Creepy-Crawly Care
Maggots move into mainstream medicine
By Ben Harder
Pamela Mitchell is no stranger to modern medical care. Now 52, the former waitress from Akron, Ohio, began getting regular insulin injections at the age of 10, after she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Twenty years ago, she received a life-saving kidney donation from her brother. In 2001, Mitchell faced yet another harrowing health threat. An infected cut on her left foot had turned into a persistent, festering wound. Her doctors recommended that the foot be amputated.
That’s when Mitchell began lobbying for a treatment that could have been concocted by the directors of Fear Factor. She pinned her hopes on a mass of writhing, munching maggots.