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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 02/04/2006 : 17:57:58 [Permalink]
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I have just now sent the following email, addressed to Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN.com:
Dr. Gupta, could you please consider doing some investigative reporting upon "Hospital Santa Monica," where Mrs. King recently died, and similar "alternative" clinics?
This thread at the Skeptic Friends Network has a discussion of the issue, as well as some further links that might aid you in beginning this research:
http://www.skepticfriends.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5592
Thank you for all you have done to promote rational health care!
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 02/04/2006 17:59:19 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2006 : 22:39:38 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
Also, Though I would hate dying in the company of quacks (or bears), I would be willing submit to a real scientific experiment involving the chance of a cure, even if the probability of success was tiny. There are times, such as when you know you are dying anyway, to make a wild gamble, so long as the roulette tables are not rigged against you. Of course, expense and possible suffering would be issues to consider in making such a decision. But even losing the gamble in a scientific medical experiment could help others. In the hands of quacks, dying adds nothing to the body of medical science.
That's what I was talking about. Thinking of my aunt who died of cancer. She was given 6 months to live when they finally diagnosed it correctly so that's how far gone she was.
Years before when I told her to stop smoking she said she didn't care, 'everybody has got to go sometime' she'd say. But when her time came she fought it. She did go to the City of Hope but the way she was thinking toward the end she might have tried ANYTHING.
My point is, we can talk now but when you are in the middle of a situation I don't think anyone really knows what they'd do. Logicaly you might know a quack couldn't help but you might want to try. What IF?
I understand that if someone still has a real chance to servive a quack is not the 1st choice. But the hope is what I was thinking of, for those who aren't going to live anyway. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2006 : 23:13:38 [Permalink]
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Snake spoke: quote:
My point is, we can talk now but when you are in the middle of a situation I don't think anyone really knows what they'd do.
Actually, I have been in that situation, having in 1984 been given a stage 3 diagnosis of Hodgkins Lymphoma. The chance of surviving for 5 years was rated at 25%.
My best friend suggested I quit chemo and use New Age imaging techniques instead. I stubbornly went through the nasty chemo, lucked out, and survived. So I know I would be just as stubbornly "scientific" in my treatment choices in the future.
A quack's no choice if you're not going to survive, either. Why even consider going to a phoney doctor?
I hope when I eventually get to that point, I will either still have my wits about me, or my loved ones will remember what I'm telling them now about quacks.
I'd rather go out in an opiate stupor in a nice, clean hospice, than in the presence of mine enemies. And that's what I think quacks are. I'll never give them a penny that they could use to cause others to die.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 02/04/2006 23:16:37 |
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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2006 : 00:55:52 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
Actually, I have been in that situation, having in 1984 been given a stage 3 diagnosis of Hodgkins Lymphoma.
I'd like to think I'd be as coherent facing that but being honest, I really don't know. And going by what my aunt said when she was so 'brave' before she got sick and knowing how she didn't want to accept the end as she thought she would, I see that what people think they will do and what they actually do in times of stress are two different things.
You may or may not be an aberration but it helps to have the input of one who's 'been there'.....and back! |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2006 : 01:04:17 [Permalink]
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Snake spat: quote:
I'd like to think I'd be as coherent facing that but being honest, I really don't know. And going by what my aunt said when she was so 'brave' before she got sick and knowing how she didn't want to accept the end as she thought she would, I see that what people think they will do and what they actually do in times of stress are two different things.
You may or may not be an aberration but it helps to have the input of one who's 'been there'.....and back!
Thank you for the very kind words. I sure didn't know in advance how I'd react when facing death. But it's not "in advance," anymore. I don't think that how I reacted was particularly admirable, but it was certainly in line with a long family tradition of boneheaded stubbornness.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 02/05/2006 09:48:43 |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2006 : 13:43:37 [Permalink]
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And my friend chose to waste his time going to Mexico for peach pits, (Layatril), as he died of Hodgkin's at the age of 21. Hope is one thing, false hope is another thing. If research is incomplete, there is no better alternative, it isn't robbing you of precious time or your other valuables, and if the treatment does no harm, then that hope could be a positive thing. But if any of those factors is not true, then false hope is not hope.
Peach pits were well researched and weren't effective. My friend lost lots of valuable time chasing that false hope and for a life only lasting 21 years, that's a very bad thing.
And on a slightly different side of this issue, my father was diagnosed with cancer about 2 months before he died. The doctor, having a hard time telling someone such bad news, told my dad he probably had 6 months to live. I was suspicious knowing what the tests had shown about the extent of the cancer but didn't say anything since I wasn't an expert in that field and the doctor was. Well 2 months or 6 months, you make very different decisions as to what you want to use the time for. I've always felt bad that my dad decided to try to finish up some work on the house and then go to see loved ones before he died. He ended up too ill and had to return home without seeing the people he wanted to see.
I give my patients honest information. It's up to them to decide what they need especially in such circumstances. It isn't up to me to second guess and decide they want false hope. Possible hope, yes, false hope no. |
| Edited by - beskeptigal on 02/05/2006 13:46:28 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2006 : 14:08:22 [Permalink]
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beskptigal murmured: quote:
I give my patients honest information. It's up to them to decide what they need especially in such circumstances. It isn't up to me to second guess and decide they want false hope. Possible hope, yes, false hope no.
And therein lies a primary difference between real medicine and quackery.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 03:50:36 [Permalink]
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| I saw the interview of the sister whose sister died getting botched surgery at the clinic Ms King was at. And Dr Barrett of Quackwatch had apparently been reporting for years on the Dr of Chiropractic that was running the place. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 12:30:08 [Permalink]
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With the endemic corruption of Mexican officials, and easy border access for Americans, this is likely to remain a major poblem.
Maybe a collection could be taken up, to raise funds to bribe Mexican officials to do their jobs, and shut the clinics down?
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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