# Magnets: Quackery, or Possible Danger? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127 "2014-01-30T14:21:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/41 "2014-01-31T13:17:55Z")
The comment about Dr. Oz is excellent. From what I can gather he is not only still a professor of thoracic surgery, but reportedly a very good one. On the other hand his show is constantly handing out woo and/or poor medical advice. And as far as I know there has been no hue and cry to have him brought before the medical board. Doctors have made huge medical advances by going against current practice. Dr. Semmelweis, Walter Reed and Louis Pasteur come to mind. I strongly feel that she should NOT be reported, but if her patient does not buy into her “treatment” they should not be obligated to pay for something that there is no experimental based evidence that it works. ---
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/42 "2014-01-31T13:20:44Z")
Massachusetts? That explains it. Weird stuff goes on there. Check out Ted Kaczynski and Dr. John Murray at Harvard. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/43 "2014-01-31T13:36:20Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Or the one that commits suicide because their depression is going untreated. Or the patient (or patient’s family) paying large sums of money for a treatment that does nothing, thus limiting their later ability to get real treatment. Another vote for reporting her. > [@friedo](#): > > It probably had more to do with the fact that you were trying to sleep with something heavy wrapped around your neck. That was my first thought too. I find that just sleeping on my back tends to increase the occurrence of nightmares significantly, although whether it’s sleep apnea related (most likely) or due to different blood flow to the brain than when I sleep on my front or whatever, just sleeping in a different position can change how well you sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/44 "2014-01-31T13:52:07Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > There is no substitute for someone skilled in psychiatry, lest I did not emphasize this enough earlier. I know that, and we’re still looking. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/45 "2014-01-31T13:55:46Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > None of what you described sounded like Neurofeedback. I know. We went expecting neurofeeback and got crap. We were bait-and-switched. > [@](#): > > None of this has anything to do with magnetic tables, coils around your stomach, or ordinary magnets strapped to your head. Which, in answer to your question, are harmless. I guess I wasn’t clear. The small boxes on her head were attached by cables to some sort of apparatus. Some of the wires relayed readouts to a computer, but I assume others were powering an electromagnet of some sort. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/46 "2014-01-31T14:09:21Z")
> [@dauerbach](#): > > Doctors have made huge medical advances by going against current practice. Dr. Semmelweis, Walter Reed and Louis Pasteur come to mind. I strongly feel that she should NOT be reported, but if her patient does not buy into her “treatment” they should not be obligated to pay for something that there is no experimental based evidence that it works. You examples made huge medical advances by doing science and researching their hypotheses. This quack isn’t doing research, just offering bogus treatment for whatever reason. Science does not benefit from dubbing such people potential Semmelweises and letting them continue making money from fraud. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/47 "2014-01-31T14:11:04Z")
> [@dauerbach](#): > > Doctors have made huge medical advances by going against current practice. Dr. Semmelweis, Walter Reed and Louis Pasteur come to mind. I know what you mean. But I feel obligated to point out that a far greater number of practitioners have made fools of themselves challenging the standard of practice of their time. Ryke Hamer, Gerson, Linus Pauling, Johanna Budwig, William Reich, Royal Rife, Hulda Clark, Nicholas Gonzalez, William Kelley, Harry Hoxsey, Lorraine Day, Deepak Chopra (talk therapy for cancer), Bernie Siegel, Stan Burzynski and Matthias Rath are a few that come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/48 "2014-01-31T14:34:36Z")
You are absolutely right. Linus Pauling is particularly distressing. I mean, TWO nobel prizes? ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/49 "2014-01-31T14:48:42Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I know what you mean. But I feel obligated to point out that a far greater number of practitioners have made fools of themselves challenging the standard of practice of their time. Ryke Hamer, Gerson, Linus Pauling, Johanna Budwig, William Reich, Royal Rife, Hulda Clark, Nicholas Gonzalez, William Kelley, Harry Hoxsey, Lorraine Day, Deepak Chopra (talk therapy for cancer), Bernie Siegel, Stan Burzynski and Matthias Rath are a few that come to mind. Let’s not forget Henry Heimlich, inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver and Heimlich Valve, who went on to promote the Heimlich Maneuver for drowning, and later malaria therapy for cancer, Lyme disease, and HIV, despite evidence that both are dangerous. Even an successful doctor can fall prey to quackery, and even an effective treatment can be misused. ETA: Another vote for reporting, and well wishes for your daughter. ---
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/50 "2014-01-31T15:52:39Z")
Well Heimlich also invented the Heimlich valve which is amazingly simple and effective. They used to have to water seal a chest tube. Also, there is a large body of science showing that high fever is associated with spontaneous regression of cancer. I am sure that using malaria will occasionally result in a cure, but will likely kill way more people than it does cure. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/51 "2014-01-31T16:52:20Z")
> [@dauerbach](#): > > You are absolutely right. Linus Pauling is particularly distressing. I mean, TWO nobel prizes? Two Nobel Prizes and a big bucket of ascorbic acid. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/52 "2014-01-31T17:25:25Z")
> [@dauerbach](#): > > You are absolutely right. Linus Pauling is particularly distressing. I mean, TWO nobel prizes? If you’re suggesting that being a Nobel Prize winner insulates you from later descending into quackery or other forms of nonsense, [I have sad news for you](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Nobel_disease). \*my personal favorite is Kary Mullis and his cosmic raccoons. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/53 "2014-01-31T17:39:07Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > (Emphasis added.) > > Come to think of, why _isn’t_ the brain affected by external magnetic fields anyway? . . . I’ll look for the new thread with this question, but just want to say that, if the articles are to be believed,[it can](http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/moral-control-0330.html)be affected. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127/54 "2014-01-31T19:07:33Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I’ll look for the new thread with this question, but just want to say that, if the articles are to be believed,[it can](http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/moral-control-0330.html)be affected. Now that’s a little weird! Here’s the thread by the way: [Why isn’t the brain affected by external magnetic fields?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=714570) – TMS has already been mentioned there, but not this thing about moral judgments being affected. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magnets-quackery-or-possible-danger/680127.md?page=2)