How unfortunate it is to start a new venture on a sad note! Earlier today I joined this blog as a guest blogger, hoping to sharpen my writing and find a new audience to inflict it upon - thanks Martin, for the opportunity. I look forward to writing here, and being part of a collective - something I never quite experienced in my previous blogging.
So why the sad note?
It comes from this news item in the Australian Herald Sun which I came across earlier today and which seems appropriate to address in the Lay Scientist: an educated (tertiary - so says the paper) couple, Thomas Sam and Manju, were convicted in Sydney of manslaughter for allowing their 9-month-old baby to die of severe eczema by relying solely on homeopathic remedies because the father is a homeopath himself! How deluded must someone be to allow their own child to suffer a painful death (I can't imagine eczema killing even a child all that quickly) without trying every available treatment!
As a parent of still small children, I can understand and sympathize with people who turn in desperation to "alternative" medicines when conventional treatments fail. But this really boggles the mind: sacrificing one's own child to one's faith in quackery?! The judge was correct in describing Thomas as "arrogant", and their failure to seek proper assistance as "cruelty". Then again, this isn't exactly uncommon among the faithful of various stripes, be they Christian "scientists" or Gandhian "natureopaths" or homeopaths - some parents seem all too willing to put their belief above their children's lives! I will never understand that.
The other element of this story, the reason it caught my eye, is that this couple apparently came from my home country of India (although the newspaper story never brings up their background, their names and photos hint at south Asian origins). Unfortunately, India happens to be a country where homeopathy thrives along with a wide array of "alternative" medical practices. Combating such quackery and woo is harder in India because there are several indigenous schools of medicine, most prominent being Ayurveda, with deep cultural and religious roots, and varying levels of empiricism and success. It is therefore easy for most people to be suspicious of "western" medicine regardless of the scientific evidence supporting it.
Indeed science itself may be deemed as a "western" or "colonial"/"imperial" project, as if that historical connection justifies rejecting rationality itself! The multinational drug companies don't make things any easier either, with poorly regulated drug trials on human subjects often carried out in India to evade stricter scrutiny from govt. / institutional review boards in the developed world. (I know someone in my current neighborhood in California who gave up potentially lucrative drug trials in India because of the ethical problems with how poorly it is conducted.)
Meanwhile, you have a malnourished, impoverished, and largely illiterate (certainly about science) populace that is prey to all kinds of purveyors of woo! And its typical of Indian culture that not only do we have ancient traditions prevailing, but also every new kind of woo taking hold among a large gullible segment of the population, from homeopathy to The Secret via Oprah!
Where does one begin to unravel that irrational Gordian knot? How do we, schooled in "western" science, combat this level of irrationality in that climate back home? Let me leave you, on this my first day here, with that weighty question to ponder! And I promise to find cheerier subjects to blog about while I'm here.
http://layscience.net/trackback/647
As a Christian Scientist (in the U.S.) and a parent of two young children, your comment that “some parents seem all too willing to put their belief above their children's lives” caught my attention. You mention “Christian ‘scientists’” (small “s”), so I’m not sure if you intended to refer to the Christian Science religion. In any case, I thought it important to distinguish between our practices and any type of healing based on “belief.”
While Christian Scientists normally choose a path other than conventional medicine, this choice is not based on irrationality or blind faith. It instead reflects a systematic approach to prayer that has proven to be reliable and effective in the lives of those who practice it (in my own family’s case, for five generations). Most Christian Scientists would agree that when praying about a health issue (especially for a child) RESULTS MATTER and that in the absence of timely, tangible results a parent has an obligation to consider other means of treatment. In my own experience, this has not been necessary, but I'll share a couple of examples where my wife and I consented to medical diagnosis consistent with what we felt were our obligations as parents.
When our two children were born, we opted to have the births in a hospital and to have standard prenatal care during the pregnancies. In both instances, the doctors identified complications that were quickly healed through Christian Science and did not require medical treatment. During the first pregnancy, my wife was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. At the urging of the obstetrician, we scheduled an appointment with a specialist. In the meantime, we requested treatment from a Christian Science practitioner. By the time of the appointment with the specialist several days later, the symptoms of gestational diabetes were gone and never returned. When our second son was born, he was diagnosed with a heart murmur. The pediatrician asked us to have it checked by a cardiologist. We again requested treatment from a Christian Science practitioner and again experienced a complete healing by time of the appointment with the specialist.
I should emphasize that in relating these examples, it is not my intent to “sell” my religion or to “prove” the efficacy of Christian Science to those who may prefer other forms of health care. I’m just sharing some personal experiences that may help others to understand why my family and I feel confident in our health care choices.
Christian Scientists don’t believe or teach that their religion somehow exempts them from the legal and moral obligations that every parent has to provide the best possible care for their children. Indeed, I believe that most feel a heightened sense of this responsibility and consistently practice their faith within that context.
Thank your for your interesting blog and the opportunity to post this comment.
I was moved by your statement on christian science. But i'm sorry, i just don't believe you. Prayer is no use to anyone, let alone for fixing or curing any illnesses. Personal revelation is of no use, practical trials with due to care to placebo effect with double blind trials is the only way to prove this too. Wish you well
Thank you for sharing your experience, Roger. It is difficult for me, as a scientist well versed in the scientific method, to understand the position of parents who put so much faith in... well, Faith! It is therefore good to hear from someone from that perspective. However, I share Bill Ramsay's skepticism, and would add that we now have several double-blind studies of the efficacy of prayer and they have failed to show any effect whatsoever!
And yes, I did mean Christian Scientists with the big S, as an example, because yours is a group known to have issues with modern medicine. But there are plenty of other ways, ranging from established older religions to new age ones, that parents seem to arrive at positions where they jeopardize their children's lives, whether it is thru refusing vaccinations or avoiding hospitals/surgeries even in emergencies. I am glad to hear that you at least are open to alternatives!