“Oh, but it did happen, Doctor!  I saw it myself!” insisted the mom.

“Clearly you are very emotional,” said the doctor.  “Studies have shown that emotional witnesses often see what they expect to see.  I know that you feel very sure, but please understand that science and medicine are not based on anecdote, but on higher forms of knowledge.  Everything that you think you perceive of reality is in your own head, and has not been scientifically validated nor subjected to peer review.  A famous philosopher once questioned an individual’s ability to perceive anything with certainty, and concluded that the only thing he was sure of was, ‘cogito ergo sum’ meaning ‘I think therefore I am’. 

“As long as we’re speaking Latin, I must also mention the fallacy of ‘post hoc ergo propter hoc’.  This must be very difficult for you as a parent to grasp, since you do not have any advanced scientific degrees, but even if your son was hit by a car this would not prove that the car accident caused this problem with his leg.  Don’t confuse coincidence with causation!  Are you saying that car accidents cause broken legs?  What about all the people who break their legs in their own homes?  Do you think that they have cars inside their homes?  That’s absurd!”

“Doctor, as you can see, my son is in a lot of pain!  Can we please stop arguing about causation, and could you provide the treatment that my son desperately needs.”

“Madam, after a thorough examination, I have concluded that your son has Genetic Leg Syndrome, also known as GLS.”

“Genetic Leg Syndrome?  Why, I’ve never heard of that!  But, if it is genetic, how could it have appeared so suddenly?”

“Oh, I am quite sure that there were signs before this that he suffered from GLS, but you did not notice them.  Studies have shown that parents tend to be in denial.”

“But he is on the soccer team – he has always run and walked without any problem!  And look at how his shin is crooked – it was never that way before!”

“My dear, I have years of experience and education in this field, and I am telling you that he has Genetic Leg Syndrome.  Sometimes GLS is progressive and worsens over time.”

“O.K., doctor, I’m not going to keep arguing with you, but what can you do for him?  As you can see and hear, he is crying out in pain.”

“Yes, GLS has a psychological component, and often children with GLS will cry out to get their parents’ attention.  It’s a type of narcissism.”

“Again I am asking you doctor, what kind of treatment can you provide to help my son?”

“A good behavioral program will help your son to manage the emotions and behaviors which often go hand-in-hand with GLS.  Of course, science is not yet at the point of being able to change the genes which cause GLS.  In fact we have not yet identified exactly which genetic aberration is the cause.  We have spent millions on research, and we are probably on the verge of a real breakthrough.  In the meantime, I advise you to contact your local agency and ask for educational and therapeutic services to make this syndrome more manageable.  Good luck!”

With that the distressed mother and sobbing son were ushered out of the office.  The mother called her best friend and poured out the whole story to her friend’s sympathetic ears.  “You know what?” said her friend.  “The same thing happened to my nephew.  My sister brought him to see an alternative practitioner named Dr. Smith who is part of the TBLN! group, which stands for ‘Treat Broken Legs Now!’  Dr. Smith took some x-rays and put his leg in a cast, and my nephew eventually got all better.”

The mom was at a loss – what should she do?  Could she rely on her friend’s advice?  She decided to call her pediatrician.  Remarkably, she was able to reach him, and she told him what had happened to her son and what the doctor and her friend had told her.

“X-rays and casts are highly experimental,” said the pediatrician.  “Studies have shown that x-rays do not help any medical conditions.  A large-scale study was done where 1,000 children with mobility issues were given x-rays, and after three months of x-rays there was no improvement in their conditions.  Casts have been shown to have a negative impact on children’s self-esteem, and to cause deterioration of the leg muscles due to the complete immobilization of the leg, with no movement or weight bearing for weeks on end.  A recent book by a leading expert Dr. Polly Moppet showed that these treatments are cruel, unsafe, and ineffective.”

“Then, what should we do??” asked the mother.

“You should follow that doctor’s advice,” said the pediatrician firmly.  “He is an excellent doctor.”

The mom hung up, more confused than ever.  Her son was now screaming in pain.  Desperate for help, she called Dr. Smith’s office and was encouraged to come in.  When she got there, they took some x-rays.  After the x-rays, she asked her son if he felt any better, and he said no.  She wondered whether the traditional doctors were right and this alternative medicine was bogus.  The doctor came in and showed her the x-ray.  “You see, his leg is broken here and here.  It’s no wonder he is in so much pain.  We will put the leg in a cast so that it can heal in the correct position, and for now we will give him some pain meds as well.”

The mother feared that the cast was an unproven experimental treatment, but the doctor seemed sensible and she agreed to try it.

Once the leg was set and they were home, her son seemed more comfortable.  The next day, she had to explain to his teacher and the school nurse why he was wearing this strange thing on his leg and using crutches.  The school nurse insisted that she obtain a note from Dr. Smith stating that the cast and crutches were necessary.

Weeks later when the mom and her son returned to Dr. Smith to get the cast removed, it turned out that the leg had healed very well.  The bones were straight and strong.  But he had lost some muscle in the leg due to the prolonged inactivity, so that leg looked thinner than the other, and he walked with some awkwardness, even a slight limp.  Dr. Smith assured them that with time his leg would develop strong muscles again.

The following week, the boy saw his pediatrician for his regular annual checkup.  The mom showed the pediatrician how well her son was doing, and told him about the treatment he had received.  The pediatrician said, “There is no effective medical treatment for Genetic Leg Syndrome.  If he seems better, it is just a coincidence.  Anyway, to me he seems worse.  That leg is now a lot thinner than the other, and at last year’s check-up he was walking without any limp.”

As more time passed, the boy went back to running and playing soccer, and his leg developed strong muscles again, and soon you could not even tell that he had ever had a broken leg.  At his next annual check-up, the mom proudly showed the pediatrician that her son was now fully recovered.  “Well then,” said the pediatrician, “clearly he never had GLS.  It was a misdiagnosis.”

The mom breathed a sigh of relief.  Her pediatrician finally seemed to get it!  “Yeah,” she said, “That genetic diagnosis was sooo crazy!  By the way, I was thinking about how that doctor said there had never been any other accidents on that street.  If someone is keeping track of accidents, I should have reported my son’s accident.  Is it too late now?  Who should I report it to?”

“Oh, if there had been an accident,” said the pediatrician, “the hospital would have reported it.  But I think you know in your heart that there was no accident.  Your son never had any serious problem with his leg.  He was just suffering from the normal growing pains so common at his age.  Or he had sore muscles from playing soccer like so many of my little athlete-patients.”

“But, doctor!” said the boy, “I did get hit by a car!  I know I did!”

The pediatrician chuckled fondly.  “Kids these days have such lively imaginations!”

Twyla Ramos and her husband have three children.  Their middle child, age 16, has both autism and Williams Syndrome.  Fortunately, their children’s pediatrician is not at all like the pediatrician described above.

Caveat:  Of course treating autism is much more complicated than treating a broken leg, and not everyone with autism responds so well to biomedical treatments. 
Moral of the story:  Mainstream “experts” should remove their blinders and pay more attention to the treatments which are helping so many people, and the causes which so many parents have witnessed.