#1811: Kay (Kandeel) Judge and Maxine Barish-Wreden

Homeopathy is nonsense based on medieval metaphysics and pre-scientific mistakes about medicine. And just to make sure it is as nonsensical as it seems to, research has also repeatedly demonstrated that it has no health benefits. But people have been swearing by things that have been demonstrated not to exist for centuries, and there is no reason to think they’ll stop now. Kay Judge and Maxine Barish-Wreden, for instance, continue to push it. They are even medical doctors, illustrating one more time that being an MD is not the same as being a scientist, and that you can get through medical school without understanding the most basic thing about how research and evidence work. So, in the Sacramento Bee weekly “Integrative medicine” column (oh, yes), Judge and Barish-Wreden write, without shame, things like “the homeopathic medicine arnica has been shown to assist in acute pain such as bruises or strained muscles,” which is false and hard not to characterize as an outright lie – though note how they don’t cash out “shown”, or “assist in”, which is nothing but weasel words. But arnica (though the herbal version, not the homeopathic one that Judge and Barish-Wreden push) has been promoted by Dr. Oz!

Both of them apparently practice internal medicine in the Sacramento area. Barish-Wreden is apparently Medical Director of the Sutter Center for Integrative Holistic Health, which is not a place to seek out if anything serious ails you, and is apparently a practicing internist. But her qualifications also include “studies in medicine that encompass the mind-body-spirit connection,” which must count as an anti-qualification at least to the extent that it suggests offensively poor critical reasoning skills. According to her website “[i]n working with her patients, Dr. Barish-Wreden views illness as a teacher and looks at symptoms as signposts that can direct our attention to areas that may be out of balance in our lives.” Yes. It’s humorism, no less. She is also into nutrition woo. According to Barish-Wreden “[f]ruits and vegetables that are raised organically are felt to have more phytonutrients than those raised commercially, since organic plants tend to be hardier as they learn to survive without the benefit of pesticides and insecticides” [my emphasis]. This is New Age religious nonsense, of course, but it is telling that even Barish-Wreden is reluctant to make any substantial claims on behalf of organic food as medicine, which makes one briefly suspect that she at some level knows that she is peddling bullshit. On the other hand, Judge and Barish-Wreden have no qualms about claiming that “sulforaphane [a phytochemical] helps to fight cancer” (note the vagueness) and that kale is a “cancer-fighting” vegetable. It probably isn’t, and methinks Judge and Barish-Wreden know that.

Diagnosis: The world would be a significantly better place if people like Kay Judge and Maxine Barish-Wreden used their skills and resources to actually help people instead of misleading them with New Age religious, demonstrable nonsense. And apparently their influence might, as it is, be substantial enough for them to cause real harm. It’s a tragedy, really.