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Without evidence of benefit, an intervention should not be presumed to be beneficial or safe.

- Rogue Medic

Anti-Vax Doctors Lack Competence and Ethics

Sat, 30 Jun 2018 18:40:47 -0400 by
 
 

Effective July 27, 2018, the latest anti-vax doctor to have his license revoked will be Dr. Bob Sears. Yes, he promotes his image as Dr. Bob.

Who are the dangerous doctors Bob Sears will be joining?

Andrew Wakefield‘s fraudulent research, unnecessarily painful research on children, lack of ethical approval for research, and other corruption, convinced the British General Medical Council to revoke his license. Wakefield was also trying to sell a vaccine of his own, to compete with the MMR (polyvalent Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine. Wakefield’s attempts to discredit the MMR vaccine would have helped him to sell his own competing vaccine.
 

the lawyers responsible for the MMR lawsuit had paid Wakefield personally more than £400,000, which he had not previously disclosed.[67] [1]

 

Andrew Wakefield claims that he is not a fraud and sues a lot of people.

All of the cases have been thrown out by the courts or have been withdrawn by Wakefield.[2]

Do those who claim to be trying to protect their children, by avoiding vaccines, based on a trust of this fraudulent doctor, know what Wakefield has done?

–

The kiddie castrators – David Geier and Mark Geier.

David Geier was never a doctor, but has been caught faking it.[3] In the make believe world of anti-vaxers, why let reality get in the way of pretending to have credibility?

Mark Geier was a doctor, but had his license revoked in every state where he had a license (Maryland, Washington, Virginia, California, Missouri, Illinois, and Hawaii). Why do the Geiers castrate children? Chemical castration is an approved treatment for some rare conditions. Mastectomy is an approved treatment for some breast cancers, but that does not mean that it is at all ethical, or competent, to recommend mastectomy as treatment for other medical conditions. The Geiers claim to believe that castration cures autism. There is no valid evidence to support their hunch.

Consider this. You have an autistic child and someone tells you there is a cure. The person says that they know their expensive chemicals work. The person may even say, I’ve seen it work.[4] All you have to do is give permission for this doctor (before his license was revoked), and his son the fake doctor, to use chemicals to castrate your child.

Do you ask for evidence?

Their is no valid evidence. You just have to trust the castrators and their excuses for the absence of evidence.

The “evidence” has been retracted, because the research is junk science. All human research has to be approved by an independent IRB (Institutional Review Board) to make sure that there are not any conflicts of interest or unnecessary risks to the children participating in the research. The members of the independent IRB were the Geiers, the Geier’s employees, and the Geier’s lawyer. That is not independent.

If chemical castration doesn’t work, the Geiers can sell you other expensive and dangerous treatments that do not work, such as chelation. Chelation is the use of chemicals to remove heavy metals from the body, based on the assumption that mercury causes autism. Chelation is harmful, so it is only indicated, when there is a good reason to believe the benefit will be greater than the harm. There is no valid evidence to support this hunch of the Geiers.

The motto of the company run by the Geiers is First do no harm. Are they completely unaware of the harm they cause, or so dishonest that they tell the boldest lies? Does it matter why they harm children?

–

What did Bob Sears do to get his license revoked? He claimed to assess patients, but did not keep records of what he claimed to do. His incompetence/negligence endangered patients.[5] ,[6]

For example, a mother frequently brought J.G., a 2 year old, to see Dr. Bob. One visit was for a head ache a couple of weeks after the child’s father hit the child on the head with a hammer. The only apparent concern of the mother and Dr. Bob was to prevent the child from receiving vaccines. There is no record of any neurological assessment, or referral to a competent doctor for a neurological assessment.

J.G. had visited Dr. Bob the previous month for constipation. Assessment and treatment plans were documented. Constipation can be very serious, but so can hitting a child on the head with a hammer. The reason for the difference in approaches was determined to be gross negligence. Another visit, following apparent resolution of otitis media following treatment with Omnicef (cefdinir), there was a diagnosis of a sudden onset of flu, with a prescription for Tamiflu (oseltamivir), so there is no apparent hesitation to use ineffective, or minimally effective, treatments. Is J.G.’s last name Munchausen, or is he just unlucky in his choice of parents?

Bob Sears does not appear to be hesitant to prescribe drugs based on hunches, but he does appear to recognize that being anti-vax can be very profitable. Sears has written 4 books, but still fails to document assessments.

Bob Sears will have to be monitored by another physician for 35 months, following this revocation, to be able to get his license reinstated. He must follow all laws, not be negligent, and not deviate from the standard of medical care. He cannot just take the 3 years off and write books, because he has to be monitored while working to get his license back.

It looks like Bob Sears will be vaccinating children, just as real doctors do.

–

Vaccines save millions of lives every year.

Vaccines are probably the safest and most effective medical intervention we have, and anti-vaxers hate that.

If some of us do not see the need for vaccines, it is because of the success of vaccines. Vaccines are an important part of the reason that the average life expectancy has doubled in a little over 100 years.

For a great review of the effect of vaccines on vaccine-preventable illnesses, there is a study in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), which shows how the rate of each illness, and deaths from each illness, declined after the introduction of each vaccine. There are anti-vaxers who claim that it wasn’t the vaccines, but sanitation that stopped these illnesses. Don’t fall for that.[7]

Sanitation is important at preventing the spread of illnesses, but sanitation does not wait for each different vaccine to be introduced for each different vaccine-preventable illness to change the illness and fatality rates.

Look at the evidence.

Historical comparisons of morbidity and mortality for vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States.
Roush SW, Murphy TV; Vaccine-Preventable Disease Table Working Group.
JAMA. 2007 Nov 14;298(18):2155-63.
PMID: 18000199

Free Full Text Article from JAMA.

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Footnotes:

–

[1] Aftermath of initial controversy
Andrew Wakefield
Wikipedia
Article

The referenced article by Brian Deer is:

Huge sums paid to Andrew Wakefield
The Sunday Times
December 31 2006
Brian Deer
Article

Andrew Wakefield has repeatedly sued Brian Deer and lost or run away every time.

–

[2] Deer counter-response
Andrew Wakefield
Wikipedia
Article

–

[3] Medical licenses revoked
Mark Geier
Wikipedia
Article
 

In 2011, his son David Geier was charged by the Maryland State Board of Physicians with practicing as if a licensed physician when he only has a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology,[42] and was fined $10,000 in July 2012.[40]

 

Charges by the Maryland Medical Board
In the Matter of David A. Geier before the Maryland State Board of Physicians
Practicing without a license
PDF document of charges
 

The Respondent is not and never has been licensed to practice medicine or any other health profession in the State of Maryland or any other State.

 

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[4] I’ve Seen It Work and Other Lies
Tue, 21 Jun 2011
Rogue Medic
Article

–

[5] Antivaccine pediatrician Dr. Bob Sears finally faces discipline from the Medical Board of California
Respectful Insolence
Orac
June 29, 2018
Article

–

[6] Stipulated Settlement and Disciplinary Order
Decision of the Medical Board of California
Department of Consumer Affairs
State of California
Case No. 800-2015-012268
OAH No. 2017100889
PDF of Decision

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[7] “Vaccines didn’t save us” (a.k.a. “vaccines don’t work”): Intellectual dishonesty at its most naked
Science-Based Medicine
David Gorski
March 29, 2010
Article

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Filed Under: 'Alternative' Medicine, Anti-Science, Corruption, Critical Judgment, Denialism, Ethics, Fraud, Heresy, Malpractice, Vaccines

Dr. Oz Shows How He Lies with Bad Research

Tue, 17 Jun 2014 17:00:35 -0400 by

 

These pictures show the same thing – abuse of trust.
 


 

Today, Dr. Oz was questioned by Sen. Claire McCaskill of the Senate Commerce subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance. Watch how Dr. Oz spins nonsense to defend his promotion of treatments that do not work. Fortunately, Sen. McCaskill does not fall for his propaganda. The video is embedded at the end.
 

Dr. Oz – These are the five papers. These are clinical papers. We can argue about the quality of them, very justifiably. I could pick apart the papers that show no benefit, as well.[1]

 

Translation – People do not understand science, so I, Dr. Oz, can easily fool them.
 

Dr. Oz – It is remarkably complex to figure out what works for most people in a dietary program.[1]

 

Translation – I almost don’t have to lie, but I just can’t help myself.
 

Dr. Oz – I don’t think this ought to be a referendum on the use of alternative medical therapies, because if that’s the case, I’ve been criticized for having people come on my show talk about the power of prayer. Now, as a practitioner, I can’t prove that prayer helps people survive an illness.

Sen. McCaskill – It’s hard to buy prayer.

Dr. Oz – That’s the difference.[1]

 

Translation – I would sell prayer if I could, but the real point of my comment was to try to change the subject and make it seem like I am defending prayer. I am defending fraud.
 

Dr. Oz – My show is about hope.[1]

 

Translation – Hope sells.

You can rape people who are desperate, but as long as you give them hope, it is OK.
 

Dr. Oz – I actually do personally believe in the items that I talk about on the show. I passionately study them. I recognize that, often times, they do not have the scientific muster to present as fact,[1]

 

Translation – There is no good reason to believe in this stuff.

I believe in this stuff.

My ratings depend on my belief.
 

Sen. McCaskill – The scientific community is almost monolithic against you in terms of the efficacy of the three products you described as miracles.[1]

 

Translation – You are a taking advantage of your position to deceive your audience.
 

Sen. McCaskill – When you call a product a miracle, and it’s something you can buy, and it’s something that gives people false hope, I just don’t understand why you needed to go there.[1]

 

Translation – Don’t you have any integrity?
 

Dr. Oz – My job on the show is to be a cheerleader for the audience.[1]

 

My job on the show is to be a cheerleader for the audience Big Placebo – the companies that make billions of dollars off of the audience.

Translation – No. I don’t have any integrity.
 

We need to stop making excuses for those who endanger patients with treatments that do not work and have not been demonstrated to be safe.

We need to be consistent in applying this to alternative medicine and conventional medicine.
 

–

Footnotes:

–

[1] Weight-Loss Product Advertising – Witnesses testified on ways to protect consumers from false and deceptive advertising of weight-loss products.
June 17, 2014
C-SPAN
Page with embedded video.

.

Filed Under: 'Alternative' Medicine, Critical Judgment, Ethics, Evidence, Fraud, Heresy

Homeopathic Product Recalled for Containing Real Medicine

Fri, 21 Mar 2014 11:00:24 -0400 by

 

Homeopathic products are supposed to be diluted down to where they contain nothing.

They definitely are not supposed to contain antibiotics, since antibiotics were not understood when Samuel Hahnemann made up the idea of homeopathy.
 

FDA has determined that these products have the potential to contain penicillin or derivatives of penicillin, which may be produced during the fermentation process. In patients who are allergic to beta-lactam antibiotics, even at low levels, exposure to penicillin can result in a range of allergic reactions from mild rashes to severe and life-threatening anaphylactic reactions.[1]

 

The law of similars. Find a poison that produces similar symptoms, preferably not the cause of the illness (not that a homeopath would know) and dilute the poison down to nothing.

The water (or alcohol) is expected to remember the poison, but forget everything else that has been in the water, and magically cure the illness by doing the opposite of what the poison would do.

The water is diluted to 1% of what was in it enough times that there should not be any poison left. The homeopath also hits the water a lot to teach the water to remember the poison. This is the magic memory of water.

The result is nothing.
 


Image credit.
 

When blood-letting was a common treatment, this was better than going to a doctor, but still not as good as staying at home and saving your money, because who needs to go buy nothing?

The idea that the more dilute the solution, the more potent the “medicine” is ridiculous. Somebody would be able to demonstrate the differences in strengths, but homeopathy is just another placebo with just another excuse to scam people.

At what concentration of nothing does it start to work?

At what concentration of nothing does it become dangerous?

Is it still a solution when there is nothing in it?

 

Hover text –

Dear editors of Homeopathy Monthly: I have two small corrections for your July issue. One, it’s spelled “echinacea”, and two, homeopathic medicines are no better than placebos and your entire magazine is a sham.[2]

 

One of the problems with dealing with a fraud is the inability to tell the difference between incompetence and intentional fraud.

Homeopath X is a true believer. He believes that homeopathy works, but is too incompetent to keep real medicine out of his nothing.

Homeopath XX is willing to sell anything that pays. He knows that homeopathy is nonsense, but wants to add real medicine to make it seem that the water is having some sort of effect beyond a placebo effect. He adds real medicine after the dilution for that effect. This is not rare.

Homeopaths claim that their medicines are safe and that real medicines are dangerous, so why add medicine?

Since homeopathy is all lies, should we believe anything a homeopath says?

If you dilute a lie enough times, does it become truth?

We have enough problems with believing in magic with real medicines without adding the problems of homeopathy, where there is nothing real except fraud.

–

Footnotes:

–

[1] Pleo Homeopathic Drug Products by Terra-Medica: Recall – Potential for Undeclared Penicillin – Includes Pleo-FORT, Pleo-QUENT, Pleo-NOT, Pleo-STOLO, Pleo-NOTA-QUENT, and Pleo-EX
Posted 03/20/2014
FDA
Safety Alert

–

[2] dilution
xkcd
Comic

.

Filed Under: 'Alternative' Medicine, FDA, Fraud, Heresy

Medicare Rules That Encourage Fraud

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 08:00:51 -0500 by

 
A lack of understanding of EMS by Medicare (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) encourages fraud.

When patient care is determined by the fraud investigators, is it patient care or does it transform into what the investigators focus on?
 

Citing a “significant potential for fraud, waste, and abuse,” federal Medicare officials put a moratorium on the enrollment of new ambulance operators in Philadelphia and six surrounding counties.[1]

 

In other words – Ambulance companies have a lot of potential for fraud. Our rules do not prevent fraud. We can’t even keep track of the ambulances companies that defraud us. So, we will stick with the frauds we know, rather than to potential frauds we do not yet know.
 

In EMS, we have competition on everything except quality.
 

How does an insurance company (Medicare) assess quality of care? By assessing surrogate endpoints that it can track.
 

At issue is the medical necessity for nonemergency ambulance transportation. Medicare is supposed to pay for an ambulance only if a cheaper form of transportation would endanger the patient’s health.[1]

 

How do they determine what would endanger the patient’s health?

Getting a doctor, or the doctor’s representative, to check off some boxes on a standard form, because we cannot expect the insurance computer to understand patient care. We can have the computer search for words that indicate that the patient is too healthy for ambulance transport.

Sitting or lying are a couple of words the computer programmers think indicate robust health.

If my acute CHF (Congestive Heart Failure) patient is sitting upright, which is actually an indication of good patient care, the word sitting is an indicator of being too healthy for ambulance transport.

If I fraudulently transport a completely healthy person by ambulance, but check off the bed-confined box on the form, and get a signature, Medicare does not appear likely to recognize the fraud until after I have gone out of business.

Rather than encouraging people to mindlessly check off boxes to justify what should be clearly and accurately documented, the rules discourage good patient care.

When more attention is paid to jumping through hoops than to actual patient care, the rules are making things worse.
 

Most recently, in January, an emergency-medical technician who worked for Brotherly Love Ambulance Inc., of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty to signing up patients for relatively expensive ambulance rides when he knew they could walk or use cheaper transportation.

In addition, the EMT gave riders cash to entice them to keep using Brotherly Love, which fraudulently collected more than $2 million from Medicare from July 2010 through October 2011, the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia said.[1]

 

This was going on for over a year and Medicare was blissfully ignorant, but they will solve the problem by preventing new companies from entering the market.
 

However, only 10 percent to 20 percent of dialysis patients actually need ambulance transportation, according to government and industry estimates. Medical necessity is determined on the “honor system,” said Herman’s partner, Joseph Zupnik.[1]

 

When insurance companies extrapolate appropriate care for chronic treatment patients, such as dialysis, to patients with acute medical conditions, they make fools of themselves.
 

“The ambulance business, I think, because of what happened to my dad, became extremely focused on compliance, because we had to be,” Strine said.[2]

 

We need to get the ambulance companies to focus on good patient care, not extremely focused on compliance with insurance rules.

With the exclusion of new ambulance companies, is any fraud being prevented?
 

Frustrated by a large number of small, fraudulent competitors, two of the largest Philadelphia-area ambulance operators recently joined forces.[2]

 

Large companies are merging because small corruption is being addressed?

Any fraud will be among the already existing ambulance companies, but will it be concentrated in the smaller companies or the larger companies?

Are the larger companies benefiting from the economies of scale that FedEx and UPS benefit from?

Are patients more than just packages to be delivered, with the appropriate boxes checked off?

The focus of the insurance companies appears to be on the package delivery model.

If our model is the package delivery model, your patients would be better off with some else.

–

Footnotes:

–

[1] Phila. area blocked from new Medicare ambulance enrollment
By Harold Brubaker, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: March 03, 2014
philly.com
Article

–

[2] Two ambulance companies join forces
Harold Brubaker, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: Tuesday, March 4, 2014
philly.com
Article

.

Filed Under: Fraud, Heresy, Irrational Government Oversight

Child Killers Sentenced, But Not the Ringleader

Fri, 21 Feb 2014 10:00:04 -0500 by
 

Child sacrifice advocate Pastor Nelson Clark can continue to preach alternative medicine that kills and he can continue to blame the victims.

The secret of alternative medicine is to blame the victim.
 


Image credit. Pastor Nelson Clark of the First Century Gospel Church.
                 I preach human sacrifice!
 
 

In an interview with The Inquirer, Clark said God did not want the Schaible children to die.

Instead, he said, the children died because of some “spiritual lack” in the Schaibles’ lives – a flaw they need to correct to prevent future deaths.[1]

 

If a doctor prescribed prayer for deadly conditions, the doctor should face charges.

Pastor Nelson Clark of the First Century Gospel Church is just another alternative medicine practitioner prescribing alternative medicine for deadly conditions and blaming the victims.

We need to treat all of these medical frauds the same.

We need to stop them from killing children.

Sacrificing children to alternative medicine is wrong.

It does not matter if the alternative medicine is religious, what matters is that we protect children from killers.

The Schaibles were sentenced to 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison, but that won’t stop Pastor Nelson Clark from preaching child sacrifice at the First Century Gospel Church.

The Schaibles lost two children to this fraud, they will spend time in prison, they probably will be prevented from putting a third child in the cemetery, but Pastor Nelson Clark will preach on and he will continue to blame the Schaibles for lacking faith.
 

States that allow a religious defense to most serious crimes against children include: Idaho, Iowa, and Ohio with religious defenses to manslaughter; West Virginia with religious defenses to murder of a child and child neglect resulting in death; and Arkansas with a religious defense to capital murder, according to Children’s Healthcare, an educational charity. Approximately a dozen U.S. children die in faith healing cases each year, the AP reported.[2]

 

This human sacrifice is

not the first time that children have died with the help of Pastor Nelson Clark.

not the second time that children have died with the help of Pastor Nelson Clark.

not the third time that children have died with the help of Pastor Nelson Clark.

not the fourth time that children have died with the help of Pastor Nelson Clark.

Pastor Nelson Clark doesn’t have a good record of praying the germs away.
 

The couple has seven surviving children, while six of them are in foster care, some residing with relatives. The children are getting an education, medical, dental, and vision care now.[2]

 

Also see –

Update on – Is it OK to kill children in the name of God?

–

Footnotes:

–

[1] Pastor: ‘Spiritual lack’ killed two boys
By Mike Newall, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: April 29, 2013
Philly.com
Article

–

[2] Pennsylvania Couple Faces Prison After 2nd Prayer Death Of Child With Pneumonia: Should Faith Healing Be Considered Manslaughter?
By Lizette Borreli | Feb 20, 2014 12:00 PM EDT
Medical Daily
Article

.

Filed Under: 'Alternative' Medicine, Ethics, Fraud, Heresy

Selling scams to the most desperate patients

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 17:00:13 -0500 by
 
This is alternative medicine at its worst.

When it fails, blame the victim.
 

At prayer healing services in some Pentecostal churches, pastors invite people infected with HIV to come forward for a public healing, after which they burn the person’s anti-retroviral medications and declare the person cured.[1]

 

If only there were some documented cases of patients going from high levels of HIV to no HIV measurable with prayer as the only treatment.
 


 
 

The group was asked to undergo a test at a certain clinic in Nairobi, where they were all declared cured.

“We had joined him for crusades around Nairobi slums, telling the people how wonderful the pastor’s miracles were,” she added. “I was upbeat, but after two weeks I started falling sick. When I was tested, the virus was still in me and had multiplied since I was not taking the drugs.”[1]

 

Falsified AIDS tests convince people that they have been healed.

They then go tell others how wonderful it is.

Then they get sick again.
 

“I believe people can be healed of all kinds of sickness, including HIV, through prayers,” said Pastor Joseph Maina of Agmo Prayer Mountain, a Pentecostal church on the outskirts of Nairobi.[1]

 

He is using that belief to kill people.

Maybe you do not believe that convincing people to stop taking the medications that are keeping them alive is killing them.
 

But the controversial ceremonies are raising red flags as believers’ conditions worsen, and a debate has opened over whether science or religion should take the lead in the fight against the AIDS epidemic.[1]

 

I propose a simple, clear solution.

Compare the outcomes of AIDS patients who are treated with the magic ceremony against the AIDS patients treated with conventional medicine. Have periodic blood tests to make sure the magic ceremony patients really are not taking medication.

Then compare the numbers at various times.

How many died with each treatment at 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 1 year, 15 months, . . . .

If prayer works, then the prayer and placebo patients will do as well as, or better than, the prayer and real AIDS medicine patients.

The benefit of the real AIDS medicines would be nonexistent after the benefit of an immediate prayer cure. The side effects of the real AIDS medicines would still be there.

Have half of the patients take a placebo and the other half take real AIDS medicine.

The study would not be overly expensive, unless you count the lives of those going for treatment, since they were going for the prayer treatment anyway.

Even better.

Make it a randomized placebo controlled study among people already going for the prayer treatment.

If the pastor has faith, he has nothing to lose.

Except the pastor appears to be intentionally scamming people for money.
 

“We don’t ask for money, but we ask them to leave some seed money that they please.”[1]

 

As if seed money is not real money.

Because separating the request for money from the magic healing ceremony would probably result in much smaller donations.
 

Pentecostal church pastors often tell people that a lack of faith is the reason the prayer healing isn’t working.[1]

 

Blame the victim.
 

“When you are told there is an easier option, you want them (drugs) out of your life,” said Nyawera.[1]

 

This is the same tactic used by the rest of alternative medicine.
 

There is another important reason to invest in this kind of study.
 

The prayer healings are especially worrisome because people who quit treatment may become resistant to the drugs.[1]

 

Killing people by coercing them to stop taking their medications is bad, but generating more drug-resistant strains of AIDS harms even those who never fell for the scam.

–

Footnotes:

–

[1] Pentecostal pastors in Africa push prayer, not drugs, for people with HIV
Washington Post
By Fredrick Nzwili
Religion News Service
Published: December 4
Article

.

Filed Under: 'Alternative' Medicine, Evidence, Fraud, Heresy, Unicorn Medicine

Update on – Is it OK to kill children in the name of God?

Sat, 25 May 2013 08:30:56 -0400 by
 

Back in April, I wrote this about the death of the second of the Schaible’s children at the hands of a pastor –
 

Don’t bother using alternative medicine to make a limb to grow back. Take alternative medicine for things that occasionally resolve without any real medicine.

Then claim “Alternative” medicine did it!

Is it OK to kill children in the name of alternative medicine?[1]

 

I am feeling much more prophetic than Sylvia Browne at the moment, but everyone should always feel more prophetic than that fraud.[2]

The other trait of alternative medicine is to blame the patient (in this case, the family) for a lack of faith, when the scam fails.
 

Clark was the spiritual adviser when the Schaibles’ 2-year-old, Kent, died from bacterial pneumonia in 2009, which led to a manslaughter conviction and probation for the couple. And he ministered to them last week when 8-month-old Brandon died, a case now being investigated by police.

In an interview with The Inquirer, Clark said God did not want the Schaible children to die.

Instead, he said, the children died because of some “spiritual lack” in the Schaibles’ lives – a flaw they need to correct to prevent future deaths.[3]

 

The problem is not with the person selling the scam, but with the people not believing enough.

The Schaibles made the mistake of listening to Pastor Nelson Clark and they killed one of their sons with untreated pneumonia.

The Schaibles then made the even bigger mistake of listening to Pastor Nelson Clark again and they killed a second one of their sons with untreated pneumonia.

Pastor Nelson Clark blames the parents and maybe the dead children.

I blame the parents, but not as much as I blame Pastor Nelson Clark.
 


Image credit. Pastor Nelson Clark of the First Century Gospel Church.
 

This human sacrifice is

not the first time that children have died with the help of Pastor Nelson Clark

not the second time that children have died with the help of Pastor Nelson Clark

not the third time that children have died with the help of Pastor Nelson Clark

not the fourth time that children have died with the help of Pastor Nelson Clark –
 

The First Century Gospel Church of Philadelphia’s teachings has clashed with authorities in the past.

In 1991, eight children died in a measles epidemic. All the parents were members of either First Century Gospel Church or the nearby Faith Tabernacle of Nicetown which also preaches faith-healing.[4]

 

Let’s just say that Pastor Nelson Clark doesn’t have a good record of praying the germs away.

Keep the Schaibles from being in any position to care for any children – ever.

More important is to stop Pastor Nelson Clark from using the children of his congregation to demonstrate that seriously ill children will die without medicine – even with the wonders of modern sanitation. His God apparently approves of sanitation, and automobiles, but not seat belts. Made Up Biblical References 4:20.

Pneumonia is regularly treated successfully by real doctors, especially when recognized early –
 

The majority of children diagnosed with pneumonia in the outpatient setting are treated with oral antibiotics. High-dose amoxicillin is used as a first-line agent for children with uncomplicated community-acquired pneumonia. Second- or third-generation cephalosporins and macrolide antibiotics such as azithromycin are acceptable alternatives. Combination therapy (ampicillin and either gentamicin or cefotaxime) is typically used in the initial treatment of newborns and young infants.[5]

 

Pastor Nelson Clark wants to gamble with the lives of your children. If you lose, he blames you.

Are you willing to bet the lives of your children?

–

Footnotes:

–

[1] Is it OK to kill children in the name of God?
Sat, 27 Apr 2013
Rogue Medic
Article

–

[2] Why Do We Treat Some Frauds Differently?
Sat, 11 May 2013
Rogue Medic
Article

–

[3] Pastor: ‘Spiritual lack’ killed two boys
By Mike Newall, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: April 29, 2013
Philly.com
Article

–

[4] Faith-healing parents charged with MURDER after second child died in their home from pneumonia without getting medical help while they were on probation over death of first son
By Daily Mail Reporter
Published: 17:10 EST, 22 May 2013 | Updated: 17:33 EST, 22 May 2013
Capital Bay
Article

–

[5] Pediatric Pneumonia
Author: Nicholas John Bennett, MB, BCh, PhD; Chief Editor: Russell W Steele, MD
Medscape Reference
Article

.

Filed Under: 'Alternative' Medicine, Ethics, Fraud, Heresy

Why Do We Treat Some Frauds Differently?

Sat, 11 May 2013 08:00:31 -0400 by
 

Sylvia Browne is receiving some deservedly bad press for the exposure of her psychic deception.
 

In 2004, the year following the then 16-year-old schoolgirl’s disappearance, Browne appeared on “The Montel Williams” show and told Berry’s distraught mother Louwana Miller – who died from heart failure a year later – that her daughter was “in heaven and on the other side” and that her last words were “goodbye, mom, I love you.”[1]

 

Should anyone be surprised?

But where’s the harm?

Psychics make their living by exploiting our selective memories.

We remember the hits, but forget the misses.

If I throw out as many guesses as I can, some of them are bound to be right.

Should I tell you I have the ability to see the future, or communicate with the dead?

This is not a psychic power.

This is deceit.
 


 

Jeffrey Skilling is trying to get a sentence reduction for his part in the disaster that was Enron. Fraud? Mismanagement? The Secret?

 

He spoke haltingly, stopping in mid-sentence. “In terms of remorse, Your Honor, I can’t imagine more remorse,” he said. He had “friends who have died, good men.” He was innocent—”innocent of every one of these charges.” He spoke for two or three minutes and sat down.[2]

 

Malcolm Gladwell provides a good argument that what Jeffrey Skilling did was not an intentional fraud. It was complicated. It was not hidden. Maybe Skilling was a more of a true believer than a fraud.

He apparently believed that the problem was that the employees were not willing to do what was necessary to make the company grow at an unsustainable pace. He should be able to demand results and it is their fault if they cannot deliver. Why let reality get in the way of a perfectly good plan?

The Enron financial statements were examined two years before the peak using the information that was available at the time.
 

The students’ conclusions were straightforward. Enron was pursuing a far riskier strategy than its competitors. There were clear signs that “Enron may be manipulating its earnings.” The stock was then at forty-eight —at its peak, two years later, it was almost double that—but the students found it over-valued. The report was posted on the Web site of the Cornell University business school, where it has been, ever since, for anyone who cared to read twenty-three pages of analysis. The students’ recommendation was on the first page, in boldfaced type: “Sell.”[2]

 

We don’t want to know the truth. If you had shorted Enron at the time, you probably would have lost a lot of money and had to cover your losses before Enron dropped to its actual value – less than nothing. Enron’s debts were much greater than its assets.

Psychics depend on this gullibility, too.

This is beyond your understanding.

It is arrogant to question what I am doing.

John Edward also scam the bereived and he had the backing of America’s favorite scam promoter – Dr. Mehmet Oz.
 

In a letter to producers of “The Dr. Oz” show Nordal said, “I provided very balanced responses to Dr. Oz’s questions during the show’s taping, however, the editing of my responses did not capture my full comments or give viewers an accurate portrayal of my professional view on John Edward’s methods. Instead, it seems that ‘The Doctor Oz’ show intentionally edited my responses in a way that gave the appearance of my endorsement of Edward’s methods as a legitimate intervention.”[3]

 

Dr. Oz is as bad as John Edward and Sylvia Browne. He is promoting stuff that a child should realize is nonsense.[4]

People trust him, even though he promotes frauds.

How is Sylvia Browne any better than Jeffrey Skilling?

How is John Edward any better than Jeffrey Skilling?

How is Dr. Mehmet Oz any better than Jeffrey Skilling?
 

The Pigasus Award for Refusal to Face Reality goes to Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Harvard-trained cardiologist who hosts The Dr. Oz Show on broadcast television, one of the most popular syndicated television shows in America. The only person to have won a Pigasus Award two years in a row, he wins a third time this year for his continued promotion of quack medical practices, paranormal belief and pseudoscience, including pseudoscientific Reparative Therapy to “cure” gay people, the “energy-healing practice” of Reiki as a way to cure disease, various TV psychics and mediums such as Theresa Caputo and John Edward, faith healers such as “John of God,” GMO conspiracy theories, and any number of new quack diets, herbal remedies, anti-aging cures, and untested “wonder drugs,” among many other pseudoscientific and paranormal claims.[5]

 

Harry Houdini is reported to have stated –

It is not for us to prove the mediums are dishonest, it is for them to prove that they are honest.

Houdini spent years exposing the fraudulent methods of the psychics of his day.

We still believe in magic.

The reason we seem to treat this fraud as something other than fraud is that we act like we know what is best for the people we know who are gullible.

We assist in the fraud.

We lie to people to make us feel that we are helping their grief.

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Footnotes:

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[1] Celebrity psychic Sylvia Browne hit for telling mom of Amanda Berry she was dead
By Hollie McKay
Published May 09, 2013
FoxNews.com
Article

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[2] Open Secrets Enron, intelligence, and the perils of too much information.
The New Yorker
January 8, 2007
Malcolm Gladwell
Article

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[3] TV Skeptic: The medium and Oz
March 18, 2011 | 2:05 pm
LA Times
Article

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[4] The trouble with Dr. Oz
David Gorski
Science-Based Medicine
April 26, 2011
Article

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[5] JREF’s Pigasus Awards “Honors” Dubious Peddlers of “Woo” (VIDEO)
Latest JREF News
James Randi Educational Foundation
Article with video

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Filed Under: Ethics, Fraud, Grief, Heresy
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