There are some NGOs that send you updates for the specific individuals whose cause you contribute to. So if you have given money for someone's baby's hospitalization, you get an update on how the baby is faring. At times you get a message that the baby has passed away. Could not be saved. It is really, really hard.
I had written to these organisations on considering alternative therapy. In my experience, medical treatment without insurance can really break your back, stress out the family, and I think maybe the patient himself or herself starts feeling that they are being a burden and should not continue. Of course little babies may not know what is going on. But slightly older children, the elderly...
My mom's treatment for breast cancer was so one entirely without insurance. I am so grateful that we could all earn and bring in the funds as and when required. But it can cripple a family for years to come, even after the patient is no more.
It's not like I think that alternative healing like Ayurveda or Reiki or Pranic Healing is more effective. (I know that I find them more effective for myself. And also that it is so hard to find a good, wholesome healer who is also not using a patient's case to push their own agenda.)But I really do wonder why are all these energy-centered practices called 'Alternative'? Why aren't they mainstream? They have certainly been around longer, their methods are codified (no one is relying on oral history here), experiments and studies have been conducted...is it because studying these do not require as much rigor as studying conventional medicine? Or there is no central authority to monitor the practice of these areas?
This model of the NGOs only raising money for traditional medical treatment is not seeming to be a very good idea. I don't know if they are getting doctors to operate for free or less money. But for every individual case if you have to look at raising 1, 2 lakhs or more, how can it be sustainable? I wish I could look at the picture of a person and heal him or her. Especially a baby. The one that passed away today had tiny pixie-like ears and a little cookie-dough face. He had bright, shiny eyes and a head full of hair.
I don't think death is either bad, avoidable or even the end. That little baby is in a good, happy place free of pain. One just wonders if we could have provided some relief to him and his family while he was still around.
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Because as primary treatments, there is basically zero evidence to show they are objectively effective. Some people of course do claim to find relief, remission etc. through such treatments, and good for them, but that is just not sufficient evidence (in terms of statistical frequency or in terms of the quality of the outcomes) to deem these treatments effective, and certainly not mainstream. The evidence doesn’t even beat the frequency of the placebo effect that is already well documented.
Why aren't they mainstream? They have certainly been around longer, their methods are codified (no one is relying on oral history here), experiments and studies have been conducted...
Not true. They have been around longer, yes. For most of history, modern science as we know it today wasn’t around simply because the means necessary to meet the standard that modern science holds itself accountable to weren’t invented. For example, unless you have a microscope, you can’t study micro-organisms or pathogens. So for a good part of 5,000 years Ayurveda or some other ancient medicine may have been your best bet. But just because it has been around longer doesn’t make it effective. Also, none of these schools of ancient medicines submit themselves to an objective scrutiny that meets a modern standard. All the studies you are referring to are very conveniently conducted, and never corroborated in a neutral, controlled environment. If they submit to the kind of scrutiny that western medicine is subject to, and if they pass the muster, nobody would have a right to hold a grudge against these methods. But it should tell you plenty that these guys DO NOT want to be held accountable to anywhere close to that standard.
Is it because studying these do not require as much rigor as studying conventional medicine?
Partly this. But more so, because the knowledge itself has ZERO sense of objectivity to it. It has not been updated for thousands of years. Some of the “knowledge” has now been objectively debunked as flawed, and the basis for most of these treatments are themselves outdated. For example, if you know today that there was no way for Ayurveda to study bacteria and viruses back then, why would you give any credence to a treatment coming out of such an inadequate science? Moreover, these methods give the practitioner way too much freedom to improvise based on their whims and there is nothing to hold them accountable for their outcomes. You have no way to establish how qualified a practitioner really is, because you are basically taking their word for it.
Or there is no central authority to monitor the practice of these areas?
That is again, highly convenient for these practitioners. They do not WANT a central authority because accountability is anathema to their whole practice. They want to operate on their terms, not be held accountable for anything, and count on the person’s faith in them for outcomes. This only works as long as there is a good enough smokescreen of culture, word-of-mouth evidence, faith, belief, and general ignorance behind which they can operate. Standardizing anything and bringing in any sense of real accountability totally blows this smokescreen off and therefore they will never allow any objective, unbiased authority to truly monitor or evaluate them.
Now all this isn’t to say it is all bad. Modern science has its own limitations and is hardly beyond criticism. So in a particular case, if western medicine is clearly insufficient to address a person’s health problems, there is nothing wrong with rolling the dice on an alternative therapy, especially if it gives someone some peace of mind. And the placebo effect, for all the hate it gets, is a very real thing. As long as you are not going in with the delusion that alternative medicine is anywhere as effective or as rigorous as western medicine, you are OK.