Is it medicine or Religion?

A favorite topic is always how people mix concepts of religion, that is Faith, with superstition, with medical or scientific understanding. This is an early post with some of my early thoughts and observations-dr


A chiropractor complained to skeptics of the existance of chiropractic subluxations:
"remove the silly nonsense of manipulating a cadaver as proof that the concept of subluxation is fallacious." I reply: I don't think it would be labeled fallacious, just not falsifiable. Something better termed as religion than as science.

"Do we choose to believe that the universe is random?" -chiropractor

The apparent order in the universe is the Faithful's evidence of Divinity. Perception of order or disorder should not impact what we all can observe and deduce from the rational* analysis of cause and effect.

According to this chiropractor: Chiropractic says that "Intelligence is cause, matter (electromagnetic fields) is effect. Intelligence moves matter."
And: The medical model says that the interaction of electromagnetic fields evolves to be intelligence. Matter is cause, intelligence is effect. Intelligence is a function of matter.

My comment: I'm not quite sure what exactly "intelligence" denotes. Science may suggest consciousness or self-awareness is a product evolved from biology over time. Science is not keen on adopting the not-so-readily-falsifiable existence of a soul or spirit. A quick question: If, in the medical model, "electromagnetic fields (matter) evolves to be intelligence", where did "intelligence" come from in Chiropractic?

"If intelligence is independent of matter, then my thoughts control my electromagnetic fields. My intelligence uses my body as an instrument of _expression."

My comment: So, chiropractic causes me to believe that my self-awareness is "independent" of any biological process, and the "electromagnetic fields" or "matter" exist for this independent intelligence to use "as an instrument."

"If the interaction of electromagnetic fields controls my thoughts, then it seems to lead to predetermination. My thoughts are simply the result of my evolution and whatever stimulus arrives at the moment."

My comment: So, if the "medical model" has me believe that my consciousness has evolved over time, I must believe that every thought and every action can be mapped out, predicted, and predetermined based on the evolutionary ingredients. This "cause and effect" analogy only argues that the logic of a scientific premise, when taken literally, can make for bad religion. The other argument made is that Chiropractic is based on principles better suited for religion than science. Ours may be the first society in the history of mankind to try to separate religion, from superstition, from science. This distinction is important to us, especially when we pool our resources for the common good of addressing illness and malady. We need the best guess based on all available and understandable evidence to determine where our limited resources are best spent.

Ours may be the first society to allow it's members the freedom of (and freedom from) religion. This freedom should be important to all of us. Medical treatment based on religious-like beliefs is essentially insisting that all who contribute taxes and insurance premiums to subscribe to those beliefs.

Post script:
*A man said: "I once asked a sheep why it bleats every morning, the sheep responded: 'I bleated all yesterday morning and nothing bad happened...'"
A parting comment: As I point out, science does not make a good substitute for religion. As a person with sincere Christian convictions, I intend my comments not to be taken as pro-agnostic.

Selling defibrillators to municipalities

Automatic external defibrillators are "shock machines" used in ambulances and emergency rooms (CLEAR!... POW!) to get a heart beating effectively again. These are now FDA approved for use in the home, and don't require a physician prescription. The topic here is in the title line.

If any possibly untried and untrue medical program is being sold and purchased at the taxpayers expense, it may be fraud. I have a complete Pubmed literature search from last December that has all the abstracts of scientific commentary and studies on Public AED usefulness. Basically, the science for positive outcomes is good. Best outcomes are when there is a person, who is always close to the public placed AED, is trained and has daily responsibility for it. For example, security officers in casinos, flight attendants, etc.

One huge consideration from the literature is the availability of EMS in a community. If an ambulance with an AED can be expected to be called and arrive at the scene in 10 or so minutes, there's a good chance the nearby AED has lost it's usefulness. Airplanes, deep inside casinos and airports, and up the bleachers at a ballpark are good spots for AED's. Courthouse clerks may be better off learning to call 911, and leaving it at that, rather than risk the delay of the ambulance.

There ideally should be quite a bit going into any public AED effort. Having or needing only "a few" can get difficult to keep a good program going. There should be trained, and periodically retrained, personnel assigned to each one's use, documented physical maintenance, formal upkeep of detailed written protocols and procedures, and a physician medical director (licensed in your state) to sign them and be involved in their application.