I’ve heard of consumers feeling compelled to write testimonials based on their alternative medicine experiences, even works of non-fiction, but novels? Well, it seems author Floyd Skloot needed the medium of fiction to get his feelings across regarding the state of healthcare. In his latest novel, Patient 002, Mr. Skloot offers a tale described by the Boston Globe as part critique of conventional medicine, part love story, part mystery, part heist caper, and part New Age comedy.

The novel uses the setting of a clinical study to introduce the main character, Sam Kiehl, who is a patient in a trial exploring the merits of an experimental drug developed to combat “Herpes Virus VI.” Prior to entering the study, Sam Kiehl was as normal as one could expect. He was a Vietnam vet, a helicopter pilot, an athlete and the single father of a grown son. “Then he contracted a virus that targeted his brain and left him totally disabled,” a Boston Globe review said. “With few treatment options available, and his health continuing to worsen, Sam seizes upon the chance to offer himself as a subject in the clinical field trial of a new drug, Zomalovir.”

Long story short, some patients fair well on the drug and some don’t-including Sam Kiehl, who just may be part of the placebo group. When the “drug” fails him, Sam decides to entertain the thought of holistic healing. Meanwhile, others in the trial seem to be thriving. Eventually, the drug company funding the study-Physicians for Ethical Research (i.e., the villain)-decides to end it, offering no explanation or recourse to the subjects. What ensues is a planned heist of the experimental drug, the theft of a helicopter and some computer hacking-everything you’d expect in a medical thriller. In the end, however, the heist is beside the point, according to the Boston Globe. “It is, in [Mr.] Skloot’s hands, a way for the patients to take ownership of their own lives.”

Mr. Skloot’s novel is largely based on past experiences, which include being stricken with a virus that severely damaged his brain, as well as his subsequent participation in a clinical trial. “If Patient 002 does one thing, it brings home that wellness is our responsibility, particularly if our expectations of miracles are met with medical, financial and political roadblocks,” one book reviewer said.

Facing enormous odds, Mr. Skloot has triumphed over personal illness to deliver several books in his lifetime, including a few memoirs about living with permanent brain damage. His accomplishments are a testament not only to the power of perseverance, but also to the power of the brain to overcome formidable obstacles.

Speaking of obstacles, the search is on to find a way to combat the nation’s most debilitating neurodegenerative diseases-Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. According to this month’s piece on Cognitive Function (page 38), there are currently no medicines available to delay or stop the progression of these diseases. The relative absence of treatment has led researchers to the dietary supplement arena, where they’ve found some potential in nutrients like vitamin E, huperzine A and creatine. The results of these large-scale trials are expected within the next several years.

Rebecca Wright
Editor
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