There are few people I speak with who don't consider being afflicted and disabled by a stroke to be one of their worst nightmares. In that momentary cerebral accident, lives change forever, for the victim, their family and their carers. It is certainly one of my worst imagined nightmares – to be paralyzed, perhaps unable to speak, wash, dress, even perform basic toilet functions independently.

Call me simpleminded, but my idea of optimum healthcare has always been that, depending on the severity and nature of the medical problem, the most appropriate treatment(s) should be used, on a continuum from high-tech emergency medicine to low-tech and non-invasive modalities such as healing, homeopathy, etc.