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NEWS: Tony Sheldon Two doctors in Holland are to be prosecuted over use of complementary therapy BMJ 2008; 336: 853 [Full text]

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Three cheers for the Dutch Association against Quackery!

Alexander SD Spiers   (26 April 2008)

Three cheers for the Dutch Association against Quackery! 26 April 2008
Alexander SD Spiers, Professor of Medicine (retired). N/A. Send response to journal: Re: Three cheers for the Dutch Association against Quackery!	It is very good news that a Dutch appeal court has ordered the prosecution of two doctors and a faith healer over their treatment of Sylvia Millecam, who received misleading medical advice and died from breast cancer. She was told that she did not have cancer and unconventional therapy was recommended. The etymology of this topic is interesting. In the outspoken 19th. century, the proponents of unproven therapies spoke of "miracle cures" and the opponents roundly denounced "quacks" and "fraudsters". In more recent and more litigious times, proponents spoke of "alternative therapies" and opponents referred to "unproven remedies". The term "alternative" therapy carries a legal risk, because it implies parity with conventional treatments. The more cautious term "complementary medicine" is safer from a legal point of view, because it does not imply that conventional treatment is to be replaced. As an extreme example, at one time the proponents of the useless and toxic anticancer agent laetrile promoted it as a "nutritional supplement" thus representing it as not being a drug and not subject to legislation governing pharmaceuticals. The Dutch Medical Association (DMA) is to be applauded for its strict new rules governing doctors who practise alternative treatments. Doctors must adhere to the best available scientific proof, which if properly enforced will mean that most alternative therapies, including homeopathy, cannot be used at all. The DMA's definition of "harm to a patient" is excellent: it prohibits giving false information, raising false hopes, and advising against treatment that is generally accepted within the medical profession. I suggest a further proviso: all alternative treatments must by law be free of charges. That would probably kill alternative therapies outright and save many patients from grievous harm. Our own General Medical Council (GMC) should take a stand firmly with the Dutch Association against Quackery and their Society of Sceptics. It is certain that the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) would back the GMC. Competing interests: None declared