Paul Ellis Marik | |
---|---|
Born | Johannesburg, South Africa | March 26, 1958
Occupation(s) | Medical practitioner and educator |
Years active | 1989–2021 |
Title | Professor of Medicine, with Tenure EVMS Foundation Distinguished Professorship in Internal Medicine |
Academic background | |
Education | University of the Witwatersrand (MBBCh, M.Med, BSc Hons, Diplom) College of Medicine of South Africa (Diplom) |
Alma mater | University of the Witwatersrand |
Thesis | Prognostic profiles in acute myocardial infarction (1989) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Internal Medicine |
Sub-discipline | Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine |
Institutions | Baragwanath Hospital,Johannesburg Department of Internal Medicine,Wayne State University Department of Medicine,University of Massachusetts Department of Medicine University of Massachusetts,Washington Hospital Center Department of Critical Care,University of Pittsburgh Medical School Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine,Thomas Jefferson University |
Main interests | Sepsis,tissue oxygenation |
Paul Ellis Marik (born March 26,1958) [1] is an American medical doctor and former professor of medicine who until his resignation in January 2022 served as chair of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk,Virginia,and was also a critical care doctor at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. His research interests include sepsis and tissue oxygenation. [2] [3] In August 2023 the American Board of Internal Medicine informed Marik his certification was to be revoked for spreading misinformation. [4]
Marik developed the "Marik protocol" (also called the "HAT" protocol),a now discredited treatment for preventing sepsis. [5] He is a co-leader of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC),which has misleadingly advocated for the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to treat COVID-19 against the advice of leading health agencies. [5] [6] [7] Marik has called himself a "status quo destabilizer". [8]
Marik was born in Johannesburg,South Africa. [9] He earned a Master of Medicine in the Specialty of Internal Medicine in 1987 at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. [10] [11]
Marik was an ICU attending at Baragwanath Hospital,in Soweto,South Africa. [12]
Marik did a critical care fellowship in London,Ontario,Canada,and subsequently has worked in the United States in teaching hospitals since 1992. [12]
In 2001,Marik was author of the Handbook of Evidence Based Critical Care. [13] Reviewing its second edition for the journal Anaesthesia and Intensive Care,K. M. Ho wrote in 2011 that the book was "useful for junior doctors or intensive care trainees" but had "some limitations" such as "obvious drug dosage error" and "omissions of hypotensive effects". [14] Another review,by Peter J. Papadakos in 2003 for the journal Respiratory Care, called it "an excellent introduction to the concept of evidence-based medicine". [15]
From 2002 to 2006,Marik was part of the Editorial Board of Chest journal. [16]
In 2005,Marik was named Director at the Division Pulmonary and Critical Care at Jefferson Medical College (JMC) and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. [2]
In 2009,Marik became a professor and Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School. [17]
In 2011,an international committee assembled by the main thoracic and respiratory national societies published guidelines for the diagnosis and management of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The guidelines' section on the treatment of complications relied in part on the results of Marik's 2001 research on the association of gastric reflux and aspiration. [18] [ non-primary source needed ]
In 2012,an international committee updated guidelines for the management of severe sepsis and septic shock. In its section of supportive therapy recommendations,the committee based its concept on blood product administrations partly on research performed by Marik and W. Sibbald in 1993. [19] [ non-primary source needed ]
In 2017,Marik won the American College of Physicians award for outstanding educator of residents and fellows. [20] [ non-primary source needed ] He has written over 450 peer-reviewed journal articles. [21]
In March 2021,Marik was reprimanded by the Virginia Board of Medicine and ordered to complete additional education in prescribing practices after it was found he had prescribed drugs,including phenobarbital,oxycodone,tramadol,alprazolam,and diazepam,to people who were not his patients. [22] [23] In November 2021,he sued his employer,Sentara Health,over its ban on prescribing ivermectin for COVID-19. His clinical privileges at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital were suspended shortly afterward. [24] [25] He resigned from Eastern Virginia Medical School effective December 31,2021. [26] [27] [28] [29]
Marik is inventor of the "Marik protocol",also known as the "HAT" protocol,which proposes intravenous administration of hydrocortisone,ascorbic acid (vitamin C),and thiamine (vitamin B1) as a treatment for preventing sepsis for people in intensive care. [5] Marik's own initial research,published with four other authors in Chest in 2017,showed a dramatic evidence of benefit. The single-center,observational study compared outcomes of 47 consecutive sepsis patients who were treated with HAT during a 7-month period to 47 consecutive control patients during the preceding 7-month period. The study reported 19 deaths in the control group and 4 deaths in the treatment group. [30]
Marik's findings received attention on social media and National Public Radio,but drew criticism from the wider medical community for being science by press conference. [31] [32] [8] ER doctor Jeremy Faust was one of a number of skeptics of the results,noting the low reliability of the study design and potential for bias. [8] The controversy prompted other groups to conduct studies of the HAT protocol. [8] A systematic review of six randomized and five non-randomized controlled trials in 2021 found that the claimed benefits of the protocol could not be confirmed. [33]
In August 2023 Marik was informed by the American Board of Internal Medicine that his board certification was to be revoked for "spreading false or inaccurate medical information". [4] [34]
Marik is a co-founder of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC),a group of physicians and former journalists formed in April 2020 that advocates for ineffective COVID-19 treatments,including hydroxychloroquine,the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin,and intravenous vitamin C. [5] [6] [7] [35] [36]
Marik was lead author of a journal article on the efficacy of ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment,which had been provisionally accepted for publication by a Frontiers Media journal in early 2021,but which was subsequently rejected on account of what the publisher said were "a series of strong,unsupported claims based on studies with insufficient statistical significance" meaning that the article did "not offer an objective [or] balanced scientific contribution to the evaluation of ivermectin as a potential treatment for COVID-19". [37]
In November 2021,the Journal of Intensive Care Medicine retracted a paper written by Marik and others associated with the FLCCC,including Pierre Kory. The paper promoted a combination of vitamins and drugs as treatment for patients hospitalized for COVID-19. The combination was called MATH+ by the FLCCC and included methylprednisolone,ascorbic acid,thiamine,heparin,and other ingredients. The retraction was triggered when it was found the paper misreported the mortality figures of hospitalized patients treated with MATH+,falsely making it appear to be an effective treatment. [38] [39] [40]
By April 2022,Marik had become associated with a right-wing political group called Defeat the Mandates. Appearing at a rally in Maryland,Marik began promoting further COVID-19 misinformation,saying without evidence that vaccines,masks and social distancing "didn't work" and that information about "early treatment" had been suppressed –"They don't want you to know this because they want you to be scared". [41]
Marik,Paul E. (2012). "Pneumonia,Aspiration". In Vincent,Jean Louis.,and Hall,Jesse B. eds. (2012). Encyclopedia of Intensive Care Medicine. Springer Berlin,Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00418-6
Shock is the state of insufficient blood flow to the tissues of the body as a result of problems with the circulatory system. Initial symptoms of shock may include weakness,fast heart rate,fast breathing,sweating,anxiety,and increased thirst. This may be followed by confusion,unconsciousness,or cardiac arrest,as complications worsen.
Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs.
Septic shock is a potentially fatal medical condition that occurs when sepsis,which is organ injury or damage in response to infection,leads to dangerously low blood pressure and abnormalities in cellular metabolism. The Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock (Sepsis-3) defines septic shock as a subset of sepsis in which particularly profound circulatory,cellular,and metabolic abnormalities are associated with a greater risk of mortality than with sepsis alone. Patients with septic shock can be clinically identified by requiring a vasopressor to maintain a mean arterial pressure of 65 mm Hg or greater and having serum lactate level greater than 2 mmol/L (>18 mg/dL) in the absence of hypovolemia. This combination is associated with hospital mortality rates greater than 40%.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a type of respiratory failure characterized by rapid onset of widespread inflammation in the lungs. Symptoms include shortness of breath (dyspnea),rapid breathing (tachypnea),and bluish skin coloration (cyanosis). For those who survive,a decreased quality of life is common.
In immunology,systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is an inflammatory state affecting the whole body. It is the body's response to an infectious or noninfectious insult. Although the definition of SIRS refers to it as an "inflammatory" response,it actually has pro- and anti-inflammatory components.
Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) is a public medical school in Norfolk,Virginia. Founded by grassroots efforts in the Southeastern part of Virginia known as Hampton Roads,EVMS has historically not been affiliated with an undergraduate institution and therefore coordinates training through multiple medical centers in the Hampton Roads region. However,the school is the process of merging with nearby Old Dominion University to create a comprehensive university with EVMS being the medical school component of the larger university. This merger is to be completed by July 1,2024. EVMS campus includes the 555-bed Sentara Norfolk General Hospital,the region's only tertiary level 1 trauma medical care facility,and the 212-bed Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters,a regional pediatric referral care facility and only stand-alone children's hospital in the state. EVMS is the first institution in the US to have produced a viable fetus through in vitro fertilization. EVMS is most known for its reproductive medicine and simulation/standardized-patient education as well as research in pediatrics,geriatrics,diabetes,and cancer. In addition,EVMS is well known for its leadership in community service and medical missions as evidenced by faculty and alumni responsible for the founding of Operation Smile,Physicians for Peace,Global Brigades,and CONRAD.
A banana bag is a bag of IV fluids containing vitamins and minerals. The bags typically contain thiamine,folic acid,and magnesium sulfate,and are usually used to correct nutritional deficiencies or chemical imbalances in the human body. The solution has a yellow color,hence the term "banana bag".
The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) is a global initiative to bring together professional organizations in reducing mortality from sepsis. The purpose of the SSC is to create an international collaborative effort to improve the treatment of sepsis and reduce the high mortality rate associated with the condition. The Surviving Sepsis Campaign and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement have teamed up to achieve a 25 percent reduction in sepsis mortality by 2009. The guidelines were updated in 2016 and again in 2021.
Critical illness–related corticosteroid insufficiency is a form of adrenal insufficiency in critically ill patients who have blood corticosteroid levels which are inadequate for the severe stress response they experience. Combined with decreased glucocorticoid receptor sensitivity and tissue response to corticosteroids,this adrenal insufficiency constitutes a negative prognostic factor for intensive care patients.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to emergency medicine:
Emanuel Rivers is a physician born and raised in River Rouge,Michigan which is a suburb of Detroit,MI. He is board certified in emergency medicine,internal medicine and critical care medicine. Rivers has published extensively in the field of shock,sepsis and resuscitation.
Vasodilatory shock,vasogenic shock,or vasoplegic shock is a medical emergency belonging to shock along with cardiogenic shock,septic shock,allergen-induced shock and hypovolemic shock. When the blood vessels suddenly relax,it results in vasodilation. In vasodilatory shock,the blood vessels are too relaxed leading to extreme vasodilation and blood pressure drops and blood flow becomes very low. Without enough blood pressure,blood and oxygen will not be pushed to reach the body's organs. If vasodilatory shock lasts more than a few minutes,the lack of oxygen starts to damage the body's organs. Vasodilatory shock like other types of shock should be treated quickly,otherwise it can cause permanent organ damage or death as a result of multiple organ dysfunction.
Intravenous Ascorbic Acid,is a process that delivers soluble ascorbic acid directly into the bloodstream. It is not approved for use to treat any medical condition.
Drug repositioning is the repurposing of an approved drug for the treatment of a different disease or medical condition than that for which it was originally developed. This is one line of scientific research which is being pursued to develop safe and effective COVID-19 treatments. Other research directions include the development of a COVID-19 vaccine and convalescent plasma transfusion.
Proning or prone positioning is the placement of patients into a prone position so that they are lying on their front. This is used in the treatment of patients in intensive care with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). It has been especially tried and studied for patients on ventilators but,during the COVID-19 pandemic,it is being used for patients with oxygen masks and CPAP as an alternative to ventilation.
Pierre Kory is an American critical care physician who gained attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for advocating widespread off-label use of certain drugs as treatments for COVID-19,as president and co-founder of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC). Kory testified twice to the U.S. Senate regarding COVID-19. During his testimony in December 2020,Kory erroneously claimed that the antiparasitic medication ivermectin was a "wonder drug" with "miraculous effectiveness" against COVID-19.
The Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) is a group of physicians and former journalists formed in April 2020 that has advocated for various unapproved,dubious,and ineffective treatments for COVID-19. The group is led by Paul E. Marik and Pierre Kory. Both would later join conservative or right-wing groups promoting COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.
Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug that is well established for use in animals and people. The World Health Organization (WHO),the European Medicines Agency (EMA),the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA),and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) all advise against using ivermectin in an attempt to treat or prevent COVID-19.
Maurizio Cecconi is a British-Italian anesthesiologist,intensivist,and academic. Cecconi's research focuses on improving the outcomes of high risk surgical patients,especially with better risk identification and perioperative haemodynamic optimisation,and improving the outcome of critically ill patients,especially suffering from cardiovascular shock,acute respiratory failure and sepsis. He has been Clinical Director of Adult Critical Care at St George's and the Clinical Lead for critical care at Epsom and St Helier's hospital from 2015 to 2016. He was President of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) from 2020 to 2022 throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic. Cecconi has been the Head of the Department and Full Professor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at Humanitas Research Hospital and Humanitas University since 2018.
Anthony Gordon is a British clinician scientist and the Chair of Anaesthesia &Critical Care at Imperial College London and works as an intensive care consultant at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.