«This case has ended the myth» of the «Acid Reflux Doctor», who will be joined by «Diabetes Doctors» and others of the opportunists who feed on remnants of bodies exhausted by disease».
With this statement, I concluded an article I wrote at the beginning of 2019 after the verdict issued by an American court against Robert Young, or what was known as the "Acid Reflux Doctor", who was selling patients illusion by claiming that the acidity level in the blood is the foundation of all diseases, thus making a huge fortune from it, and I was certain that Young was not an isolated case and there were thousands like him exploiting people's pain and perhaps their despair to market their illusions.
I introduce this prelude against the backdrop of the uproar that erupted on social media following the announcement of the discovery of Dr. Diaa Al-Awadi — or the Egyptian version of Young — deceased in his room at a hotel in Dubai, and the accompanying marketing by some of the nonsense that pharmaceutical companies were behind his «killing».
After hearing about this doctor's story, I began researching his biography through watching some videos he broadcasted, which garnered millions of views. Al-Awadi exceeded Young and surpassed him by stages, insisting on adding an Egyptian flavor to what he presented, claiming that medicines are poisons, celebrating many practices that science has agreed are harmful such as smoking, overindulging in sugars and fats, among others, claiming cancer is a myth and diabetes a lie, urging his followers to stop taking medications, which resulted in harming scores of patients who ended up either in intensive care units, on dialysis machines, or even in the graveyards. People naturally tend to believe those who speak confidently, as the absolute tone often prevails over the complex argument.
A patient, fatigued by tests, the cost of treatment, and long waits in hospitals, often does not seek a complex scientific narrative with a degree of uncertainty as much as they seek someone who tells them that «the matter is much simpler than that», offering an explanation that dispels their fear, and gives them the justification to reject treatment and rebel against the doctors' advisories. Here, the ground becomes fertile for promoters of comfortable illusion; that type of discourse that doesn't care to present the truth but instead offers a quick and deceptive psychological relief.
When statements like «cancer is not a disease» or that «high blood sugar is a temporary condition» are reiterated in a decisive form, they are not received as ideas open for discussion but as final judgments that create an impression to the audience that the speaker possesses extraordinary knowledge. The strength of this discourse and the depth of its impact lies in that it dazzles more than it explains.
And this scene is not complete without understanding the social background that allows the spread of such ideas, as trust in the healthcare system is at its lowest, and the overcrowding in waiting halls and corridors of hospitals, the rising cost of treatment, and poor communication between doctor and patient, all contribute to making the public more receptive to any voice that addresses their worries in a less complex manner than the official medical establishment. Thus, these messages transform into what resembles symbolic revenge against the system, against disease, and against deprivation, through rejecting medications that have exhausted the body and pocket, strict diets that are hard to adhere to, and doubting the credibility of medicine.
This phenomenon cannot be read merely as a medical phenomenon, but as a mirror to a broader crisis: a crisis of trust, a system crisis, and a crisis of an audience searching for certainty in a time dominated by doubt.
