Chinese Medicine and Dignity

I have never trusted traditional Chinese medicine.

There are many reasons for this. In the past, people recorded experiences they could not explain but that seemed to work. Today, much of that has somehow been dressed up as science, to be celebrated and passed on as a precious inheritance.

This is not to dismiss traditional Chinese medicine and herbal remedies wholesale. There are, of course, things of value in them. But I object to using those parts as an excuse to overlook the errors and omissions. To me, that kind of opportunism is an affront to science and does Chinese medicine itself a disservice.

Today, though, I do not want to argue over any of that. I want to talk about something we have long taken for granted.

When cancer reaches its late stages, many patients begin taking Chinese herbal medicine, hoping this ancient practice can work a miracle and give them a new lease on life. I have never believed in such claims. At one point, I even felt considerable contempt for the idea.

But today, I heard an interesting perspective.

People who keep taking herbal medicine at the end of their lives may well know that it could do nothing for them. They simply choose to believe. Even if all they gain is a little psychological comfort, at least it might make their remaining days easier.

More to the point, some people simply cannot afford the cost of modern medical care. The expense of treatment can be enough to ruin a family, and even after paying that price, they may not gain much more time.

It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps many people have understood this from the start.

They may not really believe that herbal medicine can cure their cancer. They just need a reason to keep seeking treatment, and a reason to stop bearing such heavy medical costs. Compared with openly admitting that they cannot afford to continue treatment, choosing something relatively inexpensive, and invested with a measure of hope, may be easier for both them and their families to accept.

Here, herbal medicine seems to become an excuse that preserves a little dignity.

Thinking about it this way, I suddenly felt that such a choice might not be so hard to accept after all.

This has not changed my judgment of traditional Chinese medicine. I still believe that whether a treatment works should be answered by reliable evidence. But I am beginning to realize that sometimes our prejudices keep us from seeing the whole picture.

In the past, I saw only people's blind faith in a supposed cure. I rarely considered the helplessness that might lie behind that faith.

Perhaps one day, I too will be the person who knows how little hope remains, yet says nothing.

Who knows.