Not just the gullible, but the desperate, too. There's another class of people that fall for this stuff, and I am not sure what label (if any) could apply, but

Not just the gullible, but the desperate, too. There's another class of people that fall for this stuff, and I am not sure what label (if any) could apply, but I think of people like Steve Jobs. Arguably, his diagnoses was essentially a death sentence, because few live long from what he had. That said, I don't think he was necessarily gullible. Desperate? Maybe - who wouldn't be? But he had immense resources at hand, but squandered them on treatments known for being snake oil at best. Maybe fearful would be proper - perhaps coupled with desperation - leading to easier to take, but less effective (where "less" could equal or be very, very close to zero) treatments, vs the conventional ones? I could see that, and emphasize on that choice as well.