Doctors worried as more Australians turn to alternative therapies

IGNORANCE, the internet and hysterical patients is what is driving patients into the arms of dangerous alternative therapies — and doctors are seriously concerned.

AN IGNORANCE of healthcare, seeking treatment plans on the internet and “hysteria” over pharmaceutical companies is driving Australians to “dangerous” alternative therapies, a senior doctor believes.

Dr Brian Morton has seen a rise in the number of Australians using natural therapies and said there was growing alarm about it throughout the medical community.

This week a Sydney naturopath was charged with causing grievous bodily harm to an eight-month-old boy after she allegedly told the boy’s mother to cease medical and dermatological treatments.

That arrest follows other shocking examples including the death of seven-year-old Aidan Fenton earlier this year after he received controversial “smacking therapy” to treat his diabetes.

“The health literacy in the community is not good … Some studies have shown it to be under 50 per cent, but that varies obviously according to education standards.”

Dr Morton, who is chair of the Australian Medical Association Council of General Practice, said it was important people took care when they googled symptoms and treatment plans.

“We have to make sure that people, if they are googling and looking on the internet — because there is so much information available — they filter it properly, they look at where the information is coming from and they don’t rely on anecdotal entries from other people,” he said.

There had been a rise in such case in recent times.

“Part of that is the availability of information on the internet and the hysteria about pharmaceutical companies,” Dr Morton said.

He said drugs and treatments in Australia went through some of the most rigorous testing in the world, but still people were deeply suspicious.

That suspicion was sending them straight into alternative therapy. Dr Morton said those treatments could be fine when used in conjunction with, but not instead of, traditional medicine.

“It applies to people with cancer as well (as those) who seek alternative therapies and do absolutely nothing,” he said.

People were seeking alternative therapy for a whole range of ailments, from back pain to irritable bowel syndrome.

“They are spending millions on alternative therapies with no evidence [of them] working … When the money could be best spent in other areas.”

Originally published as Doctors worried as more Australians turn to alternative therapies