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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Science Surgery

The false dichotomies of “integrative medicine”

A lot of medical specialties have throwaway newspapers/magazines that are supported by advertising and somehow mysteriously managed to show up for free in the mailboxes of their practitioners. In my case, I’ve found myself on the subscription list for such papers about oncology, but, given that I trained as a general surgeon. I’m Board-certified as […]

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Bioethics Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Politics Science Skepticism/critical thinking

The cruel sham of “right to try” comes to Michigan

There are times when supporting science-based health policy and opposing health policies that sound compassionate but are not are easily portrayed as though I’m opposing mom, apple pie, and the American flag. One such type of misguided policy that I’ve opposed is a category of bills that have been finding their way into state legislatures […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Science

Antivaccine cranks in Michigan: MLive.com gives Mary Tocco a platform

I come across antivaccine editorials all the time. Usually, some editor ignorant of the issues involved is duped by antivaccine arguments or succumbs to the annoying journalistic fallacy (with respect to science) of “telling both sides.” Either that, or the editor has antivaccine proclivities himself. Either way, the result is an op-ed by someone like […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

Our patients don’t practice evidence-based medicine? That doesn’t justify doctors embracing quackery!

One of the most annoying phenomena when it comes to “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), which its advocates are more and more insistent on calling “integrative medicine” is how little the average doctor cares that pseudoscience is infiltrating medicine. The reason, of course, is that CAM advocates don’t like the “alternative” part of the term […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Evolution Medicine Quackery Science

“Atavistic chemotherapy”: A new form of cancer quackery based on misunderstanding evolution?

Not infrequently, I’m asked why it is that I do what I do. Why do I spend so many hours of my free time, both here and at my not-so-super-secret other blog (NSSSOB), to write my detailed analyses of various forms of quackery, analyses of scientific studies, and expressions of my dismay at the infiltration […]