Have John's surgeries really never caused an infection?

John claims that his incisions carry no risk of infection, even though he utilizes unsterilized instruments. He holds the absence of infection as proof of his alleged abilities and he and his followers tout it as miraculous at every opportunity.

Is this proof that John has healing abilities? And is this really as amazing as it seems?

First of all, psychic surgey (what John calls "visible surgery") rarely involves cutting skin- just the illusion of doing so. Few psychic surgeons actually draw blood; John, however, has been known to do so.

Secondly, not all breaking of skin leads to infection; it is perfectly possible to be shallowly cut with a clean knife and have the wound remain free of the virus and bacteria needed for infection to occur. It should not be assumed that all sterilized or non-sterilized instruments would, in all cases, automatically lead to infection.

Still, has John of God really never caused an infection? At least one person, a healthy woman who made the pilgrimage to the Casa with her sister and father, testifies that he has:



"From first hand experience, I can tell you that John of ? is an opportunist and a deceiver. I traveled to Abadiania in Oct. of 2001 to accompany my ill father and sister. I was in good health. On October 4th, 2001, I had unexpected physical surgery [at the healing center].

While in the casa, my father and sister were separated from me. They were instructed to enter a room where their invisible surgery was to take place. I was directed to a line where I could present photos of ill people to John and he would subsequently write an herbal prescription for them. This line led into a room where John sat. As I approached him, I could see how he scribbled on pieces of paper and handed them back to people ahead of me. Finally I came to face him. I handed him the photos. He proceeded to scribble out the prescriptions and then it happened. He grabbed my arm and looked at me. I became paralyzed. I could not move, speak or open my eyes. I could only hear.

As I stood there, I felt my pants being pulled down from my waist to my hip. I heard John directing his attendants and then I felt the sting of the scalpel. I was screaming in my head. I could not believe what was happening to me. He continued to make an incision on my abdomen. He passed the scalpel 2 or 3 times on my abdomen. I felt his fingers probing in the incision. I then felt the pricks of a needle. He was stitching the incision. I heard him say he was finished.

Then I was able to open my eyes and I looked down on my abdomen where he had made the incision. Before I could protest, his attendants sat me down on a chair and I was whisked away to the recovery room. There the nurse attendants washed my incision with the so called holy water. I was very angry at what had occurred. John had assaulted me. I voiced my complaints in the recovery room. The attendants just directed me to a taxi cab and told me to go back to my hotel and rest. Let it be understood I DID NOT VOLUNTEER OR GIVE ANY PERMISSION FOR ANY KIND OF SURGERY. This was an ASSAULT.

Approx. 3-4 days later, I got an infection at the incision site. It started to spread. I required medical attention fast. My sister kept insisting I be taken to a hospital. John's followers were reluctant to let us go, they kept insisting John could heal me. John saw the infection and removed the stitches. John and his acolytes were more concerned about the negative publicity this would cause than my life. Finally, my sister demanded the owner of the hotel to call us a cab. She created a commotion. Finally, around midnight we got our cab. I was taken to Brasilia and was hospitalized for approximately a week. The infection had turned gangrenous. Massive dosages of varying antibiotics were given intravenously and sections of tissue were removed from my abdomen. By the grace of GOD, not John, I recovered.

As stated in Primetime, John is a very, very wealthy man. The Primetime program also stated he does not charge.That is very misleading. In Oct. 2001, the herbal prescriptions which are scribbled by John cost US$20 for a small bottle. The holy water charge is 1-2 dollars a bottle, the crystal baths they provide are $10, and you are told to drink a lot of holy water from the casa, which will help in the healing process. About 200-300 people visit the casa per day and from what I observed 90% are given prescriptions. All these charges might not seem a lot to a foreigner who is desperate for a cure and has traveled far to get to Abadiania , but in Brazil it is a tremendous amount of money.

I spoke to some locals in Abadania, and what I was told did not leave me with a Godly impression of John and his followers. In the program it stated that in 30 years no infection has been reported. John and his followers know better, they know. It's just not in their best interest to acknowledge the truth. People like John and his acolytes will continue to deceive. I can only warn people of him and state that there are GODLY powers then there are UNGODLY. You be the judge."



http://www.randi.org/jr/022505thank.html

What is the placebo effect?

The placebo effect is a phenomenon where a medicine (or any other treatment) seems to temporarily work because the patient thinks it will work and wants it to work.

Doctors sometimes prescribe placebos to fend off patients that demand treatments they don't need. Placebos are also used in double-blind clinical trials; one group is given a certain treatment and the other (the "control" group) is unknowingly prescribed a placebo such as a sugar pill, for comparison.

Placebos can only temporarily seem to cure and are of no help in severe illnesses. They have been shown to be effective, to a point, for relieving insomnia, anxiety, colds, headaches and minor pain.

However, the placebo effect often comes into play in false treatments. Patients feel better because of the psychosomatic effects and the power of suggestion. They report feeling better because they want to feel better, not because of any actual change. The pill or treatment does not benefit them in and of itself; it benefits them because of their own expectations and beliefs.

The placebo effect can be a useful tool in certain situations but it is of no use in the treatment of cancer, AIDS, paralysis or any other serious ailments. It eventually wears off and fools patients into believing that they are being cured when they are not. This leads to the delay of real treatment, the only cure that has been proven to work.