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Agreed. "Western medicine" only exists as half of a false dichotomy. If the doctors so labeled really were stubborn and close-minded, then we would still perfo
by thirdtruck 14y ago
Agreed. "Western medicine" only exists as half of a false dichotomy.
If the doctors so labeled really were stubborn and close-minded, then we would still perform blood-lettings and chew tree mark (instead of just the active ingredient). Instead, these doctors are more open to new information; they're just willing to also incorporate the evidence against efficacy so often ignored by "alternative medicine" practitioners.
- wisty 14y agoThat's not 100% true. It's only really the case in patent protected medicines. New drugs undergo testing, to get FDA approval. New surgical treatments don't. New (and old) surgical treatments and old drugs aren't lucrative enough to warrant real testing. Surgeons will claim it's for ethical reasons, or because they just know better, or that they are artists who can't be constrained by the laws of statistics, but it's simply a lack of regulations and / or incentives.
- thirdtruck 14y agoThat's not 100% true. Correct. That's why I expressed it as a relative position instead of making any such absolute claims.