Practicing medicine in Elan demands much of a person. The best practitioners must sacrifice time, energy, and money in order to pursue a career in this field. That is, ideally. To some, medicine is as easy as forging papers, faking a believable practice, advertising widely, or just promising to cure what others cannot treat. Though the medical community is constantly demanding more regulation, the process is slow and enforcement is difficult. While the legislation stalls, Elanites are left exposed to the unsavory peddlers and practitioners who seek money over another’s wellbeing.
Medical fraud is not uncommon in Elan. Maybe a practitioner lost their license but still needs to keep food on the table. Maybe someone never had a license but still sees opportunity in practicing medicine. Maybe there is too great of a need to go without providing health care however best one can. Sometimes there are good intentions. Sometimes there is only ambition and money to be made. Regardless, there are a lot more people in need of medicine, and some take it upon themselves to provide it without the skill or qualifications to do so.
There are several levels of quakery that should be considered. The first is those who are capable but do not have the credentials. A person studied medicine under someone else but never was licensed, or attended medical school but never graduated, or had a license that was revoked. These people could do great good for a community, depending on their intentions and actions. However, they could also cause great harm - either intentionally or unintentionally.
The next layer to consider is those who have credentials that are wholly fabricated. Perhaps they have a forged license or have stolen the identity of a doctor. These are people often without knowledge or expertise who often want notoriety or money. Maybe they provide healthcare (most often badly) or maybe they only use the false title for social clout.
Finally, there are those who don’t even go to the trouble of obtaining practice or ability. These are the people who proudly declare themselves as doctors to sell something: medicine, treatments, therapies, retreats, etc. What they are after is the credibility behind the title that their very actions are eroding just to earn a living.
Though there is much being done to enforce the licensing system and punish those who violate it, it is difficult to track down frauds unless something goes wrong. And even then, irreparable harm may have been done that no sentence or fine can fix. Perhaps what is more difficult to judge is the person who provides good care that is sorely needed for a community but without a license. Regardless, fraud and quackery remains a great risk in Elan - both to those who need care and to those who give it.
While there has always been pseudomedicine, it seems to be particularly more popular right now in Elan. With the amount of injuries and diseases spreading in the population, some look to those making wild and hopeful claims rather than scientific medicine. And this is where a great deal of people are being taken advantage of.
Some of the most popular pseudomedicines currently practiced in Elan are:
Fasting Treatments: the belief that any illness can be treated by starving it out of the patient. Often leads to malnourishment and death.
Electrostatic Medicine: a misconception that shocking a person’s aching joint or painful muscle will cure them. While using electricity in medicine is still being examined for possible use, this practice often leads to burns and returning pain, and sometimes death.
Intuitive Medicine: diagnosis by reading emotions rather than examining the body. Results repeatedly in misdiagnosis and, when the patient is given medicine for that wrong diagnosis, leads to worsening health in the patient.
Lapidary/Metallurgy Treatment: when stones, gems, or certain metals are used in place of medicine. This can include grinding certain stones or metals into powders to ingest, storing water with certain stones or in certain metal cisterns to drink, or bathing in water with stones or in tubs of special medals. While some of this can be benign or in rare cases helpful, some practitioners suggest substances that lead to toxicity, poisoning, and death.
Magnetic Therapy: wearing magnets for dubious health benefits, such as relief from aches and pains, improving blood flow, and curing headaches. Often very costly to the patient as peddlers of this treatment upsell their personal wares. Some practitioners even suggest swallowing magnets, which can cause serious damage to the intestines.
Petroleum Treatment: the application or ingestion of petrolatum or other oil products in order to improve health. Can lead to worsening health in many cases, including poisoning.
Temperature Therapy: either freezing the body or overheating the body in order to treat maladies. Can lead to hyper/hypothermia and other harmful effects.
Note: While there is some pseudoscience that exists in Elan, pseudosciences that supported racism, sexism, and other bigotry are not present. For example, Elan does not have eugenics and phrenology. If in doubt, please reach out directly to Lore Team.
Patent medicines, or also proprietary medicines, are so called as they are registered under patents belonging to a specific person or corporation. They are a largely unregulated market of tonics, pills, and injections that anyone can purchase. Most claim to be effective for minor symptoms or illnesses, such as headaches, coughing, congestion, heart burn, and fatigue. Some are benign snake oil - a placebo at best. Others hold deadly secrets, either in ingredients or dosage. The more common dangerous components can include opium, turpentine, alcohol, cocaine, camphor, and poisonous herbal extracts.
The true danger in these “medicines” isn’t just the ingredients, but also how much their usage highlights the problems with current Elanite medicine. If a doctor cannot reach a community, if a medical visit isn’t affordable, or if a person needs quick relief and doesn’t know any better, then these false cures may be all they can get. Then often comes addiction, sickness, or death. But, without improvement to medical accessibility and education, patent medicines for now seem here to stay.