Nexus - 0606 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Health, Department of Health and Human Sciences, and the American Medical Society. This four-year review led to the con- clusion that they "could find no evidence that psychic surgery was effective". In 1986, the arrest and prosecution of psychic surgeons began in earnest. Gary and Terry Magno were arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, and charged with the fraudulent practice of medicine. They posted bail and immediately fled back to the Philippines. In 1987, Jose Bugarin was arrested in Sacramento, California, for cancer quackery and the illegal practice of medicine. He was sen- tenced to nine months in prison. In 1989, Placido Palitayan was arrested and prosecuted in Oregon for the illegal practice of medi- cine. In 1991, immigration officials arrested Terry Magno in the Philippines and deported her back to the United States to stand trial. Mrs Magno faced 17 counts of fraud and one of conspiracy in connection with the 1986 charges of practising psychic surgery in Arizona. Health, Department of Health and Human Sciences, and the mechanism—a belief-mediated healing process that produced a American Medical Society. This four-year review led to the con- 43 per cent cure rate in American placebo surgery studies? If clusion that they "could find no evidence that psychic surgery was placebo surgery produced these results in the United States, was it effective". not logical to expect the same results when performed by In 1986, the arrest and prosecution of psychic surgeons began Filipinos? in earnest. Gary and Terry Magno were arrested in Phoenix, All of the early research on psychic surgery was based on the Arizona, and charged with the fraudulent practice of medicine. assumption that the operations were 100 per cent paranormal phe- They posted bail and immediately fled back to the Philippines. In nomena. Paranormal phenomena were judged to be genuine only 1987, Jose Bugarin was arrested in Sacramento, California, for in cases where the phenomena could be subjected to rigid scientif- cancer quackery and the illegal practice of medicine. He was sen- ic scrutiny and proved to be replicable under clinical conditions. tenced to nine months in prison. In 1989, Placido Palitayan was Though researchers from several different countries had succeed- arrested and prosecuted in Oregon for the illegal practice of medi- ed in documenting a number of genuine psychic surgery opera- cine. In 1991, immigration officials arrested Terry Magno in the _ tions in tightly controlled studies, the discovery that the Filipinos Philippines and deported her back to the United States to stand were using a form of placebo surgery breached the required stan- trial. Mrs Magno faced 17 counts of fraud and one of conspiracy dards of proof for scientists and parapsychologists alike. in connection with the 1986 charges of practising psychic surgery To compound the confusion, it was becoming apparent to many in Arizona. researchers in the 1970s that placebo operations were somehow healing people. The researchers saw that PLACEBO VS PARANORMAL atients who believed in the veracity of the SURGERY operations responded positively, even mirac- While the persecution of the ulously, to the placebo operations. The dis- Filipino/Filipina healers was getting into covery of sleight-of-hand psychic surgery in pear Ina of Not Scenes pt | Golbb reported that | Piipnes ok plac ino 20 yen effect that were known only to a select 43 per cent of the to provide an explanation for the success of group of medical researchers. one oi the patients who received the healers who used the placebo operations. opics covered in the report was the little- aving insufficient knowledge of psy- known subject of placebo surgery, placebo surgery reported choneuroimmunology, parapsychologists In the 1950s, several American doctors both subjective and concluded, along with debunkers, that the conducted experiments designed to deter- A A A placebo surgery practised by the Filipinos mine the merits of the surgical procedure for objective improvement. was a form of medical fraud. The discovery angina pectoris. In one experiment, of fraud, however, did not change the te of ve patentee he ore MM In the patients who had MM nt donatialy parnormal oper placed under anaesthesia and given a received the "real" and had been extensively documented surface incision, which was then operation, only inboh the Philippines and Brazil b sutured. Once awakened, the five n the increasingly polarised and hys- 32 per cent reported satisfactory results. patients were monitored during their terical debate over psychic surgery, the recovery from the operations. Overall, focus of research came down to two to the amazement of the physicians, a main issues. The first was whether the significant percentage of the patients sychic surgeons were actually opening who had received placebo operations the bodies of their patients, or whether was cured. their operations were merely simula- In 1961, Dr Henry Beecher reviewed tions of surgery. The second was two double-blind studies of placebo whether or not the extracted tissues and operations. These studies convincingly lood produced during the operations demonstrated that the actual operation produced no greater benefit were consistent with the tissue and blood types of their patients. than the placebo operation. A number of studies were conducted on these questions in vir- In a separate study, conducted by Dr Leonard Cobb and associ- tually every country the psychic surgeons visited. For every test ates, placebo surgery proved to be more effective than the real that confirmed the tissue and blood to be of human origin and that thing. Cobb reported that 43 per cent of the patients who received matched the blood and tissue of the patients, another found the placebo surgery reported both subjective and objective improve- samples to be of either animal or non-human origin. For the ment. In the patients who had received the "real" operation, only Germans, Australians, Americans and Japanese who tested these 32 per cent reported satisfactory results. What this research estab- samples of blood and tissue, the results of these tests merely led to lished is that the mere form (metaphor) of surgical procedures can increased polarisation and offered no solution to the enigma of produce the same results as the actual surgical procedures. psychic surgery. The early studies conducted by people like When I first read this study, lights went off inside my head. Henry Belk, Stanley Krippner and Andrija Puharich established Could the sleight-of-hand operations, the damning evidence in all that genuine paranormal operations did in fact take place. of the criminal cases against the fourth-dimensional surgeons, Faced with two very different types of operations, and lacking actually be a sophisticated form of "placebo surgery"? Were the the understanding to provide a satisfactory explanation for the small bags of blood and tissue that had been used to seal the fates supposedly "fraudulent" operations, those who had witnessed the of healers accused of medical fraud, actually tools being used by "genuine" operations were placed in a truly mind-boggling the psychic surgeons to activate the mysterious placebo predicament. If they acknowledged that sleight of hand was being Cobb reported that 43 per cent of the patients who received placebo surgery reported both subjective and objective improvement. In the patients who had received the "real" Operation, only 32 per cent reported satisfactory results. 26 - NEXUS OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 1999