Acupuncture bait and switch: Electrified hot flash edition
It’s always disappointing to see a good journal fall for bad medicine, particularly when it’s in your field. For example, the Journal of Clinical Oncology (affectionately referred to by its abbreviation JCO) is the official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and probably the most read clinical journal by those involved in… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - August 26, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery acupuncture breast cancer electroacupuncture gabapentin hot flashes menopause placebo Source Type: blogs
An acupuncture bait and switch on hypertension
Acupuncture is a theatrical placebo, but it’s hard not to grudgingly admire just how—shall we say?—malleable or adaptable a placebo it is. What I mean by this is that, if you believe its practitioners and adherents, acupuncture can treat almost literally any disease or health problem. Any! Pain? Acupuncture. Allergies? Acupuncture. Biliary colic? Acupuncture. Infertility?… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - August 20, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery Science acupuncture electroacupuncture hypertension quackademic medicine Source Type: blogs
A portrait of quackademia triumphant: Georgetown University
I frequently discuss a disturbing phenomenon known as “quackademic medicine.” Basically, quackademic medicine is a phenomenon that has taken hold over the last two decades in medical academia in which once ostensibly science-based medical schools and academic medical centers embrace quackery. This embrace was once called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) but among quackademics the… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - July 31, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking acupuncture Georgetown University Ladan Eshkevari quackademic medicine Reiki therapeutic touch Source Type: blogs
Torturing rats in the name of acupuncture pseudoscience
Back when I started this blog, I hadn’t yet become aware of the phenomenon known as quackademic medicine. This phenomenon, as you recall, is the infiltration of academic medical institutions that should be bastions of science- and evidence-based medicine by outright quackery. In quackademic medicine, we see Very Respectable Academic Physicians and Scientists wasting their… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - July 23, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Bioethics Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery Science acupuncture electroacupuncture Georgetown University laboratory rats stress Source Type: blogs
Acupuncture tropes on parade
I sometimes catch flak for repeating this, but there was a time when I thought there might be something to acupuncture. I don’t care, because, as a blogger, when I write a post I assume that a significant fraction of people reading it have never seen this blog before and therefore aren’t even the least… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - July 13, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery acupuncture acupuncture anesthesisa Elissa Miolene James Reston Nadia Bouhdili pseudoscience traditional Chinese medicine Transformational Acupuncture Washingtonian Magazine Source Type: blogs
When traditional medicine doesn’t help, does integrative medicine provide answers?
Sometimes, I think advocates of “integrative” medicine are trolling me. Of course, unlike antivaccine advocates, I realize it (usually) isn’t about me at all and they’re just writing what they believe and have (usually in the vast majority of cases) never encountered me and (usually in the vast majority of cases) aren’t considering me at… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - July 2, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Popular culture Quackery acupuncture Emma Seppälä Emotional Freedom Techniques integrative medicine Psychology Today quackademic medicine Thought Field Therapy Source Type: blogs
Health disparities research and the mainstreaming of “integrative medicine”
The overarching goal that proponents of so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) or, as is becoming the preferred term, “integrative” medicine is the mainstreaming of the “unconventional” treatments that fall under the rubric of these two terms. Indeed, that’s the very reason why they so insisted on the shift from calling it CAM to calling… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - June 29, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Popular culture Quackery Science acupuncture Chiropractic health disparities Integrative Health Institute supplements yoga Source Type: blogs
The Call To A New Kind Of Care: Integrative Medicine Group Visits Offer Promise In The Treatment Of Chronic Pain And Depression
I first met Mr. J when I was a newly minted doctor at Boston Medical Center (BMC). He walked into my office with an air of confidence, his head high, but his eyes rested warily upon me. He had been a member of the Black Panthers and now was a strong member in the organized labor movement.
His gaze quickly softened and crumbled though as I sat with him and asked him gently what brought him in. He was in a broken place — his body ravaged by years of pain that now interfered with his everyday activities: his blood pressure was high and contributing to daily headaches, his once strong body had grown corpulent with inacti...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - June 24, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Katherine Gergen Barnett Tags: Equity and Disparities Health Professionals Hospitals Innovations in Care Delivery Organization and Delivery Public Health Boston Medical Center ICD-10 code IMGV Institute of Medicine International Classification of Diseases National Source Type: blogs
Studying “disparities” in access to “complementary and alternative medicine”
When it comes to the use of what is sometimes called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) or, increasingly, “integrative medicine,” there is a certain narrative. It’s a narrative promoted by CAM proponents that does its best to convince the public that there is nothing unusual, untoward, or odd about CAM use, even though much of… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 27, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking acupuncture CAM cancer health disparities integrative medicine integrative oncology National Center for Complementary and Alternati Source Type: blogs
Prince Charles’ letters confirm that he’s not fit to be king
Jump to follow-up
This post was written for the Spectator Health section, at short notice after the release of the spider letters. The following version is almost the same as appeared there, with a few updates. Some of the later sections are self-plagiarised from earlier posts.
Picture: Getty
The age of enlightenment was a beautiful thing. People cast aside dogma and authority. They started to think for themselves. Natural science flourished. Understanding of the natural world increased. The hegemony of religion slowly declined. Eventually real universities were created and real democracy developed. The modern world w...
Source: DC's goodscience - May 15, 2015 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Duchy Originals Foundation for Integrated Health Freedom of Information Act Prince Charles Prince of Wales Prince's Foundation Anti-science antiscience badscience CAM herbal medicine herbalism homeopathy politics quackery Que Source Type: blogs
Prince Charles ’ letters confirm that he ’ s not fit to be king
Jump to follow-up
This post was written for the Spectator Health section, at short notice after the release of the spider letters. The following version is almost the same as appeared there, with a few updates. Some of the later sections are self-plagiarised from earlier posts.
Picture: Getty
The age of enlightenment was a beautiful thing. People cast aside dogma and authority. They started to think for themselves. Natural science flourished. Understanding of the natural world increased. The hegemony of religion slowly declined. Eventually real universities were created and real democracy developed. The modern world w...
Source: DC's goodscience - May 15, 2015 Category: Science Authors: David Colquhoun Tags: Duchy Originals Foundation for Integrated Health Freedom of Information Act Prince Charles Prince of Wales Prince's Foundation Anti-science antiscience badscience CAM herbal medicine herbalism homeopathy politics quackery Que Source Type: blogs
What’s the harm? An Australian child dies while undergoing a particularly cruel form of quackery
A common criticism aimed at those of us who are highly critical of various alternative medicine treatments and, in particular, of the “integration” of such treatments into conventional medical treatment is: What’s the harm? What, they ask, is the harm of homeopathy, acupuncture, iridology, or traditional Chinese medicine? They argue that it’s pretty much harmless,… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 1, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine News of the Weird Quackery Religion Skepticism/critical thinking Aidan Fenton bruises diabetes Hongchi Xiao paida sha traditional Chinese medicine what's the harm Source Type: blogs
Helping Doctors Choose Wisely: Three Innovative Principles For Health Care Organizations
Achieving higher value, cost-conscious care that eliminates waste and optimizes quality is a crucial priority. Recent professional and policy initiatives aiming to spur individual physicians to achieve that priority include the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Choosing Wisely Campaign, the High Value Cost-Conscious Care Initiative from the American College of Physicians, and new content in the American Medical Association Code of Medical Ethics.
Although professional organizations can be influential, physicians work in organizations, and evidence suggests health care organizations influence individual physician beh...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 30, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Jon Tilburt Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Health Professionals Hospitals Payment Policy Public Health ABIM ACOs ACP AMA Choosing Wisely delivery High-Value Care Innovation Physicians Source Type: blogs
Maya’s Marvelous Acupuncture?
As hard as it is to believe, there was once a time when I didn’t think that acupuncture was quackery, an ancient “Eastern” treatment that “evolved” from bloodletting not unlike bloodletting in ancient “Western” bloodletting. This time was, hard as it is to believe, less than eight years ago, right around the time just before… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - April 29, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking acupuncture children children's books cupping pulse diagnosis Samara White tongue diagnosis traditional Chinese medicine Source Type: blogs
It is Time to Ditch Pain Scales
Western medicine is in large part based on objective evidence. If you can’t see, touch, taste or weigh it, it simply does not exist. Unfortunately, pain is subjective, with no “litmus test.” Each individual’s pain experience may vary depending on one’s genes, culture and/or world view, including religious beliefs. Pain scales were an attempt by well-meaning people to address this problem. The idea was that if a mechanism were devised to make pain more comprehensible, less subjective, not quite so “slippery,” people with pain would get better care. And, at the same time, those ...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - April 1, 2015 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Practical Bioethics Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs
