From: Sascha Noyes <sascha(a)pantropy.net>
Reply-To: English Wikipedia <wikien-l(a)Wikipedia.org>
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2003 11:28:47 -0500
To: English Wikipedia <wikien-l(a)Wikipedia.org>
Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Mr-Natural-Health
On Monday 08 December 2003 06:00, Fred Bauder wrote:
There is a relatively clear meaning as to what
alternative medicine is and
it includes the many methods such as acupucture, chiropractic (in all its
forms) herbal medicine, color therapy etc. Some of these are accepted and
used by medical doctors, some scoffed at but alternative medicine is an
umbrella term that includes them all. Their status in terms of reasearch
varies, sometimes by country, herbs, for example, are tested much more in
Germany than elsewhere.
Maybe you wouldn't mind sharing that "clear meaning" with us. Simply
listing
things that are considered alternative medicine does not constitute the
definition of the term.
Those who regularly use the term use it to mean the options (alternatives)
other than going to an MD.
"Western
medicine" is an equally loaded and ill-defined term.
What is meant by conventional medicine is simply what you get when you go
to a typical doctor, but more and more frequently that may include
alternative medicine.
So if I understand your logic correctly, one gets conventional medicine when
one goes to a typical doctor. But one can also increasingly get alternative
medicine there. So are conventional and alternative medicine one and the same
thing? At what point of adoption does an alternative become conventional? Or
is it even usefull to talk in terms of conventionality when discussing
medicine? (I submit that it isn't.) Maybe this illustrates that there does
perhaps not exist a clear meaning for the term "alternative medicine"?
Best,
Sascha Noyes
We had an MD here who also practiced Acupuncture (and he was quite a quack
about it too--often using it in dubious ways). That is an example of such a
use. One thing about medical doctor licensing: They are permitted to use any
method which in their judgement might be effective, for example placebos may
legitimately be prescribed in appropriate cases by a medical doctor, or
indeed any althernative method he or she might feel approriate, whether or
not there is any scientific proof of their effectiveness.
I don't think that confuses the issue or the definitions of conventional
versus alternative medicine. It just shows that there is an absence of a
sharp boundary. Conventional practice of pills and surgery is still
distinguishable from a more holistic approach whether it is a medical doctor
or an alternative practicioner delivering the service.
Fre