SIR: Front page Baltimore Sun article - Alternative medicine

[Magic 9-Ball]

The front page of the Baltimore Sun on Sunday had the following article:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-te.hs.reiki07oct07,0,579588.story

...a not very skeptical or critical article on the rise of alternative medicine. :(

The author, Stephanie Desmon, talks about "ki, a life-force energy" as if it's a real thing. See for yourself. Although it seems to be about the growing acceptance, it gives very little critical review.

I'll write a letter to the Sun soon. Any thoughts? Anyone else want to take the Sun to task as well?

[Rasmus55]

The front page of the Baltimore Sun on Sunday had the following article:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-te.hs.reiki07oct07,0,579588.story

...a not very skeptical or critical article on the rise of alternative medicine. :(

The author, Stephanie Desmon, talks about "ki, a life-force energy" as if it's a real thing. See for yourself. Although it seems to be about the growing acceptance, it gives very little critical review.

I'll write a letter to the Sun soon. Any thoughts? Anyone else want to take the Sun to task as well?

The true horror is how rampant the sorts of practices and beliefs explored in the article are amongst the nursing and medical tech professions. In fact, some nursing schools actually teach this sort of stuff; they call it "complimentary" medicine. It is done with the excuse that the nurses are trying to relax the patient, making him/her feel better or deal more effectively with pain. Maybe if there is some pain relief effect then so be it; might be better than taking actual drugs to reduce pain. It is, however, worrisome because such things always tend to grow and evolve into other areas. Soon, such practices will be responsible for curing cancer and other nonesense.

[headscratcher4]

Sooner the better. Everyone who reads this should respond to the Sun. They should keep their letters short...150 to 200 words no more. Make one, maybe two points, at most. Cite facts and call the reporters technique not integrity into question.

letters@baltsun.com

[headscratcher4]

BTW...anyone know...would the Randi Million extend to proving any of these practices?

[Magic 9-Ball]

The true horror is how rampant the sorts of practices and beliefs explored in the article are amongst the nursing and medical tech professions. In fact, some nursing schools actually teach this sort of stuff; they call it "complimentary" medicine.



This is true. A recent Consumer Health Digest ( http://www.ncahf.org/index.html search the Archives) had a note that the American Nurses Association officially reconized "holistic nursing" as a nursing specialty. This is not good at all.

[JJM]

The true horror is how rampant the sorts of practices and beliefs explored in the article are amongst the nursing and medical tech professions. In fact, some nursing schools actually teach this sort of stuff; they call it "complimentary" medicine. {snip}It is worse than that: http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2007/10/woo_infiltrates_one_of_the_premiere_trau.php
Not only do some major medical schools teach courses on this nonsense as if it were legitimate, Georgetown Med has seamlessly integrated it into the mandatory curriculum. For example, an acupuncturist is brought in to give an anatomy lecture on meridians.

There are two problems here. First, the NIH (through the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine) provides money for this. Schools hate to dismiss sources of money.

Second, we don't teach science properly. We have textbooks, and we use them to teach facts. We should be teaching how those facts are developed; because when a homeopath shows up with a textbook, it looks just like any other textbook.

ETA: It just dawned on me that the blog to which I linked specifically concerns the BaltSun article (I realized it when I went to the BaltSun link so I could write a letter to them). I had remembered it for its many links concerning institutionalized quackery.

[JJM]

BTW...anyone know...would the Randi Million extend to proving any of these practices?I have not read the article, yet, but Randi's challenge does extend to homeopathic claims.