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. Gareth Leng 15:29, 24 January 2011 (UTC)