Alternative Medicine — A place in healthcare?

November 8, 2009

by Karen Nelson on Nov.07, 2009
On Monday, November 2, 2009 the Arizona Daily Star published an article, “Alternative-healing instruction in medical schools is questioned.” Right up front before the article, the following was seen: EDITOR’S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one part of an occasional Associated Press series on their use and potential risks.

I was perplexed to say the least, since I have done medical writing and have been involved with some alternative therapy research that was shown to be highly effective.

Then, the next day an article “More insurers are covering alternative healing, at a cost,” with the same editor’s note staring you in the face before you read the article.

I am currently with no institutional backing to be able to do thorough research into recent clinical trials, but I was able to spend a few hours and find many clinical research journal articles that showed alternative therapies to be statistically significantly effective over either controls or conventional therapy. What bothers me is the technicality in that editor’s note about finding “cures.” That editor’s note has been worded to be manipulative through sensationalism. It shows obvious bias (which is why it is an editor’s note, I suppose) and is expressing that bias before the reader even gets a chance to read the article. You will not find a lot of “cures” in conventional medicine clinical trials either! Taking Lipitor for high cholesterol does not “cure” high cholesterol. Taking blood pressure meds does not “cure” hypertension. Read the complete article…

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• Alternative Medicine – A place in healthcare? – Tucson Citizen (tucsoncitizen.com)
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• More insurers are paying for alternative remedies (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• More Insurers Are Paying for Alternative Remedies (abcnews.go.com)

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