2014 – Page 2 – The Quackometer Blog

Lord Saatchi Compares Doctors to Medieval, Barbaric Hanging Judges

29th June, 2014 14

The Second Reading of the dreadfully misconceived and dangerous Medical Innovation Bill took place in the House of Lord’s last Friday. Condemned as a Quack’s Charter for attempting to remove legal protections from patients against maverick, quack and incompetent practice, the team supporting the Bill have been relying on emotive language and anecdotes about cancer patients to push this through. Lord Saatchi started the debate with a condemnation of doctors [read more…]

Does the Updated Saatchi Bill Pass the Burzynski Test?

5th June, 2014 0

Today, Lord Saatchi is presenting his Private Member’s Bill to the House of Lords. It is the start, he hopes, of this Bill’s passage to become law. I have previously documented about how this Bill looks like it could be a Quacks’ Charter and could even hinder medical research, against the express aims of the Bill. It is quite clear too, that the overwhelming response of doctors, professional bodies, medical [read more…]

Fooling Nature: How the Saatchi Bill Will Harm Medical Innovation

2nd May, 2014 10

Lord Saatchi is proclaiming his consultation into the new Medical Innovations Bill a resounding success with “a staggering 18,655 people” supporting his bill and “fewer than 100 were against it.”. Saatchi plans to use his Bill to sweep away a fear of litigatation and “defensive medicine” so that doctors can be free to try new treatments of the dying without fear of the courts. Last week I wrote about how I feared [read more…]

The Saatchi Bill: A Quacks’ Charter

24th April, 2014 22

Maurice Saatchi, the former advertising businessman and Tory peer, has introduced a Bill to parliament designed to encourage medical innovation. After the death of his wife from cancer, Saatchi believed that doctors were being held back from making innovations that could save lives. The “Medical Innovation” Bill is designed to encourage and protect doctors who wish to try new things in cancer treatment with the aim of speeding up the rate [read more…]

Egyptian Government Duped by Nonsense HIV Detection Machine

24th February, 2014 24

This morning, the Egyptian State Information Service has issued a press release announcing that President Adly Mansour and Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi have been presented with the “first system for discovering and treating Hepatitis and AIDS patients.” This is despite the device bearing an uncanny resemblance to the fake bomb detectors that were sold to the Iraqi security forces for millions of pounds by a British business man. James McCormick was [read more…]

Conflict of Interests at the General Chiropractic Council

29th January, 2014 23

A few years ago I wrote how the McTimoney College of Chiropractic was in deep trouble after the University of Wales collapsed. The University had been accrediting the chiropractic college along with international degrees from some very dubious colleges. Without the Univeristy backing, the McTimoney College could not award degrees to its students. Since then, the college has been rescued by BPP University, which is the UK’s second privately owned, for-profit University [read more…]

Ten Reasons why the Society of Homeopaths Should not Receive PSA Accreditation

6th January, 2014 101

The Society of Homeopaths are applying to become accredited as a voluntary professional register with the Professional Standards Authority. Should the PSA approve their application, it will mean that the PSA, rather than ensuring standards in health care, has become a direct threat to public health. The PSA are calling for feedback by the 17th of January on the Society of Homeopaths before they approve them. Perhaps you might want to [read more…]