Re: [Goanet] wrt Patricia Alvares' Healing with Crystals article in the Herald
On 1 February 2014 01:43, Santosh Helekar chimbel...@yahoo.com wrote: What Herald has advertised in the interview in question is quackery because of the following reasons: 1. The claims made in the interview perfectly satisfy the dictionary definitions of quackery, which is: A FRAUDULENT claim to medical knowledge; treating the sick without knowledge of medicine or authority to practice medicine. (Taken from Stedman's medical dictionary. Please see: http://www.medilexicon.com/medicaldictionary.php?s=charlatanism) 2. The interview makes the claim that crystal healing is curative. COMMENT/QUESTION: Whatever one believes or not about 'crystals' (and I know nothing about crystals), Is Santoshbab stating that the term curative used by journalist / sub-editor of the Herald in the article amounts to Fraud? I submit that it does not. jc
Re: [Goanet] wrt Patricia Alvares' Healing with Crystals article in the Herald
On Thursday, February 6, 2014 7:08 AM, J. Colaco jc cola...@gmail.com wrote: Whatever one believes or not about 'crystals' (and I know nothing about crystals), Is Santoshbab stating that the term curative used by journalist / sub-editor of the Herald in the article amounts to Fraud? Josebab, I am submitting that the fraudulent claim to medical knowledge was made by the person that was interviewed, not by the journalist who interviewed her. The use of the word curative in a bold caption/subheading in the article could also be regarded as fraudulent in the sense that it is a deception or humbug. Please see the many dictionary meanings of the word fraud: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fraud?s=t But I don't know whether the journalist in question or her editor put that word in the caption/subheading. Cheers, Santosh
Re: [Goanet] wrt Patricia Alvares' Healing with Crystals article in the Herald
On Feb 6, 2014, at 10:36 AM, Santosh Helekar chimbel...@yahoo.com wrote: The use of the word curative in a bold caption/subheading in the article could also be regarded as fraudulent in the sense that it is a deception or humbug. Please see the many dictionary meanings of the word fraud: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fraud?s=t; My dear Santoshbab, As 'fraud' is a criminal act, and you have made such an allegation, I suggest that you prove that fraud was committedto the required standard of proof. best jc BTW: even in 'contract' any claim will fail unlike in Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company.
Re: [Goanet] wrt Patricia Alvares' Healing with Crystals article in the Herald
What Herald has advertised in the interview in question is quackery because of the following reasons: 1. The claims made in the interview perfectly satisfy the dictionary definitions of quackery, which is: A fraudulent claim to medical knowledge; treating the sick without knowledge of medicine or authority to practice medicine. (Taken from Stedman's medical dictionary. Please see: http://www.medilexicon.com/medicaldictionary.php?s=charlatanism) 2. The interview makes the claim that crystal healing is curative. 3. It makes scientific sounding factual claims about the properties of crystals and their effects on the human body that are completely bogus, and can be easily demonstrated to be false by a simple scientific measurement. 4. Under claims of healing there are fraudulent claims about economics and personal finance, such as: The combination of Citrine, Pyrite and Amber will attract wealth, prosperity and abundance. 5. It propagates the superstition of evil eye and various supernatural claims that have nothing to do with healing, such as Certain crystals will give self confidence, enhance creativity, protect from the evil eye, attract love, the right career, etc. Please see: http://www.epaperoheraldo.in/epaperpdf/2212014/2212014-md-hr-17.pdf Now regarding acupuncture, the quote below is not accurate: QUOTE The US FDA approved acupuncture for pain relief in 1996. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/acupuncture/patient/page1/AllPages/Print UNQUOTE .Josebab Colaco The U.S. FDA has only adopted certain requirements to regulate the use of acupuncture needles by qualified practitioners e.g. that they have to be sterile and single use needles. It has not approved acupuncture for anything. Please see the following FDA link: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfCFR/CFRSearch.cfm?FR=880.5580 Acupuncture like other questionable or quack nostrums are used by people who believe in them. They are also tested in clinical trials by medical scientists. That is why FDA has to often rule on their safety. FDA deals with safety and efficacy as two separate issues. First and foremost, it is concerned about safety of all devices or drugs, whether they are effective real medical devices or drugs, investigational real medical devices or drugs whose efficacy is not yet known, or quack medical devices or drugs under investigational use or as placebos. Dirty acupuncture needles can lead to severe infections and further complications causing even death in some cases. The needles also need to be bio-compatible to prevent allergic reactions, etc. That is why FDA has regulated their safe use. But it has not approved acupuncture for efficacy in any condition. Cheers, Santosh On Friday, January 31, 2014 10:35 PM, J. Colaco jc cola...@gmail.com wrote: On Jan 26, 2014, Roland Francis wrote: The common man knows that what Santosh says is right. Desperate and gullible people will believe in crystal therapy or things like that either from ignorance or desperation, as he said. COMMENT: 1: Nothing I read in the Herald-interview (Patricia Alvares / Tarminder Manchanda) could be classified as quackery which is an unregulated and dangerous practice of medicine, especially as quacks often attempt to discourage patients from consulting their doctor or following their doctor's advice. (This not to say that some 'regulated modern medicine practitioners do not practice dangerous medicine). 2: There is one mis-representative and potentially dangerous (to the non-discerning reader) word in Patricia Alvares' bye-line and that is curative. Otherwise, I would have no issues if any of my patients were interested in utilizing these 'Crystals' to assist in the 'healing' process . as long as they understood from me that there was a difference between healing and cure. 3: My personal take on physicians, illnesses and treatments includes the following: a: Well trained and up to date physicians should know more about illnesses, drug treatments, the drug interactions and side-effects that those who are not well trained and up to date physicians may not be aware of. (This includes lay individuals). b: Unscrupulous and unethical physicians take short cuts mainly for financial gains; and then there are the unscrupulous among the Pharma Reps who offer inducements to physicians in order 'to meet their targets'. c: Another set of the unscrupulous physicians are the ones who would (say) delay referral of patients to the specialists/sub-specialists and the specialists/sub-specialists who would delay the referral back of the patients to the primary (referring) physician after the specialty consult is completed . d: Patients often get totally confused when different doctors give vastly different opinions about the same medical issue, write a whole set of differently-named (but possibly the same generic) medications AND talk bad about
[Goanet] wrt Patricia Alvares' Healing with Crystals article in the Herald
On Jan 26, 2014, Roland Francis wrote: The common man knows that what Santosh says is right. Desperate and gullible people will believe in crystal therapy or things like that either from ignorance or desperation, as he said. COMMENT: 1: Nothing I read in the Herald-interview (Patricia Alvares / Tarminder Manchanda) could be classified as quackery which is an unregulated and dangerous practice of medicine, especially as quacks often attempt to discourage patients from consulting their doctor or following their doctor's advice. (This not to say that some 'regulated modern medicine practitioners do not practice dangerous medicine). 2: There is one mis-representative and potentially dangerous (to the non-discerning reader) word in Patricia Alvares' bye-line and that is curative. Otherwise, I would have no issues if any of my patients were interested in utilizing these 'Crystals' to assist in the 'healing' process . as long as they understood from me that there was a difference between healing and cure. 3: My personal take on physicians, illnesses and treatments includes the following: a: Well trained and up to date physicians should know more about illnesses, drug treatments, the drug interactions and side-effects that those who are not well trained and up to date physicians may not be aware of. (This includes lay individuals). b: Unscrupulous and unethical physicians take short cuts mainly for financial gains; and then there are the unscrupulous among the Pharma Reps who offer inducements to physicians in order 'to meet their targets'. c: Another set of the unscrupulous physicians are the ones who would (say) delay referral of patients to the specialists/sub-specialists and the specialists/sub-specialists who would delay the referral back of the patients to the primary (referring) physician after the specialty consult is completed . d: Patients often get totally confused when different doctors give vastly different opinions about the same medical issue, write a whole set of differently-named (but possibly the same generic) medications AND talk bad about the previous doctor. All this only results in an increased number of medications the patient has at home, the depleted bank account and bewildered patients. e: We should NOT forget the effect the filthy state of the Primary Clinics and Hospitals in Goa and the reported rudeness displayed by the staff (including physicians) has on the patients psyche. I do not even have to comment on the reports that some patients have to pay some officials to secure a much needed admission to GMC or the VIP abuse of the Coronary Care Unit for non-coronary issues. f: Add to this the pompous 'know it all' attitude of some physicians. NOW, let us try decipher who and what the patients are likely to believe / disbelieve. g: This all adds to the intense desperation, even in the non-gullible patients h: My own advice to myself is as follows: Read widely. Spend a good amount of time with the patient and try understand what the problem might be, Some patients may not tell you everything at the first go. One has to work out a possible diagnosis based on what info is available. Order investigations and medicines ONLY when required. It matters little what the patient expects me to do (i.e. request Scans or expensive medicines). I am the physician in this case and the patient is not. The patient has the right (if an adult with Mental Capacity) to refuse the treatment I prescribe BUT, he cannot tell me what to prescribe. i: Be honest always. j: Read the various Alternative Medicine sites that are out there. I definitely do NOT know everything about medical care. There just might be some value in some of those 'remedies'. I know they have not all been scientifically tested and that some of the proponents are practicing quacks. I am willing to listen to what they have to say. k: In my experience, As long as the remedies do not contain harmful ingredients (like ..say..Arsenic) or otherwise might cross-react with the medications I am prescribing or are medicines which I am unable to research, I do not play God Almighty with my clients. Over time, rapport develops and there is nothing like the 'Proof being in the Pudding'. 4: Acupuncture (since the topic came up) is being used by Cancer Centers (including in the US) for Palliative Pain relief, and so is Ganja. The US FDA approved acupuncture for pain relief in 1996. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/acupuncture/patient/page1/AllPages/Print .Recently, a team of Canada Health visited Jamaica to purchase Ganja http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140121/lead/lead1.html Speaking about Ganja (Marijuana), ganja eye drops have been tested and are being used in the alleviation of Glaucoma related issues. 5: re: the Crystals - as presented in the Herald interview. I have no problems (except the term curative). If they help relieve stress in some of my clients like Yoga or sitting by the ocean front and staring at
