Definitely a candidate for the Darwin Awards.

Those who failed to act on his behalf should be charged with criminal negligence. They could probably plead permanent insanity.

 

:D

I'm not sure, carbon fibre does take quite a wicked edge! I beleive Q is supplying a pair as covert weapons in the next James bond film.

I wasn't trying to imply that all complimentary medics do this, only that some do. Beleive it or not i'm alll in favour of complimentary medicine. For headaches, for eg, more than a few studies have shown placebo rates of 40% or better! Far to effective a modality to ignore. I just struggle with the idea that it is appropriate to replace conventional treatment, which by definition need to be scientifically shown to be effective, with complimentary / alternative ones which by definition are not. In particular i think that there should be clear demarcations where alternative medicine should never be used exclusivly (cancer, HIV and obviously diabetic foot ulcers. sping to mind)

Regards
Robert

 

A good definition Robert. Alternative medicine is often the alternative to the medicine that works... rather than the alternative to "Western" medicine. Perhaps that is why there was a change to complimentary medicine as a term for the same thing. Although in this case it would have not been such a problem if he used conventional medicine and then complimented it with his psycho ideas. Going the alternative route was obviously not a successful strategy.

 

That sent me off on an interesting tangent!

My understanding of A/C medicine is that once it had been proven by clinical trials to be effective it ceases to become alternative.

However when i did a websearch the variety of definitions i found was astounding and very varied! Here's a few, you would'nt know they were talking of the same thing!

Instead of??

alongside?

Not accepted by. Does not mention why it is not accepted!

Interesting wordplay there for anyone who has studied NLP.

And again

ouch!

So what is the definition of CAM? It would appear nobody agrees. Perhaps it defies definition due to its sheer breadth! But for me the defining characteristic is the point at which it ceases to become alternative medicine. If it cannot be described by what it IS then perhaps it can be descibed by what it is NOT. Consistantly supported by scientific trials.

What say you?

RObert

Off to get my chen ballanced

R