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Monday, October 21. 2013

Here comes quackery

When government gets involved in things, those things become politicized. Same thing goes for medical care. The death panels are meant to be a buffer against popular clamorings, but they won't work.


When it comes to medical care, nutrition, vitamins, exercise, etc, the loudest quacks and cranks tend to prevail:  The Quackish Cult of Alternative Medicine - Dr. Paul Offit's battle against charlatanism


Is there quackery in non-alternative medicine? Sure, but it is mostly unintentional quackery. Docs tend to cling to the most recent information they have read, but most of it proves, in time, to be in error:  Trouble at the lab - Scientists like to think of science as self-correcting. To an alarming degree, it is no.


Best to go with a conservative physician who has a good dose of skepticism and common sense.


Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects, Medical, Our Essays at 16:05 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

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I have been thinking that there needs to be a journal or scientific standard based around verification.

The journal would have a standard peer review process and once the paper had passed through that, it would be handed off to several teams; 3 seems like a decent number, studies could be done to determine the correct amount, which would then attempt to reproduce the results. Once the the paper had passed through peer review and the author(s) accepted the offer to publish they would no longer have any control in the process. The paper would be published as peer reviewed and the teams would submit brief papers, remove the technical analysis that is present in the submitted paper, explaining any deviations from what the submitted paper claimed.

If all three verifying studies reveal the same conclusion you have a very strong hypothesis. If it is split there is some assumption that isn't being clearly put forward in the original paper. If no one else can reproduce whatever it is you did... you're probably wrong.
#1 epv on 2013-10-21 16:34 (Reply)
Tangentially related: Quackwatch.com is about the best anti-quackery website I have found. It is my go-to referral for people who are wondering whether they should refrain from having their children vaccinated.
#2 Assistant VIllage Idiot (Link) on 2013-10-21 21:03 (Reply)
Most of the alternative medicine industry is pure quackery. You can buy a book that will tell you in great detail exactly what to eat, what vitamins and supplements to take (all organic of course) to cure cancer or diabetes. If you don't want to take the time to read a book go to your local GNC store and some 19 year old kid will tell you which supplements will cure your cancer and how much to take. If you are a believer there is no amount of science or logic that will dissuade you from yur "faith".
#3 GoneWithTheWind on 2013-10-22 11:31 (Reply)
The invasion of quackery is far more extensive than anyone may realize, especially in the field of nursing. A lot of them believe in a mystical piece of baloney called "therapeutic touch", where you wave your hands all over a sick person to heal their "energy fields". Yeah, right. What's frightening to me is that a nurse friend of mine told me that it is an honest-to-God legitimate treatment that nurses can do and is taught in nursing schools. Say what? Next time I'm in the doctor's office, I hope the nurse doesn't wave bye-bye because I might find that on the bill.

PS - For a good explanation of the scam, see Penn & Teller "Bullshit", "New Age Medicine" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC0NonELLio starting at 7:03.
#4 fiftyville on 2013-10-22 16:11 (Reply)

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