********************From MUMS Newsletter # 93***************************

UCP Research & Education Foundation Refuses To Tell Where They Spent Millions of Dollars Intended To Help Our Children!!!

Whenever a local story is done on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy improving children with Cerebral Palsy, the news people call UCP for their viewpoint and Murray Goldstein, UCP Medical Director, says "There is no evidence that HBOT works." I went on their website to see what they are endorsing as helping our children. I was shocked to see only two pilot studies mentioned and one was for adults with Down Syndrome the other for "Constraint-Induced Therapy" involving restraining a child's good arm. (This was removed from their site when I suggested it was abusive!) The only mention of Hyerbaric Oxygen was a negtive article. I immediately called to ask where the studies they funded to help children with CP were and got no information from Murray. Their Tax Form 990 states they spent $6.5 million in a 4 year period, but they produced no studies to back this up. I wrote to Murray requesting information on where the money went. Surprisingly Murray appeared unregistered at The 3rd International Symposium for Cerebral Palsy and The Brain-Injured Child in Florida and wanted to speak. He evaded our questions and admitted he never even heard of the K.K. Jain book which documents studies worldwide on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. He now has a copy of MUMS' Hyperbaric Oxygen for Brain Damage Packet so he can no longer deny there is evidence that it works. For a link to the correspondence MUMS has had with Murray link to www.netnet.net/mums/UCP.htm You can also link from that site to the 990's for both UCPs. Note their tax accountant is listed as Aurthur Andersen (convicted felon and auditor for the now bankrupt Enron that lied to investors about the value of the Enron stock - many lost their life savings.).

In one of UCP's "fact" sheets they mention that "70% of cerebral palsy occurs prior to birth". When I asked for a copy of this 20 year old study Murray relies on for his "facts", he told me it "was out there" for me to find, but refused to even give me the name of it. A Research & Education Foundation that refuses to produce any research? Where does the money go? Ask Murray!! Ask for a copy of the studies he has funded with our children's money.

UCP Research & Education Foundation, Murray Goldstein, 1660 L Street NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036-5602 800-872-5827, 202-973-7139 202,-776-0414(fax) Email: mgoldstein@ucp.org Visit their site at: www.ucp.org Better yet contact one of his bosses on the UCP Board:
Paul Volcker, 610 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10020 212-218-7878 (Paul refuses to return my call. Maybe he will listen to thousands of MUMS members calling!)

Contact Your Local UCP (www.ucp.org)
I was on the Board of Directors of our local UCP in Green Bay when they disaffiliated from the national UCP. Our complaint was that we sent a percent of the money raised locally, but got nothing back from the national office. I thought at least they were doing research with the money. UCP boasts that "65% of people served by UCP have disabilities other than Cerebral Palsy." We know the 100 affiliates do good and serve many individuals, but what is the foundation doing for them? MUMS is asking for all of your help. Even if you do not have a child with Cerebral Palsy contact your local UCP (available at: www.ucp.org) and ask them what the UCP Foundation does for them or for our children. Ask them if they can get copies of the studies supposedly funded.

WE MUST STOP THIS STUDY!!!!! Murray Goldstein Is Planning on Funding UCLA To Do A Hyperbaric Oxygen Study Which We All Know Will Fail!! Obviously feeling pressured by MUMS members and other HBOT enthusiasts, Murray told people at the Symposium that he was giving Dr. Oppenheim, UCLA orthopedic surgeon and very outspoken against the use of HBO for CP on David Freel's Medicaidforhbolistserv, $150,000 to do a study on HBO & CP. Oppenheim will be the Principal Investigator of the study yet he has no hyperbaric experience and remember Murray turned down Dr. Harch twice for funding. We hear the protocol will treat 36 children: PET scan, 20 HBO treatments and another PET scan in 6 months!!! We know 20 isn't enough for permanent results and after 6 months all improvements will probably be gone. The children will have to be sedated to have 2 PET scans and not be given enough HBO. This study is designed to fail!!! McGill all over again! Interestingly, Oppenheim and Goldstein both are officers of the American Academy For Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM). We must stop this study!: Contact UCLA regarding IRB #03-07-104:
UCLA, Steven Peckman, Associate Director-Human Subjects Research (OPRS) -IRB, Office For Protection of Human Subjects, 10945 LeConte Ave., Room 2107 Los Angeles, California 90095-1694 310-825-5344, 310-794-9565 (fax) Email: speckman@oprs.ucla.edu
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Letter To Murray Goldstein, Director of United Cerebral Palsy Research & Education Foundation about Funding For Hyperbaric Oxygen Studies

UCP Research & Education Foundation
Murray Goldstein
1660 L Street NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036-5602

July 9, 2003

Dear Mr. Goldstein:
This letter is a follow-up of our conversation in April 2003. At that time we discussed funding from the UCP Research & Education Foundation for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBO) studies and as a result of the information you told me we published the summary below in our Winter 2003 MUMS' newsletter. Two hyperbaric doctors have since told us they approached you for funding for Cerebral Palsy & HBO studies and you sent them the form letter stating $50,000 is the limit.

United Cerebral Palsy Has Unlimited Research Dollars For HBO Study! I recently called Murray Goldstein at UCP and he told me he has been working with two major universities, one on the East coast and one on the West coast to do a study on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Cerebral Palsy. Both are near large CP Centers and Brain Imaging Centers. He only believes in PET scans not SPECT scans as indicators of improvement. He stated he wished he had started this two years ago so the studies would be underway by now. This is definitely new money available from UCP because in 1999 & 2000 when Dr. Paul Harch approached him for funding he was told only $50,000 was available from UCP for a study and sent him to NIH. When I asked him if the limit was still $50,000, he said, "as much money as is needed" will be made available. He said no one has applied for funding as yet. For more information or to apply for funding contact: UCP Research & Education Foundation. Medical Director., Murray Goldstein, DO, 1660 L Street NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036-5602 800-872-5827, 202-973-7139 202-776-0414 (fax) Email:mgoldstein@ucp.org

MUMS is requesting a written response to the following seven issues:

* 1.) We would like you to put in writing, so we can be accurate, UCP's position on funding studies for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) as a treatment for Brain Injury and Cerebral Palsy, including the amount of money UCP is willing to provide for such a study or studies. What criteria must be met in order for such a study to be approved?

* 2.) Secondly, David Gribble, UCP's Chief Financial Officer, sent us a copy of UCP's organization's 2001 IRS Form 990. It did not contain the addresses of UCP's Board of Directors as required by the IRS. Also, you and Mr. Gribble should have been listed as "Key Employees". Please provide the addresses, phone numbers and Emails of your board and indicate which ones are actually parents of children with Cerebral Palsy. In order to be legally "family-centered" UCP must have parents represented and involved.

* 3.) Mr. Gribble sent a list of the funded studies and the amounts given, but not the addresses of the institutions funded, as requested by IRS Form 990. All the listed funded studies had UCP's mailing address instead of "recipient's address" as requested by the IRS. We would like the recipients addresses, contact persons and phone numbers.

* 4.) All of the funded studies had "medical research" as the only explanation for "purpose of grant". We would like a detailed accounting of what kinds of "medical research" were and are being funded.

* 5.) There was no listing of salaries for the UCP Research & Education Foundation's CFO or Director as required by Part V of IRS 990 Column C or Line 75 -Compensation from related organizations. We would like to know what your salary is as well as Mr. Gribble's and any other staff members.

* 6.) Your 990 IRS form claims UCP spent $6,512,892 dollars on research from 1997 - 2000. Why are these studies not mentioned on UCP's website? The website features only two clinical trials: One has to do with "Constraint-Induced Therapy" and the other for "Young Adults with Down Syndrome". Why would a Down Syndrome study be mentioned instead of a Cerebral Palsy study? What types of studies were done for children with Cerebral Palsy and what were the results of these studies? How has this helped our brain injured children?

* 7.) You gave $122,157 to "Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center" of unknown address. Why did they get more than the $50,000 you told our hyperbaric doctors was the limit?

As a parent of a child with Cerebral Palsy and a director of an organization with over 18,000 members, 6000 who are parents of children with brain injuries or Cerebral Palsy, we have a right to this information.

Your foundation is raising money in the name of helping our children and we expect you to be accountable and forthcoming with information on how this money is spent.

Thousands of parents throughout our nation eagerly await your response to our seven requests. A copy of this letter and your response will be published on our website.

Sincerely,

Julie Gordon and the members of MUMS National Parent-To-Parent Network

cc : Dr. Paul Harch
Dr. Jeffrey Niezgota
nbspThousands of parents on the Internet

Editors Note: Large organizations have their 990 form available to the public on www.guidestar.com

If you look at United Cerebral Palsy Associations of DC's 990 you will find Murray's and David's salaries. Murray made $165,619 and David made $89,108 for the 2000 year.
UCPA 990 IRS Form

UCP Research & Education Foundation 990 IRS Form ************************************************************************************************

July 14, 2003 Murray's First Response

Murray Goldstein D.O. M.P.H.
Medical Director and COO
UCP Research and Educational Foundation
Ste 700, 1660 L Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
Tel: 202-973-7139 Fax: 202-776-0414 Email: mgoldstein@ucp.org July 14, 2003

Dear Mrs. Gordon:

Thank you for sharing the draft of your letter with me. The following information about the Foundation’s grant programs may be of interest to the members of MUMS:

The UCP Research and Educational Foundation does not have the authority to approve or disapprove medical interventions for either the prevention of cerebral palsy or for the treatment of the impairments or disabilities associated with it. However, the Foundation recognizes that an informed public itself can make decisions about clinical care. Therefore, the Foundation in collaboration with UCPA supports a nationwide program to inform the public about what is known and what is not known about available and proposed clinical interventions, and about the reliability of the data presently available. An example of this is the recent publication Treatment of Cerebral Palsy; A Research Status Report. A copy of the report as well as a host of other information about cerebral palsy can be found in the Research Foundation section of the UCP website (www.ucp.org).

In order to obtain needed new knowledge about prevention and improved clinical care, the Foundation manages a program of research grants. Research grants are available in amounts up to $50,000 a year for each of 2 years in support of pilot projects relevant to cerebral palsy---projects to refine the research methodology needed and to develop the preliminary research results necessary for a clinical-scientist to then compete successfully for longer term, more substantial support from government granting agencies (e.g. NIH).. Also, in order to recruit and prepare the personnel needed for future research on cerebral palsy, the Foundation supports a modest program of clinical research fellowships and academic clinical career development awards.

All proposals for Foundation support are reviewed for scientific merit by the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Council and then for funding by the Foundation’s Board of Directors. In fiscal year 2003, the Foundation expects to provide about $1M in support of these activities. All funds contributed to the Foundation are used exclusively in support of its grant programs. The funding of personnel and the Foundation’s operating expenses are all provided from other sources.

In regard to Foundation supported research on the clinical use of HBOT in the treatment of cerebral palsy, for several years the Foundation has actively solicited well designed research grant proposals for pilot studies to investigate either (1) the biological principle(s) explaining the proposed impact of HBOT on brain of persons with cerebral palsy and/or (2) the therapeutic efficacy of HBOT on specific impairments or disabilities associated with cerebral palsy.

Until very recently, no research grant applications have been received by the Foundation for studies in either of these HBOT areas. I am pleased to report that 2 applications have recently been received and are now undergoing scientific merit review.

I hope this information is of value to you and the other members of MUMS.

Sincerely,

Murray Goldstein DO, MPH

www.ucp.org/ucp_generaldoc.cfm/1/4/11654/11654-11654/3745

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July 23, 2003 MUMS Second Response

UCP Research & Education Foundation
Murray Goldstein
1660 L Street NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036-5602

July 23, 2003

Dear Dr. Goldstein:

It was helpful and informative to meet you at the 3rd International Symposium on Hyperbaric Oxygen and the Brain Injured Child in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this past week. I do have a feeling our letter of July 11th may have prompted your attendance, as you had not registered prior to the receipt of it. It does show you are willing to have a dialog. As you could tell from the barrage of audience questions we all need to continue communicating with you and the UCP Foundation.

As I told you at lunch, we do not want to harm all the good done by UCPA. We were confused by the relationship of The UCP Research and Educational Foundation and UCPA, but since you explained that UCPA pays your salary that would make them also subject to being accountable for your actions.

You told us that the Foundation's Board told you they would find it "an invasion of their privacy" to disclose if they either had Cerebral Palsy or had a child with Cerebral Palsy. One mother listening said that perhaps if they were embarrassed they should not be serving on the Board. I agree. How far would the MUMS organization have gone if I thought it too private to admit I had a child with Cerebral Palsy?

You refused to disclose any information on where UCP Foundation grant dollars were spent or what studies you funded or the results of such studies or projects. All you said you would give us is the facility and city name. UCP Foundation's objectives for 2000-2005 include "education of professionals and the pubic" yet you refuse to educate parents and professionals requesting information about funded studies.

You told me to read the paper, Treatment of Cerebral Palsy; A Research Status Report, which I found very unimpressive. I am accustomed to professional papers or fact sheets having numerous references indicating studies to substantiate their findings. In one of your fact sheets you mention the "fact" that "70% of cerebral palsy occurs prior to birth"? When I asked for a copy of this one 20 year old study you rely on for your "facts", you told me it "was out there" for me to find, but you refused to even give me the name of it.

At the Symposium we showed you a blind, lethargic dying three year old little girl who had a Mitochondrial Cytochrome C Reductase Deficiency which caused her brain damage, who after Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) can walk and see and speak. We showed you before and after SPECT scans of brains with damaged areas healed after HBO. Dr. Sanchez from Mexico presented on five babies with Cerebral Palsy he treated and improved with HBOT. Dr. Marois from Canada showed why all the children with Cerebral Palsy in the McGill study improved using HBOT. With all this exciting documentation why are you turning away hyperbaric doctors with HBOT studies?

You prefer to fund a study that constrains a child with Cerebral Palsy’s good arm. If you did that to a normal child it would be considered abuse.

Why do you refuse to show us what you did with the $6.5 million of research dollars spent from 1996 to 1999. We also want information on what was spent 2000 to 2003.

I was surprised you were unaware of published studies on HBOT. Enclosed is the MUMS’ Hyperbaric Oxygen As A Treatment For Brain Damage Packet in which I have indicated some of the published studies. We would like to discuss them with your Review Committee.

We still await your written response to our 7 issues.

Sincerely,

Julie Gordon
Director of MUMS National Parent-To-Parent Network
Board Member of International Hyperbaric Medical Association

cc : Dr. Paul Harch
UCP Research and Educational Foundation Board of Directors
Dr. Jeffrey Niezgota
Thousands of parents on the Internet
************************************************************************************************

July 25, 2003 Murray's Third Response
Dear Mrs. Gordon: I am surprised at the content of your E mail letter to me of July 24, 2003. At our face-to-face luncheon last week, I thought we had discussed in great depth the issues of policy and governance that you had previously raised. I also thought that we had agreed we would focus our future interactions on the critical issue of RESEARCH to answer the questions about the role of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in the treatment of cerebral palsy. I restated to you and to the participants in the Conference that the UCP Research and Educational Foundation would be pleased to receive research grant proposals for pilot studies to explore (1) the biological effects of HBOT on the injuries to the brain of children and/or adults with cerebral palsy and (2) the impact of HBOT on the activities of daily living of persons with disabilities due to cerebral palsy. I also explained that the financial resources available to the Foundation permitted it only to support start-up studies that provide investigators with the resources necessary to develop the preliminary data essential to their successful application to other agencies for the substantial funding required for the in-depth investigations usually needed (e.g. NIH). This early investment has a history of success in the initiation of a number of important investigations and is applauded as a valuable resource by the medical scientific community nationally. In response to your inquiry about the Foundation assuming responsibility for funding in-depth studies, I challenged you to have MUMS help us raise the funds that would be necessary for such in-depth studies. As Dr. Paul Harch has advised you, these studies could easily approach $1 million each. You appeared to understand and support the need for both our organizations to focus our attention on stimulating the high quality research that is required. I am disappointed that you now have returned to an accusatory agenda focused on governance rather than on a constructive agenda focusing on research. I admit, however, I may have misunderstood our conversation. In any case, I assume you will be sharing my reply to you with the members of MUMS.

M. Goldstein DO, MPH

**********************************************************************************************************
Because Murray refuses to answer our questions, I have stopped communicating with him. Instead our next step was to email all the board and staff of UCP for which we have the email addresses, the following plea:

Subject: Murray Goldstein refuses to be accountable for UCP's money!

Date: August 12, 2003

Dear UCP Board Members & Staff,

I am requesting your assistance. Please read the correspondence we have had with Murray Goldstein on our link: http://www.netnet.net/mums/UCP.htm and help us get the answers to our 7 questions.

Thousands of parents are using an amazing therapy called Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments (HBOT) for their children with Cerebral Palsy or other brain injuries with astonishing results. Spastic muscles are relaxing, seizures are stopping, blind children are seeing, crossed eyes are straightening, deaf children are hearing and children are getting out of their wheelchairs and walking! I witnessed all of this with my own eyes when I brought my own daughter for over 200 HBO treatments and met other parents and children with CP from around the world.

When these improved children are featured in their local newspapers or on TV stations, the reporters call Murray Goldstein for his opinion on HBOT for Cerebral Palsy. Every time he tells them "There is no evidence that it works." This is not true. Murray never even heard of the book by K. K. Jain called The Textbook of Hyperbaric Medicine, which is teaming with studies and reports from all over the world proving with both animals and humans that HBOT works to improve brain injuries.

We recently heard from a reliable source that Murray is planning on funding a $350,000 Hyperbaric Oxygen and Cerebral Palsy study at UCLA. The protocol we heard that they are planning on using is not the one we are all using on our children that works. The protocol they are planning on using will only use half the number of treatments (20) instead of the 40 needed to improve the brain in a permanent way. This would be comparable to taking antibiotics only 5 days instead of the required 10 days. We also heard that the tool they will use to measure the improvements called a SPECT scan of the brain will not be done until 6 months after the HBOT. Again this is similar to giving a child only one week of physical therapy and then nothing for 6 months and then measuring at the end of the 6 months to see if the physical therapy made any improvements in the child. Too little and too late.

Please help us get Murray to account for the millions of dollars he has spent and also have him fund a study using the HBO protocol we all know works.

Thank you in advance to all of you who take the time to review this information and who care enough to respond. Our children's lives and the quality of their lives is at stake.

Thanks, Julie J. Gordon, MUMS National Parent-to-Parent Network, 150 Custer Court, Green Bay, WI 54301-1243 1-877-336-5333 (toll free) 920-336-5333 920-339-0995 (Fax) Email: mums@netnet.net Web: http://www.netnet.net/mums/

***************************************************************** ONLY RESPONSE

take me off your mailing list - i am disgusted by your tactics

Donna Roberts, Executive Director
United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Indiana, Inc.
1915 W. 18th Street - Suite C
Indianapolis, IN 46202-1016
317-632-3561

****************************************************David Freels Correspondance with Steve Peckman****************************************

Mr. Peckman,

It's my understanding that some (if not all) of the funding from UCLA IRB 03-07-104 (the Oppenheim HBOT study) is coming from Murray Goldstein of United Cerebral Palsy.

I encourage you to review the financing of Dr. Oppenheim's study to see if UCP is in fact contributing more than $50,000. Here's why.

As I mentioned in a previous email, both Murray Goldstein and William Oppenheim are members of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM). See www.aacpdm.org/committees/currentofficers.html.

Murray Goldstein is the UCP medical director--even though he is not even a neurologist. In fact he's not even an MD.

1. As the research director of UCP, Murray Goldstein has repeatedly claimed to be willing to finance studies on HBOT for cp. He has claimed to have anywhere from "millions of dollars" to "unlimited dollars" to "unlimited resources", yet when researchers have seriously approached him he then claims he can only commit a mere $50,000 per study. If he and/or UCP has committed more than $50,000 to Dr. Oppenheim's study, I strongly, strongly encourage you to ask why.

As many experienced hyperbaric physicians have already said, the suggested Oppenheim protocol of PET-scan, 20 treatments, and a second PET-scan 6 months later is only designed to create failure. That's it.

If Murray Goldstein/UCP has pledged more than $50,000 to the Oppenheim study, it's because they are invested in disproving the efficacy of HBOT. Please do not be a party to this. Please review the financing of Oppenheim's study.

1. Murray Goldstein has a documented bias AGAINST the use of HBOT for cp and pediatric brain-injury. Please see UCP.Org where he has published numerous false, misleading, and disparaging "fact sheets" on the UCP web page; even though he refuses to reference or document anything in his "fact" sheets--which makes them opinions.

2. Murray Goldstein used to work at the NIH where he had some experience with brain imaging technology--thus the Oppenheim protocol of using PET instead of the more accurate SPECT. Please see below the copy of his email to me as reference:

Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 10:57:11 -0500
To: David Freels
From: "Dr. Murray Goldstein"
Dear Mr. Freels: I look forward to your response. Thank you for the references about SPECT. I am reasonably sophisticated in the brain imaging area having been a member of the staff for thirty years and then Director of the NINDS/NIH for eleven years. While there I was a focal point for research on the development of brain imaging technology. Have a good Holiday Season.

3. As verification of Mr. Goldstein's lack of commitment beyond $50,000, below is a transcript of a rather surly presentation made by Murray Goldstein and a civil response by Dr. Paul Harch at the recent (July 17-19, 2003) 3rd International Symposium on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for the Brain Injured Child (see Symposium).

Dr. Harch may be the world's foremost expert on the use of HBOT to treat cp and pediatric brain-injury. He was the first person in North America to treat a cp child; he has authored numerous chapters in the *The Textbook of Hyperbaric Medicine*, and is the president of the International Hyperbaric Medical Association (IHMA.org). Dr. Harch's website (Hyperbarics.org) has extensive information on the use of HBOT for brain-injury and the use of SPECT brain imaging to confirm HBOT efficacy.

Murray Goldstein's remarks were tape-recorded. If you would like a copy of the actual recording, please let me know, and I will gladly send it to you:

Murray Goldstein: "First of all, uh, I think you have to get something straight. There are two cerebal palsy organizations. There's an organization known as United Cerebral Palsy Association which has over 150 chapters--uh, excuse me--over 100 chapters around the country. Bound together. It's a family-oriented organization whose primary service--whose primary objectives--are service and advocacy. It does no research. It does none.

There is a separate corporation, a separate organization, with its own board of directors, its own charter, closely linked to UCPA but not quite called the United Cerebral Palsy Research and Educational Foundation. It has no, no responsibility for patient services or for advocacy. All we are interested in is research, professional education, and public information. Now, the research foundation does support the investigator initiated research. For five years I have been begging you to submit a scientifically meritorious application to the foundation for research support. I'm delighted to say after five hard years, we finally have two applications presently in a scientific merit review process to study the impact of hyperbaric delivered oxygen. It will be several weeks before we know what the results will be. BUT IN FACT, WHERE THE HELL HAS EVERYBODY BEEN FOR FIVE YEARS? WE'VE BEEN BEGGING YOU TO SUBMIT RESEARCH PROPOSALS. IT'S NOT THAT WE TURNED IT DOWN, WE NEVER GOT IT!"

Dr. Paul Harch: "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Excuse me one second. Hold on. Someone just told me (I've just walked in) that you've been begging for applications, and no one has applied from this group? Murray, Murray--"

Murray Goldstein: "You have never sent us an application--"

Dr. Paul Harch: "I've asked you how many times about this, and you said you only have 50 thousand dollars. You can't do a study with 50 grand. I have a randomized, prospective, controlled, cross-over trial with SPECT brain imaging been approved by IRB for four years with a pediatric neurologist participating, and I have been discouraged from even sending it to you--although you've told me that the corporate board members have money, you have never been able to put me in touch with the corporate board members. So recently, last month, I sent you another email after you told Julie Gordon you had, what, 'millions of dollars in research'--and I asked, has something changed--I was under the impression that there's only 50 grand? And you said in the email that you sent, 'Yeah, you're right. We only have 50 grand'. I don't get it." Murray Goldstein: "Alright, uh. Listen, uh--" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Peckman, Please look at the financing of Dr. Oppenheim's study. If he's getting more than $50,000 from Murray Goldstein and the UCP, please ask why.

Remember, Dr. Oppenheim has openly discouraged the use of HBOT for cp.

So has Murray Goldstein. Again, see UCP.org.

Remember too that both Oppenheim and Goldstein belong to AACPDM. The peer-reviewed medical journal *Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology* is also the officially designated journal of the AACPDM, according to the *Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology* webpage [http://journals.cambridge.org/bin/bladerunner?30REQEVENT=&REQAUTH=0&500002REQSU B=&REQSTR1=DevelopmentalMedicineandChildNeurology]:

"Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology (DMCN) is one of the world's leading journals on paediatric neurology, and one of the leaders in the whole field of paediatrics. In 2003 there will be twelve issues as usual, plus four supplements. DMCN is the officially designated journal of the British Paediatric Neurology Association and the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. It covers a wide range of clinical topics concerning the neurological diseases and disabilities of children. The journal is of interest both to specialists engaged in medical research and to clinicians in the fields of paediatrics, genetics, orthopaedics, neurology and other relevant areas. It features original articles, case reports, annotations, letters to the editor, and book reviews."

*Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology* has published two misleading and disparaging articles on HBOT for cp.

"Neuropsychological effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in cerebral palsy"--the follow-up to Collet--where Hardy describes the study as a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study; even though, *The Lancet* forced Collet to remove all references to both a placebo and a control--because there was none; however, *Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology* has republished the same trial and labeled it a "placebo controlled study"--when it was not.

Both Collet and Hardy have made presentations at AACPDM conferences.

Also, *Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology* published "Hyperbaric oxygen and cerebral palsy: no proven benefit and potentially harmful." by Essex.

I've already sent you pdfs of two rebuttals authored by Pierre Marois and Dr. Philip James in response to Essex--thankfully published in *Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology*.

Thank you for your time and attention to this important issue.

David Freels, 2948 Windfield Circle, Tucker, GA 30084-6714 770/491-6776 (phone and fax) dfreels@mindspring.com