and the fake cancer cure

I've been binging on Netflix again and am looking forward to the next series of Ratched, a psychological thriller based on a character from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a book by Ken Kesey. Be warned, the fashions may be fabulous, but the skull crunching gore is pretty grim.

Skeptics may be interested to know, that in a sad turn of events, one character in the series learns she has cancer, and decides to try a new remedy based on mistletoe at a clinic in Mexico. A Christchurch woman with cancer was reported to have looked into receiving similar alternative care at a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, however the price tag seemed too high. Skeptics should know that it was Rudolph Steiner who came up with the idea for this supposed cancer cure made from mistletoe, based on the concept of like cures like. It was thought that because mistletoe grows on trees like a parasite, and eventually could kill the tree, that taking it as a remedy would cure cancer which grows on a human host in a similar way, like a parasite.

Edzard Ernst has done extensive research, looking at the rigor of multiple studies, finding most were not reliable, and came to the conclusion that there is no good evidence to support its use, and again, it's a very expensive treatment aimed at vulnerable people based on false hope. Delaying effective treatment can cause real harm. Let's hope, for the sake of cancer patients out there that the next series of Ratched exposes this money-making scam for what it is.