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In Britain, Better Not Call It Bogus Science
Geoffrey.landis writes 'In Britain, libel laws are censoring the ability of journalists to write stories about bogus science. Simon Singh, a Ph.D. physicist and author of several best-selling popular-science books, is currently being sued by the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) for saying that there is no evidence for claims that visiting a chiropractor has health benefits. A year earlier, writer Ben Goldacre faced a libel suit for an article critical of Matthias Rath, who claimed that vitamin supplements can treat HIV and AIDS in place of conventional drugs like anti-retrovirals. In Britain, libel laws don't have any presumption of innocence — any statement made is assumed to be false unless you prove it's true. Journalists are running scared.'
It wouldn't matter. IANAL, but I've looked into this sort of thing. Here in the US, the truth is an absolute defense against slander or libel. That is, if you can prove that you told the truth, you've won your case because that's the way the law reads. In Britain, the truth is an affirmative defense. That means that you're allowed to prove that you told the truth, but it might not be enough to save you. British law considers statements to be slander or libel if they are harmful and/or defamatory regardless of the truth of the statements.
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You got it wrong. In the US, it suffices that you believe your statements to be true. In the UK, belief isn't enough, you need to prove that what you said is actually true (it's this shift of burden of proof that characterizes affirmative defence, afaik).
For example, if I were to say "Techno-vampire goes out to bars dressed in drag", you could sue me for slander. In the US, if I could make a reasonable argument that I believed you to be a drag queen, I'd be off the hook. In the UK, actual proof that you had been in a bar while dressing in drag would be needed to successfully defend myself.
I agree. The GP sounds like he has a very narrow view of how medicine is actually practiced, probably because he quit going to doctors a while ago.
I don't have what I'd call a "personal physician," but I have a doctor's office that I've been to now and again for various things. Mostly I never see my doctor because I'm a 36-year-old male with few risk factors in my lifestyle or my medical history, and mainly I'm in fine health. When I do see my doctor, the conversation probably lasts about eight minutes. But pretty much every time I've been to the doctor's office, no matter what my problem was, the session is concluded with a few questions, along the lines of: "How is everything else? How's work? Do you like your job? Is it stressful? Do you exercise much?" He clearly understands that there are aspects to human health that aren't strictly chemical.
At the same time, unlike the so-called alternative practitioners, he's willing (and able) to write me prescriptions for real, working medicines when he thinks I'll benefit from them. I caught a sinus infection once that was giving me one-sided headaches that would come on every time I ate and would get so bad that I had to leave my desk at work and lie down. This went on for weeks. By the time someone convinced me to go to the doctor, I was so tired, weak, and sick of pain that I barely bothered to make myself food once I got home from work -- I just went to bed, or passed out on the couch. What could herbal medicine have done for that? It was an infection. What lifestyle change could I have made? But once the doctor prescribed me a course of antibiotics -- the evil, over-prescribed bugbear of the healthcare industrial complex -- I was back up on my feet in less than two days. No more headaches. Problem solved. I kicked myself over how much time I wasted avoiding legitimate medical care.
Another time, I caught scabies, a skin parasite. I have no idea how I got it. But try going online and finding home remedies for it. Find the message boards for "scabies sufferers." The stuff you'll find is frightening: Douse your skin with bleach. Scrub it with rock salt. Scrub it with Comet cleanser. Shave off the affected areas with razor blades. Dig them out from under your fingernails. Find the burrows and dig them out with X-Acto knives. Make your own medicines from ingredients you can buy through livestock veterinary supply wholesalers (I'm not kidding). The actual treatment that most doctors will prescribe is a cream, which you apply to your entire body and leave on for ten hours. This treatment cures as many as 90 percent of patients after exactly one application -- that's right, do it right once and you're cured. Compare that to the suffering that people who don't believe in doctors or medicine might endure.
Do you see my point? No good doctor is going to tell you that every health problem in the world can be solved with medicines. But the alternative, too often, is people who have gotten it into their head that modern medicine is never the solution. I think the latter attitude does people a far greater disservice.
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