How Scientific Is Modern Medicine
Doctors today commonly assert that they practice "scientific medicine," and patients think that the medical treatments they receive are "scientifically proven." However, this ideal is a dream, not reality, and a clever and profitable marketing ruse, not fact. The British Medical Journal's "Clinical Evidence" analyzed common medical treatments to evaluate which are supported by sufficient reliable evidence (BMJ, 2007). They reviewed approximately 2,500 treatments and found:
• 13 percent were found to be beneficial
• 23 percent were likely to be beneficial
• Eight percent were as likely to be harmful as beneficial
• Six percent were unlikely to be beneficial
• Four percent were likely to be harmful or ineffective.
• 46 percent were unknown whether they were efficacious or harmful
In the late 1970s, the US government conducted a similar evaluation and found a strikingly similar result. They found that only 10 percent to 20 percent of medical treatment had evidence of efficacy ('Assessing the Efficacy and Safety of Medical Technologies' - Office of Technology Assessment, 1978). How Scientific Is Modern Medicine Really?
The World Health Organization reports that the "evidence base" for standard western medical practice is as follows:
• 8 percent Randomized controlled Trials (RCTs)
• 14 percent Well conducted clinical trials
• 28 percent Expert committee review
In other words, at least 50% of current western medical practice has no evidence base.
Most Practice Guideline Recommendations Based on Less-Than-Ideal Quality of Evidence. A study published in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings shows that most clinical practice guidelines for interventional procedures (e.g., bronchoscopy, angioplasty) are based on lower-quality medical evidence and fail to disclose authors’ conflicts of interest.
The selective reporting of Randomized Controlled Trials results in a biased "evidence base" for modern western medicine. The best evidence shows that half of all the clinical trials ever conducted and completed on the treatments in use today have never been published in academic journals. Trials with positive or flattering results, unsurprisingly, are about twice as likely to be published — and this is true for both academic research and industry studies.
Breaking the Seal on Drug Research. Researchers are pushing Big Pharma to disclose all clinical results -- and not just those that make it look good.
The Qigong Institute Commentary on “Mind-Body and Relaxation Research Focus” collection by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. (www.novapublishers.com) discusses the fundamental problems with the current western medical model and suggests initiatives for researching and promoting Qigong as a primary health modality.
, Zieve discusses the factors contributing to the high cost of US health care.
. The authors describe myths about the health-care system that conceal the real problems and emphasize the failure to promote preventive care: "[the] reimbursement system often penalizes appropriate care by underpaying for essential preventive care services. Providers get paid much more for treating more serious and expensive medical problems than they do for effective preventive medicine." They also confirm the lack of evidence to support many standard medical practices and prescriptions.
. This includes facts and fallacies about clinical trials; preventable deaths; how drugs are marketed and publicized; the relationships between the pharmaceutical Industry and the United States Government, government officials, and universities; how drugs are approved; drugs in our drinking water and antibiotics in our food; and effects of psychotropic drugs on children.
