The Mexican Asthma “Cure”

Abstract

To the Editor:The title of my article, “The Mexican Asthma Cure,” was taken directly from my index patient, who used these words to describe the medications that she was taking. It is unfortunate that this title could be seen as insulting to the many fine and ethical medical practitioners in Mexico, and for this I apologize. This type of quackery is no more representative of the usual practice of medicine in Mexico than chelation therapy for arteriosclerosis is representative of accepted practice in Canada or the United States.Honest physicians in any country who give quality medical care to their patients don't have magical “cures” to advertise. The disreputable few who choose to sell false hopes to desperate patients become the unwanted representatives of foreign practice when they market to wealthy clients abroad. This is what happened in Mexico with laetrile (“vitamin B-17”), and is happening again with the marketing of oral corticosteroids as a cure for asthma. I was very pleased when Dr Soffer agreed to name the physicians in Mexicali responsible for this hoax so that their colleagues in the same city would not have their reputations tarnished by the practice of the Drs Carrillo.If not for the help of honest medical colleagues in Mexico City and Mexicali I would not have been able to collect and verify the information used in preparing my article. I hope that my colleagues in Mexico accept my sincere apologies for any suggestion that this “cure” in any way represents acceptable medical practice in Mexico. With the help of honest physicians like Drs Chavaje, Cicero, and Perez-Padilla and medical journals like Chest, with their willingness to expose medical quackery, we may be able to put these charlatans out of business. That will be the finest service that we can do for the reputation of physicians, both in Mexico and in Canada. To the Editor: The title of my article, “The Mexican Asthma Cure,” was taken directly from my index patient, who used these words to describe the medications that she was taking. It is unfortunate that this title could be seen as insulting to the many fine and ethical medical practitioners in Mexico, and for this I apologize. This type of quackery is no more representative of the usual practice of medicine in Mexico than chelation therapy for arteriosclerosis is representative of accepted practice in Canada or the United States. Honest physicians in any country who give quality medical care to their patients don't have magical “cures” to advertise. The disreputable few who choose to sell false hopes to desperate patients become the unwanted representatives of foreign practice when they market to wealthy clients abroad. This is what happened in Mexico with laetrile (“vitamin B-17”), and is happening again with the marketing of oral corticosteroids as a cure for asthma. I was very pleased when Dr Soffer agreed to name the physicians in Mexicali responsible for this hoax so that their colleagues in the same city would not have their reputations tarnished by the practice of the Drs Carrillo. If not for the help of honest medical colleagues in Mexico City and Mexicali I would not have been able to collect and verify the information used in preparing my article. I hope that my colleagues in Mexico accept my sincere apologies for any suggestion that this “cure” in any way represents acceptable medical practice in Mexico. With the help of honest physicians like Drs Chavaje, Cicero, and Perez-Padilla and medical journals like Chest, with their willingness to expose medical quackery, we may be able to put these charlatans out of business. That will be the finest service that we can do for the reputation of physicians, both in Mexico and in Canada. The Mexican Asthma “Cure”CHESTVol. 99Issue 4PreviewTo the Editor: Full-Text PDF