Quackery

Quackery is the promotion or practice of medical treatments without sound evidence, often involving deception about their safety or effectiveness.

Pseudoscience: Pseudoscience presents claims as scientific while lacking reliable methods or evidence. Quackery often borrows scientific language and imagery to make unsupported treatments seem credible.
Medical fraud: Medical fraud is deliberate deception involving health products, services, or claims. Deceptive quackery can become fraud when false claims are made for gain.
Patent medicine: Patent medicines were proprietary remedies sold directly to consumers, often with secret ingredients and exaggerated claims. Their unregulated promotion made them a prominent historical form of quackery.
Medical error: A medical error is a preventable failure in the process of healthcare that may cause harm. Errors can occur without deception or unsupported claims, unlike deliberate forms of quackery.
Health fraud: Health fraud is the promotion of products or services through false or misleading health claims. This broader category includes quackery and deceptive claims beyond treatment practices.
Placebo effect: The placebo effect is a change in symptoms or experience linked to treatment expectations and context. Short-term improvement can be mistaken for proof that a quack treatment works.
Medical harm: Medical harm is injury or adverse impact caused by healthcare or its absence. Quack treatments may cause direct injury or worsen illness through delayed care.
Snake oil: Snake oil is a name for a fraudulent or ineffective remedy, especially one promoted with extravagant claims. The phrase arose from traveling medicine sales and became shorthand for quack treatments.
Alternative medicine: Alternative medicine comprises health practices used in place of conventional medical care. Quackery can occur within alternative medicine, but the categories are not identical.
Clinical trial: A clinical trial is a prospective study that evaluates health interventions in human participants. Well-designed trials can test whether promoted treatments provide benefits and reveal risks.

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