Docs Gone Wild #3 by Pat Conrad MD
We still have a couple more weeks before April Fool’s, so no, I’m not making this story up. Throw in the surefire comedic element of a Texas state politician, taxpayer money crossing state lines, and one hokey-sounding doctor and you’ve got … something.
Last year Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller went to visit the Oklahoma National Stockyards, and visit some of his counterparts at the state capitol, billing his state $1,120 for the trip. The Houston Chronicle – I guess on a reeeally slow news day – did some digging and learned that Miller had a medical procedure while on his visit. “It’s worked out good,” Miller said of the alleged cure-all drug.
The reports are that the commish visited one Dr. John Michael Lonergan, the sole worldwide practitioner who offers patients the “Jesus Shot.” A former practice host of Lonergan states that the shot is made up of “Dexamethasone, Kenalog, and vitamin B12” to treat the inflammation linked to chronic pain. “Lonergan, who works at Priceless Beauty Spa in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, has said the Jesus Shot cures chronic pain for life, the Chronicle reported. He reportedly charges $300 for the shot.” Sadly I have not been able to find a word as to why the injection is so-named.
“The Chronicle reported that the Oklahoma Medical Board has deemed the Jesus Shot a legal medical procedure and that the antidote has been around for 33 years. Reji Varghese, deputy director of the Oklahoma Medical Board, would ‘neither confirm nor deny’ the board was aware of the Jesus Shot, and he declined to offer comment on the controversy surrounding its administration due to any potential patient complaints that may exist, which he also declined to comment on.”
That is freakin’ hilarious! State medical boards infamously jump at every chance to nail poor docs over any piddly complaints and misfiled forms. Yet this one gives a stamp of legality, even as it denies knowledge of its existence, and can’t comment on any potential complaints, which also don’t officially exist.
Lonergan reportedly is a convicted felon for tax evasion, mail fraud, and healthcare fraud. “Although his medical license was revoked in Ohio, Oklahoma granted the doctor a state-supervised license to practice medicine in 2012. Lonergan’s supervision agreement was terminated in March 2013, but he has been allowed to practice medicine in the state without supervision for the next 12 months.”
One Oklahoma resident “posted a message about “Dr. Mike” which said in part, “Okay guys, there is a guy in my town of Woodward, OK going by the name Dr. Mike. Nobody knows anything about this guy, but he claims that he is a Former Special Forces Dr and him and another Special Forces Dr developed a serum for the military called Jesus Juice and it has been used in the military for years and it cures any ailment. Okay, whatever, cool. Has anyone heard of this? … There is a ton of talk going around town about it, and nobody has ever heard of it, so I was wondering if anyone here has heard of this ‘Jesus Juice’ shot.””
If only this could be so! When I had a private practice I would gladly have given this shot for free, or even have paid to give it to certain of my chronic pain folks who used to frequent me for their monthly oxycodone refusal. We need to get behind Dr. Mike, and push for ACA coverage for all divinely named pain treatments. Then we petition the Oklahoma State Board to give this pioneer a weekend pass to visit Dr. Oz, so they can collaborate on an obesity shot.
Ahhhh,
And in the past there was Dr. John Brinkley and his “goat gland” therapy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Brinkley
Only they eventually caught up with him. Kurt
Not surprising he’s doing this in Texas or Oklahoma. He’s catering to the evangelical crowd like Trump and Cruz! In addition to separation of church and state, we need separation of church and medicine, but that’ll never happen. Church IS medicine to a lot of folks.
But what is it in the shot that lasts more than 3 months? That’s about the limit for steroids, and for B-12 a month or less. Patients would have to get the forever shot every 3 months at $300 a pop. Well, if it keeps ’em off heroin…
Laws are only a deterrent for the law abiding.
Whether or not our esteemed colleague was, in fact, a “Special Forces doctor,” his blasphemous cocktail adds to his credibility.
In every enterprise where people are treated like useful meat, and cast off the conveyor belt when they are broken and useless, drugs are for keeping the meat functioning. The ‘scandal’ in the NFL about opiates and the ‘scandals’ in baseball about performance steroids, the depressing and little-covered habit of the military of glossing over and medicating up injuries – or expelling the damaged when they cannot perform, all these are similar – the use and abuse of humans for their profitability to others.
The ‘Jesus shot’ no doubt can work, if the goal is to keep the injured performing beyond the limits which the body has set by raising the wall of pain. It is no different than feeding antibiotics to feed animals to make them fatten up quickly, or methylamphetamine [Benzadrine, or meth,] a drug which enables exhausted persons to work a double shift when they are beat-dog tired.
Is the future like 1984, or like Brave New World? It is both, as we separate the mind from the body further and further. The body becomes used and burnt up; the mind is separated into a world of blissful numbness.
When people with chronic pain of some sort come to the McPharmacy for a shot, they can get Lonergan’s blast of steroids. It’s best if the “practitioner” in the box is naive to the terrible effects of chronic steroids. Nevermind, the customer comes first – give them what they want.
Kill the body to satisfy the immature, demanding mind; and then yowl and fuss about the abuse of prescription narcotics, and the need for ‘more regulation.’ We get what we get because we are what we are.
excellent comment.