Topic: one scientific step forward.... 4 back....

[Entropydave]

Sometimes I get so pissed off, you know

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18378735

[EhJayArr]

A woman told she has terminal cancer is raising money for alternative cures "to prove the doctors wrong".

She has now altered her diet and is trying treatments including vitamin C therapy, reflexology, aromatherapy and acupuncture, alongside further chemotherapy.

 

[Plastique]

Sometimes I get so pissed off, you know

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18378735

Pretty hard to feel upset when she's been handed a death sentence. If nothing else those prominent well-wishes will make her happier.

[EhJayArr]

Sometimes I get so pissed off, you know

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18378735

Pretty hard to feel upset when she's been handed a death sentence. If nothing else those prominent well-wishes will make her happier.

I'm pissed that she's rallying in the name of anti-science while still accepting scientific treatment. Hypocrisy drives me crazy.

[Entropydave]

Sometimes I get so pissed off, you know

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18378735

Pretty hard to feel upset when she's been handed a death sentence. If nothing else those prominent well-wishes will make her happier.

I feel annoyed because now a whole load of other cancer sufferers and the associated woo promotioners will jump on the bandwagon of Woo.
She is welcome to the well-wishers, of course, but she should have kept the other aspects of her therapy to herself.  I can only see this leading to more unecessary deaths or shortened lives as a result of her promoting CAM for cancer.

Why do these people have to "prove the doctors wrong"?  Why are they so combatant?

[Entropydave]

Sometimes I get so pissed off, you know

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18378735

Pretty hard to feel upset when she's been handed a death sentence. If nothing else those prominent well-wishes will make her happier.

I'm pissed that she's rallying in the name of anti-science while still accepting scientific treatment. Hypocrisy drives me crazy.

Much more succinctly put than I!

thank you

[Plastique]

I can only see this leading to more unecessary deaths or shortened lives as a result of her promoting CAM for cancer.

How exactly? She's still getting regular treatment.

Even if she were to totally forgo the chemo in favor of horse shit, do you really think other people would base such a critical decision as their cancer treatment all on the anecdote of someone else in the throes of mortal desperation?

[Entropydave]

That's just it, her experiences will evolve into yet another anecdote on how "helpful" she found the woo, even if she does die, which seems certain, unfortunately.
I just feel uncomfortable when I see desperate people turn to woo, even if they don't eschew real medicine.

[Plastique]

I know what you guys mean, but often find myself defaulting to thinking they almost deserve what they get if they choose to go down that road. Which isn't really fair if they have no knowledge of science, but personal responsibility has to come into it at some point. Where's the line? I guess we do what we reasonably can to help, and, beyond that, exercise peaceful acceptance as best we can.

[Desert Fox]

I know that my sister is apologetic towards Jenny McCarthy because her child has autism. . . .
We need to figure out how to deal with the sympathy card

[Shadow Of A Doubt]

See, using the publicity to raise money for cancer research or some other charitable cause admirable. If she was wasting her own money chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow then we wouldn't need to hear anything about it. But by the sounds of it she's wasting charitable donations lining the pockets of quacks, and generating publicity for them as well, and I think we can legitimately find that annoying.

[Entropydave]

See, using the publicity to raise money for cancer research or some other charitable cause admirable. If she was wasting her own money chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow then we wouldn't need to hear anything about it. But by the sounds of it she's wasting charitable donations lining the pockets of quacks, and generating publicity for them as well, and I think we can legitimately find that annoying.

wot he said....

[daemonowner]

How to deal with sympathy? Whatstheharm.net

[arthwollipot]

Why do these people have to "prove the doctors wrong"?  Why are they so combatant?

The doctors said she's going to die. She doesn't want to die. Therefore, she wants to prove the doctors wrong, by not dying.

Pretty simple, really.