Oasis of Hope Hospital

{{Infobox hospital

| name = Oasis of Hope Hospital

| org/group =

| logo =

| logo_size =

| image =

| image_size = 250px

| alt =

| caption =

| map_type = Mexico Tijuana

| relief = yes

| map_size =

| map_alt =

| map_caption =

| location = Paseo Playas #19
Sección Monumental

| region = Tijuana

| state = Baja California

| country = Mexico

| coordinates = {{coord|32.531412|-117.119174|display=inline,title}}

| healthcare =

| funding = For-profit

| type = Specialist

| affiliation =

| patron =

| network =

| standards =

| emergency = No

| helipad = No

| beds = 60

| speciality = Alternative cancer treatments

| founded = {{start date|1963}}

| closed =

| demolished =

| website = {{URL|www.oasisofhope.com/}}

| other_links =

| module =

}}

The Oasis of Hope Hospital is a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico providing alternative cancer treatments to its customers.{{cite journal|doi=10.1177/1534735404273918|title=Patient Perspectives: Tijuana Cancer Clinics in the Post-NAFTA Era|year=2005|last1=Moss|first1=R. W.|journal=Integrative Cancer Therapies|volume=4|pages=65–86|pmid=15695477|issue=1|doi-access=free}} The clinic was founded by the physician Ernesto Contreras. After his death in 2003, the management of the hospital was taken over by his son, Francisco Contreras, and nephew, Daniel Kennedy.

Since the 1960s, it has administered amygdalin to its patients. The clinic has been characterized by Quackwatch as "dubious.”

History

The Oasis of Hope hospital is based in Tijuana, Mexico. The city is significant as there is a concentration of more than 60 cancer treatment centres in the city, making it one of the largest concentrations of this type of treatment in the world. The Guardian reported in 2005 that the reason for the concentration is that most methods used by the hospitals are "discouraged by conventional medical science" and because health regulations aren't as strict as the United States, it is a logical place for them to operate.

Tijuana is home to the largest concentration of cancer treatment centres offering unorthodox therapies anywhere in the world. More than 60 hospitals, clinics and semi-clandestine offices offer to cure or help control the disease in ways ranging from the unconventional to the controversial. Most methods are discouraged by conventional medical science, which is why they are based in Tijuana, where health regulators rarely bother them.{{cite web|last1=Walker|first1=Tim|title=Tijuana's Medical Tourism Gets a Facelift Enticing More Americans in For Cheap Luxury Surgery|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/tijuanas-medical-tourism-gets-a-facelift-enticing-more-americans-in-for-cheap-luxury-surgery-a6985516.html|work=The Independent|date=April 15, 2016}}

After Ernesto's death in 2003, running of the clinic passed to his son Francisco Contreras and Daniel Kennedy, who is Francisco's nephew.{{cite book|title=The Hope of Living Cancer Free|publisher=Siloam Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/hopeoflivingcanc0000cont/page/136 136]|first=Francisco|last=Contreras|year=1999|location=Lake Mary, Florida|isbn=978-0-88419-655-6|url=https://archive.org/details/hopeoflivingcanc0000cont/page/136}}

In 2005 Ralph Moss, an advocate of alternative cancer treatments, published an article giving something of the clinic's history. He wrote that it was formerly known as the Del Mar Medical Center and Hospital and was run by Ernesto Contreras who oversaw its expansion to accommodate customers from the United States; new English-speaking staff had been hired especially to cater for this client base. According to Moss, despite the fact that the American Cancer Society had put Ernesto Contreras on a list of practitioners of "unproven methods" in 1971, the clinic claimed to have had 40,000 American customers in the 40 years prior to 2005.

In 2014, senior management from The Oasis of Hope hospital visited the United Kingdom to speak about alternative medicine. At the time they were not allowed to publicly advertise alternative cancer treatments in the United Kingdom, so the talk was aimed at raising understanding. It was reported however that many of the attendees had cancer and were considering alternative options. This was following a number of public discussions in the country about how to approach alternative treatments. Prince Charles had suggested that the country should itself pursue alternative treatments and offer them in some way. Members of staff from Oasis of Hope visited the UK around the time the Medical Innovation Bill was being discussed. If the bill had passed, it would have opened the door for Oasis of Hope-like treatments to take place in Britain.{{Cite news|last1=Howarth|first1=Alice|title=Expect clinics offering 'integrative therapy' for cancer if Saatchi bill passes|journal=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/dec/03/clinics-integrative-therapy-cancer-saatchi-medical-innovations-bill|date=December 3, 2014}}

Treatment

The Oasis of Hope Hospital offers a variety of alternative cancer treatments. During an interview, Edzard Ernst spoke about the sort of treatments commonly used by hospitals and treatment centers such as the Oasis of Hope. Many of the therapies focus on the removal of carcinogenic substances. Claims are made by the hospitals that the removal of such substances is able to boost the immune system to then fight off cancer. This treatment is however unproven in traditional medicine.{{Cite news|last1=Tuckman|first1=Jo|title=Cancer patients take their hopes to Tijuana|journal=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/may/21/cancercare.internationalnews|date=May 21, 2005}}

Since the 1960s, Oasis of Hope has treated its patients with amygdalin, also known as laetrile, an ineffective and dangerously toxic substance.{{cite journal|last1=Flurer Ph.D.|first1=Cheryl L.|last2=Toomey B.S.|first2=Valerie M.|last3=Nickum B.S.|first3=Elisa A.|title=Cyanide and Amygdalin as Indicators of the Presence of Bitter Almonds in Imported Raw Almonds|journal=Journal of Forensic Sciences|volume=57|issue=5|pages=1313–1317|date=May 7, 2012|doi=10.1111/j.1556-4029.2012.02138.x|pmid=22564183|s2cid=20002210|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1230689}} By 1978, more than 70,000 people in the United States had reportedly been treated with Laetrile.{{cite web|title=Questions and Answers About Laetrile/Amygdalin|url=https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/patient/laetrile-pdq#section/_3|publisher=Cancer.gov|date=April 17, 2017}}

Between 1996 and 1997, sociologist David Hess conducted an interview with Francisco Contreras, in which he discussed many aspects of the Clinic's operations.{{cite web|title=David Hess|url=http://www.vanderbilt.edu/sociology/VDOS_People_DavidHess.shtml|publisher=Vanderbilt University College of Arts and Sciences}} Contreras said that metabolic therapy was the main offering of the clinic, and was made up of four steps; Detoxification, restrictive low-fat, low-protein, high-carbohydrate diet, the use of megavitamin therapy, shark cartilage, thymus and levamisole and the use of amygdalin extracted from apricot seeds.

Another therapy was called the "Warburg" therapy named (according to Hess's account) after Otto Heinrich Warburg. This consisted of a restrictive high-carbohydrate diet, giving patients insulin and quercetin.{{cite book|author=David J. Hess|title=Evaluating Alternative Cancer Therapies: A Guide to the Science and Politics of an Emerging Medical Field|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDkWaCrid_MC&pg=PA97|accessdate=2 September 2013|year=1999|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-2594-5|page=97}}

Hess also wrote that Contreras cited a number of non-physical aspects to the clinic's therapy, including religious assistance, psychology and singing and laughter sessions – Contreras claimed that people with strong spiritual beliefs recovered better, and that laughter stimulates the immune system.

In 2005 Ralph Moss reported that the clinic was using amygdalin and the Issels treatment. In 2011 Moss wrote a further report on the Tijuana clinics, and noted that their ability to attract customers had been diminished by the publication of research showing that amygdalin was not effective, by tougher regulation arising from the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, and from Tijuana itself become a less desirable destination as a result of a decline brought on by the war on drugs. Moss also noted that some American hospitals now have alternative medicine offerings, diminishing the distinctive appeal of the clinics in Tijuana.{{cite journal

|title=A visit to the Tijuana clinics

|first=Ralph

|last=Moss

|journal=Townsend Letter

|issue=333

|year=2011

|page=30}}

In 2005, The Guardian reported the case of a man with cancer who paid US$40,000 for a one-month treatment in which he had high-fevers induced in the belief that the heat would kill his cancer cells.

= Evidence =

Amygdalin (sometimes called "laetrile") is a toxic glycoside. The major argument against the use of amygdalin is that it is a toxic glycoside, which has been known to provoke cyanide poisoning in patients.{{Cite journal|last1=Milazzo|first1=Stefania|last2=Horneber|first2=Markus|date=2015-04-28|title=Laetrile treatment for cancer|journal=The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews|volume=2018 |issue=4|pages=CD005476|doi=10.1002/14651858.CD005476.pub4|issn=1469-493X|pmid=25918920|pmc=6513327}} Evidence that is frequently used to display this is people that suffered cyanide poisoning after ingesting bitter almonds, which contain amygdalin.{{cite journal|last1=Cipollone|first1=R.|last2=Visca|first2=P.|last3=Imperi|first3=F.|last4=Tomao|first4=P.|title=Enzymatic detoxification of cyanide: clues from Pseudomonas aeruginosa Rhodanese|journal=Journal of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology|volume=15|issue=2–3|pages=199–211|date=July 28, 2008|doi=10.1159/000121331|pmid=18685272|s2cid=25431686}}

Issels treatment requires removal of metal fillings from the patient's mouth and adherence to a restrictive diet, supposedly to aid in cancer treatment. Cancer Research UK have said of it: "There is no scientific or medical evidence to back up the claims made by the Issels website".{{cite web

|publisher=Cancer Research UK

|url=http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/about-cancer/cancer-questions/issels-treatment

|title=Issels Treatment

|accessdate=1 September 2013|date=2017-08-30

}}

Reception

Edzard Ernst, a former professor at The University of Exeter stated that Britons in particular were attracted to Tijuana clinics "because the clinics there are famous." According to Quackwatch, the Oasis of Hope Hospital is a "dubious cancer clinic".{{cite web|publisher=Quackwatch|title=Rev. George M. Malkmus and his Hallelujah Diet|author=Stephen Barrett, M.D.|date=May 2003|accessdate=1 September 2012|url=http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/malkmus.html}} Richard Sullivan of Cancer Research UK has said, "the Tijuana clinics are essentially set up to deceive and it's a disgrace."

Barrie R. Cassileth commented on a small longterm follow-up study that had been carried out on patients of Mexican clinics, including those taking the Contreras treatments. She said that most patients did not know what stage their cancer was at, but that the mean survival time – of 7 months – was enough to conclude that "Contreras therapy is ineffective in treating late-stage cancer patients".{{cite book|author1=Barrie R. Cassileth|author2=K. Simon Yeung|author3=Jyothirmai Gubili|title=Herb-drug Interactions in Oncology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etCkDPOW_oMC&pg=PA463|accessdate=4 September 2013|year=2010|publisher=PMPH-USA|isbn=978-1-60795-041-7|page=463}}

The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center lists "Contreras Therapy" alongside other alternative nutrition-based cancer treatments like the Gerson Therapy which "show no evidence of efficacy".{{cite web

|url=http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/metabolic-therapies

|publisher=Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

|accessdate=1 September 2013

|date=14 February 2013

|title=Metabolic Therapies}}