The article on Mona Lisa Schulz’s work as a “medical intuitive” (“Brain Power,” The Classes, May/June) highlights a practitioner potentially defrauding those who are vulnerable to her claims of being able to provide a “healing process” to individuals over the phone.

While intuition is a valuable component in the practice of clinical medicine, it is but a part of a constellation that includes interviewing the patient, physical examination, appropriate objective testing, and treatments based upon evidence-based medical practices. To isolate one of these measures from others is like driving a car with only one of the four tires inflated: ill-advised and dangerous. Without scientific evidence, and by having callers sign a consent form in which Schulz essentially forsakes her medical training, she becomes a clairvoyant or psychic, where chance is as much a factor as anything else and where anyone can self-describe themselves as authoritative. As a physician, I am committed to the science of medicine and the art of healing. I too, use intuition in my practice, intuition honed from years of clinical experience—what one would call clinical wisdom.

With my clinical wisdom and scientific knowledge, I provide treatment and I help patients understand their illness, both important steps along the path of healing.

Christopher May ’87

Portland, Me.