Quack

Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, qualification or credentials they do not possess; a charlatan or snake oil salesman". The term quack is a clipped form of the archaic term quacksalver, from Dutch: kwakzalver a "hawker of salve".

History

In the Middle Ages the term quack meant "shouting". The quacksalvers sold their wares on the market shouting in a loud voice. Common elements of general quackery include misleading marketing, health fraud, and malpractice.

Quackery in the 21st Century

In the 21st century, even though quackery is often characterized as an array of practices and practitioners, despite significant variation, a few themes are common: misleading marketing, health fraud, and malpractice.

See also

• Alternative medicine
• Charlatan
• Health fraud
• Medical ethics
• Medical malpractice
• Pseudoscience

References

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