Category Archives: General

Fooling Yourself-A Guest Post By Alison Averis

Posted on March 9, 2010 by skeptvet

A reader recently sent me an account of a case which demonstrates the placebo effect by proxy and the general unreliability of our subjective assessments of medical interventions. Her story is engaging and nicely illustrates these common issues, and she has … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Guest Posts | 5 Comments

Does the Truth Matter?

Posted on March 7, 2010 by skeptvet

One of the most common responses I get when I point out the lack of evidence for particular CAM therapies is, “So what? If it doesn’t do any harm and if people feel better, even just because of a placebo … Continue reading →

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Warning Signs of Quackery Ahead

Posted on February 28, 2010 by skeptvet

Though it’s certainly not an original observation, I’ve begun to see some repeating patterns of behavior associated with unreliable and unscientific medical claims, and I think it might be useful to review some possible warning signs that one is dealing … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 12 Comments

Balancing Doctor Expertise and Patient Autonomy

Posted on February 15, 2010 by skeptvet

My recent brush with the “healthcare choice” concept, as well as a podcast interview I listened to with Dr. Paul Offit on Point of Inquiry put me in mind of an interesting and challenging puzzle in the philosophy of medical … Continue reading →

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More Hypocritical Nonsense about “Healthcare Choice”

Posted on February 14, 2010 by skeptvet

Readers of this blog will be familiar with Dr. Shawn Messonier and his style of promoting alternative veterinary medicine by lying about scientific medicine and veterinarians who practice it (e.g. Here, Here, and Here). The latest example of this behavior … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Law, Regulation, and Politics | 14 Comments

We can’t prove it, but….Faith-based medicine and special pleading

Posted on February 4, 2010 by skeptvet

CAM proponents often engage in the rhetorical fallacy known as special pleading. Wikipedia’s definition of this is adequate: “a form of spurious argumentation where a position in a dispute introduces favorable details or excludes unfavorable details by alleging a need … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 2 Comments

Good Old Days Before Scientific Medicine

Posted on January 29, 2010 by skeptvet

CAM proponents are very fond of citing the antiquity and lineage, fictional or not, for their methods. Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and many herbal nostrums are promoted as “time-honored,” with the implication or explicit statement that anything people have been … Continue reading →

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129th Skeptics’ Circle!

Posted on January 27, 2010 by skeptvet

Good eveni…Is this on? Can you hear me in the back? Good, ok. Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 129th meeting of the Skeptics’ Circle. I’m SkeptVet, and I’ll be your MC this evening. Sorry, it’s my … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 6 Comments

Hill’s Criteria of Causation–What Separates Science from Faith

Posted on January 25, 2010 by skeptvet

Mark Crislip at Science-Based Medicine recently discussed Hill’s Criteria of Causation, but after looking at Dr. Hill’s original paper I felt obliged to examine the subject here as well because it is central to science-based medicine, and key in differentiating … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 3 Comments

CAM=Miracles, Science=Death?

Posted on January 24, 2010 by skeptvet

I really shouldn’t be giving this guy so much attention, but after our little tiff I’ve taken to checking in on his blog, and the vicious and self-serving marketing strategy is offensive enough to stimulate a response. Dr. Shaw Messonnier … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 6 Comments