Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

The growth of integrative medicine in academic institutions

Robert Donnell, MD
Education
September 9, 2011
Share
Tweet
Share

The Atlantic published an article about the growth of quackademic medicine in our teaching institutions and it’s celebratory more than critical. It profiles the integrative medicine clinic of Dr. Brian Berman. That’s right, this Dr. Berman. I blogged about him four years ago and it seems his clinic at the University of Maryland is still going strong. Stronger, apparently.

The article, like integrative medicine itself, is a mixture of quackery and general distortion with a little science and pseudo skepticism thrown in. A central premise is that no matter how nutty the idea, you can’t call it quackery if it carries the imprimatur of a respected academic institution: “Concerns of outright malpractice or naked hucksterism seem grossly misplaced when applied to a clinic like Berman’s.”

Below are a few more of the distortions contained in the article:

The false dichotomy between the conventional medicine approach and “healing.”

The claim that conventional medicine ignores prevention.

The notion that the principles of conventional medical science are obsolete because they originated in the era when acute infectious diseases were the leading killers.

The idea that medical science has failed to make significant advances in the care of chronic diseases. (Tom Sullivan debunks that popular canard.)

By and large the purported benefits of integrative medicine, as illustrated by the numerous testimonials in the article, are the result of the placebo effect and the generous time and personal attention lavished on the patients who attend. So, some might ask, what’s the problem? Aren’t those reasons enough to justify integrative medicine?

Not when those benefits are attributed to a quacky intervention. It’s just unethical. As Steve Novella, interviewed for the piece, said:

Novella is a highly respected Yale neurologist, and the editor of Science-Based Medicine, an influential blog that has tirelessly gone after alternative medicine. I met with him in his home outside New Haven, Connecticut, where he argued that claims about the practitioner-patient relationship are only intended to draw attention away from the fact that randomized trials have by and large failed to show that alternative treatments work better than placebos. And while he concedes that sham treatments can give patients a more positive attitude, which can confer real health benefits, he is adamant that providing sham treatments at all—essentially fooling patients into believing they’re being helped—is highly unethical. “Alternative practitioners have a big advantage,” says Novella. “They can lie to patients. I can’t.”

Aside from the ethical considerations cited by Novella the argument raises another false dichotomy: that spending lots of time with patients and approaching them as whole persons is somehow uniquely inherent to integrative medicine and foreign to conventional medicine. For many counter-examples to that argument just read DB’s many posts on the true nature of mainstream internal medicine or my post where I cite the example of the late Thomas Brittinghamas the exemplar.

No, it’s not the pure notion of the whole person or spending time with patients that’s unique to integrative medicine. So what is integrative medicine’s uniqueness? I would submit that, in part, it’s the fact that it makes quacky claims that are so appealing and sensational to the uncritical public that patients are willing to pay handsomely for it out of pocket. That eliminates some of the time pressure that exists under the reimbursement system for conventional medicine.

The article additionally points out the alarming degree to which quackademics are infiltrating the renowned Mayo Clinic, to a greater degree than even I was aware. Even the dean of the medical school is on board.

ADVERTISEMENT

Some of the Mayo doctors quoted in the article are in favor of integrative medicine but their arguments are mainly sophistry. Though superficially appealing the defects and half-truths in their statements become apparent once a little critical thought is applied.

Robert Donnell is a hospitalist who blogs at Notes from Dr. RW.

Submit a guest post and be heard on social media’s leading physician voice.

Prev

The graveyard hidden in a surgeon's mind

September 9, 2011 Kevin 4
…
Next

The dual tragedy of suffering catastrophic illness and being uninsured

September 9, 2011 Kevin 18
…

Tagged as: Medical school

Post navigation

< Previous Post
The graveyard hidden in a surgeon's mind
Next Post >
The dual tragedy of suffering catastrophic illness and being uninsured

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Robert Donnell, MD

  • When medical coders blame physicians

    Robert Donnell, MD
  • What to do when a patient wants to leave the hospital against medical advice

    Robert Donnell, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Where has evidence based medicine taken us in 20 years?

    Robert Donnell, MD

More in Education

  • Why health care must adopt a harm reduction model

    Dylan Angle
  • Gen Z’s DIY approach to health care

    Amanda Heidemann, MD
  • What street medicine taught me about healing

    Alina Kang
  • How listening makes you a better doctor before your first prescription

    Kelly Dórea França
  • What it means to be a woman in medicine today

    Annie M. Trumbull
  • How Japan and the U.S. can collaborate for better health care

    Vikram Madireddy, MD, Masashi Hamada, MD, PhD, and Hibiki Yamazaki
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why pain doctors face unfair scrutiny and harsh penalties in California

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Love, birds, and fries: a story of innocence and connection

      Dr. Damane Zehra | Physician
    • How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life

      Dharam Persaud-Sharma, MD, PhD | Physician
    • Why physician strikes are a form of hospice

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • What street medicine taught me about healing

      Alina Kang | Education
    • The silent cost of choosing personalization over privacy in health care

      Dr. Giriraj Tosh Purohit | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why transgender health care needs urgent reform and inclusive practices

      Angela Rodriguez, MD | Conditions
    • COVID-19 was real: a doctor’s frontline account

      Randall S. Fong, MD | Conditions
    • Why primary care doctors are drowning in debt despite saving lives

      John Wei, MD | Physician
    • Confessions of a lipidologist in recovery: the infection we’ve ignored for 40 years

      Larry Kaskel, MD | Conditions
    • Why taxing remittances harms families and global health care

      Dalia Saha, MD | Finance
    • mRNA post vaccination syndrome: Is it real?

      Harry Oken, MD | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • Who are you outside of the white coat?

      Annia Raja, PhD | Conditions
    • How hospitals can prepare for CMS’s new patient safety rule

      Kim Adelman, PhD | Conditions
    • Physician practice ownership: risks, rewards, and reality

      Paul Morton, CFP | Finance
    • How peer support can save physician lives [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why AI in health care needs the same scrutiny as chemotherapy

      Rafael Rolon Rivera, MD | Tech
    • The humanity we bring: a call to hold space in medicine

      Kathleen Muldoon, PhD | Conditions

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 14 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why pain doctors face unfair scrutiny and harsh penalties in California

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Love, birds, and fries: a story of innocence and connection

      Dr. Damane Zehra | Physician
    • How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life

      Dharam Persaud-Sharma, MD, PhD | Physician
    • Why physician strikes are a form of hospice

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • What street medicine taught me about healing

      Alina Kang | Education
    • The silent cost of choosing personalization over privacy in health care

      Dr. Giriraj Tosh Purohit | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why transgender health care needs urgent reform and inclusive practices

      Angela Rodriguez, MD | Conditions
    • COVID-19 was real: a doctor’s frontline account

      Randall S. Fong, MD | Conditions
    • Why primary care doctors are drowning in debt despite saving lives

      John Wei, MD | Physician
    • Confessions of a lipidologist in recovery: the infection we’ve ignored for 40 years

      Larry Kaskel, MD | Conditions
    • Why taxing remittances harms families and global health care

      Dalia Saha, MD | Finance
    • mRNA post vaccination syndrome: Is it real?

      Harry Oken, MD | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • Who are you outside of the white coat?

      Annia Raja, PhD | Conditions
    • How hospitals can prepare for CMS’s new patient safety rule

      Kim Adelman, PhD | Conditions
    • Physician practice ownership: risks, rewards, and reality

      Paul Morton, CFP | Finance
    • How peer support can save physician lives [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why AI in health care needs the same scrutiny as chemotherapy

      Rafael Rolon Rivera, MD | Tech
    • The humanity we bring: a call to hold space in medicine

      Kathleen Muldoon, PhD | Conditions

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

The growth of integrative medicine in academic institutions
14 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...