Law and Magic Blog

Indian Government Agency Suggests Using Alternative Remedies To Address Coronavirus Spread: Scientists Suggest Other Approaches Are More Effective

India's Ministry of AYUSH has suggested using homeopathy and other alternative remedies to combat the spread of the coronavirus. A number of scientists have now weighed in, saying such an approach would be ill-advised. More here in an article in the New Scientist.

AYUSH is responsible for promoting alternative medicine use in India. Visit its website here.

Canadian Naturopathic Medicine and the Canadian Medical Profession: Some Concerns

Michelle Cohen, writing an opinion piece for the CBC, asks why under Canadian law naturopaths can present their credentials to the public the way that they do. The answer, she responds, is that various government regulators don't step in to enforce rules against the language in naturopathic advertising. She notes that a recent survey that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick shows that 41 percent of NB's naturopaths uses terms to describe themselves that only licensed traditional medical practitioners may use under law. The link in her piece takes you to a paywalled site. However, here's more about the clash between NB naturopaths and those who say their training is not the same as that of traditional health care professionals. And here's a link to a 2017 article about a University of Alberta study concerning naturopath rejection of vaccination.

 

More about the clash between traditionally trained Canadian physicians and naturopaths in this article from HuffPost Canada by Natalie Stechyson. Vancouver physician Jon Hislop began tweeting about his concerns about naturopathic medical treatment in February of this year. 

 

More about the status of CAM in Canada: a short bibliography.

 

H. Boon, Regulation of complementary/alternative medicine: A Canadian perspective, 10(1) Complement Ther. Med. 14-9 (March 2002).

Benston McFarland et al., Complementary and alternative medicine use in Canada and the United States, 92(10) Am. J. Public Health 1616-1618 (Oct. 2002).

Lauren Vogel, "Hodge-Podge" regulation of alternative medicine in Canada, 182(12) CMAJ (September 7, 2010).

 

 

Knaier on Homeopathy on Trial: Allen v. Hyland's, Inc., and a Failure of Evidentiary Gatekeeping

Robert G. Knaier, Fitzgerald Knaier, LLP, and California Western School of Law, is publishing Homeopathy on Trial: Allen v. Hyland’s, Inc. and a Failure of Evidentiary Gatekeeping in volume 57 of Jurimetrics (2017). Here is the abstract.

This article explores how the law, through rules governing the admissibility of expert evidence, can — but sometimes fails to — safeguard consumers from misleading scientific and medical claims. Americans spend approximately three billion dollars annually on homeopathic health-care products. But do these products actually work, and, if they do not, are there are any legal consequences for those who make money by claiming that they do? This article addresses these questions. It first explains the responsibility of trial courts to act as evidentiary “gatekeepers,” with the power to preclude the admission of unreliable evidence in support of purportedly scientific claims. It then discusses the nature, history, and evidentiary basis of homeopathy; describes a lawsuit tried to a southern California jury in 2015, in which consumers alleged that Hyland’s, Inc. misrepresented the efficacy of its homeopathic products; and outlines how evidentiary gatekeeping failed in that case — resulting in a jury verdict in favor of Hyland’s. This article concludes by considering the harms that can flow from such a failure and offers thoughts on the importance of ensuring that litigants and courts focus their efforts on precluding pseudoscience from distorting the civil justice system.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Parents, Members of Faith-Healing Church, Charged In Death of Newborn

Local officials have charged the parents of a newborn with murder after she died just hours after birth. Clackamas County, Oregon, officials say Sarah and Travis Mitchell failed to take their prematurely-born daughter, one of twins, to the hospital when she developed breathing difficulties. Mrs. Mitchell gave birth at her mother's home in Oregon City, Oregon.

The Mitchells are members of a faith-healing church, Fellowers of Christ. Two other members of the church, Sharon and Dale Hickman, who are Mrs. Mitchell's sister and brother-in-law, were convicted in the death of their child and sentenced to prison. 

More on children, faith healing, and the law here from the Pew Research Center.

Calgary (Alberta) Mother Found Guilty of Negligence In Death of Seven-Year-Old Son; Used Holistic Remedies To Treat What Turned Out To Be Strep Infection

A Calgary (Alberta, Canada) judge has found Tamara Lovett guilty of failing to provide her 7 year old son with the "necessaries" of life and of negligence leading to his 2013 death from a strep infection. Ryan was ill for more than a week before he died in his mother's apartment. One of his mother's friends offered to take the boy to a physician but Ms. Lovett refused, preferring to treat him with holistic remedies. Said the judge, “In my view, a reasonable parent would have brought Ryan in to see a doctor when his eardrum burst.” The infection spread throughout Ryan's body, leading to major organ failure. In the view of Alberta's chief medical examiner, antibiotics administered in a timely manner would have saved Ryan's life.

More here.

Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Releases Statement On Homeopathy

The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has concluded that homeopathy is not effective in treating, well, anything.  The Council examined more than 200 studies of homeopathy before coming to its conclusion. It cautions consumers that delaying or avoiding mainstream treatment in favor of homeopathic treatment in cases of chronic or serious illness could have unfortunate outcomes. Here's a link to the press release from the NHMRC. More, including statements and supporting information, here.

 

Australian Government Proposes Funding For Students Wishing To Study CAM

The Australian newspaperThe Age reports that the current Australian federal government plans to subsidize students wishing to learn about such things as homeopathy, naturopathy, iridology, and other non-traditional courses of study private universities to the tune of more than $800 million over the next three years. Meanwhile, the government is cutting general funding to public universities, according to the article. Seems an odd choice to me, if the money for traditional curricula is not available.

The Argentinian Legal System and Folk Healers

Martha Blache & the Instituto "Felix Fernando Bernasconi, El curanderismo folklorico enfocado a traves de los procesos legales (Buenos Aires: Consejo Nacional de Educación, Instituto "Felix F. Bernasconi", Cátedra de Folklore de Argentino, 1962).

Discussion of the Argentinian legal system's treatment of traditional healers (curanderos).

The Science of Alternative Medicine

The Scientist examines the science behind alternative medicines here. Among the topics tackled: herbs and acupuncture.

Canadian Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Makers of Homeopathic Product

The Canadian law firm Roy Elliott O'Connor LLP has filed a class action lawsuit against Shoppers Drug Mart and Boiron Canada charging that Oscillococcinum, which is a homeopathic medication sold to combat "flu-like symptoms," does not actually have the active ingredient in it its manufacturer advertises it to contain. More here from the Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticism, here from the blog Skeptic North, here from Skeptic Magazine.