More Malpractice and Hogwash from Hawaii Public Radio's Dr. Kozak -- This Time It's Quackupuncture

On July 11, 2016, Kathleen Kozak, MD, had acupuncturist Joe Bright on her Hawaii Public Radio show Body Talk. Kozak and Bright assured us that he had years of training and is fully qualified to treat what ails us. He proceeded to tell a series of anecdotes about amazing results he had achieved with acupuncture. The first and last resort of a quack is the anecdote or testimonial, a little tool that allows him to make up stories. Little is said about proper scientific studies and clinical trials. Several callers told stories of their own recoveries that they attributed to Bright’s treatments. Some of them sounded like they were reading from scripts.

Bright made fantastic claims about his skill in using pulse diagnosis of pregnancy and to determine fetal sex. There is no good evidence for pulse diagnosis of anything other than a fast or slow pulse. It’s a delusion and a fraud. He also claims he can effect immediate cures of the common cold and of swine flu, though he seems to confuse the two diseases. Of course, it’s hogwash in either case.

Bright says he does a little bloodletting for certain conditions by cutting a vein behind the knee. And he cuts or pricks himself and drains blood to treat insomnia. Back to medieval times and blood-letting, courtesy of Kozak and HPR. Bright sounds like an emotionally unstable “cutter,” a person who cuts himself to relieve anxiety or depression. He might have gotten into acupuncture by way of his fascination with blades cutting and entering flesh.  

Through all this Kozak, typically, did not ask a single skeptical or intelligent question. She didn’t challenge even Bright’s most preposterous claims and practices. She certainly did not challenge the basic tenet of acupuncture’s alternative physiology that is the basis for allowing acupuncturists to practice medicine and get away with murder, sometimes literally.

We now have technology that allows us to see single molecules, but the (mythical) acupuncture points and meridians have still not been found. How could people who were barely out of the Stone Age have discovered such structures anyway? This is the myth of The Magical Chinaman. It’s all hogwash that special interest groups have used to allow them to play doctor and carve out exemptions to anti-fraud laws so they can make any health claims they want. All this is fine with Kozak.

Some people pay for this legalized fraud with their lives. Some 15 years ago an acquaintance named Raymoon regularly scolded me for my skepticism of alternative medicine, which I see as mostly a clever rebranding of quackery and fraudulent medicine. He was determined to create a school on Maui that would teach acupuncture and Chinese medicine. He said he was living proof of its wonders: a cardiologist had had him on a drug for many years to treat a congenital heart condition. The drug kept him alive, the doctor told him.

But Raymoon had also been going to an acupuncturist, who recently told him he was cured and he no longer had to take the medicine prescribed by the MD. He only needed maintenance acupuncture sessions. He quit taking the medication and gloated, “See, I’m fine, I’m cured. The medical doctor was wrong. The acupuncturist saved my life.”

A few weeks later Raymoon died of a heart attack. He was 35 years old. I managed to speak with a pathologist familiar with the case. He said Raymoon never should have died, that he was killed by the acupuncturist. Then he told me of another case he was familiar with, that of another man in his mid-30s. He had gone to an acupuncturist for an infection that should have been treated immediately with antibiotics. The acupuncturist did nothing but delay proper treatment and allow the infection to spread. The young man, who had been otherwise healthy, died a horrible death from sepsis.

The media, including public radio and public television, are largely to blame for deaths such as these. Broadcast and print coverage of acupuncture and other forms of fraudulent alternative medicine has been almost 100% positive and breathlessly promotional for decades. The public has been indoctrinated and Raymoon had no reason to doubt the claims about acupuncture; I am the only one who ever told him it was all bullshit.

All the quack systems marketed as alternative, holistic, natural or eastern are treated as sacred cows by the media. They are implicitly above all criticism, rational examination and honest discussion. There is never a serious investigative report or so much as a hint in the media that a single one of their claims might not be true. Not even the supposedly honest professionals at public radio and public television dare tell the truth.

The pathologist I spoke with said he believes there are many cases like Raymoon’s because the state law allows acupuncturists to play doctor and nobody is held accountable when things go horrible wrong, which they often do. So now we have, for example, Maui Kids Acupuncture, a clinic owned and run by acupuncturist Yumiko Freeman, who specializes in pediatrics and claims she can successfully treat food allergies, anxiety, bed wetting, all kinds of digestive problems, rashes, colds, and influenza , “to name a few.”

This is all outrageous fraud, and some of the claims could be deadly. Yet she and others in her trade routinely make such claims without opposition from regulators. So people naturally think the claims must be true. There are dozens of clinics like this operating in Hawaii. Acupuncturists are effectively exempt from anti-fraud laws, food-and-drug laws, medical device laws, and reckless endangerment laws; as are naturopaths and chiropractors. In fact, all these pseudo-professions have their ludicrous, quasi-religious dogmas written into the laws of Hawaii and some other states.

Kozak is okay with all this. She repeated the shibboleth popular with acupuncturists and other quacks, that the NIH is studying it, so it must be valid. In reality the NIH had the Office of Alternative Medicine shoved down its throat by legislators corrupted by lobbyists for fraudulent medicine, and it was required to spend the money allotted. Even so, studying a treatment is not the same as proving it works, something Kozak does not seem to understand.

Many years of expensive tax-funded studies suggest that acupuncture has marginal benefit in some kinds of nausea, and not much else. Almost any kind of counter-irritation or placebo could yield comparable results. What ever happened to the miracles of healing, the major pain relief, the drug-addiction cures, and the surgical anesthesia promised by acupuncturists and their boosters in the wake of Nixon’s trip to China almost 45 years ago? This is where it all started when Maoists hoaxed the American entourage with fake acupuncture anesthesia demonstrations and the Yankees fell for it.

In fact, the millions spent by the OAM on studying the various modes of alternative medicine so far appear to have been completely wasted, as the studies have yielded nothing to justify the cost and risks of the treatments or the cost of maintaining the office. Unfortunately, no amount of negative evidence is likely to change the minds and behavior of the true believers, the promoters, the unethical media, the practitioners themselves, or the politicians lobbied and corrupted by the latter.

There is not a scrap of evidence to support the wild claims made by acupuncturists about an alternative anatomy and physiology, discovered thousands of years ago, that can be used to prevent and treat every disease under the sun. The claims are delusional and fraudulent, yet the law allows them to be made in promotional materials and advertisements. Failure to point this out is another Kozak lie by omission. She is a resolute propagandist and is determined not to tell HPR listeners the truth about acupuncture and other forms of fraudulent alternative medicine.

Since Kozak believes that acupuncture dogma is true simply because it is ancient and Chinese, she presumably also believes in the efficacy of animal-part medicine that is decimating wildlife all over the globe, and she supports the slaughter of endangered animals (rhinos, tigers, bears, etc) for their horns, penises, gall bladders and other parts. 

Protest rather than pledge until Hawaii Public Radio stops promoting health fraud and generally abides by the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics and the similar code for electronic media. They must strive to tell the whole truth, and to foster discussion and debate; not to propagandize and indoctrinate. Otherwise there is no reason for rational people, especially rational health professionals, to support the station. 

Links to all my blogs: www.KurtButlerBlogs.blogspot.com. 

For more detailed critiques of various forms of quackery, including naturopathy, see my book A Consumer’s Guide to “Alternative Medicine”. It was expertly edited by legendary quack buster Stephen Barrett, MD.  The critics say:

"Superb!" -- Dr. Victor Herbert in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Excellent" -- National Council Against Health Fraud.

"Five Stars" -- Cooking Light.

"Thought provoking; a great book" -- American Journal of Health Promotion.  

When the book was published almost 30 years ago it was strongly praised by responsible health experts and the rare responsible media, but trashed by new-age critics and even vandalized in bookstores by new-age fanatics. It is as true and relevant as ever, and has been mostly vindicated by time. Yet my courageous and far-sighted publisher, the venerable Prometheus Books, is still sitting on lots of copies. Please help validate their integrity by buying a copy. Or two or more as gifts. Perhaps 10 for your local school library and health classes. See their website for assorted discounts. Make them an offer. (My royalties are insignificant; this little promo is for the benefit of one of the world's great publishers, Prometheus Books.) 

Maui's future foretold: Barbarians In Paradise -- Terror Comes to Maui. This is a prophetic flash novel about a future police state and those who rebel against it. Available in paperback and ebook at Amazon.com. 

Hawaii Public Radio MD Talk-Show Host and Producer are Caught in Corruption Scandal

A major corruption scandal is brewing at Hawaii Public Radio (HPR). As I have documented in previous blogs, Kathleen Kozak, MD, and HPR have abandoned science and consumer protection in health care and embraced medical relativism, quackery and brazen health fraud. Kozak’s weekly show Body Talk is largely a forum for deceiving and indoctrinating listeners rather than informing them. The question has always been why? Now we know the ugly truth, though not all the details.

It is easy to understand why the likes of Oprah, Dr. Oz, Larry King, and other commercial talkers deceive listeners and pander to the lowest common ignorance. It’s all about numbers, nothing else. They’re in pursuit of ratings and advertising dollars. Truth, ethics, professionalism and the well-being of their audience mean nothing, so anything goes.

But public radio is supposed to be more professional, ethical and truly informative and helpful. It claims higher standards of journalism, fairness, respect for listeners, respect for the truth, and overall excellence. And we count on medical doctors to be ethical and to act in our interest. They are supposed to be the ultimate professionals, dedicated to excellence in evidence-based healing. So why is Hawaii Public Radio letting medical doctor Kozak’s quackophilia drag it into the gutter of deception?

We recently learned the shocking truth from a confidential source inside HPR. It’s not just a problem with the new-age virus (NAV) that suppresses areas and circuits of the brain involved in rational thinking; it’s also plain, old-fashion cynicism, greed and corruption. This person referred to Kozak and her producer Beth-Ann Kozlovich as the Kook and the Crook, then quickly added that they’re both both. The show draws a sizable audience, so management looks the other way and ignores complaints from discerning listeners. Now the HPR bosses will be caught up in the scandal.

In previous posts I document and discuss many instances of journalistic and medical malpractice that Kozak has engaged in. There is no point in repeating them all here, as it’s a long litany of deceptions – lying explicitly, lying by omission and lying with twisted logic. If you have not read the previous posts in this blog, I urge you to do so. Just scroll down.

In this discussion I will refer to comments that Kozak and her guest made during the July 4, 2016, broadcast of Body Talk. It was classic Kozak bullshit and it illustrates the fantastical, delusional nature of her medical philosophy. As we shall see, however, it turns out there is a certain method to her madness, a rational motive for her betrayal of reason.

Can you guess who Kozak’s guest was that day? That’s right, yet another naturopath, Monique Yuen. She had more wonderful treatments that dumb old MDs are too ignorant to use because they only treat symptoms and don’t care about the root causes of diseases like NDs do. Their sloganeering would be laughable if it weren’t so absurd, fraudulent and dangerous.

Yuen says she specializes in the thyroid and the adrenals, and she assumes that anyone who complains of fatigue probably has disorders of one or both of these glands and needs thorough testing.

Before continuing, Kozak assures us that NDs have attended a naturopathic college for four years, same as MDs and medical school. So, they have equivalent training, knowledge, and competence. We can trust and believe naturopaths. This is deceptive for a host of reasons I discussed in previous posts in this blog. It is a lie that Kozak tells again and again.

One naturopath who Kozak refuses to interview, quote or discuss is Britt Hermes. Actually, she is an ex-ND, having left the pseudo-profession for work in real science. I have repeatedly suggested to Kozak and Kozlovich that they invite Hermes for a chat. They won’t do it because their job, as they see it, is to promote naturopathy, not to question it or allow others to question it in their forum. They are no different from Oprah, Oz and the other commercial hucksters.

Britt Hermes is smart and brave. Most students and beginning practitioners of naturopathy, chiropractic and acupuncture who are smart enough to see through the nonsense they’ve been taught are not courageous enough to quit. Or their financial and time investments are so high they are trapped. Hermes, who had a “successful” practice, also has a conscience, and she admits, “I was a quack.” To access her fine blog posts go to www.NaturopathicDiaries.com.

Kozak justifies presenting fringe practitioners by saying that she is simply presenting a variety of views so listeners can decide for themselves. However, she refuses to present views that dissent from the fringe ideas and criticize them. She obviously does not really want people to be fully informed so they can make rational decisions. She wants listeners to blindly accept the new-age dogmas of medical relativism. All healing systems are equally true and valid and we must strive to understand and incorporate elements of each into dealing with all health challenges.

If Yuen’s tests indicate low levels of thyroid or adrenal hormones, supplemental hormones are prescribed along with dozens of naturopathic treatments (“glandular support”) for which there is no evidence of effectiveness. If the tests come back normal but the person still complains of fatigue, Yuen says, the problem is “subclinical” glandular weakness. In that case the hormones are left out but the “glandular support” is continued indefinitely. This includes a dozen or so herbal drugs, lots of dietary supplements and homeopathic holy waters. Plus other snake oils and manipulations (psychological and physical) too numerous to mention here. There is no evidence that these things reduce the fatigue.

So if you tell a naturopath that you’re tired all the time, whatever the hormone tests show you will be sold a grab bag of snake oils to “exercise and heal the glands”. How does Yuen know the proper doses for the glandular-support snake oils? She supplies the patient with a saliva test kit for adrenal stress. This is used several times per day for days or weeks.

In addition to charging for the hormone level test, the naturopath can charge several hundred dollars for the test kit. But it might be even more profitable to supply it for free since it helps sell the enormously profitable snake oils. This is fraud multiplied and leveraged by more fraud. It’s all a crude and expensive scam. Predictably, Kozak likes it. Now we know why.

Thanks to ignorant and corrupt media and legislators, naturopaths can get away with all manner of health frauds that MDs cannot because NDs have their own “separate but legally equal" standard of care which includes routinely lying to clients, using bogus diagnostic tests and selling bogus remedies. Since they are licensed and have their own standard of care they are immune to criminal and civil charges that would put an MD in prison, and cost him or her millions of dollars as well as the license to practice. By partnering with NDs and promoting them, Kozak, an MD, has found a way to get a piece of this lucrative action. Does Kozak's employer Straub Clinic have a role in any of this? I do not know at this time, but some degree of complicity seems certain.

Back to the show. Kozak answers the phone and a caller launches into a long, complicated and utterly absurd spiel on Ayurvedic treatments for the conditions being discussed. Kozak thanks her, agrees, and says, yes, we should do all this Ayurvedic stuff on top of the naturopath’s many prescriptions. All these treatments are complementary and we should integrate them into regular medicine.

Kozak says she once went to an Ayurvedic lecture and was especially impressed with tongue diagnosis. It has been around for thousands of years, so it must be true, something she has also said about other ineffective and nonsensical systems. It does not occur to her that animal-parts medicine, astrology, numerology, necromancy and many other silly and dangerous superstitions have also been around for thousands of years, but this does not make them true. Or maybe it does for Kozak. Maybe she believes in all of them.

However, the continuing belief in these systems proves not that they are true, but that humans, despite our formidable cognitive abilities and tools, are perfectly capable of believing in preposterous nonsense for many centuries, even after it has been repeatedly and thoroughly proved to be nonsense. This is why quackery is the world’s oldest and most consistently-profitable occupation. People want to believe in magic, and they resent being told that it’s all deception and that Santa Claus does not really exist. This love of the magical and mystical is one of our great weaknesses. Kozak and her ilk spread and exploit this weakness.

I have always thought it ironic that NAV-positive people usually take pride in trying to learn about any procedure, test or treatment recommended by an MD, of not blindly believing their medical doctors, of being skeptical of scientific medicine; yet they blindly swallow the heaps of hogwash fed to them by naturopaths, chiropractors, acupuncturists and other “alternative” practitioners, many of whom are treated like infallible gurus by their clients. This shows that once the NAV gets into the brain, it ravages some specific types of neurological circuits while sparing other types. 

The New Age Virus, is much like Toxoplasma gondii, the microscopic parasite that infects cats, rats, humans and other animals. This amoeba, "wanting" to get inside the cat for the next stage in its life cycle, tweaks the brain circuits of the rat so it becomes perversely sexually attracted to, rather than terrified of and repelled by the smell of cat urine. Likewise, NAV tweaks the brains of some of the most intelligent and compassionate people into the jaws of superstition and self-delusion by suppressing circuits involved in skepticism and critical thinking.

Kozak seems to be unaware that scientific medicine has earned our respect with a century and a half of spectacular achievements. Through the previous one hundred centuries of post-stone-age civilization life was predictably nasty, brutish and short for most people. It was less than two hundred years ago that we started applying scientific method to medicine and reaping the benefits. Now we routinely survive scores of diseases and injuries that previously had no effective remedies. Potential pandemics have been (and continue to be) snuffed in the bud by vaccinations and other science-based measures. Average lifespans have tripled. Kozak, Koslovich and HPR seem oblivious and want to take us back a couple centuries.

Naturopathy – along with acupuncture, Ayurveda, chiropractic and the rest – has no such record of achievements and has actively opposed the most effective science-based measures, such as vaccinations. Medical doctors and allied scientists have won many Nobel Prizes and have made major advances in understanding our organs and their diseases. But no naturopath has ever won a Nobel Prize because there is no science behind their theories and nostrums. All they have to offer is dogmatic sloganeering that promotes fraudulent services, products and devices. Yet they demand respect and full equivalence with MDs.

Poor nations hit by natural and economic disasters send out pleas for vaccines, antibiotics, and anti-HIV drugs, not acupuncture needles and homeopathic holy waters. Could Kozak really not know all this?

The next caller told us that people with thyroid disorders should use a “detoxification” program and iodine supplements. Yuen added that she prescribes tyrosine, selenium and magnesium to support the thyroid. Kozak agreed with all this. Yes, keep piling it on. There’s gold in them thar mountains of manure.

Is Kozak really so deluded that she cannot see the absurdity (not to mention the cost and risk) of subjecting patients to scores of snake oils and procedures from all the healing systems and dogmas of the world because they might work? Or, more precisely, because someone somewhere at some time said they might work? Or is she just pretending to this level of madness for ulterior motives?

I have never believed that Kozak is crazy, stupid or demented. Rather, she is infected with NAV and the virus has selectively suppressed or destroyed certain circuits in her brain. Now she lacks critical thinking skills, and her cynical and opportunistic side has become dominant. In some cases the virus eventually causes the host to become a full-blown psychopath, but I don’t think Kozak is there – at least not yet.

Nevertheless, as the corruption scandal unfolds it will become apparent that Kozak’s motive is ambition or, less politely, avarice. The motives of her NAV-positive partner-in-crime, producer Beth-Ann Koslovich, are much the same: cynicism and greed in combination with new-age ideology.

HPR deserves a protest, not a pledge. It has failed listeners by being complicit in this deceitful, unethical scheme and it will have to work hard to regain the public’s trust.  

Links to all my blogs: www.KurtButlerBlogs.blogspot.com. 

For more detailed critiques of various forms of quackery, including naturopathy, see my book A Consumer’s Guide to “Alternative Medicine”. It was expertly edited by legendary quack buster Stephen Barrett, MD.  The critics say:

"Superb!" -- Dr. Victor Herbert in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Excellent" -- National Council Against Health Fraud.

"Five Stars" -- Cooking Light.

"Thought provoking; a great book" -- American Journal of Health Promotion.  

When the book was published almost 30 years ago it was strongly praised by responsible health experts and the rare responsible media, but trashed by new-age critics and even vandalized in bookstores by new-age fanatics. It is as true and relevant as ever, and has been mostly vindicated by time. Yet my courageous and far-sighted publisher, the venerable Prometheus Books, is still sitting on lots of copies. Please help validate their integrity by buying a copy. Or two or more as gifts. Perhaps 10 for your local school library and health classes. See their website for assorted discounts. Make them an offer. (My royalties are insignificant; this little promo is for the benefit of one of the world's great publishers, Prometheus Books.) 

Maui's future foretold: Barbarians In Paradise -- Terror Comes to Maui. This is a prophetic flash novel about a future police state and those who rebel against it. Available in paperback and ebook at Amazon.com. 

Hawaii Public Radio is not Worthy of Your Pledge

This continues a discussion started here: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6428282971150371816#editor/target=post;postID=3049990968625625546;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=3;src=postname
When Dr. Kathleen Kozak, MD, stopped regularly hosting naturopath Diana Ostroff on her radio show and letting her run her scams unchallenged, I was optimistic that Kozak had finally done her homework and responded to a barrage of criticism from medical doctors and from myself. I was wrong.

I now suspect that Ostroff herself ended her appearances on Kozak’s show because she was drawing too much heat. When using fraudulent diagnostic and therapeutic methods a certain amount of discretion is essential. If you already have enough pigeons to fry there’s no point advertising for more and drawing attention to yourself.

 On June 13 Kozak hosted a different naturopath and she once again displayed her abysmal ignorance, dishonesty, irresponsibility, and wanton violation of ethical principles both as a physician and as a broadcaster. Here are some examples.

Dr. Kozak introduced the naturopath as, and repeatedly called him, “a naturopathic medical doctor.” But there is no such thing. Naturopaths append “ND” to their names, not “NMD.” He never corrected her. It is surprising that someone so enamored with naturopathy does not know what its practitioners are called.

Naturopaths love anecdotes and Kozak’s guest told about a woman who, he said, suffered from hypothyroidism and fatigue. He treated her with thyroxine, which is what a medical doctor would do if the hypothyroidism were confirmed by a blood test. That is the standard treatment for most cases. But, typically, the ND added a bunch of unnecessary and potentially dangerous nostrums such as testosterone, progesterone, and intravenous vitamins and amino acids.

There is almost never a reason to give nutrients (other than saline) intravenously, but Kozak, typically, did not ask what benefit they or the sex hormones provided. Nor did she ask whether such treatments have been written up in peer-reviewed journals. Instead, her attitude was like that of young Tommy listening to Mr. Science explain some wonder of the world. Gosh, Mr. Science, what healing miracle will naturopaths come up with next?

Then Kozak let the ND run the tired old candida scam, which involves tricking people into believing they have a disease that doesn’t really exist, then selling them all kinds of nostrums to cure it. She didn’t have a single skeptical or intelligent comment or question about this nonsense, so it came as no surprise when she let him promote his bogus stem-cell therapy for chronic back pain. She didn’t tell her audience that there is no good evidence for the expensive treatment and that it’s not FDA approved.

The ND described another preposterous treatment he uses for chronic pain. He injects homeopathic solutions into acupuncture points. Homeopathy is 100% quackery and acupuncture is 98% quackery. But Kozak is NAV-positive (new-age virus positive), which causes serious brain damage, and she seems to have lost all capacity for critical thinking. She expressed no skepticism whatsoever. Like so many of her shows, this one could have been a paid infomercial. Kozak is more a propagandist for nonsense than a medical reporter or educator.

To repeat what I said in the previous blog post, naturopathy, like tobacco, is hazardous to your health when used as directed. Its standard of care necessarily results in bad medicine and malpractice. It is irresponsible, unethical and dishonest of Kozak to promote it to trusting listeners. Since she can’t think of intelligent questions to ask, at the very least she should host knowledgeable critics and accept calls from skeptics who disagree with NDs.

And, also to repeat, it is intolerable that HPR's only show relating to health and medicine should be largely dedicated to the uncritical promotion of misinformation, quackery and fraud while it withholds crucial information. It is irresponsible, unreasonable and unethical by any standard, and it is in gross violation of the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists. It is also in violation of HPR’s mandate and mission as most people understand them.

 Kozak should answer the questions I posed in this post: http://nogivetohawaiipublicradio.blogspot.com/2016/02/hmsa-also-gets-cozier-with-quacks-aids.html

 Or she should host a debate between an ND and a critic. But I know she won’t, so I renew and continue my call for rational people, especially health care and education professionals, to protest rather than pledge.

Links to all my blogs: www.KurtButlerBlogs.blogspot.com. 

For more detailed critiques of various forms of quackery, including naturopathy, see my book A Consumer’s Guide to “Alternative Medicine”. It was expertly edited by legendary quack buster Stephen Barrett, MD.  The critics say:

"Superb!" -- Dr. Victor Herbert in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Excellent" -- National Council Against Health Fraud.

"Five Stars" -- Cooking Light.

"Thought provoking; a great book" -- American Journal of Health Promotion.  

When the book was published almost 30 years ago it was strongly praised by responsible health experts and the rare responsible media, but trashed by new-age critics and even vandalized in bookstores by new-age fanatics. It is as true and relevant as ever, and has been mostly vindicated by time. Yet my courageous and far-sighted publisher, the venerable Prometheus Books, is still sitting on lots of copies. Please help validate their integrity by buying a copy. Or two or more as gifts. Perhaps 10 for your local school library and health classes. See their website for assorted discounts. Make them an offer. (My royalties are insignificant; this little promo is for the benefit of one of the world's great publishers, Prometheus Books.) 

Maui's future foretold: Barbarians In Paradise -- Terror Comes to Maui. This is a prophetic flash novel about a future police state and those who rebel against it. Available in paperback and ebook at Amazon.com. 

HMSA Also Gets Cozier with Quacks; Aids and Abets Fraud

 HMSA’s decision to let members choose naturopaths (NDs) as their primary care physicians raises many questions. Actually, these questions should have been asked long ago when ND licensure was being rammed down our throats and critics like myself were being treated like mangy mutts during the legislative hearings.  But better late than never, so here are a few of the questions that will eventually have to be answered:

If an ND advises a client family with young children to avoid all vaccinations (or to deviate from the CDC recommended schedule) because they are dangerous and ineffective (as per their dogma about “toxins”), should the ND be paid for the consultation?

If the children in that family then contract, say, measles or pertussis, and return to the ND for treatment (assuming the parents are that foolish), should the ND be reimbursed for the subsequent rounds of high colonics, megavitamins, toxic herbal teas, painful manipulations and other modes of child abuse common to their trade?

If a person with severe arthritis is treated by an ND according to the naturopathic standard of care, which means taking several dozen vitamins, minerals, glandulars, homeopathics, enzymes, herbs, amino acids and the like (often 50 to 100 pills per day, which the ND happens to sell from his or her office), should the ND be paid for the consultations? And who pays for the worthless and often toxic nostrums?  

Since the 1980s NDs have been denouncing anti-retrovirals as worthless and deadly, and claiming that they can cure HIV/AIDS and cancer with herbs, megavitamins, diets, acupuncture and the like. But Magic Johnson and millions of others are alive and well thanks to anti-retrovirals, while those who believe(d) the NDs die(d) prematurely by years, even decades.

Though it would be difficult to calculate with precision, there is undoubtedly a high body count associated with the fraudulent activities of naturopaths and the fools in government, the media and the insurance industry who aid and abet them. (That count would make a great subject for a PhD dissertation.) If a person with HIV/AIDS or a potentially-lethal cancer is dissuaded by an ND from undergoing proven medical therapy in favor of the usual grab-bag of “natural” therapies that do no good and are often harmful, should the ND be paid for the consultations and the worthless treatments?

About one half of ND training and practice is in homeopathy, which they put to good use. Homeopathy is the bread and butter of the trade and NDs often sell expensive little bottles of the holy water or holy pills (there is nothing in them but water and/or alcohol and sometimes sugar) from their offices. But homeopathy is now being exposed for the silly, preposterous scam that it is. After a series of blistering critiques and exposes, the British Health Service has finally come into the 21^st Century and moved to stop reimbursements for homeopathic holy water and consultations.

Meanwhile HMSA is doing its best to further integrate quackery and fraud into mainstream healthcare. This raises serious ethical and legal questions about criminal and civil liability for complicity and conspiracy to defraud. What did they know and when did they know it? I have been explaining to all the relevant health professionals, legislators, and regulators for 20 years that naturopathy is an opportunistic, eclectic collection of claptrap that adds up to systematic quackery and criminal fraud.

What about when an ND diagnoses an alleged disease that MDs don’t recognize (say, yeast hypersensitivity syndrome), using unproved diagnostic devices and methods that have no scientific basis, followed by treatments with pharmaceutical anti-fungals, dozens of mega-nutrients, herbal drugs and other dangerous nostrums? Should the ND be compensated for these worthless services and products?

Did HMSA deciders learn anything about naturopathy before they got cozy with it? Do they know, for example, that many NDs use computerized diagnostic gadgets that magically analyze a patient’s vibrations to find the appropriate homeopathic and herbal remedies for that person with those symptoms at that time?

A medical doctor who uses such an unapproved and fraudulent device could lose her license, be fined and even go to prison. But it’s okay for NDs because it’s their standard of care to use all kinds of unproved diagnostic methods and treatments, and to lie to their clients about them. Because they are licensed and have their own standard of care they are exempt from anti-fraud, consumer-protection laws.

Finally, suppose the NDs who are chosen to be PCPs refer their patients to other NDs, and to chiropractors, acupuncturists, energy healers and other pretenders rather than to properly-trained medical doctors. Help! Is there an adult in the house? Who will be liable for the unnecessary injuries and deaths? Do NDs pay insurance premiums commensurate with their increasing responsibilities (and irresponsibility) and consequent potential to harm clients?

And will it ever be possible to hold an ND criminally or civilly accountable for grave injury when their standard of care necessarily results in bad medicine and malpractice? Naturopathy, like tobacco, is legal and, like tobacco, is hazardous to your health when used as directed. But unlike tobacco, it carries no warning label. As with tobacco in the old days, the media promote naturopathy through ads and propaganda disguised as journalism, and refuse to investigate its dirty underbelly.

If you think I’m exaggerating about the absurdity and dangers of naturopathy, see for yourself by reading a naturopathic text that is popular with the ND/student/client community, Better Health Through Natural Healing: How to Get Well Without Drugs or Surgery by Ross Trattler, ND, who used to live on Maui. This 600-page book is proof that NDs get downright medieval on their clients. It recommends all the nonsense cited here and a great deal more. Neither Trattler nor his publisher has responded to my repeated requests for references to support the bizarre prescriptions and claims. None are provided in the book.

It is too costly, health-wise and financially, to indulge everybody’s favorite fantasy about how the body works. The emergence of a plethora of imaginary alternative physiologies to justify the alternative medicines is so far beyond absurd that an adequate expletive for this rot has yet to be coined. Being proudly eclectic, NDs embrace them all -- acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal drugs, spine cracking, megavitamins -- anything they can make money on. It is clear that health-care outcomes will continue to deteriorate while costs rise until we abandon the separate but equal standard of care nonsense and apply one standard to all healthcare practices and claims. That standard must be science-based and evidence-based. In other words, let's get real already. 

Links to all my blogs: www.KurtButlerBlogs.blogspot.com. 

For more detailed critiques of various forms of quackery, including naturopathy, see my book A Consumer’s Guide to “Alternative Medicine”. It was expertly edited by legendary quack buster Stephen Barrett, MD.  The critics say:

"Superb!" -- Dr. Victor Herbert in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Excellent" -- National Council Against Health Fraud.

"Five Stars" -- Cooking Light.

"Thought provoking; a great book" -- American Journal of Health Promotion.  

When the book was published almost 30 years ago it was strongly praised by responsible health experts and the rare responsible media, but trashed by new-age critics and even vandalized in bookstores by new-age fanatics. It is as true and relevant as ever, and has been mostly vindicated by time. Yet my courageous and far-sighted publisher, the venerable Prometheus Books, is still sitting on lots of copies. Please help validate their integrity by buying a copy. Or two or more as gifts. Perhaps 10 for your local school library and health classes. See their website for assorted discounts. Make them an offer. (My royalties are insignificant; this little promo is for the benefit of one of the world's great publishers, Prometheus Books.) 

Maui's future foretold: Barbarians In Paradise -- Terror Comes to Maui. This is a prophetic flash novel about a future police state and those who rebel against it. Available in paperback and ebook at Amazon.com.