"Of the hundreds of different therapies that comprise SCAM, some (e.g., homeopathy, energy healing) are mere placebo treatments and thus unlikely to cause any direct harm (Ernst 2022). Others can cause adverse effects and complications that can be severe, sometimes even fatal. Examples of the latter category are:
- Chiropractic can cause death. My 2010 review summarized twenty-six fatalities after chiropractic spinal manipulations. The alleged pathology usually was a vascular accident involving the dissection of a vertebral artery (Ernst 2010).
- Acupuncture can cause injuries to thoracic and abdominal viscera, to the peripheral and central nervous systems, and to blood vessels. Deaths have also been recorded from pneumothorax and cardiac tamponade (Peuker et al. 1999).
- Herbal medicine can cause a wide range of adverse effects (Ernst 2004) and unwanted herb-drug interactions (Izzo and Ernst 2009).
"As no effective post-marketing surveillance exists in SCAM, the incidence of adverse events after SCAM use is essentially unknown."
Click on the link below for the entire article:
The Harm of So-Called Alternative Medicine
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