[escepticos] RV: STRANGE SCIENCE/ALT MED TRAGEDY

[planetario@...>]

-----Original Message-----
De: Skeptic Mag Hotline <skeptic-admin en lyris.net>
Para: Skeptics Society <skeptics en lyris.net>
Fecha: lunes 1 de febrero de 1999 21:16
Asunto: STRANGE SCIENCE/ALT MED TRAGEDY


>PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COPY, FORWARD, OR DISTRIBUTE THE FOLLOWING SKEPTICS
>SOCIETY INTERNET HOTLINE POSTINGS
>
>THANKS
>First of all I want to thank you all for the hundreds of letters in support
in
>response to my GOD DEBATE II posting last week. I WAS discouraged at that
>point, but not anymore. It really does matter knowing that there are others
>out there who think alike and are supportive. I shall continue, in the
words
>of Edward R. Murrow, to "hoe to the end of the row."
>---------------------
>STRANGE SCIENCE
>All this week The Learning Channel is airing its STRANGE SCIENCE series,
for
>which I was filmed, along with Skeptics Society board member and Skeptic
>contributing editor Tom McDonough (the SETI director for the Planetary
>Society), and others. Here is the lineup. They all are listed to air 10pm
>eastern. Check your local listings. They may air at 10pm everywhere, or the
>times may vary.
>
>2/1 Monday: Bizarre Phenomena
>2/2 Tuesday: Weird Places
>2/3 Wednesday: Mysterious Skies
>2/4 Thursday: Unusual People
>2/5 Odd Sounds
>
>2/7 Repeat of the entire series from 1-6pm
>
>I will be on tonight and Thursday night, Tom McDonough tonight and
Wednesday
>night. Probably they have on other skeptics, but I'm not sure who or when.
The
>producers were very kind to me and said they would be appropriately
skeptical,
>but we all know what that usually means, so we'll have to wait and see.
>---------------------
>ANOTHER ALT MED TRAGEDY
>
>In the next couple of months CBS's Unsolved Mysteries will be airing a
program
>on a "Russian Psychic Healer" named Nicolai Levashov, who claims he has
>created medical miracles and that "the results have mystified the very
doctors
>who had written their patients off as incurable," according to the pre-
>production report given to me by the producers of this segment. I was
>consulted by the segment producer, Janet Jones, and was asked to comment on
>film about this healer. I was not going to comment on this until the show
>aired, but recent events compel me to finally say something.
>
>Nicolai Levashov says he heals people by going inside their body
psychically
>and tweaking with the damaged cells and tissues. The story segment focuses
on
>two cases: (1) Isabelle Pritchard, who was born with a brain tumor and had
>four surgeries and numerous chemo and radiation treatments; (2) Susan
>Strasberg, the actress, diagnosed with breast cancer, was allegedly healed
by
>Levashov. The second case is now another tragedy of Alternative Medicine,
>since Strasberg recently died of cancer. Here is the Unsolved Mysteries
script
>that was going to be used for the show (they sent me a copy), but will be
>changed, no doubt, before it airs, since Strasberg was filmed extensively
for
>the program. The script:
>
>"Actress Susan Strasberg, the daughter of famed acting teacher Lee
Strasberg,
>calls her involvement with Nicolai's psychic healing 'the great adventure
of
>my life.' At age 57, she had felt a tiny lump in her breast. A biopsy
>confirmed her worst fears. She had malignant cancer and needed a double
>mastectomy. 'My mother had died of cancer at 58. I didn't want that to
happen
>to me. I'm 60 now and feeling better than I ever have in my life. I owe it
all
>to Nicolai.' Susan refused surgery. A longtime believer in alternative
healing
>methods, she sought help from Nicolai in San Francisco. By the time she
went
>there, her tumor had grown quickly and was considered in a terminal stage.
For
>nearly ten months, she went to Nicolai's office every day for 15 minutes.
When
>she had to go to Europe, he continued the sessions via telephone twice a
week.
>[Psychic healing can allegedly be done over the phone.] Susan had a
mammogram
>a year after the initial diagnosis of cancer. It showed no signs of the
tumor.
>Her New York doctors had no interest in hearing about the Russian healer
Susan
>described to them. She gratefully acknowledges Nicolai's skill by saying,
>'This must be the medicine for the future. He knows anatomy, biology,
>chemistry and can diagnose sickness so well. My essence knew this was the
>right thing to do, to put my life in Nicolai's hands.'"
>
>Strasberg died of cancer. Her final statement sums up the problem
succinctly
>and tragically. The future of medicine is not in the so-called
"alternative"
>or "complementary" medicine fields. The reason is that almost every claim
made
>in these fields are based on the types of "essences" Strasberg felt as the
>"right thing to do." As pattern-seeking animals we all tend toward
subjective
>feelings about what "feels" or "seems" right. Sometimes we are right,
>sometimes we are wrong. The only way to find out is to test the claim with
>science. Modern medicine has developed a reasonably reliable method to test
>such claims (not perfect, of course, but the best method we have).
Strasberg
>chose to ignore science and she paid with her life. (Of course, we will
never
>know how the experiment would have come out with traditional methods of
>treatment, since people still die of cancer, but we DO know how this one
came
>out.)
>
>Nicolai Levashov came to the attention of Unsolved Mysteries through a
woman
>named Barbara Koopman, M.D., Ph.D., a close friend of Susan Strasberg. She
>wrote Unsolved Mysteries a letter recommending that they do a story on him.
(I
>have copies of the letter, all medical reports for Strasberg and the other
>patients, the Unsolved Mysteries script, etc.) I called Koopman to get a
>statement about this affair. At first she was very reluctant to speak to
me,
>but since I was friendly and genuinely inquisitive she warmed up and then
>opened up. She still completely believes in Levashov. Strasberg, she says,
>lived four years longer than she should of thanks to the psychic's healings
of
>her. Strasberg had the happiest final four years of her life. She should
have
>been dead within months but instead lived years. Her death came suddenly
and
>was a complete surprise to Dr. Koopman and, she says, to others as well.
>Koopman feels that regardless of the cause of death (the Los Angeles Times
>obit said it was from cancer), her final years were still a miracle.
Levashov
>is still, in her eyes, a miracle worker. I asked Koopman if she knows how
>Levashov works his miracles. She explained that it has to do with the
>interchange of matter and energy, but that this explanation probably makes
no
>sense. Correct there Dr. Koopman. She continued to stress over and over
that
>this outcome should not be considered a tragedy, because Strasberg was so
>happy at the end.
>
>Will Nicolai Levashov be held accountable for Strasberg's death? Of course
>not. Will such alternative modalities of healing be questioned because of
>this? Of course not. Will Unsolved Mysteries run the piece and then end it
>explaining that she
>died anyway? I seriously doubt it (my guess is that it will be eliminated
from
>the segment so as not to dampen the enthusiasm for the psychic healer's
>amazing skills--disconfirming evidence is rarely presented on such
programs).
>
>Unfortunately, countless people are taken in by such hucksters as Levashov,
>and
>pay with their lives, but because they are not celebrities we do not hear
>about them. And the alternative medicine gurus like Deepak Chopra and
Andrew
>Weil are not about to pen a statement saying that perhaps they are wrong
about
>the nonsense they peddle. Tragedies like Strasberg are either ignored, or
>tallied up to negative thoughts on her part, or by healing methods on the
part
>of this ONE psychic (but the other methods are still acceptable), or, in
>Koopman's case, that she WAS healed, temporarily anyway. This whole mess
>sickens me. You are going to see more on alternative medicine in the pages
of
>Skeptic in coming issues. This is a problem of grave concern.
>
>Michael Shermer
>--------------------------------
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