More hospitals offering alternative therapy services

[bemildred]

Growing numbers of U.S. hospitals, responding to patient demand, are integrating acupuncture, massage therapy and other alternative services into their conventional medical care, a new national survey shows.

Forty-two percent of hospitals in the survey said they offer one or more alternative therapies, including meditation, relaxation training, homeopathy and chiropractic care.

That's up from 37% of hospitals that said they offered such medical services in 2007.

The alternative options are provided mostly in outpatient settings and come primarily in response to patient requests.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-alternative-medicine-20110908,0,5074014.story

[FSogol]

1. Hokey practices are cheaper than science. Any Astral Dentists yet?

Anyone praying away the pain?

:shrug:

[villager]

2. Not surprising that meditation and relaxation training get unrecc'd by Big Pharma's acolytes here

...but glad to see some hospitals aren't being dictated to solely by the drug salesmen...

[OnTheOtherHand]

8. it's interesting that you single out meditation and relaxation training

Lots of people could benefit from learning new ways to relax. I haven't read studies on the effectiveness of actually existing relaxation training, but I have no trouble believing that it could be useful.

What's disturbingly characteristic about the article is how it lumps together, as "alternative," things like relaxation training with things like homeopathy. The specific claims of homeopathy -- e.g., the practice of succussion -- make no sense whatsoever.

If homeopathy's defenders construe it as a form of meditation (some people use a candle, some people use a vial of water...), that would be interesting to know. Candles tend to be a lot cheaper.

People ought to set aside the notion that they are somehow sticking it to "Big Pharma" (and its "acolytes," meh) by embracing all things "alternative." No matter how much one hates the pharmaceutical industry, it doesn't have a lock on dangerous and/or ineffective treatments, and it never will.

[emilyg]

3. I'm for it.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Yay!!!!! I will create several thousand identities and rec this back up where it belongs!!!

OK, I'll just rec it once, that's all I can do for now, glad to hear they are waking up to the facts.

[Celebration]

5. "responding to patient demand"

I like that part of it. This is a grassroots movement.

[HuckleB]

6. So popular support trumps science?

That does sound a little, uh, hmmmmmmm.

[BuddhaGirl]

7. +1

It's so great to see this happening! The local Kaiser hospital is offering more alternative therapies :bounce:

[trotsky]

9. Yes, hospitals are all too willing to take people's money.

And considering the cost to them for these "alternative" "therapies" is far lower than evidence-based care, their return on investment is through the roof.

I find it hilarious that the people cheering this move are the same ones that bash hospitals for being for-profit care centers, which is exactly what they're doing here. :rofl: