Most everyone is aware of the cultural shift toward "alternative" forms of health care. In 1997, an estimated 83 million Americans visited an alternative provider at least once during the year; there were 628,825,000 visits to alternative care providers, compared to only 385,919,000 visits to all primary care physicians.1
Coinciding with the rise in visits to alternative care providers is the increasing number of people using the internet for health-related information. In June, the Wall Street Journal reported that nearly 40 percent of all American adults on line, roughly 22 million, searched for health information on the internet last year.
Donna Ladd, writing for the Village Voice, took up just this issue in the June 23-29 issue.2 Her article begins by relating the consensus of the Science Panel on Interactive Communication and Health, a group of doctors, insurers, HMO representatives and online health providers: that, surprise, health information on the Web can be inaccurate! The panel, which was appointed by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, recommended that the government not get involved in regulating online health information.
The HHS director of the panel, Dr. Thomas Eng, however, did cause a stir by mentioning in a press conference that Quackwatch.com was a good site for exposing bogus health information. That raised the hackles of those in the alternative care field, because Quackwatch.com (nÐ December 1996) has been operated by retired psychiatrist Stephen Barrett,MD, certainly the most vocal and often-published detractor of alternative health care, including chiropractic. Quackwatch.com's slogan is "Your Guide to Health Fraud, Quackery, and Intelligent Decisions."
Dr. Barrett also administers the Chirobase.org website (nÐ Oct. 1998) that is "A Skeptical Guide to Chiropractic History, Theories, and Current Practices." Chirobase is cosponsored by the National Council Against Health Fraud, Inc., and Victims of Chiropractic. Helping Dr. Barrett operate Chirobase is William Jarvis,PhD, and Charles DuVall Jr.,DC.
Ms. Ladd noted in her article in the Village Voice that if a study shows that alternative therapies do not work, Dr. Barrett has no problem with it, but if a study shows positive results, he labels that study as unreliable.
"It's easy to look at something like chiropractic, see what they're doing, and describe what they're doing wrong," Dr. Barrett told the Village Voice.
It's a curious condition that allows Dr. Barrett to assess the chiropractic profession, in which he has no professional training, yet not take the medical profession to task for any of its shortcomings. Criticism of the medical profession, he said, is "way outside my scope."
Dr. Barrett told the Village Voice that most alternative therapies should be disregarded without further research. Why? "A lot of things don't need to be tested (because) they simply don't make sense."
Mary Jo Deering, the Health Communication and Telehealth staff director at HHS, made a good point to the Village Voice. She said consumers "really need to be able to avoid quackery and bias. Bias can be as damaging as outright quackery."
Peter Barry Chowka, a consultant to NIH's Office of Alternative Medicine, former national affairs editor of New Age Journal, a writer, editor and lecturer on the limitations of conventional medicine and the promise of alternative therapies, added his commentary to the Village Voice article: "He (Barrett) seems to be putting down trying to be objective." Mr. Chowka said Quackwatch.com was "consistently provocative and entertaining, and occasionally informative," but said that Dr. Barrett was "running against the tide of history."
Mr. Chowka, observing the medical profession's efforts to thwart alternative therapies, called for an end to "medical McCarthyism." He has confidence in people to make decisions about health care. "We no longer need a nanny state or a government-appointed watchdog to filter information for us," he told the Village Voice.
The Web is opening a whole new world of information. People are ordering supplements on line, asking their doctors questions, and even getting their prescriptions filled. Chiropractic patients can get referrals to DCs and access to thousands of chiropractic articles (ChiroWeb.com).
The trend toward alternative forms of health care will continue to grow, and the internet will be a driving force behind it. Meanwhile, while some in the medical profession are creating websites to discourage and disparage alternative health care, the AMA has made the astounding decision to unionize! It would seem a decision that will be a boon to alternative therapies and drive even greater numbers of people away from the MD's office.
You'll recall Peter Chowka characterizing Dr. Barrett's Quackwatch.com as "running against the tide of history." It would seem that the AMA is rowing against the same tide.
References
- Eisenberg DM, Davis RB, Ettner SL, Appel S, Wilkey S, Rompay MV, Kessler RC. Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990-97. JAMA 1998;280:1569-75.
- Ladd D. Doctor who? Diagnosing medical fraud may require a second opinion. Village Voice June 23-29, 1999.
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