The news is now far worse than anyone ever expected for the sole patient still hospitalized after a UK drug trial gone horribly awry. At the very least, he will lose the tips of his toes, and it could be much more severe than that.

As of now, Wilson and his doctors are in an uncomfortable holding pattern, waiting for his body to begin healing on its own. I wish I could tell you Wilson's experience was an uncommon one, but it isn't. The 10,000 Vioxx lawsuits clogging up American courts certainly speak volumes on that score.

The sad tragedy here is that this is just completely unnecessary. I have treated over 3,000 people with rheumatoid arthritis over the last 25 years with an 85 percent success rate using very basic applications from my Total Health Program. The specifics of my program are outlined in the notes from a presentation I gave in 1995 to a large alternative medical group.

It has been my experience that nearly all rheumatoid arthritis patients are vitamin D deficient and have some previous emotional trigger that stimulates a dramatic decline in the functioning of their immune system. Typically, energy psychology techniques are helpful to restore the balance. Heavy metals like mercury and root canals are also frequent causal factors.

I can tell you that it is VERY unusual where we have to resort to immune- and health-damaging drugs like prednisone, methotrexate, tumor necrosis factor and interferons or drugs like the one used in the report above. In my book ignorance should not be an excuse for using these drugs.

This is not the first time disaster has struck during a drug trial, and it won't be the last, either. In fact, they are likely to happen more and more frequently; in the United States, at least, laws have even been changed so that "fast tracking" drugs -- rushing them through the testing process -- is easier, making these deadly mistakes all the more likely.

I've previously warned you about the "fast track" status of, for example, experimental cancer drugs, quickly pushed to market, even though none of them helped patients live any longer. Can we trust the FDA and their partners -- the multi-national drug companies -- to make the right call on new drugs, much less safety, when the existing process is already so fatally flawed?

Just ask the families of patients who died during a recent drug trial for Aricept. And clearly, the situation is much the same throughout most of the world right now, thanks to those same multi-national drug companies -- just ask Ryan Wilson.

The most frustrating part of all this is that drugs are not the answer to nearly any health problem in the first place. They are convenient short-term fixes for which many of us are grateful. The problem results when we rely on them to solve our health complaints rather than addressing the underlying foundational cause.

If you suffer from illnesses, such as the kind of chronic inflammation problems TGN1412 was supposed to treat, avoid useless and dangerous drugs as much as possible. Instead, do what is necessary to change your health for the better, and look for safe alternatives for symptom relief while your body goes through the healing process.