Quoted message said:From: Peter Bowditch [email hidden]
Date: 9/1/2003 5:03 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id: <[email hidden]>
<snip>
Quoted message said:and I do not lie.
WRONG!
There are three whoppers here, no four, no five!!
http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/comment/deadkids.htm
One of the tactics of supporters of "alternative medicine" is to deflect
criticism of quackery by pointing out that people sometimes die while under the
care of real doctors.
LIE #1
To rational people, this is not surprising as the people seeing doctors and
being admitted to hospitals are sick. When a rare mistake by doctors is
discovered
OH I JUST FOUND ANOTHER ONE!!!
Rare?!?! No, I don't think so!!
LIE # 2
Let's look at three dead children and see what we can learn from their deaths.
Ben Kolb
Ben Kolb was killed by a tragic mistake when he was given an injection of
adrenaline instead of an anaesthetic. The error occurred because things were
not labelled correctly in the operating theatre. The injection that Ben was
supposed to receive has been given tens of thousands of times before and it is
because his reaction was so obviously atypical that the theatre staff knew
immediately that something had gone wrong. Despite desperate efforts to save
his life, Ben died. Ben's parents were notified as soon as the problem was
identified and the surgeon, hospital and anaesthetist all admitted
responsibility. A year later, the anaesthetist still breaks down and cries in
public when reminded of Ben's death
Some proponents of "alternative medicine" have tried to make an issue out of
Ben's death, apparently on the basis that a mistake made by real doctors
somehow has something to do with children dying because pretend doctors treat
them with snake oil.
Lie #3
If the adrenaline had been deliberately administered to Ben as part of some
mad, unproven treatment protocol invented by someone with no medical training,
no knowledge of science and no justification other than their own idiosyncratic
quackery then it would have been something to do with "alternative medicine".
When I first went to the web site of the lawyers who acted for Ben Kolb's
parents in their negotiations with the hospital, I expected to find some
ambulance chasers in full flight. Instead, when I looked there I was pleasantly
surprised to find a balanced and sensitive approach to the incident and the
doctors who were as much a part of the tragedy as the parents. The attitude of
the parents' lawyers stands in stark contrast to the way "alternative medicine"
supporters
LIE#4
attempt to demonise the people who made a tragic mistake.
LIE #5
Jan