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Date sent: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 19:55:09 EDT Send reply to: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network <[log in to unmask]> From: jo ann coen <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Phooey on Howard Fienberg To: [log in to unmask] > Who can determine > at this early time whether magnets (when I first read this,. I thought > it was maggots, and I said, "Whoa there") work or not. Maggots actually *do* work! They were used (and still are, on occasion) on badly ulcerated and infected wounds. Maggots eat up dead tissue and will not harm live tissue. This helps to clear necrotic and infected tissue from an ulcerated wound, and allows better healing. >>but he is a true doctor who was taught in medical school that NOTHING works for ANYONE unless it is handled by a doctor. Remember how doctors thought chiropractors were quacks? Believe it or not, my doctor referred me to one just last week.<< I'd rather you refer to me as a "true scientist" rather than as a "true doctor". It is *science* that I am talking about, not a medical degree. I resent the comment that things "have to be handled by a doctor" in order to "work". If something is scientifically true, then it will work; if it is quackery, no number of degrees after one's name will make it anything but quackery. The argument that, for example, magnets are a valuable therapy because they "work" in a given patient is like the argument which notes that, of all condemned criminals on Death Row, probably in excess of 90% smoke cigarettes. Therefore, smoking cigarettes leads to the commission of murder by smokers?? BTW, I sometimes refer patients to chiropractors, too. I do it because they know how to do good physical therapy (sometimes even better than physical therapists), and they do help patients. But not because "all disease is caused by misalignment in the spinal vertebrae" (the pure "Palmer-method" chiropractors believe that brain tumors come from misalignment of the vertebrae). I think that magnets help people because the people want them to help. Just like chicken soup and a kiss by a beloved. If a magnet that doesn't have the strength to stay attached to a refrigerator door through 4-5 thicknesses of paper can treat arthritis, PD, or something else like that, then every patient with serious disease should be treated with daily MRI scans (which use magnetic fields *thousands* of times stronger than the magnets used by patients for "treatment"). Best, Bob ********************************************** Robert A. Fink, M. D., F.A.C.S., P. C. 2500 Milvia Street Suite 222 Berkeley, California 94704-2636 Telephone: 510-849-2555 FAX: 510-849-2557 WWW: http://www.dovecom.com/rafink/ mailto:[log in to unmask] "Ex Tristitia Virtus" *********************************************