User talk:Howard C. Berkowitz/Unproven healing treatment

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Is this policy more than definition? Does it belong in CZ:

I created the article so we have a definition for the term being used in the editing of some healing-related articles of questionable efficacy.

It's entirely possible that this is really the start of a policy and belongs in the CZ: namespace. Unquestionably, it is a draft for commentary and may not be kept, but I believe it was needed for the short term.

I expect that this term will be refined by the Editorial Council with abundant input from Citizens and perhaps non-Citizens. My feelings will not be shattered if we choose to delete the term and article, but we do need a term. 07:55, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

The intention is good but I'm uncomfortable with this for a number of reasons. First, I'm not keen on euphemisms and this sounds like it might be used as a euphemism for nonsense. If that's not the case, I have other reservations - most obviously it implies that there is such a thing as a proven healing treatment. As I scientist I'm always very dubious about declaring anything to be proven. The best we can ever say is that on the basis of available evidence we accept that a treatment appears to be effective. Medics like to collapse this into the idea of "proven efficacy", and it's understandable - patients like a clear message however dishonest that message. But the evidence base by which medics decide that something has proven efficacy is not a fixed star or even often much of a star at all.

If by "unproven healing treatment" you mean something of which the evidence suggests that it has no healing benefit at all, I think we should be looking for a rather more robust form of words. If you are talking about treatments for which there is little high quality evidence, or evidence from good studies but that evidence is contradictory, then it may be OK. Gareth Leng 15:29, 24 January 2011 (UTC)