The homeopathic house of cards begins to collapse?

[Asolepius]

I am hoping that the highly public effort in which I played a small part back in May has borne fruit. One of the NHS homeopathic hospitals (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/5362614.stm)is to be closed. There will of course be a huge protest about this from all the blue rinse brigade etc, but I'm posting this in the hope that people in Kent will rally round in support of the primary care trust. Even if you are not in Kent, please consider ways in which you can support this noble decision.

[asthmatic camel]

From the article:
Mary Williams, 87, has been going to the hospital for 56 years, where both her mother and grandmother were patients too.
She is allergic to conventional medicine and said: "I'm devastated. I've relied on the hospital... it just mustn't shut down."

She is allergic to conventional medicine? :boggled:

[Tanja]

I followed the link. From the article:

Mary Williams, 87, has been going to the hospital for 56 years, where both her mother and grandmother were patients too.

She is allergic to conventional medicine and said: "I'm devastated. I've relied on the hospital... it just mustn't shut down."


Surely one cannot be alergic to ALL conventional medicine. That is b***ocks.

ETA: AC, you are fast!

[geni]

The scotish one didn't close.

Incerdentaly how can anyone be "allergic to conventional medicine"?

[Lisa Simpson]

"white coat syndrome" perhaps?

[Jeff Corey]

New slogan, "With homeopathic medicine, there's absolutely nothing to be alergic to."

[Asolepius]

From the article:

She is allergic to conventional medicine? :boggled:
[/SIZE]Well it occurred to me that if she has had to keep attending for 56 years it has not been very successful. Sounds like imaginery treatment for imaginery illness.

[asthmatic camel]

Well it occurred to me that if she has had to keep attending for 56 years it has not been very successful. Sounds like imaginery treatment for imaginery illness.

More importantly, the BBC report this as fact. P*ss-poor journalism.

[Mojo]

I am hoping that the highly public effort in which I played a small part back in May has borne fruit. One of the NHS homeopathic hospitals (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/5362614.stm)is to be closed. There will of course be a huge protest about this from all the blue rinse brigade etc, but I'm posting this in the hope that people in Kent will rally round in support of the primary care trust. Even if you are not in Kent, please consider ways in which you can support this noble decision.There is another thread discussing the story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/5336902.stm) about the announcement of the possible closure. Note that while Andrew Sikorski, quoted as saying "anyone who looks at the evidence will find that homeopathy has helped where conventional medicine hasn't been able to help" is described as simply "a GP in Tunbridge Wells", he is also Treasurer of the Faculty of Homeopathy, as the BBC would no doubt have found out if they'd carried out a simple Google search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22andrew+sikorski%22&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB).

[asthmatic camel]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4183916.stm

Professor Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, said the draft WHO report seemed overtly biased and that all of the trials cited happened to be positive.

"They are not the most rigorous ones, not the most recent," he said.

A spokeswoman from the Society of Homoeopaths said: "Many previous studies have demonstrated that homeopathy has an effect over and above placebo.

"It has been established beyond doubt and accepted by many researchers, that the placebo-controlled randomised controlled trial is not a fitting research tool with which to test homeopathy."


"It has been established beyond doubt and accepted by many researchers"? Surely if it was beyond doubt, it would have been accepted by all researchers?

Why should a "placebo-controlled randomised controlled trial" (huh?) not be a fitting research tool with which to test homoeopathy? It's required for conventional medicines before they're allowed to be prescribed.

This stinks.

[Darat]

From the article:
Mary Williams, 87, has been going to the hospital for 56 years, where both her mother and grandmother were patients too.
She is allergic to conventional medicine and said: "I'm devastated. I've relied on the hospital... it just mustn't shut down."

She is allergic to conventional medicine? :boggled:


She's been going there for 56 years and they still haven't cured her! I know the homeopaths say there remedies can take a little while to work so I'm sure they'll soon get her sorted out....

[Pennywise]

I sent them an email. Noone can be allergic to "conventional medicine." The writer just took a liberty to insinuate that the woman really needed the homeopathy. That's definitely not responsible journalism.

These people who act like people being allergic to medicine is even a relevent issue are just being ridiculous. Everyone has allergies. EVERONE. If you haven't discovered that you're allergic to a medication, then certainly there's something else: poison ivy, cats, pollen, bees, mold, etc.

[Mojo]

A spokeswoman from the Society of Homoeopaths said: "Many previous studies have demonstrated that homeopathy has an effect over and above placebo.

"It has been established beyond doubt and accepted by many researchers, that the placebo-controlled randomised controlled trial is not a fitting research tool with which to test homeopathy."Why should a "placebo-controlled randomised controlled trial" (huh?) not be a fitting research tool with which to test homoeopathy? Because they almost invariably show that homeopathy doesn't do what homeopaths claim it does. :oldroll:

Not, of course, that any of the above prevents the Society of Homeopaths cherry-picking the few DBPC trials that appear to show a slight positive outcome for homeopathy and posting them on their website.

[ponderingturtle]

I sent them an email. Noone can be allergic to "conventional medicine." The writer just took a liberty to insinuate that the woman really needed the homeopathy. That's definitely not responsible journalism.

These people who act like people being allergic to medicine is even a relevent issue are just being ridiculous. Everyone has allergies. EVERONE. If you haven't discovered that you're allergic to a medication, then certainly there's something else: poison ivy, cats, pollen, bees, mold, etc.

Of course you can be allergic to conventional medicine, all you need to do is have Multipal Chemical Sensitivity and then all the chemicals at hospitals and doctors office's increase your chemical load to much and you get sick.

See it is easy if you just let a little Woo in the door to make that statement reasonable.

[Stitch]

The scotish one didn't close.

Incerdentaly how can anyone be "allergic to conventional medicine"?

Penicillin allergy?

[StewartP]

Of course you can be allergic to conventional medicine, all you need to do is have Multipal Chemical Sensitivity and then all the chemicals at hospitals and doctors office's increase your chemical load to much and you get sick.

See it is easy if you just let a little Woo in the door to make that statement reasonable.

One of my favorite web sites is Michael Fumento's (http://www.fumento.com), especially as he posts all his hate mail. He wrote a few articles suggesting that Multiple Chemicle Sensitivity is a load of sh:eek:t and the resulting hate mail, and his replies is1 excellent.

Here (http://www.fumento.com/sumcs.html) are his articles on MCS

Here (http://www.fumento.com/hatemail4.html) is the hate mail

I strongly recommend browsing all 44 volumes of his hate mail. It is most entertaining.

1 What crap grammar.

[Katana]

Penicillin allergy?

I think that the issue was the blanket statement "allergic to conventional medicine" is likely a bit of an exaggeration. "Conventional medicine" covers a lot of territory.

The best allergy I ever heard about was from a young woman who told me that she was allergic to estrogen. Poor girl. :rolleyes:

[Mashuna]

I sent them an email. Noone can be allergic to "conventional medicine." The writer just took a liberty to insinuate that the woman really needed the homeopathy. That's definitely not responsible journalism.

These people who act like people being allergic to medicine is even a relevent issue are just being ridiculous. Everyone has allergies. EVERONE. If you haven't discovered that you're allergic to a medication, then certainly there's something else: poison ivy, cats, pollen, bees, mold, etc.

I don't know if the site's been updated recently, but it now reads,

"She is allergic to some conventional medicines"

[asthmatic camel]

It's been updated. My quote was copied and pasted from the original article.