Is alternative medicine effective?

Alternative medicine prevents people from getting real medicine

Question: Is alternative medicine effective?
Position‹3 of 3: Alternative medicine can cause serious harm
Argument‹3 of 4›: Alternative medicine prevents people from getting real medicine

People who believe strongly in alternative medicines sometimes avoid seeking traditional treatment because they believe alternative medicine will cure them.

The argument

At first sight it may seems that given the infinitesimal quantities of diluted medicine "at least does not harm" the patient. However, there is strong evidence of people affected by serious illnesses, such as cancer or diabetes, who use homeopathy as an alternative to scientific drugs. This is extremely dangerous where people use these instead of potent and proven treatments such as chemotherapy or insulin. As a result, patients are exposed to unnecessary health risks that can result in avoidable fatalities. Almost 40% of Americans believe cancer can be cured through alternative therapies alone, despite evidence shows that people who use alternative therapies in place of standard cancer treatments have much higher death rates. Death rates were five times higher for breast cancer, twice as high for lung cancer and a fourfold increase for colorectal cancer. People may delay cancer treatments to undergo an alternative therapy programme. Belief in the positive outcome of treatment is a a key part of therapy, making aversion to orthodox treatment more likely. Delaying cancer treatment allows the cancer cells to continue to rapidly divide and make cure much less likely. Ready exposure to incorrect information online makes this choice more likely.

Premises

[P1]People with serious illnesses like cancer or diabetes sometimes use alternative therapies such as homeopathy instead of proven treatments like chemotherapy or insulin. [P2] Those who do have far higher death rates — five times higher for breast cancer — and delaying real treatment lets the disease progress beyond cure. [P3] Belief in alternative therapy and online misinformation make this dangerous aversion to orthodox treatment more likely. [C] Therefore, because alternative medicine prevents people from getting real medicine, alternative medicine can cause serious harm.

Counter-arguments

A conscientious alternative medicine practitioner should never suggest homeopathy as an alternative to scientifically proven drugs. If these treatments are recommended, they should only be used to complement the proven treatments. In these cases where it has been selected by a medical professional, the fault is not with the treatment, but in the misleading and dangerous behaviour of the human therapist. The issue of alternative medicine interfering with conventional medical practices is minimized when it is turned to only after conventional treatments have been exhausted. A conscientious alternative therapist would never suggest their treatment as an alternative to traditional medicine for a serious condition.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] A responsible practitioner of alternative medicine would not suggest it as an alternative to using orthodox medicine.

The argument

Premises

Counter-arguments

Rejecting the premises

Further reading