First Do No Harm

Rating:
Summary: ...First Do No Harm...Humanity Lost To Science...
Review: Does the medical community have the right to censor information about alternative medical treatments that don't include drugs or surgery? Is the double-blind study the start-all and end-all in the world of medical research and technology? Are anecdotal studies to simply be dismissed? These questions are dealt with in a most sensitive manner in the film "...first do no harm." I found the plot to be very engrossing and the story absolutely heartbreaking. In the film "Robbie Reimuller" (Seth Adkins) is subjected to one drug after the other...each carrying devastating side effects. Each new drug meant another drug to treat side effects and no drug achieved cessation of Robbie's seizures. Desparate to rescue her son from a fate far worse than death, his mother (Merrill Streep) begins to research childhood epilepsy herself and comes across case study after case study that showed the success of the KETOGENIC DIET, which was being administered at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center (Baltimore, MD). When Robbie's mom confronted Dr. Avarsack (sp?)with the information, she was told the diet does not work and was politely escorted out of the doctor's office. However, the mother perseveres and gets her son enrolled in the Ketogenic Diet at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore with the help of a doctor who was a friend of the family and the nurse that took care of Robbie and within a month, Robbie was seizure free. He was on the diet for three years and after that was returned to a normal diet.

One thing that made this movie special is the fact that most of the actors had been on the Ketogenic Diet as children and were all leading normal, healthy, happy lives.

It is my hope that this film will reach parents of children suffering from epilepsy and that it will save the child from being subjected to needless drugging and surgery.

This is a must see movie that informs and shows the strong ties of love among a close-knit family. A five star film in every way.

Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE SWEETEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL MOVIES OUT THERE!
Review: Everyone who loves children should see this.I cry everytime I watch it and I have only cried over one movie before. I don't know where they found this child but he really deserves an Oscar.

Rating:
Summary: excellent, informative, movie that you'll remember !!!
Review: I wanted this movie because my friend suffers from the same dreadful disease, epilepsy...after seeing this movie as it debuted in 1997, I discussed it with my friends who didn't watch the show...I made it a point to remember this film, not knowing my friend back when I saw the film, however, remembering a classmate back in highschool, who I witnessed a grand-mal seizure, was the only epileptic person I've known...This movie is definitely, an eyeopener !! Meryl Streep was remarkable... as for the rest of the cast!!! Words can't tell you enough about these people !!! I can't wait to get this movie , just for the acknowledgments at the end of the film, hoping to find more information my friend, Angel, will benefit from...it's his only hope of alternative medicine that we've been able to research...Again, this movie will be one you'll remember !!! I've gone into hospitals, in their libraries, looking and hoping to find information on the keto-genic diet, which is the success story behind this great flick...nobody I spoke to, saw the movie when it debuted to even, help me with my search... And I tried some websites on the internet of some of the finest hospitals in the world...with not much success as what I discovered when viewing this movie...I can't tell you any more about the movie without giving away any of it's message...Thank you, Amazon.com, for helping me, help a firend !!!

Rating:
Summary: This is MY life
Review: My 3,1/2 year old daughter has intractable epilepsy that has been unresponsive to drug treatment, and has experienced very [VERY}undesirable side effects from anti-epileptic drugs [aeds] Hayven has been on the ketogenic diet for 4 months now. Although she is not seizure free, we have noticed about a 65% decrease in her overall seizure activity. She used to have 12-25 "drop" [atonic]seizures a day, with almost constant "pulsing, bucking, rythmic activity' [myoclonus] Since the diet she is down to 1-2 "drops' and almost no myoclonic activity. This movie paints a very realistic picture of the lives effected by this disorder. Although I never had to get on a plane against medical advice to take my child far away for treatment, I have had to literally SCREAM at the doctors and advocate for my childs best interests. We have been fortunate enough to have found a child neurology clinic 12 miles from home where they readily offer the diet as treatment, and our particular doctor [who we had to wait 2 years to see due to the red-tape of insurance companies [[[don't even get me started!!]]]] has already started to wean her off of the 3 aeds she is currently on. This diet is very labor intensive and strict, and I can't say that is has been a picnic, but the truth is that it IS worth a try. It is helping us tremendously even though is has also been a source of severe stress.
I recommend this movie to family and friends, and care givers of epileptic patients, and I will be sending this film to Hayven's grandparents to watch so they can have a "true-life" visual of a portion of what it is like to deal with this condition.

Rating:
Summary: Faith Builder
Review: What a encouraging movie, I had no idea what it was about. Just being a mother and having a handicapp child, encourages me and builds my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The one church scene was a faith builder about prayer and fasting. My heart & prayers goes out to all mothers and familes with children of any kind of illness. The whole household has to adapt to a special needs person. Jan

Rating:
Summary: A vision of our future....
Review: When I first heard this movie was going to air, I purposely skipped watching it. It was too close to home. Our little girl was battling epileptic seizures and side-effects from drugs that didn't work, but I had been told by her doctors that the Ketogenic Diet would not work for her. A couple of years went by and we happily found ourselves in the hands of a new (to us) and wonderful pediatric neurologist in Portland, Oregon. Katera was not doing well and we turned to him for help. He actually recommended the diet for her right away, much to our amazement. We researched it and decided to trust him and go for it. She started the diet in October of 2000 at age 4 and one year later, is now seizure free, off all medications and thriving. I had an opportunity to watch First Do No Harm a few months after we started the diet and was profoundly moved... although some parts were very painful reminders of where we had been. There is a scene where the little boy is continuosly seizing while all the ER staff is surrounding him, working frantically to save him, and the mom is standing helplessly by, watching in horror. It was almost like they had filmed OUR lives.... because we had been through an event just like that. I will spare you the details except to say that scene was not overly exaggerated... it really does happen. Our daughter, just like the little boy in the film, has had dangerous, life-threatening status seizures that were CAUSED by the anti-epileptic drugs that she was given to supposedly prevent seizures. I know medications can work well for some but for those who aren't so lucky, this diet is a complete miracle. It has not been easy.... it takes dedication. But, nothing is hard after what we had been through.

Rating:
Summary: Realistic and Gripping!
Review: You will watch this movie and be unable to believe that it was made for television, it is so well done. A labor of love for director Jim Abrahams whose own son suffered from epilepsy helped by alternative medicine, this is the story of a farmer (Ward) and his wife (the ever wonderful Streep making a rare television appearance) whose youngest son, Robbie (Adkins) developes epilepsy. Michael Yarmush also fares well in his role as Robbie's older brother. Frank telling of a child's illness and its profound effect on a family.