Tag: informed consent
ProtocolKills.com: Misinformed refusal on steroids
Back in the day, I used to refer to something I dubbed "misinformed refusal," a term that refers to how antivaxxers had weaponized "informed consent" by inverting it to frighten parents against vaccinated. In the age of the pandemic, ProtocolKills.com generalizes misinformed refusal to all COVID-19 treatments with the help of "hospital hostage negotiator" Laura Bartlett, who views COVID-19 treatments in hospitals...
A Desperate Choice
A therapy for brain tumors in young children involves deliberately infecting them with a virus. Scary, and is it worth it?
American Academy of Family Physicians Supports Integrative Medicine
The American Academy of Family Physicians supports integrative medicine and makes recommendations based on less-than-rigorous evidence.
Edzard Ernst Tackles Chiropractic
Edzard Ernst's new book is a handy, comprehensive reference for all things chiropractic.
The strange saga of Peter Gøtzsche and Physicians for Informed Consent
Recently, it was noted that Peter Gøtzsche, formerly of Cochrane Nordic, was featured on the speaker list for an antivaccine quackfest organized by the antivaccine group Physicians for Informed Consent, along with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Toni Bark, and Marry Holland. Two days later, he announced that he would not be speaking there. So what happened? And what is Physicians for Informed...
The Ethics of CAM: More Harm than Good?
A new book examines the ethics of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). Ernst and Smith demonstrate that CAM is inherently unethical and does more harm than good.
Neck Manipulation, Stroke, and the Vertebral Artery Stretch: Views, Opinions, and Options
Stroke reported as being associated with neck manipulation is rare when stroke numbers are tallied with the total number of neck manipulations performed, but the true incidence of this injury is not known and may be much greater than indicated by case reports. Advocating or providing neck manipulation without warning about the limitations and the danger of such treatment is irresponsible and...
Mercury amalgam fillings and you
Note this special guest post submitted by Maddaz A. Hatter, D.D.S. Thanks Dr. Hatter! Also, on an almost-completely-unrelated note, skeptical dentist, haberdasher extraordinaire, and sometime-guest-blogger Grant Ritchey recently moderated debate between SBM regular Clay Jones, and pediatrician-who-has-yet-to-be-coerced-into-blogging-with-us Raymond Cattaneo, about the pros and cons of firing families who refuse to vaccinate according to the recommended schedule. I’m told Clay wins the debate through...
In which I steal a title: Is medicine a scientific enterprise?
A week ago, I attended the Center For Inquiry Reason for Change Conference, where I participated in a panel on—what else?—alternative medicine with—who else?—Harriet Hall and our fearless leader Steve Novella. Before the panel, we all gave brief talks on areas that we consider important. As you might expect, I chose to give a brief introduction to what I like to call...