New Hope Med?

Quote:

Originally posted by GENETICFREAK
Anybody heard of this place New Hope Med that allows you to get roids under a prescription and a doctors care? The site is
www.newhopemed.com

Nope. Never heard of 'em. And when you've never heard of them, it's time to check out their web site, put on those cool Critical Thinking caps and so some, um, critical thinking. So let's go, kids!

First, there is no address on the web site. No legitimate business has a web site without an address. The phone number on the site does not reverse (meaning that if you pop the phone number into a standard reverse database, you get no results), nor is there a listing for New Hope Med in Costa Mesa, California.

On the PDF files, which include the various forms used to schedule an appointment, we finally find who is supposedly behind New Hope Med - one Dr. Ramon Scruggs, who not only does expensive phone consultations but also sells the products he prescribes.

And doing an engine search on Ramon Scruggs, we find that he is listed as a "medical doctor and alternative health practitioner" on a separate web site for New Hope Health Products - http://www.nhhp.com - with much the same information. But Scruggs apparently does not own New Hope Health Products - he was retained by them as their medical expert.

Now, Scruggs does apear to have his head on halfway straight. In July 2000, he did an interview that appeared on anabolex.com which is quite revealing - you'll find it at http://www.anabolicextreme.com/anabo...12_scruggs.htm.

Now that y'all have a foundation to go on, here's my take . . .

Scruggs has balls, no doubt about it. The question is how far he's actually willing to go. For example, is he willing to prescribe, say, Clomid or Nolvadex to men for anabolic purposes? Remember, pharmaceutical drugs have specific "indications" (reasons to prescribe them) approved by the F.D.A. Most physicians will not prescribe drugs outside of the scope of their indications.

But that's almost a rhetorical question. Instead, let's focus on his patient information packet (which can be downloaded from the New Hope Med site in PDF format). The forms have lots of typos (my personal favorite is on their version of the Quest Diagnostics form - one of the tests they require is to check your "postrate" :D). The forms are standard in terms of the information they require, although I wonder why a cyber-doctor would want such esoteric information as your insurance (which they do not accept for phone consultations), driver's license information, and employment information.

All that aside, Scruggs requires the correct variety of diagnostic testing. However - and this is the big however - there are certain things that cannot be accomplished through a "cyber appointment" or "phone appointment." He cannot listen to your heart beat. He cannot check your blood pressure. He cannot give you a visual dermatological exam. He cannot listen to your breathing through a stethoscope (which indicates, among other things, the clarity of your lungs).

Getting the point? There is nothing that compares to an in-person examination by a competent physician, even if there is only a [minute[/i] chance that the physician will spot something wrong with you. (As one medical ethicist put it, your chance of having something wrong may be 0.0001%. But if you happen to be the one with a problem that gets missed, then to you the incidence has become 100%.)

Ultimately, Scruggs and New Med are offering nothing that cannot be provided by any physician, including your local family doctor. And if what he is doing is legal, it is just as legal for any other physician to do.

So if you ultimately want medical consultation that is geared toward your specific needs, then get off your butt and see a doctor that can advise you on AS - yes, they are out there. And make it a doctor who does not have products to push on you.

Granted, you may not find a great deal of expertise in your local family physician. But chances are that, even if you live in the boondocks, you will find a specialist in sports medicine who has the expertise - and the open attitude - to at least take a stethoscope to your bod' and give you sound feedback.

FWIW, I live in Pennsylvania. I have a handful of doctors here (I like to ge the most for my insurance premiums - hell, if I get a hangnail, I want a specialist), as well as one in Canada (where I get some of my scripts, including AS). I would no more seek advice from a phone/cyber-doctor in California than I would be AS from Mexico. (Yeah, I'm being flippant, but couldn't resist.)

With Scruggs, you will get only partial service (remember, anything not in person will result in "partial" service) and, by his own admission, will pay a hefty premium for your AS. (Hell, he quotes $90 for 10 ml of cyp, and Upjohn cyp retails for only $75 in any drug store. And if you can get a local doctor to write for it, your prescription insurance will pick up at least part of that.)

In short, I've seen no evidence that the guy is unqualified to do what he does (not that some may not exist - we cannot tell - but it's 5:00 A.M. here, and I'm too lazy to check further), but you can do much better with, IMO, a real doctor instead of a phony* - sorry, phone - doctor.
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* Just a facetious reflection, for which I have included this disclaimer so the putz doesn't have cause to sue me for defamation. I have no idea what the guy's credentials are and, although I'd be curious, I don't have the interest to devote the tme to finding out. Therefore, I'll give him the benefit of doubt and assume that he's qualified to do what he does. But I wouldn't use his services . . . even if they were free.