What is the modern definition of a Quack?
A Quack Medical System is one which has the highest cost in the world, yet has the highest rate of degnerative diseases in the population. This is the US medical system.
A Quack form of treatment is one which barely alters the survival rate for that disease in over four decades. This is conventional treatment for cancer.
A Quack drug is one that causes the same symptoms it is supposed to prevent. This is the bisphosphonate drugs for osteoporosis that cause spontaneous fracture and jaw necrosis.
A Quack is anyone who engages in disease mongering with deceptive TV ads such as spokesperson Sally Field and Robert Jarvik promoting Boniva and Lipitor.
A Quack drug company engages in disease mongering such as the campaign to promote Requip and Mirapex for RLS.
A Quack is anyone who promotes health through nutritition, supplements vitamins or herbs.
A Quack is anyone who questions the efficacy of a drug, or questions a drug trial, or mentions conflict of interest by the authors.
A Quack is anyone who promotes sunlight, stress reduction, fresh produce, non-GMO food, and avoids aspartame.
A Quack is anyone who has a valid idea before everybody else, such as Louis Pasteur and Linus Pauling who were called Quacks.
A Quack is anyone who makes patients well, while all of his colleagues make them sicker.
A Quack is anyone who is a financial threat to others in the health care system.
A Quack is anyone working in health care that you disagree with, or who suggests you might be wrong about something.
A Quack is anyone who exhibits creativity or freedom of thought.
Who is a Quack? You are and not me.
Who is not a quack? Anyone who calls someone else a quack, by definition is not a quack.
What happens if two people call each other quacks? Then the first to call the other a quack is not a quack, and the other one is a quack, unless of course both are really quacks.
If any lunatic nutcase on the internet calls you a quack, then by definition, you are a quack.
Above image: Snake Oil tablets for sale in Marekesh courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
If you are impersonating a doctor, or practicing medicine without a license, then you are a criminal, and a Quack.
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The first, the US system, hit me. Big Insurance needs to go also.
Also, there has been some dicussion about the Scientific Method around here and I have some odd opinions on it. Should be interesting.
And as far as I can tell, not a quack. What is the origination of that term for doctors, anyway? I will have to look it up.
I agree with much of your post, but the above statement confuses me. I went through 6 weeks of radiation treatment (standard medical treatment) for throat cancer, without taking a single drug, and have been cancer-free for 5 years. Are you suggesting that I should have taken a different course, with the same amount of confidence?
I just know I agree with many of the things you list here. Am I a quack??? I am lost. please help me, anyone.
Corollary A: If you are receiving money for a good or service, it is much easier to convince yourself of its efficacy.
Corollary B: The placebo effect is the quack's best friend
Corollary C: If you are a patient paying to be treated by a quack, you have a vested interest in maintaining the illusion.
Corollary D: The patients of a quack are the last persons to realize that a quack isn't what he or she is quacked up to be.
Seriously, though, I totally agree with Umbrella's first comment up there. I got SO much flack for pulling in natural medicine practitioners into a Pharm.D. program as guest lecturers...
My doctor takes the best from both schools of thought and so far, he hasn't disappointed me. He has always referred me and other family members to other good doctors and while I don't think he's perfect -- his bedside manner is a tad gruff -- I know that he considers all kinds of options before he offers his opinion. And all that in Canada's broken-down, socialist, people-dying-in-waiting rooms health system.
E-I-E-I-O.
On this farm it had some quacks.
E-I-E-I-O.
Quack quack here. Quack, quack, there.
E-I-E-I-O
I'll admit, I'm one of those quacks.
E-I-E-I-O
Sorry, this just popped into my head.
I am raising my cup of coffee up and singing a amen chorus for this post.
Amen, indeed!!! cheers, too
Nice post, Dr. Dach. Sanity. Balance. AM I asking for too much?
Excellent, excellent post!