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Category Archives: General
What’s the Harm?
CAM proponents aggressively market their approaches with the assurance, often absolute and without qualification, that their methods never cause harm. And perhaps the most common response to critiques of CAM from people who consider themselves mildly skeptical of it but … Continue reading
Posted in General, Miscellaneous CAVM
3 Comments
From SBM – Why Unproven Does Not Mean Harmless
This post examines a study suggesting that CAM use may decrease the success rate of in vitro fertilization efforts. It is similar to a previous study suggesting CAM use is associated with shorter life expectancy in cancer patients in that … Continue reading
Posted in General, Miscellaneous CAVM
1 Comment
Woo U. — CAVM as Continuing Education for Veterinarians
Veterinarians are required by the state laws that control their licensure and scope of practice to keep up with changes in the body of knowledge and techniques that makes up veterinary medicine. Such continuing education is a requirement for all … Continue reading
Posted in General
23 Comments
CAM and the Psychology of Last Resort
I’ve often thought that the following two maxims apply to American culture generally, but especially to medicine in the US: 1. It is never appropriate to say, “There is nothing that can be done.” 2. Nothing is ever Nobody’s Fault. … Continue reading
Posted in General
10 Comments
A Few Common Pro-CAM Arguments and Some Possible Responses
In addition to substantive arguments about evidence, clinical studies, and underlying biological or physical rationale, many arguments between supporters and skeptics of veterinary CAM involve myths, stereotypes, logical fallacies, and other rhetorical devices or conceptual errors unrelated to the actual … Continue reading
Posted in General
29 Comments
From Pet Connection-Falling for “Hope-Based” Medicine…
This is an insightful essay illustrating the ultimately faith-based nature of much CAM. Statements about safety and efficacy and the indications of a treatment are determined by tradition, appeal to authority, or instinct and then justified by anecdote without any … Continue reading
Posted in General
12 Comments
You Can’t Believe Everything You Read-Even in a Scientific Journal!
Many proponents of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) reject the very idea of scientific evaluation of their methods. If scientists say they can find no trace of Ch’i or vertebral subluxations or water memory, well that shows that science doesn’t … Continue reading
Posted in General, Science-Based Veterinary Medicine
5 Comments
The David and Goliath Myth
CAM proponents often present a picture of the relationship between CAM and mainstream medicine that is as dramatic as it is fanciful, and it bears a resemblance to the myth of David and Goliath. Scientific medicine is portrayed as a … Continue reading
Posted in General
5 Comments
Screening Tests-Scientific Ambiguity or CAM Certainty
One of my favorite encounters with CAM was when a woman brought an old golden retriever to see me because her energy practitioner told her she had detected leukemia, a kind of white blood cell cancer. Though the pet had … Continue reading
Posted in General
4 Comments
The Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine Conundrum
The Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine EBVM Conundrum “Dr. X said that one of his main purposes when discussing EBM/EBVM at meetings is to get students/practitioners to question their decisions (i.e., to be less certain about decisions they make). This invariably results … Continue reading
Posted in General
4 Comments