Vega Machines
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Vega machines are a form of Electrodiagnostic device. Some alternative medicine practitioners regard them as an effective method for diagnosing illness. Mainstream science regards them as a form of quackery.
Those marketing them claim that Vega machines can diagnose anything from food allergies to AIDS. These claims have not been supported by scientific evidence. There have been various moves by regulating authorities to stop the use of the machines.
Many medical practicioners view the machine and their proponents as dangerous, due to the danger of misdiagnosis. One the most commonly-cited cases involved a single pregnant woman who was diagnosed with cancer, and had a history of depression. The woman sought a second opinion, and found a vega machine. The operator told her she was not pregnant, and did not have cancer, that instead she was eating too much white flour. She stopped eating bread and anything else with flour in it. She eventually gave birth with a midwife in her home. The baby had suffered from a lack of folic acid, which the government adds to flour to ensure that all pregnant women get enough in their diet. In addition, her cancer spread, and she died about a year after her child's birth. The inquest concluded that the woman had suffered from a recurrence of depression, and that her child was born with a neural tube defect was at least partially caused by the vega machine's operator telling her fictional information. Some went as far as saying that he had taken advantage of her weak mental state, and had offered her the false belief that she wasn't dying. Proponents of Vega machines claim that this is an isolated case that arose from a lack of regulation and an unqualified operator, and that it is not sufficient to dismiss the device.
External links
- Link to press release detailing a lawsuit brought against a practitioner using a vega machine (http://www.atg.wa.gov/releases/rel_pacific_092903.html)