The national newspapers today are both unanimous and venomous in attacking homeopathy. Most articles conflated (in my opinion deliberately) two separate issues: The extremely damaging effects (to both individuals and society in general) of homeopaths dissuading parents from having their children receive the normal vaccinations universally recommended by all health authorities. Homeopathy is apparently no [...]
An article in the latest edition of that very non-treehugging journal Scientfic American by a self-confessed skeptic (spelled with a 'k' because he's American and with an 's' very deliberately in lower case for reasons he makes clear), John Horgan, shows how self-styled 'sceptics' specifically attack 'soft targets' such as homeopathy (which he mentions specifically) while [...]
Good news for supporters of liberty, democracy and complementary medicine has emerged from Switzerland. The interior ministry of the land of bankers, superior chocolate and timepieces has announced that 'Homeopathy, holistic medicine, herbal medicine, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine will acquire the same status as conventional medicine by May 2017 when it comes to health insurance.' [...]
I've never liked the word 'depression'. The Victorians referred more accurately to chronic sadness as 'melancholia'. Psychiatry has struggled for decades to find a chemical solution by which to 'treat the brain' in order to alleviate this awful problem. Success has been hard to come by and both the psychoanalytic school of thought and the anti-psychiatry [...]
Outcome studies are no more than a collation of the voices of patients - the very people whose welfare this debate has apparently been all about. Patients care about getting better; how they got better is of secondary importance.
Homeopathy is no more controversial today than it was in 1948 when it was invited to be part of the NHS at its inauguration. Homeopathy is a structured process involving a very detailed consultation at the end of which a medicine is prescribed which suits the patient and his or her illness in totality.
Once again, Sir John Beddington insults GPs who choose to send their patients for homeopathy on the NHS.
It is a pity that few have neither the patience nor the time for medical philosophy these days while many retain the mouth for voicing highly opinionated political ideology on healthcare in medicine. More can be read about the remarkable Dr Ledermann on his website, in a transcription of an interview I conducted with him here and in his obituary in The Times in 2005.
The Prime Minister has given the job of Secretary of State for Health to Jeremy Hunt. Health ministers (one rung lower than health secretary) Mike O’Brien (Labour) and Ann Milton (Coalition) have endorsed the British public’s right to NHS homeopathy. Mr Hunt goes further. Not only does he uphold the right of the taxpayer to [...]
An article in The Daily Mail reports that the Queen is never without an emergency set of homeopathic medicines and even treated one of her dogs with homeopathy. Thus it is clear that even though homeopathy has its detractors, the Labour Party, the Coalition Government and the Head of State are very protective of the people's right to choose homeopathy.