Healer to the stars in court battle to save his reputation

[Mojo]

From The Grauniad's website:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/sep/07/health

The man hailed as the 'eighth wonder of the world' for his natural approach to healthcare is facing a lawsuit from a patient whose legs were amputated after treatment in his clinic

One to watch, perhaps.

Some interesting points about the use of the title "Doctor" towards the end of the story.

[bindeweede]

From The Grauniad's website:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/sep/07/health



One to watch, perhaps.

Some interesting points about the use of the title "Doctor" towards the end of the story.

An interesting post. Wiki has an entry - OK, you know.....

Sorry. Link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaraf_Ali

He trained as a doctor at the University of Delhi and then the Central Institute for Advanced Medical Studies in Moscow from 1973 to 1982 where he studied iridology, tongue diagnosis, pulse diagnosis, fasting therapy and naturopathy.[1] After a stint in rural India studying homeopathy, herbalism and medical fasting, and working in Hong Kong from 1988 until May 1991, he came to London to work at the Hale Clinic where his therapies reportedly proved successful for patients such as Sarah Miles and Ava Gardner. Following this he worked towards establishing a clinic where both complementary and conventional treatment would be offered with the help in particular of Prince Charles who also wrote the foreword to his 2001 book The Integrated Health Bible.

9 years training in Moscow seems a long time.???

[bindeweede]

Also,

“Dr Ali is the Eighth Wonder of the World,” gushes Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, while Andrew Lloyd Webber adds: “Dr Ali tells you everything about your symptoms that you don’t want to hear, then how they came about. Then he cures them.”

I'm sure Tara P-T knows what she is talking about. Does anyone know what she does, other than "celebing" and self-promotion?

http://www.telegraphindia.com/106051...ry_6210682.asp

"I'm nuts full stop. I can't help it. The old English aristocracy are all barking mad. I'm the only member of my family who's sane!"

http://www.biogs.com/imacelebrity/palmertomkinson.html

[Tim the Mage]

I'm sure Tara P-T knows what she is talking about. Does anyone know what she does, other than "celebing" and self-promotion?

Looks fab?

[bindeweede]

Looks fab?

Does she? Wouldn't know. Mate says she calls herself a "socialist".

Bugger. "Socialite"! She parties. Lovely.

[Tim the Mage]

Does she? Wouldn't know. Mate says she calls herself a "socialist".

Bugger. "Socialite"! She parties. Lovely.

You've got it: "socialist" - sad and boring; "socialite" - parteeeee! (except TPT has got all boring and stopped drinking, drugs and all that stuff in favour of appearing on the telly all the time). Thinking about it (which I rarely do) TPT is waay too thin.

[bindeweede]

You've got it: "socialist" - sad and boring; "socialite" - parteeeee! (except TPT has got all boring and stopped drinking, drugs and all that stuff in favour of appearing on the telly all the time). Thinking about it (which I rarely do) TPT is waay too thin.

I think I was ever so slightly socialist once - in a totally non-confrontationalist way, of course. But my memory........


But you will be reassured that I am still sad and boring.

[Mongrel]

then the Central Institute for Advanced Medical Studies in Moscow from 1973 to 1982 where he studied iridology, tongue diagnosis, pulse diagnosis, fasting therapy and naturopathy.[1] After a stint in rural India studying homeopathy, herbalism and medical fasting,

So no qualifications in anything evidence based then? Nice

[Blue Wode]

So no qualifications in anything evidence based then? Nice

And Ernst certainly isn’t impressed with him…

• Dr Ali has considerable influence, for example, he advises Prince Charles on alternative medicine. His opinion therefore weighs heavily.
• He seems to have little knowledge about the published evidence in an area that he readily comments on (for example, iridology).
• He seems to misunderstand what science can and cannot achieve.
• He seems to believe that his knowledge is more advanced than science (‘… scientific parameters are currently so restricted’) or that, in other words, science will one day catch up with his wisdom.

I find the last aspect especially infuriating: not only are these promoters of nonsense uninformed about their very own subject, they also have the audacity and arrogance to imply superiority of their disproven assumptions over multiple scientific investigations.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...?artid=2047033

Alternative physician to the stars – no informed consent required

Dr Mosaraf Ali’s (London) patients include celebrities from Prince Charles to Kate Moss. No wonder that he apparently feels close to God entitling his latest book ‘The Integrated Health Bible’.

Here is a journalist’s account of her consultation with Dr Ali: ‘Dr Ali took my pulse, stared into my (admittedly bloodshot) eyes and asked, “Why are you so tired?” Before I’d got halfway through mumbling on about the usual stuff – two children, deadlines, work, etc. – he suddenly grabbed my neck. In fact, I’d come prepared for this (Dr Ali is well known for delivering brief yet excruciating neck massages, which are very good for everyone’s compromised circulation, apparently) but I didn’t expect what he did next. Before I could scream, he yanked my head to the left, and then to the right, so that it cracked out loud in a most alarming way. “Sorry”, he beamed, “but your vertebra are misaligned. Now, don’t you feel better? You’ve got some colour in your cheeks, at last”.’

Telegraph Magazine, 24 March 2001, p. 25.
http://www.medicinescomplete.com/jou...0603a09n08.htm

You have to wonder if this latest sCAM development will finally see the message getting through to Prince Charles, perhaps to the extent of causing him to break off his cosy friendship with ‘Dr’ Ali. Because, bearing in mind that Edzard Ernst and Simon Singh dedicated their book Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial to the Prince, and that when the book was published in April both authors wrote a letter to The Times calling on the him to recall two of his dubious publications…

Sir,

For over two decades the Prince of Wales has been actively promoting alternative medicine and his Foundation for Integrated Health continues to encourage the use of treatments such as homoeopathy or reflexology. When writing in The Times in 2000, he wisely identified “rigorous scientific evidence as one of the keys to the medical establishment’s acceptance of non-conventional approaches”. Conversely, if the evidence turned out to be strongly negative, one would obviously expect the Prince to accept this as good reason to reject particular alternative treatments.

There have been well over 4,000 research studies into alternative medicine since 2000, and in our new book, Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial, which is published next week, we have evaluated this evidence rigorously and fairly. A few treatments seem to work. However, the majority of alternative therapies appear to be clinically ineffective, and many are downright dangerous.

In light of this “rigorous scientific evidence”, we strongly advise that the Prince of Wales and the Foundation for Integrated Health withdraw the publications Complementary Health Care: A Guide for Patients and the Smallwood report. They both contain numerous misleading and inaccurate claims concerning the supposed benefits of alternative medicine. The nation cannot be served by promoting ineffective and sometimes dangerous alternative treatments.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/com...cle3760311.ece

...the publications in question have now mysteriously disappeared from The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health’s website.

This was the original URL for Complementary Health Care: A Guide for Patients:
http://www.fih.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/7...orpatients.pdf

And if you search the site for the Smallwood Report it returns nil results, and it’s also no longer available at the FreshMinds site (it was the research agency involved in the report):
http://www.freshminds.co.uk/PDF/THE%20REPORT.pdf

So could HRH be very quietly starting to concede that he’s been wrong all along?

If so, then poor Dr Ali. His chances of receiving a good luck card from Clarence House could be looking more than a little remote.

[Blue Wode]

Tuesday, January 27 2009, 12:56 GMT:

Goody turns to holistic treatment

Jade Goody has been offered a session of holistic therapy to aid her cancer battle.

The former Big Brother contestant will visit an alternative doctor, paid for by her friend Tara Palmer-Tomkinson.

"I’m not sure what it is, but I’m up for any holistic treatment," she told New magazine.

Goody, who was diagnosed with cancer while appearing on the Indian Big Brother in August 2008, will visit the same therapist used by Prince Charles.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/a144668/goody-turns-to-holistic-treatment.html

Dr Ali?

Ali's status as a doctor to the stars rests on him having helped Prince Charles's wife Camilla to 're-energise' and quit smoking, treating socialite Tara Palmer-Tompkinson for her cocaine habit, and advising former Spice Girl Halliwell on her weight problems.

-snip-

'What Deepak Chopra is to LA, Dr Ali is to London’. He is close to Prince Charles, whose interest in non-traditional approaches to healthcare is so strong that he has his own Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health. Ali claims to achieve astonishing results. He has spoken of helping paralysed people to walk again through 'a special massage designed to improve blood flow to the brain', and of saving the life of a patient with a brain tumour whose conventional doctors had told him to expect to die.

-snip-

He eschews drugs and says the body's ability to heal itself is the key.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/sep/07/health

Whoever the ‘alternative’ doctor turns out to be, let’s hope she sticks with her chemotherapy.

[Dubious Dick]

Has anyone heard or seen any more about the lawsuit against Ali? I did a search but couldn't see anything. Any bets the quack settled out of Court?