achieve 15/20 visual acuity, especially if a person has other visual problems like poor night vision and improving their visual acuity to 15/20 may help compensate for their poor night vision. Likewise, supraphysiological steroid dosing does not always need to be associated with a negative connotation. In addition supraphysiological dosing in medicine can be an effective strategy to prolong and improve quality of life, especially with patients who have chronic diseases.
Dr. Haggard felt that improving the quality of life and treating the symptomalogy was more important than diagnosing a disease.
In chronically ill patients, it became a common strategy for me to ask the question, “What could we do to quickly improve your condition and quality of life?” rather than “What is the exact name of the diagnosis that best describes your disease condition?” I feel the first strategy focuses on a possible solution, while the latter further focuses on the problem. Somehow the American population has become fixated on knowing the diagnosis, which most often results in terms they have never heard of anyway.
Dr. Haggard was respectful of the effects of anabolic steroids as used by bodybuilders.
The most commonly sought out superhuman functions of steroids, in my experience, are strength, stamina, recovery and growth. Moreover, different steroid products offer unique superhuman functions at supraphysiological doses. Present-day bodybuilders are great examples of the superhuman effects of steroids. Bodybuilders use steroids to increase the amount of work their muscles can perform, and consequently their muscles grow to superhuman size. Bodybuilders today have achieved a size beyond their own genetic and hormone potential. Superhuman enhancement is not only sought by professional athletes, it tends to be attractive to most people when they know the option is available.
Dr. Haggard acknowledged that the “superhuman” performance-enhancing aspects of anabolic steroids were appealing.
Many people are interested in performance enhancement from people who perform physical labor for their occupation to people who enjoy general physical activity. Because the adverse effect profile of steroids is dose dependent as well I usually encourage patients to stay just beneath superhuman function and in the optimal function range, even if no adverse effects were realized for them at that does. It is possible that all of the adverse effects of steroids are not yet realized, especially long-term effects, thus I encourage patients to only use the minimal amount of steroids necessary for good quality of life. However, I admit superhuman function of any ability is appealing.
Dr. Haggard heavily focused on treating the patient and his or her unique symptomalogy rather than rely exclusively on laboratory testing to determine diagnosis and treatment.
Since my ultimate goal was to change people’s experiences, I used their symptoms and perceptions to primarily guide most of my prescribing and used laboratory analysis to verify safety and clinical findings. [...]
Should the decision be based on symptoms? Yes. The ultimate goal in medicine for me is to improved the way people feel. People’s symptoms are the ultimate factor in most medical conditions, in my opinion. Laboratory analysis usually just confirms the diagnosis when patients present with symptoms. [...]
Laboratory analysis should aid the practitioner to support his or her clinical findings, but not be the main deciding factor. Too easily doctors will start treating lab work instead of patients. This is where doctors decide treatments for patients without seeing the patient and just by evaluating the lab work. I believe this is a current potential trap for physicians, especially endocrinologists. There is a common saying in medicine that I have found to be proven time and time again, “When in doubt, look at the patient.”
Dr. Haggard denounces the steroid demonization by the media and the medical community and advocates the belief that anabolic steroids can be used safely with significant improvements in the quality of life for individuals and society as a whole.
Dr. Jesse Haggard’s treatise in defense of anabolic steroids clearly would not have endeared him to a court of law but will appeal to steroid law reformers who feel that current steroid law has stifled the true potential of anabolic steroids and anabolic therapies in contemporary medicine.
Posted on 06:03 January 29th, 2009 by Millard Baker
Dr. Jesse Haggard, former clinical director of Revolution Medical Centers, has become a federal fugitive after being indicted by prosecutors in the Applied Pharmacy Services steroid investigation. Dr. Haggard unapologetically condemned the United States government’s witch-hunt against him and defended the therapeutic use of anabolic steroids during the course of his medical practice in his recently published book “Demystifying Steroids“. Dr. Jesse Haggard told a local news station that he wrote the book as “a way to ensure my message to the public was not distorted.”
Timothy Holt, the attorney for Dr. Haggard, accused the United States Attorney’s Office in Mobile of political grandstanding while defending his client’s prescribing of anabolic steroids for legitimate medical purposes (”Phoenix doctor indicted in federal steroid probe,” January 23).
I am troubled by the inflammatory language used by the U.S. Attorney in the indictment. It is clearly political grandstanding. Dr. Haggard’s treatment of his patients did not just meet the medical standard of care, in many ways his approach to treatment helped to establish the standard of care in these types of cases. Dr. Haggard did nothing more than order medications from a pharmacy that may have been engaged in illegal conduct with other people unknown to him. That the federal government has decided to prosecute him for this forces me to wonder if the DEA has successfully rid the U.S. of all serious drug problems and has nothing better to do.
In “Demystifying Steroids,” Dr. Jesse Haggard was highly critical of law enforcement and federal steroid law that had prioritized steroid use in sports over steroid use in medicine.
The concern of steroid use in sports has become so extreme that efforts to restrict steroid use in sports have spilled over to health-care. Since the recent steroid problems in professional baseball were highlighted by the media, the health-care field has suffered unwarranted scrutiny and negative changes. Medications have been limited and discontinued altogether from government influence. Compounding pharmacies have been greatly restricted on their ability to generate custom medications for patients, as well. Patients’ private and personal health-care information has been inappropriately exposed to the government and public. Many doctors and pharmacies have been criminally penalized for their involvement in steroid medications used for medical purposes.
These changes in healthcare are completely uncalled for, and steroid use in sports may simply be a shroud and excuse for the government or other organizations to gain more power and economic advantage. The government has increased restrictions and control in healthcare, and many large drug companies have increased revenues all in the name of sport fairness and equality. I encourage the public to beware of such drastic changes made so quickly and hope the public opposes these changes to preserve their freedoms in healthcare.
Dr. Jesse Haggard was indicted on steroid charges involving patients with which he had a bonafide face-to-face doctor-patient relationship unlike other indicted doctors in the Applied Pharmacy Services and/or Signature Pharmacy steroid scandals; other doctors were paid to write prescriptions for patients not seen.
While Dr. Haggard claims to have prescribed steroids for over 2,000 patients, the seven counts of dispensing and distributing anabolic steroids only cite four patients and include the steroids trenbolone acetate, (injectable) stanozolol, oxandrolone and testosterone cypionate. (Regrettably, Dr. Haggard did not provide the therapeutic basis for his use of the non-FDA approved medications trenbolone acetate and injectable stanozolol in his book.)
Dr. Jesse Haggard’s book “Demystifying Steroids” provides an impassioned defense of anabolic steroids for a wide variety of conditions especially whenever they have the potential to improve the quality of life for his patients.
Society could experience many benefits from widespread appropriate medical use of steroids. Deficient individuals usually experience more drive with mental and physical capabilities with steroid use and minimal adverse effects. Improving these traits in a significant amount of the population, especially the elderly, may reduce unemployment, disability, assisted living and other health conditions. As a society, I feel we should embrace this medical tool and experience its true potential by promoting steroids and reducing any negative connotations with their use.
Dr. Haggard believed medical treatments involving anabolic steroids should be available to a broad number of people.
Who should be able to receive this treatment and who should not. I believe any person who could improve their quality of life and especially risk of mortality should be allowed access to this medicine. However, people wanting to use steroids solely for improving physical performance even to superhuman function in sports or in general may compromise their health, and their use of steroids should be limited. Using steroids to create body distortion and deformation is not healthy for anyone in the long run, and most physicians will not lead patients down such a destructive path. [...]
People who do not want to use steroids under a doctor’s supervision should not be allowed to use steroids. [...]
[S]teroids became largely effective in my practice for a variety of conditions and, in my opinion, could be offered sooner by other doctors for various medical conditions and to achieve improvements in quality of life.
Dr. Haggard did not feel that supraphysiological dosing should necessarily have negative connotations.
In regard to steroids, though, I feel most people react to the concept of supraphysiological dosing negatively with immediate thoughts of sports enhancement and bodybuilding. In contrast, it seems that people have no reservations or negative connotations for themselves or another person to achieve 15/20 visual acuity, especially if a person has other visual problems like poor night vision and improving their visual acuity to 15/20 may help compensate for their poor night vision. Likewise, supraphysiological steroid dosing does not always need to be associated with a negative connotation. In addition supraphysiological dosing in medicine can be an effective strategy to prolong and improve quality of life, especially with patients who have chronic diseases.
Dr. Haggard felt that improving the quality of life and treating the symptomalogy was more important than diagnosing a disease.
In chronically ill patients, it became a common strategy for me to ask the question, “What could we do to quickly improve your condition and quality of life?” rather than “What is the exact name of the diagnosis that best describes your disease condition?” I feel the first strategy focuses on a possible solution, while the latter further focuses on the problem. Somehow the American population has become fixated on knowing the diagnosis, which most often results in terms they have never heard of anyway.
Dr. Haggard was respectful of the effects of anabolic steroids as used by bodybuilders.
The most commonly sought out superhuman functions of steroids, in my experience, are strength, stamina, recovery and growth. Moreover, different steroid products offer unique superhuman functions at supraphysiological doses. Present-day bodybuilders are great examples of the superhuman effects of steroids. Bodybuilders use steroids to increase the amount of work their muscles can perform, and consequently their muscles grow to superhuman size. Bodybuilders today have achieved a size beyond their own genetic and hormone potential. Superhuman enhancement is not only sought by professional athletes, it tends to be attractive to most people when they know the option is available.
Dr. Haggard acknowledged that the “superhuman” performance-enhancing aspects of anabolic steroids were appealing.
Many people are interested in performance enhancement from people who perform physical labor for their occupation to people who enjoy general physical activity. Because the adverse effect profile of steroids is dose dependent as well I usually encourage patients to stay just beneath superhuman function and in the optimal function range, even if no adverse effects were realized for them at that does. It is possible that all of the adverse effects of steroids are not yet realized, especially long-term effects, thus I encourage patients to only use the minimal amount of steroids necessary for good quality of life. However, I admit superhuman function of any ability is appealing.
Dr. Haggard heavily focused on treating the patient and his or her unique symptomalogy rather than rely exclusively on laboratory testing to determine diagnosis and treatment.
Since my ultimate goal was to change people’s experiences, I used their symptoms and perceptions to primarily guide most of my prescribing and used laboratory analysis to verify safety and clinical findings. [...]
Should the decision be based on symptoms? Yes. The ultimate goal in medicine for me is to improved the way people feel. People’s symptoms are the ultimate factor in most medical conditions, in my opinion. Laboratory analysis usually just confirms the diagnosis when patients present with symptoms. [...]
Laboratory analysis should aid the practitioner to support his or her clinical findings, but not be the main deciding factor. Too easily doctors will start treating lab work instead of patients. This is where doctors decide treatments for patients without seeing the patient and just by evaluating the lab work. I believe this is a current potential trap for physicians, especially endocrinologists. There is a common saying in medicine that I have found to be proven time and time again, “When in doubt, look at the patient.”
Dr. Haggard denounces the steroid demonization by the media and the medical community and advocates the belief that anabolic steroids can be used safely with significant improvements in the quality of life for individuals and society as a whole.
Dr. Jesse Haggard’s treatise in defense of anabolic steroids clearly would not have endeared him to a court of law but will appeal to steroid law reformers who feel that current steroid law has stifled the true potential of anabolic steroids and anabolic therapies in contemporary medicine.