Life and Death in Bureaucratized American Medicine
Outbreak
Dr. Vladimir Zelenko was going about his ordinary practice in Monroe, New York, when he suddenly found himself at the epicenter of one of the first covid outbreaks in the US. Patients he’d been taking care of for twenty years were looking to him for help, and he had nothing to offer them. So, he prayed to God for help and set about doing some research.
A Theory
A video from MedCram.com, a medical information and teaching site, was sent to him. It explained how the mineral zinc inhibits viral replication. All the strains of covid, influenza, and RSV (a common respiratory virus) use the same enzyme to replicate themselves inside the cell. Zinc blocks that enzyme, and thus stops the virus from replicating.
But zinc can’t get into the cell on its own. It needs help. That help can be supplied in the form of a zinc ionophore, which can deliver the zinc into the cell. There are four readily available zinc ionophores: chloroquine (or hydroxychloroquine – HCQ); ivermectin; quercetin, a bioflavonoid; and epigallocatechin (EGCG), a green tea extract. Quercetin and EGCG are available over the counter. HCQ and ivermectin require a prescription.
Success
Zelenko further learned that a doctor in France was having some success treating covid patients with a combination of HCQ and azithromycin, a common antibiotic. He was quite familiar with these drugs and knew them to be readily available and safe. So, tweaking the dosages to adjust to the needs of individual patients, he tried using them early in the course of the disease. “From the moment I started giving it to patients,” he said, “they stopped going to the hospital.” After seeing remarkable results in around fifty patients – improved breathing in as little as six to twelve hours – he realized he’d stumbled onto something important, and he put the information out on his website.
Meanwhile, halfway across the country, Dr. Bradley Meyer was doing his own research too. He learned of the early treatment recommendations coming out of France and Italy, and he found the Zelenko protocols online. He was very familiar with HCQ, having used it as an Air Force physician serving soldiers in malaria-prone regions, and he began offering it as an option to his patients.
Most were receptive, and after two or three days on it, “it was like a switch was turned” inside them. Their body aches, fatigue, and other symptoms were gone. By this time, HCQ had become controversial, but he knew he had to share this information with his colleagues.
A Damper
It was not well received. Various colleagues and administrators expressed their opinions, either privately or in public, but regardless of anyone’s opinion, such opposition was a significant deviation from typical practices. Medicine has long preferred early treatment over delaying until a disease reaches Mack truck momentum.
Meyer knew there were other agendas in play, but he continued doing what he thought best for his patients. It was rare see such a dramatic effect in a short period of time, but that was what he and others were seeing. The theory that zinc plus a zinc ionophore could stop viral replication was holding up before his very eyes.
Obstruction
In late 2020, he was called to a meeting. Hospital administrators wanted to discuss how his ideas about treating covid differed from those of the hospital. They also wanted to discuss his future with the hospital. No one said that what he was doing was wrong or dangerous or that there wasn’t evidence to support it. But the CDC was recommending a different protocol. They didn’t want Dr. Meyer creating confusion in the community.
CDC and “confusion” notwithstanding, Dr. Meyer continued to offer the early treatment option to his patients as a matter of conscience – until that option was taken off the table. That happened after two patients, elderly men he’d seen for years, came down with covid at about the same time. As had become his practice, he explained their options. Both patients chose the early treatment regimen, and Dr. Meyer put in an order for them to receive ivermectin. But the orders were not filled. When he inquired as to what had happened, he was told that the Chief Medical Officer had interceded and prevented the pharmacy from filling the orders. Both patients died.
At this point, things got very real for Dr. Meyer. “I knew that what was coming was more turbulence.” Would he continue to do what he believed was the right thing to do for his patients? Or would he follow the path of least resistance, keep his head down, and comply with hospital administrators? He recalled that he had made his Hippocratic Oath to God, not a corporation, and resolved to keep doing what he thought best for his patients.
Before long, he was summoned to another meeting with hospital officials. This time they were more direct. He was to stop prescribing ivermectin (or trying to prescribe it) and to stop “scaring” patients about the covid vaccine.
Success (Again)
So, when another patient was hospitalized with covid and deteriorating, he ordered that she receive N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) by IV. Available in pill form over the counter, NAC is known for producing many healthful benefits, one of which is supporting respiratory function. The patient recovered.
Termination
Soon after that, Dr. Meyer was summoned to a third meeting. This time, he was to leave his patients waiting and come immediately. When he arrived, he was informed that he had been terminated from the hospital, effective immediately. He was allowed to collect his personal belongings, and then he walked out of the building.
Debrief
Dr. Meyer said that when he walked out of that hospital, he didn’t know what the future held, but he had never felt so free. His story is told in Doctor’s Orders, an hour-long documentary produced by "Defend the Republic" and available free on their Rumble channel. Marilyn Strickland, the patient who received NAC and recovered, also makes an appearance, as does Dr. Zelenko. Doctor’s Orders is not primarily about covid or the vaccines, but more about what covid may be exposing regarding practices in medicine as it has become increasingly bureaucratized and corporatized.
There has been much moral posturing over the past two years about how we’re all “in this together” and must sacrifice to save lives from covid. But if Dr. Meyer’s account is accurate, saving lives is not an especially high priority. And the “sacrifices” might be working differently than we think. Watch it below and decide for yourself. Alternatively, you can view a trailer for it here.
Terrell Clemmonsis Deputy Editor of Salvo and writes on apologetics and matters of faith.
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