If It Walks Like A Duck…. (tradition, America, service, miracles)

[cardero]

"How to Spot a Medical Quack" by the American Medical Association.

1.He uses a special machine he claims can cure disease.
2.He guarantees a quick cure.
3.He advertises or uses case histories and testimonials.
4.He refuses to accept the proved methods of medical research.
5.He says medical men are persecuting him or are afraid of his competition.
6.He believes that his methods are better than surgery, x-rays, or drugs.
7.He uses high sounding titles easily confused with qualified scientific professionals and organizations.

Facts on Quackery: Department of Investigation, AMA, 1967

This is a list of aspects on how to uncover a quack. Do you agree with this list? Are there any differences to this list than how professional doctors practice medicine today?

[CDRaider]

I think that those are good ways of uncovering a 'quack' but you also have to take into consideration that most people that are conning you into buying their services are not going to use those tactics. They know thats how people figure out they are con artists and so change their approach. I think the only way you can truely discover if someone is trying to cheat you is to do comparative research before agreeing.

Now for experimental or new treatment, thats just a crap shoot.

[Gentoo]

Those things would definately make me question if I should continue seeing this "doctor" or not.

[evearael]

I've pursued both standard medical care and holistic care and I've found 'quacks' in both arenas. A medical professional of any sort should be carefully researched. I think the most important thing is to listen to your gut and seek another provider if you don't feel comfortable or safe with the one you've found.

[Booko]

Originally Posted by cardero

"How to Spot a Medical Quack" by the American Medical Association.

1.He uses a special machine he claims can cure disease.
2.He guarantees a quick cure.

OK.

3. He advertises or uses case histories and testimonials.

This is a standard advertising technique, not limited to quacks.

4. He refuses to accept the proved methods of medical research.

OK

5. He says medical men are persecuting him or are afraid of his competition.

Just because someone is paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get him.

Actually, in the case of some people who advocate traditional healing methods known for thousands of years, but not "FDA approved", there is in fact some persecution. That's why I know too many "alternative" doctors who are terribly careful about what they say. Even my own doc is. Because so-called freedom of speech aside, they can be (and sometimes are) tossed in jail very quickly for advocating, say, an herbal remedy that the Chinese or Native Americans have used for thousands of years.

I have no idea if this is common practice elsewhere, but it certainly can and does happen in the U.S.

6. He believes that his methods are better than surgery, x-rays, or drugs.

Oh, you mean they sometimes sound as cocky as MDs? Um, actually there are methods that are better than surgery, x-rays or drugs. My business partner, years ago, was told that she needed exploratory surgery in her neck to discover why she was paralyzed. She was told she had 6 months to live.

She looks pretty good for a dead person, all these years later. Her solution to paralysis? Not surgery, not x-rays, and not drugs. She went to a chiropractor.

Oh, btw, the AMA has been after (yeah, I do mean "persecuting") chiropractors for years. It's all documented in the courts, where they ACA won their suit. The only reason some health plans now allow for chiropractic and some docs and hospitals will refer patients is because *patients* have demanded it.

7. He uses high sounding titles easily confused with qualified scientific professionals and organizations.

Yeah, that might be questionable. Any examples?

Facts on Quackery

: Department of Investigation, AMA, 1967

Yes, well, this was during the period when the AMA was "persecuting" chiropractors. So pardon me if I take what they say with a large block of salt, given their history.

This is a list of aspects on how to uncover a quack. Do you agree with this list? Are there any differences to this list than how professional doctors practice medicine today?

Well, I haven't heard any MDs claim being persecuted by MDs. And I don't know of anyone else that's been persecuting them either.

My bottom line is this: If I'm stabbed, shot, run over by a car, break bones, have a heart attack or a stroke, have a 105 fever, or go into anaphylactic shock, I'm going to an MD. That's what they're good at -- much better than anyone else.

For many other ailments, they have no tools in their little black bags to work with.

IBS is incurable? Oh...really? Then why am I cured? Is it a "miracle"?

Crohn's is incurable? Oh...really? Then why is my business partner cured? Is that a miracle?

Grave's disease is incurable? Oh...really? Then why do I know two people who are cured? More miracles?

Certainly not...these are not miracles. We have one thing in common though -- we resorted to "alternative" health professionals, since MDs had nothing to offer us.

And they dare to call these people "quacks."

They do people a disservice to be so closed-minded about the healing arts. It would be better to actually look at them and evaluate if there is any usefulness, rather than dismiss them out of hand, simply because MDs do not use such methods.

[Booko]

Originally Posted by evearael

I've pursued both standard medical care and holistic care and I've found 'quacks' in both arenas. A medical professional of any sort should be carefully researched. I think the most important thing is to listen to your gut and seek another provider if you don't feel comfortable or safe with the one you've found.

Yes, absolutely!

[JMoum04]

Originally Posted by Booko

Crohn's is incurable? Oh...really? Then why is my business partner cured? Is that a miracle?

I'll respond to the original post later on, when I'm not too tired to think straight. But I just want to make a quick comment. To the best of my understanding, unless I'm mistaking it with something else, Crohn's disease is a nutritional defficency caused by the intestines. What happens is that the intestines are not able to absorb the nutrients the body needs properly and completely, and as a result the body gets very weak and suffers a lot of health problems.

As far as I have been taught, it is indeed uncurable. However, it is indeed treatable and there are some people who no longer have the symptoms. But what you must keep in mind is that even though the symptoms have gone away, that does not mean the disease has been "cured."

[Booko]

Originally Posted by jmoum

I'll respond to the original post later on, when I'm not too tired to think straight. But I just want to make a quick comment. To the best of my understanding, unless I'm mistaking it with something else, Crohn's disease is a nutritional defficency caused by the intestines. What happens is that the intestines are not able to absorb the nutrients the body needs properly and completely, and as a result the body gets very weak and suffers a lot of health problems.

Ah, the mighty Wiki has some info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohn%27s

Originally Posted by Wiki

Although the cause of Crohn's disease is not known, it is widely believed to be an autoimmune disease. There is a genetic component to susceptibility, and the disease may be triggered in a susceptible person by environmental factors.

And I've seen a few docs make headway against other serious autoimmune system diseases as well, such as fibromyalgia. MDs generally have no methods to rebalance the body's immune system. But several cultures have methods they've used for centuries and millenia.

Just because the AMA is completely unaware of, say Ayurvedic methods, does not mean that Ayurvedic healing is complete quackery. Ditto for many other methods.

I'm sure there's more than one "regular" Western doc that pooh poohed the idea of an herbal tea for heart ailments. But it was open-minded soul who looked further, and discovered the active ingredient in foxglove (digitalis) that MDs prescribe today all the time.

As far as I have been taught, it is indeed uncurable. However, it is indeed treatable and there are some people who no longer have the symptoms. But what you must keep in mind is that even though the symptoms have gone away, that does not mean the disease has been "cured."

Sorry, but this cure is documented. It's left the MD's scratching their heads as to how that happened.

otoh, I know someone else with Crohn's who is not cured -- sometimes the disease is too far gone, and all there is left is the standard medical treatments. In which case -- they should be used!

Hm, just for funzies, I checked Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary for an entry, but no luck! Well, here's the one I'd add:

Quackery, n. 1. Healing fakery. 2. Any healing technique our group does not currently understand or practice.