re: #21 Desert Dog

These days, medical schools (at least the one that I went to) are big on teaching acceptance of nontraditional medicine. One aspect of that is being careful to ask patients if they are taking any supplements, herbal medicines, or other “nontraditional” treatments, because some of those can exacerbate medical problems or interact in bad ways with other medications. Another aspect is being supportive of patients who want to try nontraditional therapies, because (1) they mostly don’t hurt, and (2) they might help — we shouldn’t presume that as Western scientists we know more than everyone else.

Unfortunately, I feel like I’m seeing more and more patients who insist on nontraditional therapy instead of, rather than in addition to, traditional medicine. People who are literally dying from infections and tumors that could have been easily cured, because they refused to see a traditional doctor. It’s pretty upsetting.