This is an article that appeared in the Star Tribune in Mpls. MN
QUEST FOR CURE ENDS IN MINNESOTAN'S DEATH
Warren Wolfe, Star Tribune
September 23, 2004 BIBEAU0923
Katherine Bibeau was "like June Cleaver with an attitude," said her husband,
David. "Cook, bake, knit, garden, church, Boy Scouts -- and take charge of her
illness."
Bibeau, of Cottage Grove, boarded a plane for South Carolina last March, excited
that an unorthodox treatment by a physician might slow or even reverse the
progressive and debilitating symptoms of her multiple sclerosis.
Instead, a pathologist determined days later, the first of three planned
injections of hydrogen peroxide killed Bibeau, 53, a medical technologist.
Officials have begun a criminal investigation, and on Wednesday, her family
filed suit in a federal court in Columbia, S.C., accusing Dr. James Michael
Shortt of causing her death.
Shortt refused Wednesday to comment before conferring with his attorney. He was
reached while more than a dozen law enforcement officials searched his office.
David Bibeau
Carlos Gonzalez
Star Tribune
They removed medical records and copied computer files.
Met on blind date
Bibeau was an identical twin who grew up and graduated from college in Nebraska,
where her mother still lives. Her father was a teacher and school principal. She
met David Bibeau in 1976 on a blind date in North Carolina while he was in the
Air Force.
They were married in Minnesota in 1978 and lived in St. Paul. She began working
as a medical technologist at Bethesda Hospital, then moved to the Veterans
Administration Medical Center in 1984. In her work, she took blood, urine and
other body samples from patients and tested them. The couple moved to Cottage
Grove several years later. Their sons, ages 19 and 21, live at home.
Katherine Bibeau
"She loved to do stuff," her husband said. "She liked her garden, liked to cook
and loved to bake. She did all sorts of crafts.
"And she was always having me fix things. When something broke, I'd be ready to
buy a new one, but she'd read up on it -- maybe take a class if she couldn't
find the right book -- and tell me how to fix it," he said.
When her MS was diagnosed in October 2001, she took about six months off work
and learned about the disease, reading books, magazines and Internet articles.
She returned to work two days a week.
MS is an inflammatory disease that attacks the insulation surrounding nerve
fibers. It generally is considered incurable and progressive. A wide range of
symptoms can include numbness, incontinence, memory loss and difficulties with
speech, walking, grasping and other movement.
"We believed in the medical doctors and neurologists, but she didn't want to
stop there," David Bibeau said. They altered their diet to include less
processed food, added vitamins and took medication to treat tremors in her hand.
"We really concentrated on the present, on how to make the best of things now,"
he said. "In the back of our minds, I'm sure we thought about how the disease
might progress, but we really concentrated on how to have the best quality of
life right now."
Search for help
David Bibeau said he's not sure how his wife found Dr. Shortt or learned about
what practitioners call oxidation therapy. On advice of his lawyers, Richard
Gergel in Columbia and Warren Bigelow in Wayzata, he would not say specifically
what the family expected from Shortt's treatments.
A biography of Shortt on the Cancer Control Society Web site says he majored in
emergency medicine at Madonna University, Livonia, Mich., and received his
medical degree from the University of the Caribbean in Montserrat. For a time he
practiced at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa. He moved to South
Carolina in 1996 and is listed as medical director of Health Dimensions Clinic
in West Columbia.
Those who use hydrogen peroxide argue that taken orally or injected, it has been
effective in fighting or preventing numerous diseases.
They say that the diseases develop or thrive in bodies lacking sufficient
oxygen, and that hydrogen peroxide -- a molecule with two atoms of oxygen and
two of hydrogen -- can increase the body's oxygen, fighting off disease.
Although hydrogen peroxide must be labeled "for external use only," the
unorthodox treatment has been credited by some practitioners with helping treat
more than two dozen diseases, including cancer, asthma, emphysema, AIDS,
arthritis, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease.
Start of treatment
Katherine Bibeau stayed with her twin sister in South Carolina when she first
saw Shortt in October 2003.
He conducted blood and hair tests, looking for traces of heavy metal, viruses or
bacteria that he said might cause the disease, the lawsuit says.
Shortt "was unable to identify any such virus or bacteria from his laboratory
studies [but] nevertheless recommended intravenous hydrogen peroxide therapy,"
the lawsuit says, telling her the therapy "would be very good at killing this
unknown bacteria or virus allegedly causing her multiple sclerosis."
Bibeau returned March 9 for the first of what were to be three weekly injections
of hydrogen peroxide.
On March 11 she received an injection of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), which
practitioners say stimulates the immune system and helps flush out metals in the
blood.
But at that second visit, she complained to Shortt of bruises on her hand and
arm, abdominal pains and heavy menstruation. The lawsuit says Shortt did not
conduct any tests or offer treatment of the symptoms.
The next day she was confused and in severe pain and was taken to the hospital,
where she died two days later, on March 14.
The injection caused intense pain, massive bleeding and air bubbles in her
bloodstream, the autopsy found.
The pathologist, Dr. Clay Nichols, concluded that "this unfortunate woman died
as a direct result of iatrogenic [doctor-induced] infusion of hydrogen peroxide.
There is no legitimate use for the infusion of hydrogen peroxide in the current
medical literature. In fact, many articles caution against its use."
Doctors disciplined
Officials at the MS Society of Minnesota said they had not heard of using
hydrogen peroxide or oxidation therapy to treat multiple sclerosis, although
suggestions for its use can be found on the Internet.
Several doctors have been disciplined for administering it in Tennessee, North
Carolina and Kansas, and there have been a number of deaths and injuries
reported to patients given the injections.
However, practitioners who use the therapy contend it has been used often to
good effect.
"Look, I've used this with hundreds of patients, including patients with MS, and
none of them has ever had a problem with hydrogen peroxide," said Dr. Robert
Rowen, of Santa Rosa, Calif. He is president of the International Oxidation
Medication Association, representing more than 100 physicians.
"Anything can cause a problem in anybody, no matter how benign. That's the most
important thing that everyone should have in their heads when they see a
doctor," he said. "Did the doctor make a mistake? I don't know, but I do know
many people who are living better today because of hydrogen peroxide treatments."
State and local authorities in South Carolina have begun a criminal
investigation of Shortt and the pharmacy that supplied the hydrogen peroxide,
said officials who seized records from both on Wednesday.
"This is not just medical misadventure, like forgetting to take a sponge out
during an operations," said coroner Gary Watts in Richland County, where Shortt
treats his patients.
"What Dr. Shortt did, essentially, is turn Mrs. Bibeau into a hemophiliac."
"I've ruled it a homicide, which does not necessarily mean murder," he said.
"But in my opinion, this was criminal, a death that shouldn't have happened."
'It's awfully quiet'
"It's been very hard for us," said David Bibeau. "We were hoping that she might
live a better life, maybe ease the tremors in Katherine's left hand, improve her
walking."
The family had been talking about moving to South Carolina in a year or so,
closer to his wife's sisters and to Shortt, where additional therapy might have
been proposed.
Some time ago, Katherine had applied for a disability retirement from the VA. It
was approved three days before she died.
"I don't know what to do now. I guess not make any decisions for a while,"
Bibeau said.
"I've got the boys, and my friends, and my pastor. That helps. But I don't have
Katherine. It's awfully quiet without her."
Warren Wolfe is at [email protected].
--
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