Categories
Bioethics Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Belgian skeptics and the Rom Houben case: Showing the world that facilitated communication is bogus

The news is finally filtering out to the rest of the world. As I pointed out a few days ago Dr. Steven Laureys admitted that Rom Houben, the unfortunate victim of a car crash that left him in what had been diagnosed as a persistent vegetative state, was in fact not able to communicate through […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine

Shifting goalposts, shifting stories

On Wednesday, Steve Novella did a nice analysis of the recent study showing that signs of autism can be detected as early as six months of age. However, it was flawed by one clear misstatement, which was brought to his attention in the comments and which he then promptly corrected. Not that that stopped our […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Andreas Moritz and trying to shut down valid scientific criticism: A sine qua non of a quack

What is it with cranks and trying to shut down criticism? I know, I know. I’ve written about this before, but this week has been a banner week for a phenomenon that I consider a sine qua non of a crank or a quack, namely an intolerance of criticism. Seemingly, whenever a quack or a […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Andrew Wakefield: Pushed out by the board of directors at Thoughtful House?

Last night, it came to light from a posting on the Thoughtful House Yahoo! discussion group that Andrew Wakefield has apparently resigned from Thoughtful House. I have yet to see confirmation anywhere, although Brian Deer has chimed in that this comes as no surprise to him and that he suspects that Dr. Arthur Krigsman, Anyssa […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Andrew Wakefield resigned from Thoughtful House?

I’m hearing this from multiple sources, who are forwarding me this message from the Yahoo! Thoughtful House Group: Dr. Wakefield has resigned from Thoughtful House The needs of the children we serve must always come first. All of us at Thoughtful House are grateful to Dr. Wakefield for the valuable work he has done here. […]