Scammed by Wellness: A Cautionary Tale

TL;DR: My father visited a famous alternative medicine clinic and got scammed willingly, despite my best efforts to stop him. My father, a successful but not highly educated 65-year-old, has always been intelligent and self-made. However, his habits—30 years of drinking, continued smoking, and a two-year battle with diabetes—haven’t been the healthiest. Recently, his fasting blood sugar levels spiked, prompting him to seek a cure. Like many, he’s influenced by YouTube “health experts,” particularly one who promotes a keto diet as a panacea for all ailments, even cancer. One day, he announced that this "expert" had a wellness clinic in Banjara Hills (let’s call it KRV Deathline) and insisted on going there to cure his diabetes. My quick research flagged it as pseudoscience. Still, I accompanied him, reluctantly, because the "expert" boasts a doctorate from China and claims to cure cancer. (Source: his own YouTube videos.) # The Visit At the clinic, I warned my father: “Follow the diet if you must, but avoid their supplements—you don’t know what’s in them.” I’ve seen too many cases of liver injury linked to dubious supplements, thanks to posts by credible doctors on Twitter (theliverdoc). At the reception, we registered for a consultation—it was free! My dad believed this was proof the clinic wanted to genuinely help people. We were then ushered into a room with a young lady doctor, likely in her 20s, who prescribed a “supplement” for every symptom my father mentioned: diabetes, high blood pressure, insomnia, numb feet, and more. When I casually asked if she was an MBBS doctor, she said, “No, I’m an AYUSH doctor.” (Kill me now.) # The Pseudoscientific Spectacle The real show began in the conference room, where the "health expert" sat in the center, surrounded by patients. He loudly read out each patient’s ailments to ensure confidentiality and claimed his diet and supplements could cure everything. * IBS? Stop taking “English” medicine and switch to his supplements. * Wheelchair-bound? Eat 1kg fish daily and follow his regimen. * To an oblivious father of a 10-year-old girl: Don’t send her to school for a year—just follow his diet and feed her 1 kg fish daily. * Cancer? Stop chemo and radiation; his supplements will suffice. He even casually disparaged top cancer doctors in the city, citing Steve Jobs as an example of Western medicine’s failure. The clincher was when he presented a 90-year-old patient, claiming this person was given three months to live but had survived three years due to his treatment. Classic survivorship bias. What about the patients who didn’t make it and weren’t there to tell their stories? # The Fallout By this point, my father was utterly convinced. He nodded vigorously, convinced he’d found the fountain of youth. I watched, helpless, as the respect I had for him began to erode. He rushed to buy 20,000 INR worth of supplements, including Vitamin D, multivitamins, nano-silver, alkaline drops, anti-stress pills, and coconut oil. Only after purchasing the supplements did they share the accompanying diet plan. (duh) # Reflection As someone well-educated and grounded in science, witnessing this debacle was infuriating. The blatant exploitation of gullible people by these pseudoscientific charlatans made my blood boil. The financial cost—20,000 INR—was insignificant, but the loss of respect for my father was far greater. PS : Used chatgpt to improve readability.