Hostname: page-component-6d856f89d9-xkcpr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T08:54:10.521Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The (Alternative) Medicalization of Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Lawrence J. Schneiderman
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The writers in this symposium are drawn together under the topic of medicine — not to discuss any new discovery in the prevention or treatment of disease. Quite the contrary. We are drawn here to consider a phenomenon. We are here to consider whether a collective romantic fantasy called alternative medicine that has seized our society really deserves the acclaim it is receiving. This, for the most part, is what people like us do when we gather in symposia or meetings to discuss alternative medicine. We argue about beliefs and claims, not results. Are the beliefs and claims of this collective romantic fantasy justified by empirical data? Or rather, will the beliefs and claims of this collective romantic fantasy be justified by empirical data because the fantasy is already securely in place in our political and fiscal, medical and educational, structures?

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , Summer 2003 , pp. 191 - 197
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Portions of this article were previously published as Schneiderman, L.J., “Alternative Medicine or Alternatives to Medicine? A Physician's Perspective,” Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 9 (2000): 83–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, J. et al., “Inpatient General Medicine Is Evidence Based,” Lancet, 346 (1995): 407–10; Committee for Evaluating Medical Technologies in Clinical Use, Institute of Medicine, Assessing Medical Technologies (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 1985); Gill, P. et al. “Evidence Based General Practice: A Retrospective Study of Interventions in One Training Practice,” British Medical Journal, 312 (1996): 819–21; Michaud, G. et al., “Are Therapeutic Decisions Supported by Evidence from Health Care Research?,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 158 (1998): 1665–58.Google Scholar
Illich, I., Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health (New York: Pantheon Books, 1976): At 39–124.Google Scholar
Id. at 123.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Chopra, D., Quantum Healing (New York: Bantam Books, 1989).Google Scholar
Id. at 240.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
IdGoogle Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Northrup, C., Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom (New York: Bantam Books, 1995).Google Scholar
Id. at 310.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Weil, A., Spontaneous Healing (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1995).Google Scholar
Id. at 235–37.Google Scholar
Id. at 236.Google Scholar
Id. at 235.Google Scholar
Hilts, P.J., “Severe Side Effects Are Seen in Experimental AIDS Drug,” New York Times, September 27, 1989, at A15.Google Scholar
Beyerstein, B.L. and Downie, S., “Naturopathy,” Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, 2, no. 1 (1998): 20–28; Ernst, E., “Are Highly Dilute Homoeopathic Remedies Placebos?,” Perfusion, 11 (1998): 291–92; Ernst, E. and Pittler, M.H., Letter, “Re-Analysis of Previous Meta-Analysis of Clinical Trials of Homeopathy,” Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 53 (2000): 1188; Linde, K. et al., “Impact of Study Quality on Outcome in Placebo-Controlled Trials of Homeopathy,” Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 52 (1999): 631–36; Vickers, A.J., “Can Acupuncture Have Specific Effects on Health? A Systematic Review of Acupuncture Antiemesis Trials,” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 89 (1996): 303–11; ter Riet, G., Kleiznen, J. and Knipschild, P., “Acupuncture and Chronic Pain: A Criteria-Based Meta-Analysis,” Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 43 (1990): 1191–99; Cherkin, D.C. et al., “Randomized Trial Comparing Traditional Chinese Medical Acupuncture, Therapeutic Massage, and Self-Care Education for Chronic Low Back Pain,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 161 (2001): 1081–88; Rosa, L., Rosa, E., and Sarner, L., “A Close Look at Therapeutic Touch,” JAMA, 279 (1998): 1005–10.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, D.M. et al., “Unconventional Medicine in the United States: Prevalence, Costs, and Patterns of Use,” N. Engl. J. Med., 328 (1993): 246–52; Eisenberg, D.M. et al., “Trends in Alternative Medicine Use in the United States, 1990–1997: Results of a Follow-Up National Survey,” JAMA, 280 (1998): 1569–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druss, B.C. and Rosenheck, R.A., “Association Between Use of Unconventional Therapies and Conventional Medical Services,” JAMA, 282 (1999): 651–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brody, J.E., “Alternative Medicine Makes Inroads, But Watch Out For Curves,” New York Times, April 4, 1998, at BIO.Google Scholar
Root-Bernstein, R. and Root-Bernstein, M., Honey, Mud Maggots, and Other Medical Marvels (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1975): At 255.Google Scholar
S. Rep. No. 102–104, at 147 (1991).Google Scholar
Real, C.D., “Medicine or Medicine Show? Growth of Herbal Remedy Sales Raises Issues About Value,” New York Times, July 23, 1998, at C1, C4 (quoting David Kessler).Google Scholar
Lambert, C., “The New Ancient Trend in Medicine,” Harvard Magazine (March-April 2002): 44–49, 99–101, at 46.Google Scholar
Whorton, J.C., “The First Holistic Revolution: Alternative Medicine in the Nineteenth Century,” in Stalker, D. and Glymour, C., eds., Examining Holistic Medicine (New York: Prometheus Books, 1989): At 29.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id. at 30.Google Scholar
Fisher, R.A., The Design of Experiments, 7th ed. (New York: Hafner, 1960).Google ScholarPubMed
Acupuncture, NIH Consensus Statement, 15, no. 5 (November 3–5, 1997): 1–34, available at <http://consensus.nih.gov/cons/107/107_statement.htm>.CrossRef.>Google Scholar
Cervantes, F.D. and Schneiderman, L.J. “Anticoagulants in Cerebrovascular Disease: A Critical Review of Studies,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 135 (1975): 875–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dundee, J.S. et al., “Effect of Stimulation of the P6 Antiemetic Point on Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting,” British Journal of Anaesthesia, 63 (1989): 612–18; Dundee, J.W. and McMillan, C., “Positive Evidence for P6 Acupuncture Antiemesis,” Postgraduate Medicine Journal, 67 (1991): 417–22.Google Scholar
See ter Riet, , Kleiznen, , Knipschild, , supra note 20, at 1191.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, D.M., “Advising Patients Who Seek Alternative Medical Therapies,” Annals of Internal Medicine, 127 (1997): 61–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Vickers, , supra note 20.Google Scholar
Colditz, G.A., Miller, J.N., and Mosteller, F., “How Study Design Affects Outcomes in Comparisons of Therapy,” Statistics in Medicine, 8 (1989): 441–54; Schulz, K.F. et al., “Empirical Evidence of Bias: Dimensions of Methodological Quality Associated With Estimates of Treatment Effects in Controlled Trials,” JAMA, 273 (1995): 408–12; Khan, K., Daya, S., and Jadad, A., “The Importance of Quality of Primary Studies in Producing Unbiased Systematic Reviews,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 156 (1996): 661–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gifford, R.H. and Feinstein, A.R., “A Critique of Methodology in Studies of Anticoagulant Therapy for Acute Myocardial Infarction,” N. Engl. J. Med., 280 (1969): 351–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eddy, D.M., “Investigational Treatments: How Strict Should We Be?,” JAMA, 278 (1997): 179–85, at 182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stapleton, S., “Medicine's Chasm,” American Medical News, June 3, 2002, at 29.Google Scholar
See id. (quoting Robert S. Baratz).Google Scholar
Crelin, E.S., “Chiropractic,” in Stalker, D., and Glymour, C., eds., Examining Holistic Medicine (New York: Prometheus Books, 1989).Google Scholar
Bigos, S.J. et al., Acute Low Back Pain Problems in Adults: Clinical Practice Guideline No. 14, AHCPR Pub. No. 95–0642 (Rockville, Maryland: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, 1992); Shekelle, PG. et al., “Spinal Manipulation for Low-Back Pain,” Annals of Internal Medicine, 117 (1992): 590–98; Coulter, I. et al., “Congruence Between Decisions to Initiate Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation for Low Back Pain and Appropriateness Criteria in North America,” Annals of Internal Medicine, 129 (1998): 9–17.Google Scholar
Cherkin, D.C. et al., “A Comparison of Physical Therapy, Chiropractic Manipulation, and Provision of an Educational Booklet for the Treatment of Patients with Low Back Pain,” N. Engl. J. Med., 339 (1998): 1021–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampson, W., “On the National Institute of Drug Abuse Consensus Conference on Acupuncture,” Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, 2 (1998): 54–55, at 55.Google Scholar
Helms, J.M., “An Overview of Medical Acupuncture,” Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 4 (1998): 35–45; Sherman, K.J., Cherkin, D.C., and Hogeboom, C.J., “The Diagnosis and Treatment of Patients with Chronic Low-Back Pain by Traditional Chinese Medical Acupuncturists,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 7 (2001): 641–50.Google Scholar
Dimond, E.G., “Acupuncture Anesthesia: Western Medicine and Chinese Traditional Medicine,” JAMA, 218 (1971): 1558–63, at 1559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cherkin, et al., supra note 20.Google Scholar
Gravitz, M.A., “Early Uses of Hypnosis as Surgical Anesthesia,” American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 30 (1988): 201–08.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaptchuk, T.J., “The Placebo Effect in Alternative Medicine: Can the Performance of a Healing Ritual Have Clinical Significance?,” Annals of Internal Medicine, 136 (2002): 817–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaptchuk, T.J., “Acupuncture: Theory, Efficacy, and Practice,” Annals of Internal Medicine, 136 (2002): 374–83, at 379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Blakeslee, S., “Placebos Prove So Powerful Even Experts Are Surprised,” New York Times, October 13, 1998, at F1, F4; Brown, WA, “The Placebo Effect,” Scientific American (January 1998): 90–95; de Saintonge, M.C. and Herxheimer, A., “Harnessing Placebo Effects in Health Care,” Lancet, 344 (1994): 995–98.Google Scholar
Walsh, T.B. et al., “Placebo Response in Studies of Major Depression: Variable, Substantial, and Growing,” JAMA, 287 (2002): 1840–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneiderman, L.J., “Commentary: Bringing Clarity to the Futility Debate: Are the Cases Wrong?,” Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 7 (1998): 273–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avina, R.L. and Schneiderman, L.J., “Why Patients Choose Homeopathy,” Western Journal of Medicine, 128 (1978): 366–69.Google Scholar