Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Naturopaths: Able to turn even Epsom salt potentially deadly

Epsom salt, like the Earth in The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, is mostly harmless; that is, except in the hands of a naturopath.

Categories
Medicine Naturopathy Quackery

More naturopathic propaganda claiming lifestyle interventions as their own and adding quackery

Naturopaths claim that they are the best at preventing heart disease because of their skill in using “natural” treatments. In reality, what they do is to fuse reasonable lifestyle recommendations with pure quackery.

Categories
Cancer Medicine Quackery

Integrating pseudoscience and mysticism into oncology in bastions of evidence-based medicine

Last week, I commented on the inability of the Society for Integrative Oncology to define what integrative oncology actually is. This week, I note the proliferation of the quackery of integrative oncology in places that should be rigorously science-based, namely NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers.

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Naturopathy Quackery

Patients lose when they chose naturopaths over real doctors

Recently, I came across a news story describing two cancer patients treated by naturopaths in New Zealand. Both died, one almost certainly unnecessarily, the other after enduring more suffering than she likely had to. These tragic cases and others reminded me of why it is so appalling that so many physicians are “integrating” naturopathy into “integrative medicine.” In reality, they are integrating quackery into medicine.

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Naturopathy News of the Weird Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Naturopaths cynically use the murder of a quack to promote naturopathic licensure

The grieving widower killed the naturopath who treated his wife with cancer after telling her that “chemo is for losers.” Where I see a tragedy, naturopaths see an opportunity to argue for naturopathic licensure.