Friday, March 11, 2011

Is CAM fraudulent?

According to Jann Bellamy, blogging at Science Based Medicine, much of the CAM practiced today is actionable as fraud. There's a lot to parse here. Briefly, Bellamy goes into some legal principles of fraud, provides examples of how these definitions fit many popular CAM methods, then examines the idea of privilege as a defense against charges of fraud. For example, if your unscientific claims are sanctioned by law because you are licensed as a chiropractor or ND, there is a certain scope of privilege within which you can offer treatment based on those claims. But what if you're an MD or an MD granting institution? You're on shakier legal ground. After reading Bellamy's post I'm convinced that actionable fraud is rampant in today's medical schools. Somebody needs to test those legal waters.

1 comment:

Michael Kirsch, M.D. said...

Yep, I think a lot of it is fraud. Calling creationism 'intelligent design' only changes the label, not the product.