The Whole Story: Alternative Medicine On Trial?

191 Pages·2005·0.63 MB·English

by  Toby Murcott

The Whole Story
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The Whole Story
Alternative medicine on trial?
TobyMurcott
Macmillan
©TobyMurcott2005
Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis
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Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkinaccor-
dancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988
Firstpublished2005by
Macmillan
Houndmills,Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XSand
175FifthAvenue,NewYork,N.Y.10010
Companiesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld
ISBN-13:978–1–4039–4500–6
ISBN-10:1–4039–4500–4
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Dedicatedtothememoryofmyfather,
KenMurcott(1939–2004)
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Contents
acknowledgements ix
preface xi
1.introduction 1
2.medicine’sconundrum 19
3.theadvocates 35
4.thecritics 52
5.thegoldstandardtarnished 70
6.measuringtheunmeasurable 94
7.hintsofunderstanding 111
8.anewmodel 125
9.theevidenceleads 140
10.conclusion 158
furtherreading 164
index 168
vii
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acknowledgements
Thisbookneededtofeatureawiderangeoftopicsandideasin
which I can claim no expertise. Therefore I owe a great many
thankstothespecialistswhohavebeensogenerouswiththeir
timeandthoughts.WhenIhavegotitright,itistheywhohave
madeitso.Anyremainingmistakesaremineandminealone.
I have had numerous conversations with many people,
either by phone or email, all of whom have contributed in
someway–sometimesexplicitlyasacknowledgedinthetext,
sometimes by keeping me on the right track. For these con-
versations I would like to thank Bernadette Carter, Iain
Chalmers, Sabine Clark, Rachel Clarke, Mike Cummings,
RobertDingwall,EdzardErnst,JaneGallagher,JennyGordon,
GillHudson,JaniceKiecolt-Glaser,KateKuhn,CatherineLaw,
Richard Nahin, Robin Lovell-Badge, Alan Marsh, Hannah
Mackay, Andrew Moore, Stephen Myers, Ton Nicolai, David
Peters, Paolo Roberti, Virginia Sanders, Aslak Steinsbekk,
Andrew Vickers, Harald Walach and Graham Ward. I would
ix