PsychoCorp #3—Laser Spine Institute Spams for Spine Surgery

by Heidi Stevenson

Laser Spine Institute placed itself in nomination for the Psycho Corporation Award when it landed in my e-mail inbox as spam. It promises, "GET BACK OUT THERE" superimposed on a photo of a man in racing gear bicycling in an idyllic woods setting. Below that are the words "GET YOUR LIFE BACK!" And all I need to do to turn my life around is submit to a "minimally invasive Laser Spine Procedure".

Duplicate of the spam sent to me, minus identifying information and with links made nonfunctional.

I've no idea where they got my e-mail address. The spammer that sent it states, at the bottom in small type, that I once requested an educational offer from FindInvestInfo.com or theBest-Investments.com. Not a chance! A quick review of their site—both URLs take you to the same site—shows that it purports to make you aware of wonderful investment opportunities, sometimes known as get-rich-quick schemes. So, to get its message out about spinal surgery, Laser Spine Institute has contracted with a company that proclaims itself an investment vehicle.

The company that handles the mailings themselves is called 3AlarmSavings.com. A link is included so you can take a quick look yourself to see what kind of site they are. At the time it was linked, the site had a flashing ad for a "free" PlayStation 2 and another for a "free" Gameboy. 'Nuff said about the nature of the company sending the messages!

As with any scammish sales technique, there's a hook—the freebie to get you to walk in the door. LSI offers a "Free MRI Review". Clicking on the link took me to a page where I could fill out my name, address, phone number, and e-mail to request the free MRI or CT scan review. Below the form is the stipulation that "LSI is providing only an informational review of documents that you are providing" and "LSI is not providing any form of diagnosis." So, they're qualified to look at your films to try to sell you spine surgery, but not tell you what they mean? Huh?

Okay, so let's take a look at the Laser Spine Institute (LSI) itself. There are descriptions of several spine conditions they treat: herniated/bulging disc, spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, arthritis of the spine, bone spurs, pinched nerves, scar tissue, foraminal stenosis, sciatica, and facet disease. In all of them, their treatment recommendations are surgical. No suggestion of noninvasive techniques are discussed. Nothing to indicate that most back pain heals itself within six months. Not even a hint of the poor odds of success in back surgeries. And nothing—absolutely nothing—about the grave risks associated with all invasive spine procedures, no matter how seemingly minimal they are. As documented in Arachnoiditis—The Deep Dark Secret of the Medical System, those risks are enormous and life destroying.

They offer a 5-day process with "minimally invasive" procedures, claiming that they're the "successful alternative to open back and neck surgery." They've streamlined the process. Oh joy! That just fills me with a sense of security to know that they've turned back surgery into an assembly-line process. They state that people will begin a new life in less than a week.

LSI calls its procedures "minimally invasive", giving the impression that they aren't particularly risky. At this point, there's no way to prove them wrong, since there simply isn't much information about it. This method of doing spinal surgery is still fairly new and there's very little research on it. Of course, you'd never know it by their sales pitch—and they certainly don't provide any documentation to back up their claims. One point, though, must be made clear: This is not noninvasive treatment. This is surgery.

LSI makes it sound so simple. You have a back problem. Give them a ring, schedule a week, have a virtually pain-free and risk-free procedure that will fix it, and never look back.

The reality is that all invasive procedures carry grave risks, and those involving the spine and central nervous system are the most dangerous. Minimally invasive techniques may offer some advantages, including the shorter recovery times LSI claims. However, they are also hampered by providing the surgeon with less visibility. For some procedures, they may be appropriate and possibly even advisable. However, LSI's broadbrush manner of painting an image of complete safety and a panacea for fixing back pain is, at best, misleading.

LSI expects the patient to pay up-front. They promise to send claims to insurance companies, but a quick search on the internet shows that isn't reliable or timely. The surgical results are not always like the ones promoted by testimonials on their site. Here are some quotes from one message board discussing LSI:

• "I cannot describe the hell I have been through, physically and financially, with these people."
• "I had surgery twice with these quacks. they left me for dead in a hotel room while a huge blood clot was forming on my spine. Had I not called 911 I would be dead."
• "After LSI's surgery attempt, I knew there was something wrong in the recovery room - 2 shots of Fentanyl and I was still in so much pain...They were so unresponsive to my follow-up phonecalls while I was still in Tampa, that I had to go to a hospital emergency room."
• "And as far as the financing is concerned, our insurance paid half of the $30,000 but both LSI and Medchoice deny they have it."
• "The procedure that was explained to me was not the procedure that I got."
• "I was sent to my hotel with a dressing soaked with spinal fluid."
• "I was told that all the surgeons were board-certified. Afterwards, I could not confirm that."
• "The secret LSI uses is to shoot you full of steroids just after surgery. In many cases, this is just a temporary fix. Forget an easy fix."
• "Don't go there!! Please I beg of you not to waste your money or your health. I had a discectomy done at LSI in 2008 and they ruined my back for life."

One could say that these are cherry-picked comments—and there's some truth to that. However, consider that the testimonials on LSI's website are cherry-picked too. They generally describe recent results, giving credence to the comment above stating that LSI uses steroids to ease pain, which gives pain relief for a time (up to a couple of months) and then fades. Also, note that their testimonials do not specify what kind of treatment each person received or what the specific problem was.

Lest you be in doubt about the real purpose of Laser Spine Institute, go back to the fact that they're pushing their dubious services via spam. According to some recipients of those services, they require money—tens of thousands of dollars—in advance and make some people's conditions worse.

Medicine is a service that is supposed to ease people's pain, yet the modern system has turned to a corporate mentality. The Laser Spine Institute, with its money-first, invasive procedures-first, and spam advertising makes it a well-deserving recipient of the third Psycho Corporation Award.

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