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Sent: 18 May 2007 17:27
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Subject: Newsline 18 May 2007
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY NEWSLINE
18 May 2007
[snip]
"Spiritual healers" using up scarce NHS resources
The
"Healers" - who wave their
hands over the patient and claim to transmit some kind of undefined 'energy' -
want to find out whether their efforts increase the number of white blood cells
in cancer sufferers.
Astonishingly,
UCLH has a dedicated team of 10 "healers", who cost the hospital
around £80,000 a year to maintain. They are the idea of department manager
Angela Buxton who first became interested in "spiritual healing"
after the death of her seven year old son from leukaemia. She told the local
paper: "Science has not caught up with how it works. Anecdotal evidence
shows it works but we need hard evidence."
The trial will
need 50 volunteers who have had chemotherapy. "We want to know if the
white blood cells are increasing after we give the patient healing," Mrs
Buxton said.
Dr Michael
Irwin, co-ordinator of the Secular Medical Forum commented: "What a
ridiculous way to waste £80,000. Surely the ten 'helpers' at UCLH could be
financed by those, outside the hospital, who believe in this hocus-pocus?
£80,000 could pay the salaries of four nurses for a year - a much better use of
anyone's precious resources."
Terry
Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society said: "This 'healers'
project is self-indulgent claptrap. There are many scientifically-proven cancer
treatments available that health authorities cannot afford to prescribe. This
rubbishy pseudo-science should be kicked out of the hospital immediately."
See also Secular Medical Forum website http://www.secularmedicalforum.org.uk/
Cash-strapped
NHS sacks 17,000 employees
Britain second-rate when it
comes to cancer sufferers
Half
of all A&E units marked for closure
[snip]
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