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February 5, 2008 
What does Chiropractic care, Antibiotics, and Vytorin have in common?
Go to MedPage and find out.
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Posted in Medical
Welcome to my blog. I am a practicing primary care physician in the Southeastern US, caring for patients of all ages (Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics). This blog covers a wide variety of issues, including the following: What it is like to be a physician, dogs driving cars, what troubles are in our system, toddlers with flame-throwers, what would it take to fix that system, llamas, death and dying issues, mutants, and accordions. Maybe I need to write about mutant dying accordions with flame-throwers. Hmmm....I feel a post coming. Anyhow, I like variety. Life is always lived with both laughter and tears. If you are a regular reader of this blog, it is also filled with nausea and nightmares. Thanks for stopping by. -Dr. Rob
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February 5th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Wow, we both blogged about snake oil on the same day but independent of one another. This must prove that we share the same energy field?
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/blogs/valjonesmd/the-rise-of-snake-oil-11315
February 5th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Obviously we share the same biorhythm. Are you a Gemini?
February 5th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Dr. Rob,
I unfortunately could not disagree with you more. It is a logical fallacy to state that because one profession, in this case scientific medicine, has problems that they are thus unable to point out problems in another. This is a common tactic employed by practitioners of non-science based medicine like chiropractic known as the Tu Quoque or “thou, too” fallacy. It is an argument that claims a certain position is wrong because its proponent fails to act consistently in accordance with that position, and is at its root an ad hominem attack.
February 5th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
The point of this is not to give any credence to the Chiro claims at all. What I am saying is that we are guilty of the same behavior some as well. The Vytorin thing is a study gone wrong and the spin the reps are using is amazing - kind of the same that the Chiro’s would use.
February 5th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
It seemed like you were saying that until we cleaned up our own issues that we couldn’t be justified in speaking out against chiropractic or any other unfounded therapies’ claims. I apologize if I misunderstood.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:48 am
The big difference is that “we”* keep an open mind and continue to subject therapies to evaluation and re-evaluation. You’ll never see a chiropracter announce, “Hey, cracking your back doesn’t clear your sinuses, after all,” whereas such findings are made with actual medicine because of, what’s it called again, science. Looking back at the history of medicine one can find many examples of treatments later debunked, even (and this I realize is heretical) in the surgical fields. That is good. But it ain’t never gonna happen in chiropractic, or homeopathy, or aromatherapy. Or snake oil.
*By “we” I of course mean you, who are still working; as opposed to those of us who copped out and now obsess over politics all day and well into the night.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:29 am
True, but we should be sober in our criticism. It *does* undermine our criticisms when we participate in scientifically weak/contradictory actions (such as “giving in” to patients with antibiotics to “ward off sinusitis”). The fact that we are quick to jump on a new drug because of promotion and not because of data is also a mark against us. The comparison of our version of medicine with this chiropractor is, in essence, “reducto ad absurdum” - making our actions seem especially silly as we look an awful lot like an obvious charlatan (or at at the very least, someone who is clearly deceived).
February 6th, 2008 at 11:18 am
It may undermine our criticisms to some, but it shouldn’t. The facts speak for themselves and are not altered in their legitimacy by the person saying those facts. Once again I have to say that this is just an example of an ad hominem attack against the medical industry that doesn’t in any way negate what doctors and scientists say in the way of criticism against chiropractic or any other form of non-sciene based therapies. Two wrongs do not make a right. It is more than fair to discuss the shortcomings of scientific medicine. And it is more than fair to do so in regards to irregular medicine. But these shortcomings have no bearing on each other. It is equally possible that both systems are wrong but it is not possible that both are right.