The idea that materialism "can cure men of the fear of God and the fear of death, " as Dr. Kass puts it, is at least as old as ancient Greece.

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Dan Chapple founded campaign group Cure the NHS Basildon in March after the death from a brain haemorrhage of his mother, whom he says was not diagnosed in time.

BBC: Essex

Ms Bailey started the Cure the NHS campaign group in 2007 following the death of her mother, Bella, 86, at Stafford Hospital.

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But he did have one big regret: that he had not met the Cure the NHS campaigners when concerns first emerged and the Healthcare Commission stepped in to investigate higher than expected death rates there.

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Still, the fact that a cure can happen is a big change in how doctors think about AIDS. The disease, once a death sentence, now something that can be controlled, might someday be something that can be cured in at least some patients.

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