Miracle in a Bottle

By the time he won, McDonagh had spent more than $350,000 in legal fees and $30,000 for expert witnesses. The case outlived Renner, who died during open-heart surgery in 2000, and McDonagh's wife, Norma, who died unexpectedly this past January.

But the chelation industry's real victory might have come last month, when the University of Kansas Medical Center signed its first test patient for the study of chelation sanctioned by the National Institutes of Health. KU has furnished a hospital room with recliners and televisions. The $30 million, five-year trial will include more than 2,300 patients at 100 test sites and is more than 20 times larger than any previous study of chelation therapy. Data will be correlated by statisticians at Duke University's Clinical Research Institute and by doctors at Harvard University.

The principal investigator is Jeanne Drisko, program director for KU's department of integrated medicine, which piggybacks alternative medical techniques with traditional treatments for research inside the hospital.

She's also a former McDonagh Center patient.

Drisko graduated with a medical doctorate from KU in 1979 and returned to work there nearly a decade later. In the mid-'90s, she spent a year commuting to Wichita to study under Riordan at the Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning International. She was treated at the McDonagh Center in the late '90s with an intravenous bottle of vitamin C to clear up a bad respiratory-tract infection.

A few months ago, Drisko took over the study -- from KU cardiologist David Meyers, who testified against McDonagh before the Missouri medical board in the '90s. "The chelation community holds its evidence to be several thousand satisfied patients," Meyers tells the Pitch. "Unfortunately, anecdotal evidence is always trumped by well-designed scientific studies. To date, there is no scientific evidence that it is effective."

Drisko, though, is determined to prove otherwise. "The consumer is way ahead of the doctor," Drisko says. "The conventional doctor is curious about these kinds of therapies but unsure of the evidence behind them. That's why we're here -- to do research on alternative therapies."

Drisko has spent months searching for test subjects, but it's been difficult. Candidates must be at least 50 years old and have had a heart attack six weeks prior to enrollment. Most KU cardiologists don't yet understand the therapy enough to pitch it in their own ward. Drisko has asked McDonagh for referrals and has gone as far as posting fliers in Wild Oats and Whole Foods stores and around the KU Medical Center campus. So far, two volunteers have signed up.