{"id":18090,"date":"2016-11-30T20:41:48","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T19:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jurnsearch.wordpress.com\/?p=18090"},"modified":"2016-11-30T20:41:48","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T19:41:48","slug":"lump-sum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/jurnsearch\/index.php\/2016\/11\/30\/lump-sum\/","title":{"rendered":"Lump sum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s one thing to find an occasional questionable &#8216;alternative medicine&#8217; article in a dubious journal, quite another to learn that the same flakes have set up shop on your local hospital cancer ward. The latest edition of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.skeptic.com\/magazine\/about_the_magazine\/\"><em>Skeptic<\/em> magazine<\/a> ($, Vol 21, No.4, 2016) points out how gong-banging and aromatherapy and suchlike nonsense is being welcomed into legitimate cancer wards&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The most disturbing trend in cancer care is the ongoing infiltration of complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) into otherwise legitimate cancer hospitals. As of 2016, every cancer hospital on the top of <em>U.S. News &amp; World Report<\/em>\u2019s list of America\u2019s best either has its own CAM center or openly markets CAM services. Memorial Sloan Kettering\u2019s Bendheim Integrative Medicine Center offers aromatherapy, Qi Gong, reflexology, hypnotherapy and a slew of other fantasy treatments. At Dana-Farber\u2019s Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies, you can waste as much time and money as you like on Qi Gong, acupuncture, massage therapy, and Reiki. The UCLA Medical Center has a partnership with the Urban Zen Foundation (Reiki, essential oil therapy, and contemplative care\/mindful awareness exercises). Not to be outdone, the stellar MD Anderson\u2019s CAM center has Tai Chi, Tibetan meditation, group drumming, acupuncture, and \u201claughter for health.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This has led to some awkward advertising moments in which hospitals warn patients about the very treatments they now offer. Sloan Kettering\u2019s Chief of Integrative Medicine Service boasts of having \u201cstudied, published, and lectured internationally\u201d on \u201calternative therapies\u201d for more than 25 years. The hospital itself advises its patients: \u201calternative regimens are unproved, expensive, and potentially harmful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230; Medical expenses are still the leading cause of personal bankruptcies in the U.S. In dire circumstances, when one is not thinking with due lucidity, the temptation to turn to cheap alternatives that are bountiful outside of mainstream medicine can be irresistible. When legitimate hospitals host CAM services \u2014 by whatever name they choose to call them \u2014 they implicitly abet a shameful industry.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s one thing to find an occasional questionable &#8216;alternative medicine&#8217; article in a dubious journal, quite another to learn that &hellip;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/jurnsearch\/index.php\/2016\/11\/30\/lump-sum\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotted-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/jurnsearch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/jurnsearch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/jurnsearch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/jurnsearch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/jurnsearch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/jurnsearch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18090\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/jurnsearch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/jurnsearch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/jurnsearch\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}