The Chicago Tribune: Elizabeth Steward on the Naturopathic Fallacy

here, criticism of naturopathy expoitation:

001. at chicagotribune.com, Elizabeth Steward writes in "Commentary: Faith or Fallacy? Alternative Treatments Failed My Mother" (2018-10-19):

"we inhabit a culture where many form opinions and make decisions based on beliefs rather than evidence. Fear, hope and a grasp for control could also be propelling our willingness to embrace alternative facts on the biggest issues facing us [...] reliance on treatments without evidence of efficacy leads to more than wasted money. It can lead to false hopes, loss of ability to get affairs in order and lost opportunities for joy [...] my mother died two years after being diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. She had for years believed strongly in naturopathy, so after a six-month period of remission, when her cancer returned after a round of integrating complementary medicine with chemotherapy, she chose to treat her cancer solely with alternative treatments [...] I accepted my mother’s decision not to use chemo when her cancer came back because I knew from researching the disease that when ovarian cancer comes back, life expectancy is similar with or without chemo [...]";

a sad thing.  That of course is patient's choice.  But you can see it's how naturopathy preys.

"like a religious zealot, my mother completely and thoroughly put her faith, hope and money into treatments and practices promising miracles without any evidence that they actually worked [...] my mother’s faith in seemingly miraculous alternative treatments [...such as] alternative treatment methods [...] concoctions of cottage cheese mixed with flaxseed oil [...] thousands of dollars and hours [...] to receive vitamin C infusions [...and] supplements [...and] coffee enemas [...]";

the bogosities that don't die, for some reason.

"medical professionals are taught to rely on evidence-based practice when making decisions about how to effectively care for patients [...] what has been proved to work. We are bound by formal, transparent systems and ethical boundaries when experimenting with innovation and when making promises to patients [...]";

hear, hear.