Quackwatch
I've posted a link to this website today. Probably more than any other medical providers, family physicians are faced with patients bringing in information on the latest "miracle cure", fad diet, nutritional supplements, homeopathy etc. They may just be looking for our opinion or they may be advocating their use. I have found that this website provides me with independent, well researched information with which to educate both myself and the patient. I usually send them home with the website address.
posted by Dr. Richard Wiginton @ 8:43 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Quackwatch has been an excellent resource over the years. In our preop clinic, I have often come across patients who have been led to believe that they need monthly detoxification . Some of these people are spending hundreds of $$ per month on these questionable products.
Have also referred people to check out the tests on claims of homeopathy by the randi organization. There is lots of skeptical material (much is non-medical) in the archives section.
see www.randi.org
It saddens me to think that you would have taken Dr.(?) Stephen Barrett's verbage in "Quackwatch", hook, line, and sinker. In other circles, Barrett is seen as the Quack, more like, "the Pot calling the Kettle, black," if you get my meaning.
While I understand your client's need to make sense of all the chaos on the internet around healthcare, it doesn't take a lot of rocket science to see the extent to which he has borrowed upon everyone else's work. He then sets the bait by enlisting the confidence of his readers into thinking he has reached the status of some sort of research guru, and then does a slam-dunk with his narrow-minded interpretations of any aspect of alternative medice he has yet to understand. In this day and age, when so many people are questioning the effectiveness of the FDA and AMA and looking for a variety of other ways in which to address their health issues, the last thing the general public needs is another charlatan peddling misinformation.
While there are many individuals and businesses attempting to purvey their wares under the guise of legitimacy, I would really hope for their own sake that YOUR readers are able to read between Barrett's lines when reading the material he has usurped to legitize his own campaign of ignorance and misinformation.
Like any other source of information, a reader takes their best shot as to the legitimacy of the material they read and the safety of advertized products. Remember, Barrett is in the same camp that decided that Vioxx was safe for you and his site still has no position on Vioxx. You do the math.
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