Corel Medical Series: Cancer/Corel Medical Series: Cancer.iso/mac/Program/p13.dxr/00024_Field_SRC.p13.C.13.txt

Text File | 1997-02-04 | 2KB | 16 lines

Characteristics of Unorthodox Practitioners  Certain features should make you suspicious of claims for "cancer cures":
• The treatment is unique or secret and can be obtained only from limited sources. Ethical physicians discuss and
  publish the results of new treatments at scientific meetings and in medical journals. If these treatments are
  proven effective, they can be adopted by other physicians. Openness is a hallmark of science. There are no
  secrets in scientific medicine.
• Unorthodox practitioners usually work in isolation, apart from orthodox medicine. They do not present their
  results at scientific meetings or allow their treatments to be questioned by knowledgeable scientists.
• They do not publish their results in scientific journals. Their reports usually consist of brief anecdotal
  descriptions of benefit in a small number of patients. Their reports appear in popular magazines and tabloid
  newspapers. Rarely do these stories describe the number of patients treated, how many of those had any
  beneficial response, or the type and frequency of side effects encountered.
• Unorthodox practitioners often claim that they are being persecuted by the "medical establishment."
• Their treatments often have no side effects. Effective treatments for cancer, unfortunately, often are associated
  with unpleasant side effects ( see Coping with Treatment ). Unorthodox practitioners frequently promise great
  benefits without the unpleasant side effects that many patients experience with surgery, radiotherapy and
  chemotherapy .