The harm of homeopathy
I wrote about a year ago about how some homeopaths, rather than living up to the nice friendly all-natural image they like to present, are actually hugely irresponsible and act in bad faith.
I've seen a shocking example of the behaviour of a homeopath today. But first, some background.
Penelope Dingle died of cancer in 2005, after being treated by a homeopath, Francine Scrayen. Dingle's cancer was probably curable with appropriate treatment, but Scrayen convinced her to opt for homeopathic treatment instead, with predictable results. You can read the coroner's report here, but be warned, you will find it upsetting. Even more upsetting is a letter written by Dingle herself after she realised that Scrayen had let her down.
The Australian blogger Dan Buzzard has written about his case in some detail. Today I learned that Scrayen is threatening him with libel action. Someone acting in good faith might reflect on the mistakes they made in advising a cancer patient to use homeopathy instead of effective treatment. Trying to suppress the story of what happened does not seem like acting in good faith to me.
I am sure that there are many homeopaths who do act responsibly and would never dream of attempting to treat cancer with nothing more than sugar pills. Now would be a good time for them to make a lot of noise about how they strongly condemn Scrayen's actions if they don't want their entire profession to be thought of as irresponsible.
This story deserves to be widely known. Homeopathy is dangerously unregulated. If homeopaths are either deluded enough or unscrupulous enough to fool patients with serious diseases into forgoing effective treatment, the consequences can be as tragic as they were for Penelope Dingle. There is a real need for advertising regulations to be more strictly enforced, and for some meaningful professional regulation of homeopaths, to stop this sort of thing happening again
Oh, and if Francine Scrayen's lawyers are reading this post, then please note that I will be happy to correct any factual inaccuracies in this post if you can identify any. If you object to this post for any other reason, then I refer you to the reply given in the case of Arkell vs Pressdram.
As I often do, I'm keeping a list. Dan Buzzard Writes the Facts; Francine Scrayen Threatens with the Law. I've added this post.
[...] The Harm of Homeopathy (dianthus.co.uk) [...]
Your example is distressing but an all too common problem. The lack of any criticism that I've seen so far from the quack industry is very telling.
While in developed countries they are usually curbed from their more delusional and dangerous beliefs, in Africa they advise against ARVs for HIV infection. In Haiti, they advise that their test tube washings will cure cholera. In Cuba they advise against vaccination for Leptospirosis and in favour of their zero dose nonsense.
[...] The Harm of Homeopathy (dianthus.co.uk) [...]
A Homeopath has CONVINCED my daughter, a famous and well known Celebrity, who having lost faith in the Medical Profession, for a Genetic illness that has no cure, went to see her, that I am "Toxic", and she is PHYSICALLY allergic to me and that ANY contact with me with invariably lead to her death.
This was done obviously purely for financial gain, as she charged my daughter £70 per visit, and my daughter was seeing her most days of the week for "Healing" her!
As a result of my daughter's absolute dependence on this woman, my daughter has not allowed me to see her, speak to her, or communicate with her in any way for two years now. I am beyond distraught.
The same "Homeopath" told my mentally ill son that she could cure him with her powers of "Healing", which was a Gift she was "born with", as long as he came OFF his anti-psychotic drug, Clozapeine. The result was that my daughter believed her every word, and will no longer see her brother who she was once closer to than Twins are to their siblings, because he REFUSES to give up his conventional medication due to the terror of the pain he was in returning, should he give his medication up to please his Sister, and recover her relationship with him.
I have lost a daughter, and my son has lost a sister, and we have NO RECOURSE to do anything about this "Homeopath", who is dangerous, and must have done this to countless families, and will continue to do so, until someone stops her. But who will?
Do you have any advice on how to report her malpractices?
It sounds to me like a cult rescue organisation is your best bet. I found this one http://www.familysurvivaltrust.org/info.php?page=how_we_can_help
I would be intrigued to know who this homeopath is. There are one or two in the UK that I suspect of getting up to no good "behind the scenes" as it were. They are very careful never to put anything out in public that contravenes the law, yet it is clear their activities are at best borderline legal.
This is completely unacceptable.
Have you checked if the homeopath is registered with a trade body? The main bodies (the Society of Homeopaths, the Alliance of Registered Homeopaths, the Faculty of Homeopathy and the Homeopathic Medical Association) have their members listed on the Find a Homeopath website.
Once you know which body she belongs to, a complaint can be made. If they want to be seen as responsible and professional, they will deal with it urgently and thoroughly.
There's a difficult balance to be struck here. Reporting the homeopath to the appropriate trade body might help to ensure some kind of action is taken (though it might not: homeopathic trade bodies are not known for their tough disciplinary standards), but there is a danger that it might alienate the daughter still further.
I'm certainly no expert in these matters (though it seems like the organisation anarchic_teapot linked to probably are, so I'm sure their advice would be worth following) but it strikes me that the chances of repairing the relationship with the daughter are probably best maintained by maintaining as non-judgemental an attitude as possible. If the daughter is in the spell of the homeopath, then any action seen as hostile to the homeopath may just make the daughter even more determined to avoid communication.
This is certainly a heart-breaking story. I only wish I could offer more useful advice.
Sound advice, Adam. This is exactly the kind of situation cult rescue organisations have to deal with.
It sound like your family has been infected by a parasite. It sounds like the damn thing is literally leeching off of your family. Have you considered having it 'chirurgically' removed?
This is not homoeopathy.
Why do you say that, Peter?
Very sad. This is definitely not the type of homeopathy I am familiar with. I agree that this person should be reported as a fraud as quickly as possible.
[...] The Harm of Homeopathy (dianthus.co.uk) [...]