Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

“What Doctors Don’t Tell You” about homeopathy?

We in the US certainly have our share of pure quackery; there’s no denying it. After all, we have to take “credit” for inflicting the likes of Joe Mercola, the ever-libeling conspiracy crank and hilariously off=base scientist wannabe Mike Adams, Gary Null, Robert O. Young, and many others on the world. Unfortunately, we sometimes export […]

Categories
Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Quackery

Doctors are "pushing vaccines"? Gee, you say that as though that were a bad thing!

I frequently point out how antivaccine activists really, really don’t want to admit that they are, in fact, antivaccine, so frequently, in fact, that I have a series that I call The annals of “I’m not antivaccine.” It’s already up to part 21. It could easily be up to part 51, or 101, or even […]

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

John Horgan is “skeptical of skeptics,” or: Homeopathy and bigfoot versus cancer and the quest for world peace

Contrary to what some of my detractors think, I don’t mind criticism of my viewpoints. After all, if I never encounter criticism, how will I ever improve? On the other hand, there are forms of criticism that are what I would call less than constructive. One form this sort of criticism takes is obsessive repetition […]

Categories
Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Do medical errors really kill a quarter of a million people a year in the US?

It is an unquestioned belief among believers in alternative medicine and even just among many people who do not trust conventional medicine that conventional medicine kills. Not only does exaggerating the number of people who die due to medical complications or errors fit in with the world view of people like Mike Adams and Joe […]

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

All drugs are poisons, and that’s OK

There are a number of aphorisms that one imbibes over many years of medical education, especially in medical school. Some are useful; some are not; but some stick with you for reasons that even you can’t figure out. For example, I still remember my first day of medical school over 30 (!) years ago. It […]