If Woowoos Ran The Emergency Room
"A pinch of Chinese medicine for that heart attack, darling?"
"He's coding! Quick, somebody get the crystals and dreamcatchers!"
I made that top bit up, but there's more like that below, as the Brit comedy show That Mitchell and Look does "Homeopathic A&E" ("Accidents & Emergencies -- the Emergency Room in Britspeak):
via BoingBoing
Three drops of Ford Mondeo!
jerry at July 5, 2009 2:30 PM
Funny!
kishke at July 5, 2009 4:27 PM
I've always thought that M&W put on a much funnier show than "Little Britain" which seems to get much more publicity. Oh well.
Thanks for posting that Amy. That's some good comedy right there.
BlogDog at July 5, 2009 5:39 PM
Damn funny. Damn Funny.
Robert at July 5, 2009 8:09 PM
Thanks damn good chuckle....
John Paulson at July 5, 2009 8:24 PM
Hi Amy.
I was initially very skeptical of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, but came around, which was not easy for a hard-core science geek who's been an atheist since the age of 11.
Some years ago controlled studies were finally done here in the US of the use of acupuncture to relieve pain. The verdict was that it worked well for many kinds of pain, but not all, which is precisely what its practitioners claim.
I'm married to a wonderful woman who has both an M.D. (from China) and who studied Chinese medicine under the man considered its top practitioner in China. She's also co-authored genetics papers in top journals with a Nobel Laureate in Medicine (Sydney Brenner).
I'm aware that data is not the plural of anecdote, so take the following as you will.
I have seen her use acupuncture to cure herself of a shoulder injury that had long prevented her from moving her arm more than 90 degrees.
Friends also pay her on a regular basis to fly to San Diego to treat their leg problems with acupuncture. She's twice cured food poisoning I've had using Chinese herbal extracts (in pill form). The stuff knocked out both the cramps and the bacteria.
What impresses me most about the Chinese approach is how down to earth it is. Unlike, say, Indian medicine, they are quite clear on the limits of what they do and what the potential toxicities are. True, they do have some hokey sounding "theories" about why some of this works, but I see that as after-the-fact rationalization of what has been worked out by trial and error.
One last thing: the Chinese are now actively researching the scientific basis -- or lack thereof -- of Chinese medicine. I wonder how many of the hokey approaches are doing that.
AlamedaMike at July 6, 2009 1:46 AM
AlamedaMike! Wow! You sold me. What you have seen has made me a believer. Just to let you know that is sarcasm.
Let break down you letter. First you use the linking of Job with Chinese Medicine. It is like having an Musician like Celine Dion saying she loves such and such microphone. Thus because she is such a good singer the microphone must be great. First off I look up to doctors, hell if I were not so lazy I would have loved to be a doctor. But in the end Doctors can be idiots and morons like the rest of people... Hell I have had a medical doctor here in Korea trained in western medicine tell me that eating DOG is a good way to build stamina during the summer months. Still that means I am not going to go out and start eating Lucy or Fido. Degrees and expertise means shit without proof.
Next I also love how you link your wife writing a paper with a renowned Nobel winning doctor to how Chinese medicine is effective. So with that logic if I had lunch with Bill Clinton I can say that my skills in diplomacy are better then my friends. Hell in that logic Monica Lewinsky by sucking Bills dick must be a goddess in Diplomacy and Government. Hey maybe that is why Hillary got the job as Secretary of State. In the end one thing has little to do with the other.
Wow you have seen here cure food poisoning twice with herbal medicine. Let me introduce you to my friend Susie, she is a nurse she has seen thousand of aches and pains cured with an aspirin or Tylenol. She even seen serious food poisoning also treated with drugs and heck even machines called stomach pumps... Thousands beats twice every day...
As to the Chinese government doing research in Chinese medicine I take with a homeopathic tincture of salt. Yay it might prove something but also they could just ignore what they want and publish only what is good. Heck here in Korea they have and institute that researches into Kimchi a Korean side dish. Heck I love kimchi, its great with Korean BBQ, but still it means shit that yah maybe Kimchi might prevent SARS in one out of thousand people. But washing hands will actually doing a hundred times better. Doing research into something does not give it legitimacy. They can do all the research into Chinese medicine it still does not mean that there is not ten things better out there.
Also wow it so nice that Chinese medicine is so down to earth. In the end how nice and kind a doctor is or how old a medicine or how Chinese medicine is so rad and neat mean sit all again is if it gives me the runs and I still have a headache or muscle ache after all that.
Now do not get me started onto Oriental Medicine and animals....
John Paulson at July 6, 2009 9:57 PM
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