Nicholas Gonzalez (doctor)

Dr. Nicholas J. Gonzalez is a New York-based physician. Dr. Gonzalez has received significant attention for his controversialcite web |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/reports/tjclinics/20020225-9999-doctor.html |title="Alternative practitioner embraces scrutiny" SignOnSanDiego.com |format= |work= |accessdate=2008-07-29] cite web |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/altmed/etc/synopsis.html |title=frontline: the alternative fix: introduction | PBS |format= |work= |accessdate=2008-07-29] therapies that target cancer. His practice is currently based in New York City.

Biography

Gonzalez graduated Phi Beta Kappa & "magna cum laude" from Brown University, with a degree in English literature. He completed postgraduate premedical work at Columbia University and received his medical degree from Cornell University in 1983. [ [http://www.alternative-therapies.com/at/web_pdfs/gonzalez.pdf Interview: NICHOLAS J. GONZALEZ, MD: SEEKING THETRUTH IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER] , ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES, jan/feb 2007, VOL. 13, NO. 1]

Cancer treatment

Gonzalez's treatment methods, which he's been using since 1987, are devloped from previous work by William Donald Kelley; like Kelley's treatments, Gonzalez's method was "rejected" by the "medical establishment". Gonzalez has been characterized as a quack by health fraud watchdog groups, he has lost two malpractice lawsuits, and in 1994 was reprimanded and placed on two years’ probation by the New York state medical board for "departing from accepted practice".

Gonzalez "had to pay $2.5 million in damages to a patient he wrongly claimed to have cured" of cancer.cite web |url=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15921482.900-a-cure-for-quacks.html |title=A cure for quacks - 22 August 1998 - New Scientist |format= |work= |accessdate=2008-07-29] [cite web |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/1997/03/31/1997-03-31_cancer_doc_hit_for__2_5m-plus.html |title=CANCER DOC HIT FOR $2.5M-PLUS |format= |work= |accessdate=2008-07-29] The former patient had been diagnosed with uterine cancer but "Gonzalez discouraged her from following through on her cancer specialist's advice, instead recommending dietary supplements and frequent coffee enemas".cite web |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-03-26/news/when-medicine-is-murder/ |title=When Medicine is Murder - Village Voice |format= |work= |accessdate=2008-07-29] The cancer spread to her spine and blinded her. Gonzalez was given two years of probation with a stipulation that he undergo retraining and do 200 hours of community service, but never lost his medical license. [Gonzalez v. Ellenberg, 2004 NY Slip Op 51518(U) (NY 10/12/2004), 2004 NY Slip Op 51518 (NY, 2004)]

Gonzalez Regimen

The Gonzalez Regimen is "a complex cancer treatment that is tailored by the practitioner for each specific patient". The regimen involves:
*Pancreatic enzymes, derived from porcine sources, taken orally
*Specific diets, extracts of animal organs, vitamin and mineral supplements, and coffee enemasThe large number of pills taken each day (approximately 150) and strict dietary restrictions makes patient compliance difficult. Diet regimens similar to those prescribed by Dr. Gonzalez "are associated with cancer prevention, but none have been shown to be effective as cancer treatments." Current clinical data are "limited and inconclusive" regarding the efficacy of the Gonzalez regimen as a treatment for cancer.

Support for Gonzalez's treatment methods, published in 1999 in the peer-reviewed journal "Nutrition and Cancer", [cite journal |author=Gonzalez NJ, Isaacs LL |title=Evaluation of pancreatic proteolytic enzyme treatment of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, with nutrition and detoxification support |journal=Nutr Cancer |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=117–24 |year=1999 |pmid=10368805 |doi= |url=] measured survival rates for 11 patients with pancreatic cancer. In the study, patients on the Gonzalez's regimen lived an average of 17.5 months, approximately three times longer than patients treated with chemotherapy. The study was too small for definitive conclusions to be drawn, but was of enough interest to the National Cancer Institute that they have provided funds for a larger study.

Currently, a phase III clinical trial for the possible treatment of pancreatic cancer has been funded by a $1.4 million grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine awarded to Columbia University's Rosenthal Center for Alternative Medicine.cite journal |author=Josefson D |title=US cancer institute funds trial of complementary therapy |journal=West. J. Med. |volume=173 |issue=3 |pages=153–4 |year=2000 |month=September |pmid=10986163 |pmc=1071044 |doi= |url=] cite web |url=http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/gonzalez/healthprofessional/allpages |title=Gonzalez Regimen - National Cancer Institute |format= |work= |accessdate=2008-07-29] This trial has been criticizedcite web |url=http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/kg.html |title=Nicholas Gonzalez Treatment for Cancer: Gland Extracts, Coffee Enemas, Vitamin Megadoses, and Diets|format= |work= |accessdate=2008-07-29] for its theoretical model of cancer development, which "flies in the face of the modern understanding of neoplasia", and because primary investigator, Dr. Gonzalez, has "never gone beyond the medical degree in terms of residencies or board certification" and has a history of malpractice.

The study has had difficulty attracting patients. [cite web |url=http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2002/10/56072 |title=Cancer's Enema No. 1? Make That 2 |format= |work= |accessdate=2008-07-29]

References

External links

* [http://www.dr-gonzalez.com/ Dr. Gonzalez'a Nutritional Regimen]
*cite journal |author=Gonzalez NJ, Isaacs LL |title=The Gonzalez therapy and cancer: a collection of case reports |journal=Altern Ther Health Med |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=46–55 |year=2007 |pmid=17283741 |doi= |url=