Massachusetts takes a big step towards licensing naturopathic quackery
Living and practicing surgery in Michigan, it’s not surprising that I am very concerned about a bill being considered in the Michigan House of Representatives. The bill, HB 4531, would license naturopaths as health care providers. In fact, it would give them a very broad scope of practice, defined by a newly created board of… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - June 21, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy Politics Quackery HB 4531 licensure Massachusetts Michigan S.2335 Senate Source Type: blogs
Sh*t naturopaths say, part 6: Homeopathy for bipolar disorder
We in Michigan are dealing with yet another effort on the part of NDs, which stands for “naturopathic doctors” but more appropriately should mean “not a doctor, to achieve licensure in the form of Michigan HB 4531. As I mentioned when I first learned that HB 4531 was passed by the House Committee on Health… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - June 15, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy bipolar disorder croup HB 4531 Jena Peterson Michigan quackery Source Type: blogs
Intellectual Suicide
Physician suicide is an enormous problem. We lose approximately 400 doctors and trainees annually to suicide. This is a tragedy, pure and simple. Not limited to the human carnage of the equivalent of an entire medical school class or more, but, to quote Dr. Pamela Wible, “Each year more than one million Americans lose their doctors to suicide.”
What does it mean, then, when physicians who are trained in medicine — defined as the application of scientific principles to the diagnosis and treatment of human ills — turn away from reality to accept the magical thinking of pseudoscience? I submit that it...
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - June 13, 2016 Category: Primary Care Authors: notdeaddinosaur Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs
Dialog: Doubling Down on Dropping Out
Dr. Wible and her young colleague have responded to my previous post: [Cross posting with her comment section, to share the clicky love as we continue the dialogue]
A few corrections to your blog Lucy:
1) I do NOT have a subscription practice. I see all-comers and I take insurance.
2) I have never turned anyone away for lack of money. I don’t believe in a two-tiered health care model.
3) Diet and nutrition is not woo (and is certainly not taught in med school). There are HUGE problems with allopathic medicine which does not prepare us to care for patients in an outpatient setting when it comes to prevention, lifestyle, a...
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - June 10, 2016 Category: Primary Care Authors: notdeaddinosaur Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs
An antivaccine family practitioner announces his intent to commit malpractice, later deletes his antivaccine manifesto
One major thing that differentiated science-based medicine (SBM) from alternative medicine and quackery is that in SBM there is a generally accepted standard of care. This was even the case back in the days before the proliferation of evidence-based guidelines, in which professional societies and expert panels try their best to synthesize what is often… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - June 7, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Bioethics Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking Andrew Wakefield colon cleanse Cool Springs Family Medicine Daniel Kalb detoxification vaccines Source Type: blogs
How Does Vaccinated Children’s Health Compare to Unvaccinated Children?
Conclusion
While government groups maintain that no studies have been done to compare the health of vaccinated to unvaccinated, the reality is that several comparative studies have been completed by independent researchers in the US and in other countries.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refuses to conduct such studies, claiming they would be unethical to perform. In reality, these studies could easily be performed, since many educated parents choose to not vaccinate their children.
The evidence is overwhelming. Studies completed in New Zealand, Germany, Africa, Great Britain and the United States have come ...
Source: vactruth.com - June 3, 2016 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Michelle Goldstein Tags: Logical Michelle Goldstein Top Picks Top Stories truth about vaccines vaccinated vs. unvaccinated Source Type: blogs
How Does Vaccinated Children ’s Health Compare to Unvaccinated Children?
Conclusion
While government groups maintain that no studies have been done to compare the health of vaccinated to unvaccinated, the reality is that several comparative studies have been completed by independent researchers in the US and in other countries.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refuses to conduct such studies, claiming they would be unethical to perform. In reality, these studies could easily be performed, since many educated parents choose to not vaccinate their children.
The evidence is overwhelming. Studies completed in New Zealand, Germany, Africa, Great Britain and the United States have come ...
Source: vactruth.com - June 3, 2016 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Michelle Goldstein Tags: Logical Michelle Goldstein Top Picks Top Stories truth about vaccines vaccinated vs. unvaccinated Source Type: blogs
Spoon bending at the University of Alberta and “Bigfoot skepticism”
After over 11 years at this blogging thing, I periodically start to fear that I’m becoming jaded. In particular, after following the infiltration of quackery in the form of “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), now more commonly known as “integrative medicine,” because it integrates CAM with evidence-based medicine. Of course, in reality, what “integrative medicine”… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - June 3, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy Paranormal Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking energy medicine integrative medicine pediatrics spoon bending University of Alberta Uri Geller Source Type: blogs
Integrative medicine and spoon bending at the University of Alberta and “Bigfoot skepticism”
After over 11 years at this blogging thing, I periodically start to fear that I’m becoming jaded. In particular, after following the infiltration of quackery in the form of “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), now more commonly known as “integrative medicine,” because it integrates CAM with evidence-based medicine. Of course, in reality, what “integrative medicine”… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - June 3, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy Paranormal Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Anastasia Kutt energy medicine integrative medicine pediatrics Reiki spoon bending University of Alberta Source Type: blogs
The quackery that is “naturopathic oncology”
With a bill to license naturopaths (HB 4531) wending its way through the Michigan legislature supported by supplement manufacturers, its current status being in consideration by the full House of Representatives, periodically I feel the need to provide ammunition to the bill’s opponents, because we need to protect the patients in the state of Michigan… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - June 1, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking FABNO HB 4531 Michigan naturopathic oncology society for integrative oncology Source Type: blogs
Quack attack: Naturopaths and supplement companies press for naturopathic licensure in Michigan
Over the years, I’ve taken care of women with locally advanced breast cancer so advanced that it’s eroded through the skin, forming huge, nasty ulcers filled with stinky dead cancer tissue that’s outgrown its blood supply, leaving the patient in chronic pain. If the patient is fortunate, her cancer has not metastasized beyond her axillary… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 23, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Naturopathy Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Andy Schor antivaccine Brandon Dillon detoxification Doug Cutler George Darany HB 4531 homeopathy House Bill 4531 House of R Source Type: blogs
Naturopaths and supplement manufacturers: In bed together to promote naturopathic licensure
After yesterday’s epic mid-week rant about a man who thinks he knows what skepticism is but clearly doesn’t, it’s time to get back to business. The best way to do that is to go back to an article that came out the other day and that I had meant to blog about but temporarily shelved… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 19, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking Amy Rothenberg licensing Source Type: blogs
John Horgan is “skeptical of skeptics,” or: Homeopathy and bigfoot versus cancer and the quest for world peace
Contrary to what some of my detractors think, I don’t mind criticism of my viewpoints. After all, if I never encounter criticism, how will I ever improve? On the other hand, there are forms of criticism that are what I would call less than constructive. One form this sort of criticism takes is obsessive repetition… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 18, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Paranormal Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking John Horgan mammography NECSS Scientific American war Source Type: blogs
CAM use, but not all CAM use, is correlated with skipping chemotherapy
So-called “alternative” medicine is made up of a hodge-podge of health care practices and treatments based on beliefs that are unscientific, pre-scientific, and pseudoscientific. These modalities include practices as diverse as homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, reflexology, reiki and other forms of “energy medicine” based on vitalism, chiropractic, and naturopathy, and that’s a short list of… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 17, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery botanicals breast cancer CAM Heather Greenlee herbal medicine integrative medicine supplements Source Type: blogs
The RAND Corporation: Supporting the “integration” of quackery with real medicine since 2008
As regular readers of this blog and related blogs know, over the last two or three decades there has been a successful effort to legitimize quackery in the form of what is now called “integrative medicine.” Three decades ago, modalities like homeopathy, acupuncture, much of traditional Chinese medicine, reflexology, chiropractic, and many other modalities based… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - May 5, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Homeopathy Naturopathy Politics Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine Chiropractic integrative medicine RAND Corporation Source Type: blogs
