Re: Magnets and Maggots

["Robert A. Fink, M. D." <rafink@xxxxxxx>]

Date sent:              Wed, 2 Aug 2000 19:55:09 EDT
Send reply to:          Parkinson's Information Exchange Network 
<PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From:                   jo ann coen <jac694@xxxxxxxx>
Subject:                Re: Phooey on Howard Fienberg
To:                     PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

> Who can determine
> at this early time whether magnets (when I first read this,. I thought
> it was maggots, and I said, "Whoa there") work or not.

Maggots actually *do* work!  They were used (and still are, on
occasion) on badly ulcerated and infected wounds.  Maggots eat up
dead tissue and will not harm live tissue.  This helps to clear necrotic
and infected tissue from an ulcerated wound, and allows better healing.


>>but he is a true doctor who was taught
in medical school that NOTHING works for ANYONE unless it is
handled by a
doctor. Remember how doctors thought chiropractors were quacks?
Believe
it or not, my doctor referred me to one just last week.<<

I'd rather you refer to me as a "true scientist" rather than as a "true
doctor".  It is *science* that I am talking about, not a medical degree.
I resent the comment that things "have to be handled by a doctor" in
order to "work".  If something is scientifically true, then it will work; if
it is quackery, no number of degrees after one's name will make it
anything but quackery.

The argument that, for example, magnets are a valuable therapy
because they "work" in a given patient is like the argument which
notes that, of all condemned criminals on Death Row, probably in
excess of 90% smoke cigarettes.  Therefore, smoking cigarettes leads
to the commission of murder by smokers??

BTW, I sometimes refer patients to chiropractors, too.  I do it because
they know how to do good physical therapy (sometimes even better
than physical therapists), and they do help patients.  But not because
"all disease is caused by misalignment in the spinal vertebrae" (the
pure "Palmer-method" chiropractors believe that brain tumors come
from misalignment of the vertebrae).

I think that magnets help people because the people want them to
help.  Just like chicken soup and a kiss by a beloved.  If a magnet that
doesn't have the strength to stay attached to a refrigerator door
through 4-5 thicknesses of paper can treat arthritis, PD, or something
else like that, then every patient with serious disease should be
treated with daily MRI scans (which use magnetic fields *thousands*
of times stronger than the magnets used by patients for "treatment").


Best,

Bob


**********************************************
Robert A. Fink, M. D., F.A.C.S., P. C.
2500 Milvia Street  Suite 222
Berkeley, California  94704-2636
Telephone:  510-849-2555   FAX:  510-849-2557
WWW:  



"Ex Tristitia Virtus"

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