College of Medicine is a lobby group promoting unproven treatments {UK}

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/jan/10/college-medicine-lobby-group-unproven


On its website the college singles out institutions offering reflexology (above), homeopathy, aromatherapy and qigong. Photograph: Stockbyte/Getty

Remember the Prince of Wales Foundation for Integrated Health? It had to close last year amid allegations of fraud and money laundering. Only a few months later, a new organisation emerged that took over the pursuit of Prince Charles's bizarre concepts about healthcare.

Clarence House insists that Charles has nothing to do with it. Yet the stated aims are strikingly similar to those of the Foundation for Integrated Health and in May 2011 Charles also attended a dinner at St James' Palace for the college.

The College of Medicine (CoM) is organised and run by much the same individuals as the Foundation (though not those accused of wrongdoing in the investigation) and describes itself in glowing terms as "a force that brings patients, doctors, nurses and other health professionals together, instead of separating them into tribes. A force that combines scientific knowledge, clinical expertise and the patient's own perspective. A force that will re-define what good medicine means."

The terminology is confusing, to say the least. A college is foremost an educational institution; yet the CoM seems much more a lobby group promoting unproven treatments. Whatever the CoM is, the organisation purports to tackle the job of righting all manner of wrongs it sees in the healthcare business. The CoM website claims "something has gone wrong with healthcare"; that the NHS is "unsustainable and scandal-prone" and that medicine is in "crisis".

[HuckleB]

1. Sigh.

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2. +1

[Liberal Veteran]

3. Banging your head into the wall like that has misaligned your aura.

I'm going to write you a prescription for some teak scented candles and have my assistant show you the proper place between your 2nd and 3rd toes to press to help get you back in tip top shape.

[MineralMan]

4. Where there's a dollar, a pound or a euro to be made,

you'll surely find someone working hard to get their hands on it.

We have such schools here in the US, too, in plenty.