This time it’s a new book about cancer. How do I know? My previous posts about Suzanne Somers on Larry King are getting hundreds of hits a day from her believers searching for her latest appearance on Larry King.
I was all set to get off a round at Suzie’s latest bit of quackery, but looks like Orac has fired the first salvo –
Let’s get one thing straight here. It is not amazing that Somers is still alive after having “rejected chemotherapy.” As I explained at the dawn of this blog, Somers had a stage I tumor with a favorable prognosis. If Somers is going to play the gambit of “I rejected chemotherapy and I’m still alive,” perhaps now is the time to go into more detail than I’ve ever gone into before about her case…
Then he proceeds to blow Somers out of the water as only Orac can. He’s even taken on her case of Valley Fever (coccidiomycosis), which she states was intially mis-diagnosed as “full body cancer” (whatever that is…) –
Most people who contract coccidioidomycosis are either asymptomatic or have mild disease…So why did Somers get such a serious case? It’s a legitimate question, given how she represents her woo regimen as the path to rejuvenation and health.
Let’s see. Somers is 63, but apparently in good health. She also takes all sorts of supplements which, or so she claims, “strengthen the immune system.” But her immune system was obviously not strong enough to prevent her from getting disseminated coccidioidomycosis. Didn’t all those supplements ward off the fungus?
Suzanne Somers is a monster created and sustained by the mainstream media, who do nothing but kow-tow to her. Harry Smith should have his journalist licence revoked (if there is such a thing), for his recent interview with Suzie. Why not just turn the show over to her and stop pretending that this is reporting? Smith claims there are attacks on Somer’s book, but has anyone seen comparable media space given to the voices of reason that counter her quackery? I haven’t. Search for “Suzanne Somers” on CBS news website, and almost everything you get is a pitch from Suzie. Only a single opinion piece, part of a well-written AP series on alternative medicine, takes her on.
To their credit, CNN’s website has a commentary piece by Dr Otis Brawley. But they then flip the finger at Brawley by displaying a prominent ad for Suzie’s appearance on Larry King within the text of his commentary. I don’t see a link to Brawley’s commentary on Larry King’s page about Suzie’s appearance. Shameful.
Look, Suzanne Somers is entitled to her opinion. She’s entitled to take or not take her doctor’s advice. But she’s not entitled to mislead and misinform the American public.
And that is exactly what she is doing.
The web, especially folks such as you and Orac who explain issues and make your explanations available, really help us layfolk.
It's hard to tease magical thinking away from reality when you don't know, say, molecular biology well.
this is really shameful, on many levels. people diagnosed with cancer are going to be afraid, and so they are particularly susceptible to medical scams.
the facts about sommers' own early-stage, highly treatable cancer are important. she appears to be appealing to patients across the board, many of whom will not have her good fortune in terms of treatability.
it is significant, too, that the "medical professionals" who contributed to her book contain a passel of quacks. one danger is that other patients will forego proven therapies in favor of those with no proven track record.
apparently part of the book is devoted to "preventing" cancer using other quack therapies. this strikes me as really damaging, too; some percentage will get cancer anyway, whether or not they try these methods, and so i see this as a way of blaming cancer patients for their cancer. if they didn't follow the recommendations, the cancer is their fault. if they did, they didn't try hard enough, or have postive enough thoughts, or some horse hockey like that.
Thanks for this post! Good work.
Sadly, I'm not surprised. Her books will probably sell millions too. Idiocracy society here we come.
For anyone with even a few functioning brain cells, just seeing how scary she looks should give pause about the veracity of her book.
I shudder to think of the harm she could do to the ignorant out there.