On: Steve Jobs Succumbs to Alternative Medicine

[hugh3]

"By definition, alternative medicine has either not been proved to work or has been proved not to work. You know what they call alternative medicine that has been proved to work? Medicine."

- Tim Minchin

[burgerbrain → hugh3]

Absolutely brilliant :)

For those not familiar with Tim Minchin's work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGuXCuDb1U

[pella → hugh3]

see this journal:

"Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (eCAM) is an international, peer-reviewed journal that seeks to understand the sources and to encourage rigorous research in this new, yet ancient world of complementary and alternative medicine."

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/

[burgerbrain → pella]

The point being made here is that if something has been proven to work, it is no longer alternative medicine. "Evidence based alternative" is a contradiction.

[pella → burgerbrain]

Alternative medicine is any healing practice: "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine

[burgerbrain → pella]

"Conventional medicine" being "medicine for which there actually exists evidence of it working."

[pella → burgerbrain]

source ?

don't forget : 51% Unknown effectiveness ..

http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge.jsp

one example "Unknown effectiveness"

"Pancreatic cancer New option(s) added for: Chemoradiotherapy for resected pancreatic cancer One long-term follow-up study added. It found no significant difference between adjuvant chemoradiotherapy and surgery alone for overall survival or progression-free survival at 11.7 years' follow-up. Categorisation unchanged (Unknown effectiveness), as the evidence is not strong enough to draw definitive conclusion."