Beware of alternative treatments
Some complementary therapies have little or no health benefits
More public awareness of the 'quacks' who exploit people with potentially fatal illnesses is needed, according to a group of doctors.
The medics, from St James's Hospital in Dublin, highlighted the cases of three patients who delayed medical treatment for head and neck cancer by going to alternative practitioners first.
In one case a 37-year-old woman with cancer on her tongue declined treatment after it was diagnosed at the hospital and instead went to the seventh son of a seventh son.
She was given a paste from plant extracts but when she returned to the doctors several months later she needed radical surgery. It was too late and she passed away.
In another case a 55-year-old man eventually sought medical treatment after attending a therapist who gave him a herbal drink and also engaged in the laying on of hands with prayers.
The doctors, from the hospital's department of otolargyngology, have now urged the Department Of Health and the Criminal Assets Bureau, to investigate the use of alternative medicine here and gather statistics on the "prevalence of quackery".
"Most human beings will do almost anything to prolong their existence or to relieve the suffering.
"Others will do anything to exploit these desires by selling what they claim to be pain killing remedies," they wrote in the Irish Medical Journal.
"In head and neck cancers, use of alternative therapies is reported to be around 15pc. This is because of the way it deblitates patients and affects their ability to eat as well as the possible disfigurement and changes in facial features. The efficacy of these therapies remains questionable, in fact the research in these areas can be nonexistent or at best of poor quality."
People are advised to be alert for claims of "miracle cures" and secret ingredients.
"We have a moral and ethical obligation towards our patients and this may require us to spend more time exploring their concerns."
There is no statutory regulation of complementary practitioners in this country and people are advised to attend a therapist who is affiliated to a professional association.
- Eilish O'Regan
