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Here is information about who's behind Quackwatch. Be careful who presents him/herself as an expert. Just because it has a legit-sounding url doesn't mean it is.
************************************************************
Failed MD Stephen Barrett
What kind of man would drop out of the medical profession and dedicate
his life to STOPPING advancement in the health sciences?
Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
Location of Stephen Barrett's "quackwatch.com" - the basement of his
home at 2421 West Greenleaf Street, Allentown, PA 18104
"Quackbusting" - is a Profitable Business...
Frankly, "quackbusting" is a profitable industry, and Stephen Barrett
plays it to the hilt.
In a Canadian lawsuit (see below) Barrett admitted to the following:
"The sole purpose of the activities of Barrett & Baratz are to
discredit and cause damage and harm to health care practitioners,
businesses that make alternative health therapies or products
available, and advocates of non-allopathic therapies and health
freedom."
Stephen Barrett testifies for money. He claims he's an "expert" in
virtually everything. Those "expert witness" fees seem to be a
significant part of Barrett's existence.
In a California Court case, former Barrett peer, and fellow Board
Member of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), William
Jarvis PhD, testified, under oath, that Stephen Barrett and Robert
Baratz conspired to use the NCAHF, without Board permission, as a
Plaintiff in over 40 cases in California, where Barrett and Baratz
were to testify as "expert witnesses," and get expert witness fees.
The NCAHF Board was never consulted.
However, sometimes their plans fail.
One of those cases caused the NCAHF to be saddled with over $100,000
in legal fees awarded their victim - and the NCAHF doesn't have the
money to pay that debt. In fact, the NCAHF is SO DESPERATE for funds
it is being run out of a cardboard box in the back room of Robert
Baratz's Braintree, Massachusetts hair removal and ear piercing salon.
Those type of cases Barrett involved the NCAHF in were considered so
heinous that the people of California just passed an initiative
(Proposition #64) banning this kind of lawsuit for all time.
Barrett's claim to be a Consumer Advocate is an insult to American consumers.
Organized Stupidity is the Hallmark of the Quackbuster Conspiracy...
Barrett, and his vacuous minions, like to spout off other stupid
"rules" that they think should apply to health care - the application
of which, has to make the scientific community shudder.
One of the other totally BRAINLESS statements Barrett, and his
parrotts, like to to screech out is "It hasn't been double-blind
studied!!"
The "double-blind study" is one of about 45 different kinds of
scientific studies used, and approved for use, within the scientific
community. It was designed for, and is usually restricted to, testing
new dangerous drugs for the claims drug companies wish to make about
their new laboratory produced products. Generally, in this type of
study, you give half of the group the new pill, and the other half
gets a sugar pill that looks just like the original. This type of
study simply does not apply to new research. Never has, never will.
And worse, the "double-blind study" is considered to be heinous, and
was banned by world government during the Helsinki Accord in 1964.
There's a lot more...
Barrett's Funding - TOP SECRET...
Barrett was cornered in a Federal case in the State of Oregon not long
ago, and asked about his income. He testified that over the past two
years he made a TOTAL of $54,000.
How then does he afford to carry on fourteen (14) separate legal
actions at one time?
If each legal action cost him $100,000, that would come to 1.4 million
dollars ($1,400,000).
How do you squeeze 1.4 million out of a $54,000 total income?
Good question...
.
Stephen Barrett - Professional Crackpot...
The Internet needs health information it can trust. Stephen Barrett
doesn't provide it...
Barrett is one of those people whose ambitions and opinions of himself
far exceeds his abilities. Without ANY qualifications he has set
himself up as an expert in just about everything having to do with
health care - and more.
And this from a man who is a professional failure.
Records show that Barrett never achieved any success in the medical
profession. His claim to being a "retired Psychiatrist" is laughable.
He is, in fact, a "failed Psychiatrist," and a "failed MD."
The Psychiatric profession rejected Barrett years ago, for Barrett
could NOT pass the examinations necessary to become "Board Certified."
Which, is no doubt why Barrett was, throughout his career, relegated
to lower level "part time" positions.
Barrett, we know, was forced to give up his medical license in
Pennsylvania in 1993 when his "part-time" employment at the State
Mental Hospital was terminated, and he had so few (nine) private
patients during his last five years of practice, that he couldn't
afford the Malpractice Insurance premiums Pennsylvania requires.
In a job market in the United States, where there is a "doctor
shortage," Stephen Barrett, after his termination by the State mental
Hospital, couldn't find employment. He was in his mid-50s at the time.
He should have been at the top of his craft - yet, apparently, he
couldn't find work.
It is obvious, that, after one humiliation after another, in 1993
Barrett simply gave up his medical aspirations, turned in his MD
license, and retreated, in bitterness and frustration, to his
basement.
It was in that basement, where Barrett took up "quackbusting" - which,
in reality, means that Barrett attacks "cutting-edge" health
professionals and paradigms - those that ARE achieving success in
their segment of health care.
And there, in "quackbusting" is where Barrett finally found the
attention and recognition he seems to crave - for, a while, that is,
until three California Judges, in a PUBLISHED Appeals Court decision,
took a HARD look at Barrett's activities, and declared him "biased,
and unworthy of credibility."
Bitterness against successful health professionals is Barrett's
hallmark. To him they're all "quacks." In this, his essays are
repetitive and pedestrian.
Barrett, in his writings, says the same things, the same way, every
time - change the victim and the subject, and still you yawn your way
through his offerings. It's like he's filling out a form somebody gave
him...
Take an overactive self importance, couple it with glaring failure and
rejection in his chosen profession, add a cup of molten hatred for
those that do succeed, pop it in the oven - and out comes Stephen
Barrett - self-styled "expert in everything."
Barrett, we know, along with his website, is currently named, among
other things, in a racketeering (RICO) case in Federal Court in
Colorado.
He's also being sued for his nefarious activities in Ontario, Canada.
Barrett, in the Canadian case, has formally admitted, according to
Canadian law, to a number of situations put to him by the Plaintiff,
including:
"The sole purpose of the activities of Barrett & Baratz are to
discredit and cause damage and harm to health care practitioners,
businesses that make alternative health therapies or products
available, and advocates of non-allopathic therapies and health
freedom."
"Barrett has interfered with the civil rights of numerous Americans,
in his efforts to have his critics silenced."
"Barrett has strategically orchestrated the filing of legal actions in
improper jurisdictions for the purpose of frustrating the victims of
such lawsuits and increasing his victims costs."
"Barrett failed the exams he was required to pass to become a Board
Certified Medical Doctor."
Joined: Feb 10, 2006 Posts: 358 Location: Northern Virginia
Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:35 am Post subject: quackwatch still requires judgment
Problem is that you have one person saying this is good and this is bad without showing how they got there. Under MS, I see vitamin D listed. Well, folks, many of us know that Vitamin D isn't a cure, but we also know that Vitamin D is highly supported in the medical literature.
Don't accept opinions unless you read up behind them to see what supports them. You'll often find bamboo instead of feroconcrete. Ken _________________ My Starting Point
Understanding MS 101: Doctor Talk and People Talk
Joined: Jul 28, 2005 Posts: 1279 Location: Sydney, Australia
Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:47 am Post subject:
No website should be taken without a grain of salt. However, just to add more confusion to this thread, the poster of the negative info on QuackWatch, actually is involved with MLM of a "product" of the type that would most likely feature on QuackWatch.
The comments regarding the validity of double blind studies I think makes it clear what the aim of the post is.
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