Problem
Medical quackery
Other Names:
Fraudulent medical treatmentQuack doctors
Medical charlatans
Nature:
Quackery is the use of primitive methods of medical treatment and healing by those who only pretend to have the necessary knowledge and qualifications to heal. Sick people may put all their hope and money into quack healing, hoping it will alleviate the diseases against which modern medicine is impotent, and those diseases which standard doctors refuse to treat. Such blind faith, usually encouraged by the quack healers, can lead to severe emotional and financial distress if the alternative methods - often viewed as the last resort - fail to produce the desired effects.
Broader Problems:
FraudUnauthorized medical practiceIrresponsible health professionals Narrower Problems:
Psychic surgeryBogus psychiatrists and personal counsellors Aggravates:
PoisoningUse of medically suspect remediesCommercial exploitation of wild animalsIrrational conscientious refusal of medical intervention Strategies:
Exposing medical quackery References:
Jarvis, William T, et al: Quackery and You Subject(s):
Health Care → PhysiciansHealth Care → Treatment
Medicine → Medicine
Societal Problems → Crime
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Problem Type:
D: Detailed problems Date of last update
04.10.2020 – 22:48 CEST