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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Entertainment/culture Medicine Popular culture Television

Jenny McCarthy and Oprah Winfrey: Two crappy tastes that taste crappy together on autism

I have to tip my hat to Kevin Leitch. I really do. He’s done something that I couldn’t manage to force myself to do, at least not completely. He’s

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Cancer Medicine

Where does Georgetown get the money?

Last week, upon arriving back at my office after a day in clinic, I noticed an odd box sitting in my “in” box. I didn’t recall having ordered anything recently, and my first thought was that an order for the laboratory had somehow been delivered to my office instead of my lab by mistake. It’s […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The story of the 17-year-old with melanoma being forced to undergo chemotherapy: Urban legend?

My recent update of my ongoing discussion of the Abraham Cherrix case reminded me that there’s a bit of alarming e-mail being sent out and forwarded far and wide. If you read it, at first glance, you will think it sounds utterly horrifying, the Abraham Cherrix and Katie Wernecke cases all rolled up into one […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Abraham Cherrix’s lymphoma in “remission”?

It would appear that there’s finally some good news in the strange and sad case of Starchild Abraham Cherrix. The AP reports that he and his doctor are reporting that his lymphoma is in remission again: FLOYD, Va. — A 17-year-old who won a court battle against state officials who tried to force him to […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Friday Woo Medicine Paranormal Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Your Friday Dose of Woo: More than just an herbalist

Earlier this week, I deconstructed a truly inane article on Mike Adams NewsTarget website espousing dangerous cancer quackery, with claims that herbal concoctions alone could “naturally heal” cancer. Such a claim wouldn’t have attracted bringing the hammer of Respectful Insolence™ down if there had been some actual evidence presented that this healer could do what […]