Please be aware these lawsuits are only focused on children that were diagnosed with ALL and acute myeloid leukemia. Dr. Marilyn Duncan failed to follow the best practice standards, failed to register her patients with tumor boards, and I agree that families like mine were not told in detail about proposed treatments and risks. However, some treatment that Dr. Duncan denied she was providing prior to 1989 is misleading.
She was using some protocol as early as the mid to late 1970’s. I am also a family member who has been denied access to my sister’s medical records despite repeated requests. Records have been either misplaced or it has been blamed on a fire that occurred where records were kept. So without records it makes it very difficult to continue to explore standard of care. Dr. Gribble is now deceased so it makes it that much more difficult to collaborate any of Dr. Duncan’s statements. Ironically my sister was diagnosed & initially only underwent chemo therapy. This went on for a 2 year period of time with my family having to travel to and from Albq. from Las Cruces. Each visit required a bone marrow, spinal tap, lab, and what scans deemed appropriate. She did go into remission only for the cancer to return in the form of soft tissue tumor on forearm. This bout of treatment was radiation only. At age 17 she came out of remission and had to undergo exploratory surgery, thoracic surgery at that, to assess any visual damage done to vital organs. That December of 1983 she and my mother died in a car crash ironically coming from El Paso, TX to Las Cruces after completing initial markings for radiation treatment. Dr. Duncan had finally decided to utilize chemo/radiation protocol.
Upon the death of my sister Dr. Duncan was insensitive and she made several calls to seek my permission prior to burial to do autopsy for the sake of furthering cancer treatment. The comments are very nicely worded that she was forced to leave UNM, retire and later relinquished medical license. That is an understatement! She had no choice to relinquished license to practice medicine. To date she has not spent a day incarcerated, not a paid out of pocket, and has minimized the role she played in not having appropriate supervision, registering patients with tumor board, and/or utilizing peers for consultation, utilizing appropriate treatment protocols. We should not forget she was seeing infants, toddlers, children & adolescents in her pediatric oncology practice/research. Due to the misplacement or destruction of records in a fire not only is important documentation lost “in the name of research” and the evidence that would determine if one was getting appropriate treatment. I for one needs to wonder was this really about advancing cancer treatment or was this for self-glorification. One must wonder as it does not seem to be a win-win for anyone involved.
Please be aware these lawsuits are only focused on children that were diagnosed with ALL and acute myeloid leukemia. Dr. Marilyn Duncan failed to follow the best practice standards, failed to register her patients with tumor boards, and I agree that families like mine were not told in detail about proposed treatments and risks. However, some treatment that Dr. Duncan denied she was providing prior to 1989 is misleading.
She was using some protocol as early as the mid to late 1970’s. I am also a family member who has been denied access to my sister’s medical records despite repeated requests. Records have been either misplaced or it has been blamed on a fire that occurred where records were kept. So without records it makes it very difficult to continue to explore standard of care. Dr. Gribble is now deceased so it makes it that much more difficult to collaborate any of Dr. Duncan’s statements. Ironically my sister was diagnosed & initially only underwent chemo therapy. This went on for a 2 year period of time with my family having to travel to and from Albq. from Las Cruces. Each visit required a bone marrow, spinal tap, lab, and what scans deemed appropriate. She did go into remission only for the cancer to return in the form of soft tissue tumor on forearm. This bout of treatment was radiation only. At age 17 she came out of remission and had to undergo exploratory surgery, thoracic surgery at that, to assess any visual damage done to vital organs. That December of 1983 she and my mother died in a car crash ironically coming from El Paso, TX to Las Cruces after completing initial markings for radiation treatment. Dr. Duncan had finally decided to utilize chemo/radiation protocol.
Upon the death of my sister Dr. Duncan was insensitive and she made several calls to seek my permission prior to burial to do autopsy for the sake of furthering cancer treatment. The comments are very nicely worded that she was forced to leave UNM, retire and later relinquished medical license. That is an understatement! She had no choice to relinquished license to practice medicine. To date she has not spent a day incarcerated, not a paid out of pocket, and has minimized the role she played in not having appropriate supervision, registering patients with tumor board, and/or utilizing peers for consultation, utilizing appropriate treatment protocols. We should not forget she was seeing infants, toddlers, children & adolescents in her pediatric oncology practice/research. Due to the misplacement or destruction of records in a fire not only is important documentation lost “in the name of research” and the evidence that would determine if one was getting appropriate treatment. I for one needs to wonder was this really about advancing cancer treatment or was this for self-glorification. One must wonder as it does not seem to be a win-win for anyone involved.