TBN was thinking "she'll attract viewers".

What was TBN thinking? we all know that such networks are looking for ways to attract viewers. That's why they would air something that they know people will get attracted with.

Here is a link that might be useful: herbal healing

How many were cured?

In none of the stories I've read about the case has there been evidence that she cured anyone, though she claimed a 60% cure rate. According to prosecutors at least three dozen people died after seeing her, some after bypassing conventional treatment and spending up to $100,000 on her "care".

Interesting. since the dozens of people probably were desperate and already pretty far along in the disease, i suspect they would have died anyway. I bet also they would have paid much more than $100,000 with conventional treatment....... and probably died anyway with lots of drug side effects. It is a free country (not), we should be able to choose how we die. This woman tho' seems to be a fool and a mite greedy.

" bet also they would have paid much more than $100,000 with conventional treatment....... and probably died anyway with lots of drug side effects."

While specifics of the cases are not provided, a typical scenario involves end-stage disease for which evidence-based therapies are no longer effective, and which reputable physicians would not want to administer. It's a misconception that oncologists want to provide aggressive treatment in situations where there is little or no hope of benefit.

However there is no shortage of quacks and fly-by-night clinics willing to drain patients' bank accounts with promises of cures. Some of these futile remedies do have significant side effects (i.e. so-called "oleander tea"), others are highly unpleasant to undergo (cof_fee enemas, "urine therapy" etc.). None have proven value in fighting cancer. Meantime the patients' cancer spreads and they endure miserable "side effects" caused by their disease, such as jaundice, intestinal obstruction and so on.

Mainstream medicine can at least ease pain and other symptoms in a cancer patient's final days. Quack cancer cure promoters do not, instead cheating people of some final days of relative comfort in addition to defrauding them.

Oleander is toxic, but wait! so is chemo. And not to comfortable or pleasant either. I guess there is a fool born every minute.

"Oleander is toxic, but wait! so is chemo."

And the difference between the two is...

With chemotherapy, a cancer patient can decide whether or not to use it based on quality studies showing that it will 1) offer a chance of cure, alone or in combination with other treatment, 2) buy him/her more time if the cancer is one that doesn't respond well to any therapy, and/or 3) prevent or lessen painful and unpleasant effects of cancer (as mentioned earlier).

Or they can try a homemade "oleander soup" or buy capsules from a supplement promoter, which have reported toxic effects but have not been shown to cure or mitigate cancer.

Most people if faced with the prospect of needing to take drugs with potentially nasty side effects would probably prefer to take ones that work, administered by a physician trained to spot problems and who can work with you to minimize them.

I'm with Eric - thanks for the common sense. I asked my doctor about a more natural form of a med I was taking once & he reminded me that prescription drugs have all been tested extensively & doses carefully callibrated.

Naturally, using common sense should go along with every plan of action - I do not run to the doctor for everything & I like to supplement with things that seem safe & beneficial.

Judging people who get sick and go to the doctor doesn't sound like common sense - its easy to get into a 'blame the victim' mentality - let's not go there!