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By Diane Griffith, HealthAtoZ writer
The old adage is still as true as ever: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Like a good get-rich quick scheme, a facial cream that promises to remove all your wrinkles or a phone call out of the blue awarding you a "free" cruise, beware of infomercials or other advertisements promising to cure your health care woes.
Consumers spend billions of dollars a year on phony health care products, hoping to find cures for what ails them, and usually end up with nothing to show for it but empty wallets. What makes this type of crime worse than your typical shady land deal is that patients may abandon sound medical advice and traditional medical treatments in hopes of finding a "miracle" cure.
When a patient is fooled into choosing a not-scientifically-proven product over a much-needed medical treatment, they not only lose out financially, they lose valuable treatment time and possibly cause irreversible damage to their health. And it can also be deadly. This is health fraud.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offers the following tips on how to spot health fraud:
- Be suspicious of ads that claim to cure a range of diseases. No product can treat every disease. Diseases like Alzheimer's, cancer, arthritis, diabetes and AIDS have no cure.
- Beware of personal testimonials ("My husband began eating emu oil and in days his Alzheimer's was gone."), which can be completely made up.
- Look out for promises of quick relief to a serious disease. Few diseases can be treated quickly, and the words "in days" (as in above example) can refer to any length of time.
- Look out for words like "natural." Natural does not mean safe. Eating some natural plants can kill you.
- Be suspicious of claims of a "miracle cure" or "new discovery." The same applies to "ancient remedies." If a new cure had been found, it would be widely reported in medical literature and in the media, not in an infomercial or magazine advertisement.
- Beware of money-back guarantees. Fraudulent marketers don't stay in one place for long. You'll get your money back only if you can find them.
- Be suspicious of meaningless medical jargon. These terms cover up for a lack of scientific proof about the product.
- Check it out. Ask your doctor about the product. The Better Business Bureau or the attorney general's office can tell you if they've had any complaints about the product. Check with professional organizations related to the disease it is supposed to cure, such as the American Heart Association if it is heart related. Check with your nearest FDA office to see if they have taken any action against the marketer.
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External Sources
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U.S. Food and Drug Administration
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American Dietetic Association
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This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
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