Mike Adams, a.k.a. the Health Ranger, a health scamster profiled
Anyone who’s read this blog knows my opinion of Mike Adams, the proprietor of the quack website known as NaturalNews.com. It is not favorable, to put it mildly. All you have to do to realize that is to type his name into the search box of this blog and see what comes up: Anger at… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - March 11, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Computers Homeopathy Naturopathy News of the Weird Popular culture Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Autism Health Ranger Mike Adams Sacha Feinman scams vaccines Source Type: blogs
Aftermath: Will the “alternative health movement” learn anything from Jess Ainscough’s death?
It’s been a rather…interesting…weekend. Friday, I noted the death of Jess Ainscough, a.k.a. “The Wellness Warrior,” a young Australian woman who was unfortunate enough to develop epithelioid sarcoma, a rare cancer, at the age of 22. I’ve been blogging about her because after her doctors tried isolated limb perfusion with chemotherapy in an attempt to… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - March 2, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy Popular culture Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking alternative health community diet Gerson protocol integrative medicine Jess Ainscough Laura Schoenfeld pal Source Type: blogs
Oh, joy. His Royal Quackiness will be gracing us with his presence in March
Oh, goody. Here’s something we didn’t need here in the US. While Australian skeptics have successfully been rallying to put a stop to a series of lectures from American antivaccine activist Sherri Tenpenny, we’re going to have to put up with a far bigger name in quackery showing up right here in the good ol’… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - February 23, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Edzard Ernst GMO Institute for Healthy Air Institute for Healthy Air Water and Soil Owsley Brown Charitable Foundation Ows Source Type: blogs
Epic Response to Jennifer Hibben-White’s Rant About Unvaccinated Children
This open letter, written by Stephanie M. Curry, is a response to Jennifer Hibben-White's rant about unvaccinated children.
My open letter to Jennifer Hibben-White:
I feel your concern that your son may have been exposed to measles. However, I am angry! I’m angry as hell that you blame the unvaccinated people for this exposure.
Your words: “I won’t get angry at or blame the person in the waiting room. I would have likely done the same thing…you get sick, you go to the doctor. I have no idea what their story is and I will never know.”
My response: I’d like to help you out he...
Source: vactruth.com - February 20, 2015 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Jeffry John Aufderheide Tags: Human Jeffry John Aufderheide Top Stories Jennifer Hibben-White measles vaccine injury Source Type: blogs
Cancer Treatment Centers of BS
If you share my vice of sometimes watching sports on TV, you have been afflicted with advertisements for Cancer Treatment Centers of America. I was inspired to write this post just by looking at the ads. I can't evaluate the quality of whatever actual cancer treatment they provide, but they do not inspire confidence by aggressively promoting quackery and fraud.One of their ads features a naturopathic "doctor" describing all the wonderful things she does for her patients. Naturopathic "training" consists of exposure to every form of nonsense known to humanity, from homeopathy to acupuncture to ayurvedic and traditional chin...
Source: Stayin' Alive - February 10, 2015 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Congress polishes the turd that was NCCAM
With the way our dysfunctional federal government works, it’s not uncommon for the end of a fiscal year to come and go without there being a budget for the next fiscal year in place. This phenomenon is particularly common during election years, and this year was no different. September 30 came and went, followed by… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - December 18, 2014 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking federal budget Joseph Chikelue Obi National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine National Center fo Source Type: blogs
Richard Dawkins debates homeopathy with Dr. Peter Fisher (2007)
Richard Dawkins made a television documentary called "The enemies of reason" in 2007. A large portion of the first part of the documentary is on homeopathy. You can watch it here. While I think it was a pretty good documentary that consisted of legitimate criticism, it was edited for television and was focused on "gotcha" moments. I think it also missed out on an educational opportunity to explain the rigorous methods of a well conducted randomized controlled trial. I recently ran across Dr. Peter Fisher's defence of NHS funding for homeopathy in the 'uncut' interview with Dawkins from the documentary.This was probably the...
Source: Bayblab - December 15, 2014 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Rob Source Type: blogs
Richard Dawkins debates homeopathy with Dr. Peter Fisher (2007)
Richard Dawkins made a television documentary called "The enemies of reason" in 2007. A large portion of the first part of the documentary is on homeopathy. You can watch ithere. While I think it was a pretty good documentary that consisted of legitimate criticism, it was edited for television and was focused on "gotcha" moments. I think it also missed out on an educational opportunity to explain the rigorous methods of a well conducted randomized controlled trial. I recently ran across Dr. Peter Fisher's defence of NHS funding for homeopathy in the 'uncut' interview with Dawkins from the documentary.This was probably the ...
Source: Bayblab - December 15, 2014 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Rob Source Type: blogs
Who knew? My state’s vaccine personal belief exemption rate stinks! (Part 2: What to do.)
After yesterday’s post on the depressingly high (and increasing, apparently) rate of personal belief exemptions to vaccination requirements for entering school in the state of Michigan, I felt the need to pontificate a bit further. The reason is that MLive.com has posted some followup stories. Also, I didn’t have a lot of time last night… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - December 12, 2014 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Religion Skepticism/critical thinking AB 2109 antivaccine California Dunning-Kruger effect Gretchen Perry Hollie Heikkinen Jerry Brown Marcel Lenz Source Type: blogs
They didn’t do anything! The inverted homeopathy of the ER.
How often do we have this interaction: “My wife was here yesterday for belly pain. That doctor didn’t do nothing! Told me she just needed to get over it. I am not happy and something needs to be done about this!”
(Frequently spoken by spouse.)
Continue reading ...
Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 3, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Edwin Leap, MD Tags: Physician Emergency Radiology Source Type: blogs
The invasion of well-meaning quacks into West Africa continues apace, part three
I hope my U.S. readers have all had a happy Thanksgiving. Today has been known at least since the mid-1970s as Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. Whether it’s still true or not, given the relentless proliferation, progression, and metastasis—yes, the use of terms related to cancer is intentional—of holiday sales right… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - November 28, 2014 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Ebola Freundes Liberias Liga Medicorum Homeopathica Internationalis Monrovia Richard Hiltner Thomas Köppig Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 104
Question 1
As you pull back the curtain, your next patient bursts into a bout of uncontrollable laughter. Because it surely can’t be due to your appearance, you decide this patient must suffer from…?
Reveal Answer
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Gelastic seizures
Gelastic seizures are epileptic events characterized by bouts of laughter.
Laughter-like vocalization is usually combined with facial contraction in the form of a smile.
Autonomic features such as flushing, tachycardia, and altered respiration are widely recognized. [PMC 264...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - November 21, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Niall Hamilton Tags: Arcanum Veritas Frivolous Friday Five couching FFFF Iatrophobia j'ai des papillons noir Schamroth's Window Source Type: blogs
The invasion of well-meaning quacks into West Africa continues apace
Here we go yet again. I’ve been interested in the Ebola outbreak that’s been going on for months in west Africa for a number of reasons. First, it’s a bad disease, and this is the largest outbreak in history. over 5,000 people have died. Second, there’s been a lot of unreasonable fear mongering about the… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - November 20, 2014 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Politics Popular culture Quackery Ebola Liberia Medha Durge Ortrud Lindeman ozone therapy Richard Hiltner Robert Rowan Sierra Leone ultraviolet blood irradiation West Africa Source Type: blogs
An amusing bath of crank magnetism
It was a long day in the operating room again, albeit unexpectedly so as a case that I had expected to be fairly straightforward turned out to anything but. Let’s just say, when I’m peeling tumor off of a major blood vessel, my anal sphincter tone is such that if someone were to stick a… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - November 19, 2014 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Quackery A Major Difference Aqua Chi detox footbath Doctor's Data Thinking Moms' Revolution vaccines Source Type: blogs
Real Science
A commenter on my recent post on chronic pain calls attention to Dr. John Sarno. You can read a summary and a critique of Dr. Sarno's ideas here. Superficially, they resemble the current consensus that chronic pain with no corresponding physical lesion is generated in the brain. But there's a big difference.Sarno has a psychodynamic explanation. He thinks that suppressed anger is translated into low back pain. The linked essay by Todd Hargrove offers good arguments why that doesn't make sense. But I want to use this example as a jumping off point for a broader discussion.It is very common for someone to get an idea that pe...
Source: Stayin' Alive - November 18, 2014 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
