What happened to the real Tod Lubitch?
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SmallTownSim — 17 years ago(February 04, 2009 10:26 PM)
This is a time-line of David Vetter
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bubble/timeline/index.html
Small Town Sim
Hey! Don't you
ever
knock? -
MdmBadenov — 10 years ago(December 02, 2015 10:39 AM)
No. It was agreed after David grew beyond young child age, the isolation bubble was not a viable alternative for treating SCIDS. It's an unnatural life and as David became more and more aware of his situation, he grew increasingly depressed and discontent with his isolation. With no cure for SCIDS in sight, the doctors that had committed David to his bubble had to face the disturbing reality that all they had done was create a prison for David, with nothing on the horizon offering a release. When bone marrow transplants advanced enough, they had hope David could have one with his sister as the donor. He was 12 by then and he didn't want to stay inside his prison. The decision was made to try the transplant. He survived it a few months and everyone involved in his care were becoming optimistic that David could have a normal life. Sadly, a complication developed that was untreatable. David became extremely ill for the first time in his life. A few weeks later, David lost his fight for life.
Today, bone marrow transplants have advanced enough that they have a high success rate. Children afflicted with SCIDS today are given bone marrow transplants very soon after diagnosis. They have a good survival/cure rate. Never again will a SCIDS baby be placed in a sterile isolation unit as a measure to keep a child alive. Doctors and medical ethicists now view David's case as a failure. They were able to keep David alive and physically well for 12 years inside the isolation unit, but they couldn't give him a good quality of life. I think the medical community now views what was done for David was an unethical laboratory experiment. It's one thing to keep mice, guinea pigs and the like in a cage in a laboratory. This is not something that's considered acceptable or ethical to do to a human being.
< I'm gonna make it happen!