Cleveland Clinic disgraces itself

Posted on April 27, 2014 by hanshowe

the fking Cleveland Clinic is practicing quackery for profit and if it kills you that’s your tough shit…

logo-science-based-medicineby Steven Novella at Science-Based Medicine novella-steve-science-based-medicine_(1)

The infiltration of pseudoscience and simply bad medicine into mainstream medicine continues. Hospitals are an easy breech point because they are run by administrators who may have more talent and interest in marketing than in science. Many hospitals in my area, for example, proudly display their integrative centers, offering nutrition advice and massage alongside more dubious offerings, such as reflexology and reiki.

So-called alternative treatments are tempting because they are often not covered by insurance, and so patients will have to pay cash for them, and they are often inexpensive to run so they are a nice cash cow for hospitals.

The Wall Street Journal reports another, more serious, chapter in this infiltration the opening of Chinese herbal clinics, specifically in the Cleveland Clinic. The article itself is reasonably balanced, and lacks the gushing anecdotes that most such pieces have, but could certainly have been more hard-hitting in terms of the serious problems with herbal medicine.

see more at
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/herbal-center-at-cleveland-clinic/
and
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/traditional-chinese-herbalism-at-the-cleveland-clinic-what-happened-to-science-based-medicine/#more-31227

Filed under: Crime, Evil, Medical, Quackery, Science | Leave a comment »

Consumer Health Digest #12-46, December 27, 2012

Posted on December 29, 2012 by hanshowe

Consumer Health Digest #12-46
December 27, 2012
Current # of subscribers: 10,994

Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by Stephen Barrett, M.D., with help from William M. London, Ed.D. It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; news reports; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making.

Note: This issue is using software that embeds links into the text instead of showing them separately. It is also using styles instead of plain text. If these do not display properly in your computer, please send Dr. Barrett a message describing the problem and indicating what e-mail software you use.

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Herbalife attacked as “pyramid scheme”

Billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman has mounted an attack on Herbalife that he apparently hopes will drive it out of business. The attack was launched with a 3-1/2 hour presentation at the Sohn Conference Special Event on December 20th. During his presentation, Ackman noted:

**Herbalife recruits unwitting “distributors” with the promise they can achieve lofty incomes. However, fewer than 1 in 1,000 do so.

**Herbalife’s products are overpriced but sell because they are bundled with a perceived business opportunity. However, the vast majority of new distributors make nothing.

**Herbalife is a pyramid scheme because its participants obtain their monetary benefits primarily from recruitment rather than the sale of goods to consumers. Continue reading →

Filed under: Medical, Public Health, Quackery | Leave a comment »