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Gonna add something to what @CaulfieldTim said in the article: “...there has been too much tolerance of pseudoscience from many in the health care community. An initiative like this can help to build momentum that may nudge more in the direction of a science-informed approach.”
I agree. It's true that doctors have been far too tolerant of quackery and pseudoscience. Indeed, 11 years ago, @drval coined a term for most doctors: "Shruggie." Basically, most doctors recognize quackery, but shrug and say little or nothing. 2/ sciencebasedmedicine.org/a-shruggie-awa…
However, more insidious and dangerous is the way doctors have been embracing quackery and pseudoscience in the form of "complementary and alternative medicine" and "integrative medicine." 3/
For example, consider homeopathy. It's what I like to call The One Quackery To Rule Them All because its principles break the laws of physics and chemistry. Most homeopathic remedies are so dilute that not a molecule remains. 4/
You'd like to think that every doctor would shun homeopathy as the pseudoscience and quackery that it us. You'd be wrong. There is homeopathy offered in academic medical centers. 5/
For example, @ClevelandClinic offers homeopathy and has sold homeopathic "detox" kits. 6/ respectfulinsolence.com/2017/01/18/the…
That's not all @ClevelandClinic offers. It also offers craniosacral therapy, myofascial release, and acupuncture to children. It even offers the “energy medicine” quackery that is “therapeutic touch” to babies. 7/
That's not all, though. In 2014, @ClevelandClinic hired Dr. Mark Hyman to start a functional medicine clinic. 8/ respectfulinsolence.com/2017/03/01/dis…
Functional medicine is a "specialty" involving testing every lab value under the sun and then getting to correct them all, while also embracing quackery, including homeopathy. 9/
Functional medicine docs basically make it up as they go along. 10/ respectfulinsolence.com/2016/04/18/the…
Not coincidentally, Dr. Hyman is antivax. He even wrote the foreword to @RobertKennedyJr's most recent antivax book. Does this bother @ClevelandClinic? Not at all. 11/ respectfulinsolence.com/2014/09/12/has…
And @ClevelandClinic promotes reiki. You have to see what it says about this form of faith healing that substitutes Eastern mysticism for Judeo-Christian religion to believe it. Read it! 12/ my.clevelandclinic.org/departments/we…
I pick on @ClevelandClinic, but it's far from the only example. @UCIrvineHealth, for instance, received a $200 million donation from the Samuelis. 13/ respectfulinsolence.com/2017/09/19/qua…
The Samuelis have long donated to UC Irvine and promoted homeopathy there. 14/ respectfulinsolence.com/2017/09/26/hom…
There are many other examples of academic medical centers embracing quackery. For example, @TJUHospital, which this year went full quack by announcing a department of integrative medicine. 15/ respectfulinsolence.com/2019/02/27/tho…
My own medical alma mater @umichmedicine has anthroposophic medicine, naturopathy, and homeopathy. 16/ respectfulinsolence.com/2018/07/26/ant…
Unfortunately, a lot of @theNCI designated comprehensive cancer centers have embraced integrative oncology quackery, including big names cancer centers like @sloan_kettering, @MDAndersonNews, and others. 17/ respectfulinsolence.com/2017/12/04/int…
I wrote a Perspective article about the quackery infiltrating academic medicine for @NatureRevCancer. Maybe I need to write an update. 18/ nature.com/articles/nrc38…
Everywhere, physicians are embracing the quackery of acupuncture, even though it's never been shown to be more than a theatrical placebo. 19/ journals.lww.com/anesthesia-ana…
Indeed, the entire history of traditional Chinese medicine has been retconned. What we know as TCM is not ancient. Chairman Mao invented it. 20/ sciencebasedmedicine.org/retconning-tra…
Meanwhile, credulous physicians are indoctrinated into believing in pseudoscience. 21/ sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-integrativ…
And this doesn't even count the proliferation of for-profit stem cell clinics, the vast majority of which are physician-run, all of which sell rank quackery. 22/ sciencebasedmedicine.org/dubious-for-pr…
So, @AustinChiangMD and others in @AHSM_org, here's what I want to know. What do you mean by "combatting medical misinformation"? As incredibly hard as they are, antivax and cancer quackery are easy. Combatting the infiltration of quackery into medicine is MUCH harder. 23/
I guess what I'm saying is: Beware mixed messages. It's all well and good to combat, for instance, antivax misinformation and @goop. Just be consistent and don’t promote integrative quackery. 24/
Advocate for the most rigorous science feasible in determining the standard of care in medicine, and then communicate it while opposing all firms of pseudoscience and bad science. 25/25
