Sick people often seek alternative therapies because doctors do not have any treatments to offer
He had the option of chemotherapy with a 50 / 50 chance of long term survival.
The article is not about seeking alternative treatments as a last resort, it is about disregarding well proven science in favour of unproven (and in this case ineffective) alternatives.
The thinking goes:
A business should have enough cash to weather a storm. If you've paid out cash you have more than enough to weather a storm (and therefore don't need money). If you need money and have paid out dividends than you shouldn't have, you didn't have enough cash reserve.