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submitted 1 year ago by bady@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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[-] sneezycat@sopuli.xyz 133 points 1 year ago

Homeopathy, acupuncture, ozone therapy... all "alternative medicines" basically.

[-] Tanoh@lemmy.world 76 points 1 year ago

Like the old joke, "What do you call alternative medicine that works?" "Medicine!"

If some herb, plant or extract has a proven effect it will be adopted by real medicine, and all that is left in alternative medicine is the scams that do not work.

[-] GBR24_B_S@reddthat.com 1 points 1 year ago

I worked for a medical clinic years ago.

One doctor was pushing natural hormone therapy.

I asked one of the other doctors. He wouldn’t touch it.

He told me he sees thousands of patients each year. Some number will get cancer, and some number of them will sue him.

If he prescribes a medication, he can defend himself by pointing to the medical studies showing the safety of the medication.

If he prescribes anything natural, there are no studies showing safety, because nobody can patent natural substances. Therefore there isn’t much money to be made, so nobody spends the money to do good studies.

Even if it was a miracle drug, he wouldn’t prescribe it.

[-] jon 3 points 1 year ago

Medicine is any substance that has a demonstrable healthcare effect (demonstrated through double blind tests and not some rando's anecdote). That includes natural substances.

To put it another way, medicine and natural substances are not two mutually exclusive (i.e. disjoint) sets, as you and/or your doctor friend appear to be implying.

[-] GBR24_B_S@reddthat.com 1 points 1 year ago

That’s not what I’m saying.

I agree a natural substance can be medicine.

His statement - not mine - is that it couldn’t be patented.

Therefore the profit is limited.

Therefore there are fewer studies than a comparable pharmaceutical.

Therefore when (not if) he is sued, he will be less able to defend himself.

Therefore he won’t prescribe it.

[-] jon 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks for clarifying. Although I don't agree with your doctor friend from an ethical standpoint, the point about natural products not being patentable is an interesting one and hadn't occurred to me before.

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this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
386 points (98.2% liked)

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