doctors
The February 2025 newsletter of the GCC stated that “there has been an increase in the number of complaints received from members of the public who are confused by chiropractors using the title “Doctor”, often being concerned that they are not a medical practitioner. As you will be aware, by law, all complaints received by the GCC must be considered by an Investigating Committee. In order to avoid confusion, and the potential stress of a complaint against you, we would ask all registrants to ensure they are following the guidance on the use of the title. The guidance clearly states that, if you use the courtesy title ‘Doctor’ or ‘Dr’, you must make clear within all public domain text that you are not a registered medical practitioner, but a ‘Doctor of Chiropractic’. Failure to do so may lead to you being the subject of complaints or an investigation by the ASA and/or the GCC. The ASA will act in relation to advertisements implying that chiropractors are medical practitioners.”
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The GCC’s guidance on referring to your professional status or qualifications in advertising does indeed state the following:
“31. If you are suspended or removed from the GCC register, it is a criminal offence to say, imply or advertise that you are a chiropractor. In these circumstances, you must ensure that all information in the public domain that refers to you as being a ‘chiropractor’ is immediately withdrawn, until your suspension is lifted, or your name is restored to the register. This includes information published by employers or colleagues.
32. If you have not paid the practising fee for that registration year, any description of you or the services you offer must not refer to you as being a ‘chiropractor’ or imply that you can provide chiropractic care. If you move from practising to non practising status, you must ensure any information in the public domain is withdrawn.
33. If you use the courtesy title ‘Doctor’ or ‘Dr’ you must make clear within all public domain text that you are not a registered medical practitioner, but a ‘Doctor of Chiropractic’. Failure to do so may lead to you being the subject of complaints or an investigation by the ASA and/or the GCC. The ASA will act in relation to advertisements implying that chiropractors are medical practitioners.”
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I am not especially clever in searching the Internet, yet in about 2 minutes I could see that the usage of titles of UK Chiros is a total mess. Uncounted UK chiros present themselves as ‘Dr.’ without immediate explanation that they are, in fact, not medical doctors. Here are just some examples that I found within minutes:
- Dr. Mos Chiropractic
- Dr Peter S Westergaard
- Dr Charlene Warnell
- Dr Edmund Tso
- Dr Jack Humphrey
- Dr Eloise Moody
- Dr Morten Westergaard
- Dr Steve Cleary
- Dr Harriet Gillard
- Dr. Michael Baremboym
In most cases, it became clear that they were not real doctors but chiros, once I read or clicked on. Yet, initially advertising yourself as ‘Dr XY’ seems unnecessarily (or willfully?) misleading. Similarly many other chiros use approaches such as ‘ Dr. XY, DC’. If the ‘DC’ is meant to signify ‘doctor of chiropractic’, why the Dr up front? Do they have two doctorates? Others use the term ‘physician’; what is that supposed to mean? I thought in the UK, a physician is person with a medical degree. Am I mistaken?
What I don’t understand is this: most chiros do not much like real doctors or physicians, so why do they pretend to be one? In any case, I am sure the GCC has people who are much smarter than I when it comes to searching the Internet. So, why does the GCC not invest just a few hours to sort out this mess?
Today is World Cancer Day. It is an international day observed every 4 February to raise awareness about cancer, encourage its prevention, and mobilise action to address the global cancer epidemic. Cancer and so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) are closely linked, for instance, through the fact that large proportions of desperate cancer patients use SCAM, many in the hope to cure their disease. I have therefore often tried to instill some rational thought into the debate by discussing the emerging, largely negative evidence on SCAM for cancer. Here are just a few recent examples:
- Homeopathy as a therapy for cancer? A new review from India
- Geopathic stress allegedly can cause health issues such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer – BUT, PLEASE, DON’T BELIEVE SUCH NONSENSE!
- Homeopathic Cancer Therapy? No, no and no!
- Medicinal Mushrooms for Cancer?
- Bioenergy therapies for cancer: implausible, ineffective, and an unethical waste of money
- Camel urine as a treatment for cancer patients?
- Homeopathy for cancer? Unsurprisingly, the evidence is not positive.
- When an undercover journalist tests alternative cancer healers
To mark the day, I had a look at what people post on ‘X’ about SCAM and cancer cure. Here are some of the more amazing assumptions, claims and comments that I found (warts and all):
- The Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton has been diagnosed with Cancer – there is a high probability she has Turbo Cancer, caused by COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines she took in 2021.
- Blue butterfly pea flowers (Clitoria ternatea) is one of the best CANCER KILLING and CANCER PROTECTIVE plants available to man.
- Dandelion root far more effective in fighting cancer cells than chemotherapy.
- In Kenya, research shows 76% of cancer patient who turn to traditional medicine instead of chemotherapy have drastically improved.
- I’ve just been diagnosed w cancer and will approach it with nutrition, suppl,and cont’d exercise… other alternative therapies as well. Been an RN for decades and have witnessed the horrors and pitfalls of modern medicine. Must b your own best advocate.
- I had a niece, a cousin and a friend die same week of the big C. was an eye-opener for me cause chemo did not help them at all….so looked at the alternative medicine….down in Mexico. but it was too late. cancer spread like wildfire.
- I pray to God that no one has to suffer through cancer but I agree with you 1000% alternative medicine as a matter fact we already know that there are three that can cure cancer. I ivermectin is one and I can’t remember the other two.
- Cancer has been proven to be eliminated with alternative medicine you denounce without a single study. I’m starting to think you hate the American people.
- Next time you or your loved one gets cancer, use “alternative medicine“.
- Most Doctors use drugs for treatment of symptoms because that’s how they are trained. No nutrition or alternative medicine is taught or encouraged. In cancer treat Drs are required to only recommend chemo because they could lose their license for alternative nedicine referrals.
- Spiritual causes of illness, including cancer, are often explored within alternative approaches to healing and holistic philosophies. Although traditional medicine does not recognize spiritual causes, many spiritual traditions and energetic practices.
- I pray that you look to alternative medicine, don’t listen to the current medical model as it is designed to keep people sick, western medicine does not heal. Chinese medicine does like others around the world. A primary cause of cancer is parasites. Western medicine doesn’t look.
- Chemotherapy is brutal, attacking both cancer and healthy cells. Alternative solutions do exist, but mainstream medicine often won’t offer them. Take control of your research, explore your options, and question everything.
- I cured my cancer symptoms using alternative medicine, including Ayurveda. Not drugs.
- I’m a double cancer survivor and I was in a clinical trial testing chemo in 2013-2014. Chemo is poison and big pharma. Alternative medicine is better. Changed must be made. I love that PresidentTtump has done this. And I can’t wait for RFKJr to lead HHS.
- Cancer kills you if you follow the advice of the medical establishment. There are many alternative cures for cancer and even more ways to prevent it in the first place. Do some research into naturopathic medicine if you truly want to be healthy.
- Maybe Trump should redirect that 500 billion to alternative medicine/supplement/ivermectin research that will eradicate cancer. And what is causing cancer. Don’t need a mRNA cancer vaccine. We already have the tools to stop cancer.
- Please get checked for parasites which is what cancer is. Try alternative medicine and see how that works – I bet it does.
- I have a friend who cured her own breast cancer with alternative methods. There are cures out there. Mainstream medicine just won’t recognize them.
- Everything is fake in medical field nowadays. Not only petition but also pathogen hypothesis medical academic papers about virus, cancer etc.. We need to build an alternative medicine field ASAP.
- …
- …
[I could have gone on almost for ever]
I had not expected to find much wisdom on ‘X’, but what I did find truly horrified me. For every sensible Tweet, there seem to be 10 imbecillic and dangerous ones. Imaging a desperate cancer patient reads these lies, misleading claims, nonsensical statements and conspiracy theories!
To set the record straight, let me state these two simple facts:
There is no SCAM that would change the natural history of any form of cancer.
What is more, there never ill be one! As soon as a treatment might look promising as a cancer cure, it will be investigated by mainstream scientists and – if it turns out to be helpful – integrated into conventional oncology. In other words, it will become evidence-based medicine.
You don’t believe me without evidence?
Ok, then please read my book on the subject.
PS
And yes, there are some SCAMs that might have a role in improving QoL, but that’s a different topic.
Today is ‘HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY‘. A day to remember the liberation of Auschwitz, 80 years ago, and the 6 million Jews murdered during the Third Reich. I find it hard not to mark this occasion. Allow me, therefore, to quote from the last chapter of my recent book ‘HITLER’S FEMALE PHYSICIANS
Both the nature and the severity of the crimes committed by the female physicians vary greatly. Some ‘merely’ promoted the Nazi ideology of race hygiene and thus became instrumental in the elimination of what the Nazis called ‘human ballast’. They might not have committed crimes as such but they certainly induced others to do so. Those women who actually participated in the murders can be differentiated into several categories. Some of them did it because they were misled to believe “euthanasia” had become legal, while failing to consider that what the Nazis had chosen to call “euthanasia” was, in fact, murder. Others seemed to have killed with considerable enthusiasm. And others again were nothing short of sadistic monsters torturing prisoners of concentration camps. All these categories have in common that they blatantly violated the ethical norms that, even though not yet formalised, had long and firmly been enshrined in medicine.
The thought of 38 women doctors being in one way or another involved in Nazi crimes may seem shocking to some readers. To assume that brutality and violence are not feminine characteristics and that women are incapable of mass murder has obvious appeal: it allows for the hope that at least half of the human race will not devour the other and safeguard the future of the humanity. Yet, it also creates a false shield against a confrontation with disconcerting realities. Others might argue that the number 38 is insignificant compared to the much larger number of male doctors who committed crimes during that period.
However, to put the figure of 38 into context, we ought to consider firstly that my research almost certainly failed to generate a complete list of implicated female physicians. Secondly, women were grossly under-represented in the German medical profession. If we account for this factor, their proportion does not differ significantly from that of male doctors who became guilty of criminal acts.
Studying the information about the crimes of male physicians that I added via multiple ‘boxes’ to this book, we cannot fail to realize that the crimes committed by these doctors were often more severe than that of their female colleagues. Does this perhaps indicate that brutality and violence are, after all, not feminine characteristics? It would be comforting to think so, yet I fear that other explanations might be more important. It is clear from reading the 38 biographies that the female physicians were mostly young and inexperienced. Consequently, they tended to be employed in relatively subordinate positions and often found themselves on the receiving end of orders from their male superiors. Thus they usually had less power and less opportunity than their male colleagues for committing crimes against humanity.
The question of what drove these female doctors to commit atrocities on vulnerable patients in their care is important but far from easy to answer. Based on the biographies reviewed in this book, it seems obvious that different motivations played a role and that generalisations would be problematic.
- Some women evidently were convinced of the Nazi ideology and followed it naively hoping to help create a ‘master race’.
- Others may have felt that they were doing something good and even ethical by relieving severely disabled children from lifelong suffering.
- Most felt they had to follow orders in order to avoid punishment. (There is, however, no evidence that refusal to commit a crime disadvantaged physicians.
- Many might have believed that they were not breaking the law. They almost uniformly claimed after the war that they were told their actions were legal.
- Others might have acted under financial pressures. During the Third Reich, women physicians were grossly under-privileged within the medical profession. Thus, some struggled to find paid employment. Once they had achieved this goal they were reluctant to risk it by objecting to orders from their superiors.
As can easily be seen when comparing the post-war fates of the male and female doctors, the punishments of the women was frequently more lenient. For instance, the 1948 trial of Helene Sonnemann concluded that her involvement in the murder of her patients was indisputable. Yet, the court decided that her actions were not convictable because, at the time, she did not think of them as unlawful. This judicial rationale was applied to many of the cases against female physicians. On the one hand, this has been interpreted as a legal perversion which allowed many guilty individuals to escape punishment. On the other hand, it might be the expression of a more general degree of leniency towards women.
Soon after the war, the courts seemed to have become increasingly slow and reluctant in the prosecution of the Nazi crimes. One might even sense a general feeling of shame and embarrassment about the Third Reich resulting in a collective urge to forget that besieged the German people. In some instances, this may well have impeded the will to punish the perpetrators. Many of the physicians, even those who admitted murdering patients during the Nazi era, were thus permitted to continue practising medicine. Some even made prominent careers, while others received prestigious awards. Significant areas of German medicine, such as psychiatry were, during the first post-war decades, dominated by doctors who had been members of the Nazi party. The German medical profession tended to turn a blind eye to these developments, and whenever new horrific details emerged of past monstrosities, the predominant feeling was one of embarrassment.
I was born in 1948, and when I studied medicine in Munich during the 1970s, some of the ‘doctors of infamy’ became my teachers, either in person or through the textbooks they had published. My generation had the option to ignore all this by insisting “it has nothing to do with me”. Most of us did exactly that. However, some took a different path, and it is not least thanks to their research that today we know more about the involvement of the German medical profession in the horrors of the Nazi period. If my book can make even just a small contribution to this still ongoing task, the laborious and often depressing process of writing it will have been worthwhile.
I just learnt that THOMAS WEIHMAYR has died. You probably don’t know this name. So, permit me to tell you a bit about Thomas.
We first met about half a century ago. Even though he was several years younger than I, we became good friends. When Thomas decided to study medicine in Munich, I had already graduated. When he had finished and wanted to do a doctoral thesis, I became his supervisor. When, as a junior doctor, he looked for a hospital appointment, I found him one. When I became a professor in Hannover, he came and volunteered in my department for a little while. When I moved to Vienna, he and his wife visited regularly. When I finally moved to Exeter, they became frequent guestA of ours.
After several hospital appointments, Thomas took on the job as medical director of a small hospital. Later he became a GP in Munich. During all these years, we occasionally published papers together. Medline lists 13 of our papers:
- Garlic and blood lipids.
- Therapeutic effectiveness of Crataegus
- Phytotherapy. 8: Varia
- UK and German media differ over complementary medicine
- Cardiovascular risk factors and hemorheology. Physical fitness, stress and obesity
- The way to rational phytotherapy–a trip with impediments
- Phytotherapy. 3: Use in diseases of the respiratory tract
- Phytotherapy. 6: Nervous system applications
- Phytotherapy. 5: Gastrointestinal tract (2)
- Changes in blood rheology of grossly obese individuals during a very low calorie diet
- Phytotherapy. 7: Applications in the urogenital tract
- Phytotherapy. 2: Use in cardiovascular diseases (and dementia)
- Phytotherapy. 1. Use in diseases of the locomotor system
Four years ago – only weeks after he had given up his GP practice and was looking forward to an active retirement – Thomas’ wife phoned to tell us that, from one day to the next, Thomas had become paraplegic (paralysed from the waist down) due to a freak infection of his 5th cervical vertebra. He then had to have major surgery and subsequently spent ~9 months in hospital before he came back home in a wheelchair.
Since then, we emailed regularly and I also visited him several times in Munich. I can honestly say that I have never seen anyone who carried such a devastating fate with so much courage, humor and style. Thomas in his wheelchair tried hard to be the same joyful chap he always had been.
We laughed, discussed, laughed some more and drank wine much like in the old days. We all knew that his days were counted.
I am unable to find the words expressing my respect for his courage and I cannot describe how much I will miss my friend Thomas.
The full title of this paper is “Role of Energy Medicine in enhancing hemoglobin levels – A case study”. Readers who thus expect to learn about the effects of ENERGY MEDICINE (a branch of so-called alternative medicine based on the belief that healers can channel “healing energy” into patients and effect positive results) might be disappointed.
The abstract reveals that the article “explores the potential benefits of Acupuncture and Energy Medicine as energy therapies in managing anemia”. If you now expect to learn something about the combination of ACUPUNCTURE and ENERGY MEDICINE, you would be mistaken.
Here is the abstract of the case report:
A 43-year-old female with severe anemia (hemoglobin 6.5 g/dL) participated in a three-month treatment plan that combined acupuncture and energy therapy. Acupuncture targets specific points to enhance Qi flow, stimulate blood production, and restore energy balance. The energy therapy plan focused on blood-nourishing foods aimed at supporting hematopoiesis.
After three months of treatment, the patient’s hemoglobin levels increased by 4.9 g/dL, reaching 11.4 g/dL. Clinical symptoms, including fatigue, dizziness, and weakness, showed marked improvement. Additionally, the patient reported better sleep, enhanced mood, and an increase in appetite, all of which contributed to an improved overall sense of well-being.
The authors concluded that the results suggest that Acupuncture and Energy Medicine can serve as effective energy therapies in managing anemia, particularly for cases that do not respond well to conventional treatments. This case study provides preliminary evidence of their potential to improve hemoglobin levels and alleviate anemia-related symptoms. However, further research is necessary to validate these findings and explore the broader application of acupuncture and energy medicine in anemia management.
The authors of this paper, who come from the ‘International Institute of Yoga and Naturopathy Medical Sciences‘, Chengalpattu, Tamilnadu, India, never bothered to explain what type of ENERGY MEDICINE they applied to their patient. As it turns out, they used no ENERGY MEDICINE at all! Here is what they disclosed about the treatments in the full paper:
The patient was treated with energy medicine and the treatment protocol includes Acupuncture, Diet therapy that was designed in such a way to improve the blood circulation, balance energy flow, and address underlying deficiencies in Qi and blood, particularly in relation to the Spleen, Liver and Kidney meridians, which are believed to play a role in blood production in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
So, we now know that the case report entitled “Role of Energy Medicine in enhancing hemoglobin levels – A case study” was, in fact, about a patient receiving ACUPUNCTURE and DIET.
Next, we might wonder what condition the patient had been suffering from (anemia is not a disease but a sign that can be caused by a range of diseases). All we learn from the paper is this:
She had been diagnosed with anemia three months prior and had been taking iron supplements without significant improvement in her hemoglobin (Hb) levels.
So, we now know that despite the title of the paper ( “Role of Energy Medicine in enhancing hemoglobin levels – A case study”), the authors used no ENERGY MEDICINE. We also know thet they did not bother to adequately diagnose the patient. But we are told that the case shows that Acupuncture and Energy Medicine can serve as effective energy therapies in managing anemia, particularly for cases that do not respond well to conventional treatments. Just to be clear: if a doctor sees a patient with a dangerously low hemoglobin and does not bother to establish the cause and treats her with acupuncture and diet, the physician is, in my view, guilty of criminal neglect.
At this point, I have to admit that I lost the will to live – well, not quite, perhaps. But I certainly have lost the will to take the ‘International Institute of Yoga and Naturopathy Medical Sciences‘, Chengalpattu, Tamilnadu, India, seriously. In fact, I seriously doubt that this institution should be allowed to educate future doctors. If they are able of doing anything useful, they could try to publish a book on:
HOW NOT TO WRITE A MEDICAL PAPER.
This could well be one of the toughest jobs that I have ever tackled!
But now it’s done.
And I am glad!
“Hitler’s Female Physicians – Women Doctors During the Third Reich and Their Crimes Against Humanity” (nothing to do with SCAM, sorry) is a collection of biographical sketches of female doctors who committed crimes against humanity during the Third Reich.
The initial chapters provide some context by briefly reviewing some of the worst atrocities of the Nazis:
- the mass sterilisations of citizens who were deemed to be genetically inferior,
- the killing of disabled patients who were considered unworthy of life,
- the mass murder of Jews and other unwanted people.
The book highlights the central role of the German medical profession in all of these barbarities. It explains that, far from being bystanders, German doctors first adopted essential elements of the Nazi ideology, such as ‘race hygiene’, developed the necessary methodologies for mass murder, and later put them into action.
Studying the vast literature on the Third Reich, one easily gets the impression that the monstrosities that followed were an almost exclusively male affair. Many of the most famous Nazi villains were men. What is often forgotten is the fact that women were involved as well – and this is particularly true for medicine.
The main part of the book provides biographical sketches of 38 female physicians who committed highly unethical acts in the name of Nazi ideology. The actions of these women varied greatly; some murdered with their own hands, while others merely promoted or sanctioned such criminality.
When I studied medicine in Munich during the 1970s, some of the ‘doctors of infamy’ became my teachers (either in person or through their textbooks). As students, we had the option of ignoring all this by persuading ourselves that “it has nothing to do with me”. Most of us did exactly that. However, some took a different path, and it is not least thanks to their research that today we know more about the involvement of the German medical profession in the horrors of the Third Reich. My book summarises a hitherto much-neglected aspect. If it can make a small contribution to our understanding of the Nazi doctors’ crimes against humanity, the often depressing process of writing it will have been worthwhile.
Do Chiropractors Break Necks? This is an interesting question. “Dr.” Greg Malakoff (Chiropractor/Neurologist, Board Certified) provided the following answer (never mind that he seems to mean ‘do chiros cause strokes?’):
… The total disinformation that seems to be republished monthly on the news concerning chiropractors and strokes is based on a study performed in the 1950’s, that has been totally discredited. However, students these days are rather lazy and every time a meta analysis is performed on this old study it reaches all the news stations because their main sponsors are drug companies and they don’t want you having the opportunity to get well without their products. A meta analysis is simply someone reading the old study, and writing a book report on it.
If they were to actually study what has been discovered since the 1950’s, which is a tremendous amount of valid scientific research, not one done on a cadaver and deliberately making false conclusions, they would discover a few things, that I feel you should know.
The typical stroke victim if they survive has stroke posture, which consists of the arm being flexed and a lower leg extended. That would be a whole lot of brain damage, but we don’t see the entire motor strip damaged on brain scans. We typically see just a small area with an infarct. That area is the internal capsule. Picture a vase with all it’s stems entering into the narrow portion of it. All the neurons in the brain that leave it from different areas of the motor cortex with long nerves that go to innervate the muscles that you want to move are exiting through this narrow opening called the internal capsule.
Why is that important to know if you ever want a chance at being healthy? The arteries in the back of your neck, called the vertebral arteries do not go there, they do not go to the internal capsule where we see the stroke damage. That part of the brain is being fed by the carotid arteries that are in the front of your neck. That means the chiropractor is not the problem, we are not affecting those arteries. Case closed.
However, there is a type of more severe stroke related to the back of the neck arteries called vertebral artery dissection. These arteries feed the brain stem and the vital centers in there. The vital centers are what keep you breathing and your heart beating. That means, that I have never been sued by a victim of this because they are going to be dead before they get off of the table. That doesn’t happen, well it hasn’t happened to me or just about any other chiropractor. People can get this type of artery damage, but it is proven to be practically impossible to tear those arteries by a chiropractic adjustment. It would require hundreds of pounds of force to tear those arteries with a chiropractic adjustment. So unless your chiropractor is the size of a Polar Bear, there is a good chance you are remaining sick or in pain for no reason at all.
I know, what about that playboy model who died from the chiropractor that she went to? The incompetent medical examiner said that was the cause, but apparently he and all the media don’t read well. She had fallen and hurt the arteries in her neck a month earlier. The E.R. didn’t bother to do an ultrasound Doppler study of her arteries and if they had, they might have realized that she was injured more severely. Instead, she sought help for her neck pain a month later from a chiropractor. Most chiropractors do not have ultrasound Doppler equipment in their office. Neither do most urgent medical care centers. In this case, the adjustment aggravated the severe insult that she had sustained a month earlier. Perhaps he is guilty of taking for granted that the E.R. had done it’s job properly. She should never have been released from the E.R.
While it was all over the news everyday, every hour of every day for weeks, just how often does something like this occur? You are more likely to get blown up out of the sky by a terrorist, and as you are falling to earth still in your seat, get struck by lightning and shot and stabbed by terrorists that have parachuted out of another plane to make sure they had finished their job. However, they too get struck by lightning and you fall to the ground safely where you are now eaten by a land shark.
With that in mind, millions of people are suffering daily for decades because they are afraid of a chiropractic adjustment. This is the safest and most powerful form of treatment known to modern medical science. The number 3 leading cause of death in America is from medicine. Compare that to the one woman that died from a chiropractor in Canada. The case is kind of famous because that was the case that had Chiropractic outlawed in a province. The patient was obese, smoked, was diabetic, and took birth control pills. She had died of a stroke a month after going to the chiropractor. She was the perfect storm of walking disease and as I stated earlier, if the chiropractor was to have caused the stroke, she was not walking out of his office.
There are millions of dollars to be made off of your medical misery. You being sick helps fuel our economy. However, if you want the opportunity to be healthy it can’t be achieved with a lifestyle of drugs. Chiropractors have been labeled back pain doctors, but we are really brain doctors. Our treatment affects your brain and your brain is responsible for creating good health. If you are a drug company, then you would want people to be sick and miserable enough to buy your product. If you are sick and tired of being sick and tired your best chance of not staying that way is to visit a chiropractor. Don’t let all the disinformation keep you miserable and unhealthy.
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I find Malakoff’s answer relevant nnot least because it demonstrates a few points that are important:
- Some chiros call themselves doctors and manage to fool consumers in assuming that they are medically competent.
- Some even call themselves neurologists, it seems.
- They are the exact opposite of competent.
- They understand neither science, nor medicine, nor the methodologies used.
- They have misunderstood so much about [patho)physiology that it’s frightening to think they treat ill people.
- Despite all this they love to use pseudo-scientific language.
- They use it to impress and to white-wash their quackery and the chiropractic profession.
- They have an unrealistic view about the value of chiropractic.
- They are in denial about the risks of spinal manipulation.
- They are consumed by conspiracy theories without even attempting to provide evidence in their support.
The General Chiropractic Council (GCC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with NHS England, the Crown Prosecution Service and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to collaborate where there is suspected criminal activity on the part of a GCC member in relation to the provision of clinical care or care decision-making.
I find this interesting and most laudable!
But I also have seven questions, e.g.:
- Does it amount to criminal activity in relation to the provision of clinical care or care decision-making, if a chiropractor explains that the patient’s problem is caused by a subluxation of the spine, an entity that does not even exist? Apparently this happens every day.
- Does it amount to criminal activity in relation to the provision of clinical care or care decision-making, if a chiropractor treats a patient without prior informed consent? Apparently, this happens regularly.
- Does it amount to criminal activity in relation to the provision of clinical care or care decision-making, if a chiropractor fails to warn a patient that his/her manipulations can cause harm and even put him/her in a wheelchair? Apparently this (the lack of warning) happens all the time, and some chiropractors even insist that their manipulations are entirely safe.
- Does it amount to criminal activity in relation to the provision of clinical care or care decision-making, if a chiropractor claims that spinal manipulations are effective for curing the patient’s problem, while the evidence does not support the claim? Apparently this happens more often than not.
- Does it amount to criminal activity in relation to the provision of clinical care or care decision-making, if a chiropractor persuades a patient to have expensive long-term maintenance therapy for preventing health problems, while the evidence for that appoach is less than convincing? Apparently this happens rather frequently.
- Does it amount to criminal activity in relation to the provision of clinical care or care decision-making, if the chiropractor issues advice that is both outside his/her competence and detrimental to the health of the patient (for instance, advising parents not to vaccinate their kids)? Apparently this happens a lot.
- Does it amount to criminal activity in relation to the provision of clinical care or care decision-making, if a chiropractor advises a patient not to do what a real doctor told him/her to do? Apparently this is far from a rare occurance.
I would be most grateful, if the GCC would take the time to answer the above questions.
Many thanks in advaance.
Being a dedicated crook and a liar himself, Donald Trump has long had an inclination to surround himself with crooks and liars. As discussed repeatedly, this preferance naturally extends into the realm of healthcare, Some time ago, he sought the advice of Andrew Wakefield, the man who published the fraudulent research that started the myth about a causal link between MMR-vaccinations and autism.
Early November this year, Trump stated that, if he wins the election, he’ll “make a decision” about whether to outlaw some vaccines based on the recommendation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a notorious vaccine critic without any medical training. The president doesn’t have authority to ban vaccines but he can influence public health with appointments to federal agencies that can change recommendations or potentially revoke approvals.
Now that he did win the election, Trump suggested that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick to run Health and Human Services, will investigate supposed links between autism and childhood vaccines, a discredited connection that has eroded trust in the lifesaving inoculations.
“I think somebody has to find out,” Trump said in an exclusive interview with “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. Welker noted in a back-and-forth that studies have shown childhood vaccines prevent about 4 million deaths worldwide every year, have found no connection between vaccines and autism, and that rises in autism diagnoses are attributable to increased screening and awareness.
Trump, too stupid to know the difference between correlation and causation, replied: “If you go back 25 years ago, you had very little autism. Now you have it.” “Something is going on,” Trump added. “I don’t know if it’s vaccines. Maybe it’s chlorine in the water, right? You know, people are looking at a lot of different things.” It was unclear whether Trump was referring to opposition by Kennedy and others to fluoride being added to drinking water.
Kennedy, the onetime independent presidential candidate who backed Trump after leaving the race, generated a large following through his widespread skepticism of the American health care and food system. A major component of that has been his false claims linking autism to childhood vaccinations. Kennedy is the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine activist group, Children’s Health Defense. The agency Trump has tasked him with running supports and funds research into autism, as well as possible new vaccines.
The debunked link between autism and childhood vaccines, particularly the inoculation against mumps, measles and rubella, was first claimed in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield who was later banned from practicing medicine in the UK. His research was found to be fraudulent and was subsequently retracted. Hundreds of studies have found childhood vaccines to be safe.
Autism diagnoses have risen from about 1 in 150 children in 2000 to 1 in 36 today. This rise has been shown to be due to increased screening and changing definitions of the condition. Strong genetic links exist to autism, and many risk factors occurring before birth or during delivery have been identified.
If Trump does, in fact, ‘outlaw’ certain vaccinations, he would endanger the health of the US as well as the rest of the world. Will he really be that stupid?
If you live in the UK, you could not possibly escape the discussion about the ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ which passed yesterday’s vote in the House of Commons (MPs have voted by 330 to 275 in favour of legalising voluntary assisted suicide). Once the bill passed all the further parliamentary hurdles – which might take several years – it will allow terminally ill adults who are
- expected to die within six months,
- of sound mind and capable of managing their own affairs
to seek help from specialised doctors to end their own life.
After listening to many debates about the bill, I still I have serious concerns about it. Here are just a few:
- Palliative care in the UK is often very poor. It was argued that the bill will be an incentive to improve it. But what, if this is wishful thinking? What if palliative care deteriorates to a point where it becomes an incentive to suicide? What if the bill should even turn out to be a reason for not directing maximum efforts towards improving palliative care?
- How sure can we be that an individual patient is going to die within the next six months? Lawmakers might believe that predicting the time someone has left to live is a more or less exact science. Doctors (should) know that it is not.
- How certain can we be that a patient is of sound mind and capable of managing their own affairs? By definition, we are dealing with very ill patients whose mind might be clouded, for example, by the effects of drugs or pain or both. Lawmakers might think that it is clear-cut to establish whether an individual patient is compos mentis, but doctors know that this is often not the case.
- In many religions, suicide is a sin. I am not a religious person, but many of the MPs who voted for the bill are or pretend to be. Passing a law that enables members of the public to commit what in the eyes of many lawmakers must be a deadly sin seems problematic.
In summary, I feel the ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ is a mistake for today; it might even be a very grave mistake for a future time, if we have a government that is irresponsible, neglects palliative care even more than we do today and views the bill as an opportunity to reduce our expenditure on pensions.
