Congressional Testimony
The First Testimony before Congress about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. The testimony that started in it all, and created National Institutes of Health Funding for Hyperbaric Centers at Duke University and elsewhere. Look what we knew in 1963, forty years before Dr. Harch testified before Congress and opened up the third attempt to make HBOT the "standard of care."
“Recent IHMA Testimony Regarding Treatment of Veterans with Hyperbaric Oxygen before the U.S. Congress”
July 21, 2010: House Veterans Affairs Committee
Summary: Dr. Harch discusses war veteran cases, one of which was “misdiagnosed” by the Veterans Affairs medical establishment as having a psychiatric disorder rather than a brain injury. Dr. Harch’s examination revealed clear evidence of a concussive blast injury and VA has changed his diagnosis. Dr. Harch also reports results of his scientific presentation before the World Brain Injury Conference.
"Effective Treatment for Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Exists..." July 21, 2010
Testimony: Paul G. Harch, M.D., IHMA
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Chairman Filner, Ranking Member Buyer, Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to present a highly innovative solution to the medical crises of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that are seriously impacting U. S. Armed Services members, the U.S. military, V.A. medical systems, American society, and the criminal justice system. Due to a surprising new elusive enemy battlefield weapon and despite rapidly developed counter measures of body and vehicle armor, service members' extremities and heads appear to have borne the brunt of battle in Afghanistan and Iraq. Multiple reports, including the Washington Post articles three days ago, have documented the devastating toll of injury and death that improvised explosive devices (IED’s) have taken on our forces.
This statement will first provide a blast-injured Veteran's case report of the effects of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy using 1.5 atmospheres absolute for one hour per treatment (HBOT 1.5) for a minimum of forty treatments. It will also outline the scientifically-valid results on the numerous blast-injured war Veterans suffering from the symptoms of TBI and/or PTSD and the duplicated results published by a military physician. We will describe the National Brain Injury Rescue and Rehabilitation Project (NBIRR), a highly innovative observational study (where all subjects will receive the treatment protocol) that uses Bayesian Statistical Methodology. The Bayesian Methodology is a modern FDA-approved research methodology1 that does not require a placebo control group. We will then briefly discuss brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder and how hyperbaric medicine works. [For more information, download the PDF file.]
Senate Armed Service Committee Hearing on Military Suicides: Testimony for the Record: June 22, 2010
“Suicides in U.S. Military Personnel, Veterans of the War in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Core Medical Treatment for Mild-Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury & PTSD”
Summary: Dr. Harch discusses the off-label use of FDA-Black Labeled psychoactive drugs as the likely cause of the suicide epidemic being experienced by military personnel and veterans. The real veteran suicide rate, according to CDC’s numbers, is about 120 per week. All of these drugs are “off-label” for Traumatic Brain Injury, and all but two are “off-label” for PTSD. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is FDA-approved for 3 neurological conditions and 3 kinds of non-healing wounds, and is the only non-hormonal FDA-approved treatment to repair and regenerate human tissue. The testimony contains the listing of the drugs he has seen veterans prescribed by military medicine and the VA when they come to his clinic for treatment. The drug and side effects are listed in the appendix.
Excerpt of the Testimony:
“Dear Chairman Levin & Skelton & Ranking Members McCain & McKeon: June 22, 2010
Imagine the hope that would be engendered in battle casualties across America if they knew there were effective treatments for brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder. They would be less likely to commit suicide if they understood there was hope. There are effective treatments for TBI, PTSD and depression.
This letter is sent in earnest to reiterate, reinforce, and refresh for the Committees a message I sent to the House and Senate Armed Services committees on May 15, 2009, suggesting to the Committees that a further major contribution to the suicide epidemic in veterans was likely the "off-label" use of prescription drugs, especially antidepressants, that carry Black-Box warnings from the FDA. My concern was echoed on February 24, 2010 when the House Veterans Affairs committee heard this same testimony from others in "Exploring the Relationship Between Medication and Veteran Suicide.i" The actual FDA warning reads, “Antidepressants increased the risk compared to placebo of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults in short-term studies of major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. Anyone considering the use of (insert name of antidepressant) or any other antidepressant in a child, adolescent, or young adult must balance this risk with the clinical need. Short-term studies did not show an increase in the risk of suicidality with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults beyond age 24…” The age group described by this warning includes a significant number of our brain-injured veterans.
While these Black-box labeled drugs have been prescribed off-label in abundance for our veterans, there has been a simultaneous refusal by military medicine to use a safe drug, "oxygen," off-label at hyperbaric doses. This refusal occurs despite outstanding success of high dose oxygen for the last 20 years in treating many neurological conditions, including acute severe traumatic brain injury. Senator Vitter, a member of this committee and my Senator and former Congressman, introduced me in March 2002 to the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations subcommittee where I first told Congress about the ability of oxygen to heal brain injuries.
Brain injury remains the single most expensive public health condition, affecting education, incarceration, welfare, individual productivity and tax revenue. Thus federal and state governments are the biggest beneficiaries of the adoption of this treatment for brain injury. The IHMA first told DoD Medicine about this discovery in 2002. Instead of having these discoveries embraced, there have been direct actions against the conduct of scientific research on this well understood and valid medical treatment.
This non-patentable treatment, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), is FDA-approved for other neurological diagnoses, and has been shown to reduce the major amputation rate by 75% in diabetic patients with foot wounds. Since the IHMA submitted diabetic foot wound for a National Coverage Determination, and won approval by Medicare in 2003, hyperbaric oxygen therapy has saved the legs of countless diabetic patients. Medicare found that treatment is cheaper than amputation and is estimated to save over $300 million per year. If hyperbaric oxygen were used to treat brain injury in our society, the savings would be tens of billions per year in current federal and state programmatic costs. In addition, improved individual productivity and increased tax revenue would result.”
[Download the PDF File of the Testimony Here]
1963 Labor & HEW House of Representatives Hearing on HBOT 
May 6, 2004: House Government Reform & Oversight Committee
"Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Update of Federal Government Initiatives and Revolutionary New Treatments of Neurodevelopmental Diseases"
Announcement Opening Statement Oral Transcript
Buttar Testimony Buttar Narration
Harch Testimony Stoller Testimony 
Harch April 2004 Testimony before the House Labor HHS Appropriations subcommittee:
Update to Congress as a followup to the 2002 Congressional Testimony of the State of the HBOT 1.5 Science as of April 2004
Testimony PDF Brain Scans PDF
"Neurological Treatments with Hyperbaric Medicine will save billions in Government Health Care, Disability and Education Costs"
The May 2002 Congressional Testimony serves as the foundation for understanding the public health impact of HBOT 1.5's ability to heal neurological injury or reverse neurological disease processes. The cost of untreated brain injury to our society is hundreds of billions of dollars. Treating untreated brain injury is far less costly than letting these victims languish in lives of misery.
Harch Testimony PDF HBOT LHE PDF
March 2002: Testimony before House Labor HHS Appropriations (40 years after)
We were all taught that brain cells don't regenerate. Several years ago, NIH (National Institute for Health) announced that medicine had been in error all these years and challenged the medical community to begin searching for ways to help. Hyperbaric medicine has been repairing brain injuries right here in America for over 30 years, but no one would look at it seriously because everyone "knew" that it was not possible.
Note: Four of these histories in the May 2, 2002 testimony/scans are near and dear to Dr. William Duncan who truly understands the power and benefit of HBOT. The Navy Corp man is his youngest son, the mentally retarded man is his youngest brother, the abuse victim is a family acquaintance, and the last slide is his own.
