Rogue Practitioners and Practices

In nearly every community, practitioners of various types spring up promoting untested, gimmicky, often quite profitable, and sometimes frankly dangerous ideas about new disease entities, diagnostic tests, and proposed treatments. Uninformed patients often fall for these schemes with detriment to their finances, if nothing else, but often with harm to their physical and mental health and wellbeing also. What are the responsibilities of legitimate health-care providers who value and practice evidence-based medicine and genuinely care for the welfare of their patients and communities? Those providers must first constantly keep up to date with the latest developments and evidence-based guidelines in their fields and be able to recognize rogue and self-promoting practitioners and practices. They should patiently and kindly educate their patients regarding the validity of scientifically proven conditions, tests, and treatments and the value of practicing evidence-based medicine. They should let them know unequivocally that they are diligently striving to give them the best possible health and quality of life. We can also be voices that speak out in local or national media through editorials, television, and social media. Examples of several such successful efforts are given in this chapter.