“Homeopathic Practitioners”

[BPSDB]More of Louise Mclean’s ‘Facts’ about Homeopathy , this time on homeopathic practitioners.

In Fact 40 she tells us the subjects homeopaths study in training. Interesting she is so open with this infomation. Quackademic institutes are usually very reluctant to discuss course materials with those outside the club. David Colquhoun had to resort to the Freedom of Information Act to get hold of teaching materials for university homeopathy courses. When he did it turned out they were teaching about miasms – in the twenty-first century.

Fact 41 seems to be about the clientel rather than practitioners as she describes how patients seek out homeopathy because conventional treatment has not benefitted them or it poses too great a risk of side effects. Homeopaths like to bang on about side effects – presumably to distract from the fact that evidence based medicine (EBM) has real effects and usually cures. What is worse though, is that this constant denigration of EBM can have a nocebo effect, that is, actually cause bad effects. New Scientist recently had an article on this opposite of placebo, pointing out that if patients believe they are going to suffer ill-effects of a medicine, then they sometimes do – even if they have been given just a sugar-pill.

In Fact 42 she tells us that there are thousands, if not millions, of case notes that demonstrate the effectiveness of homeopathic treatments. Apart from the fact that the plural of anecdote is not data, she does not tell us what sort of ailments have been treated. They could easily be self-limiting illnesses such as colds or influenza, where the patient would normally get better without treatment of any kind.

In Fact 43 she tells us that homeopaths charge on average £50 per hour whereas specialist doctors can charge over £200. First off, David Cameron is not yet Prime Minister so you can still get EBM for free on the NHS. Secondly, if you do go to a private doctor that £200 gets you someone whose knowledge – if not up to date – is at least late twentieth century rather than late eighteenth. Furthermore, that doctor is scrutinised by an effective professional body and cannot make grand unsubstantiated claims. Unlike people like Jeremy Sherr who claim to be able to cure AIDS . His professional body, the Society of Homeopaths (SoH), refused to do anything about this. In fact, they are more concerned with silencing critics.

Homeopathic practitioners are at best deluded and are notoriously afraid of debate.

Tags: Louise Mclean, Fifty Facts About Homeopathy, silencing critics