In his blog Edzard Ernst on 28th. July 2024 asks
"Why are the death rates of some (homeopathic) hospitals lower than those of other hospitals?"and he gives the answer:
"In other words, moribund patients are often rushed to hospital where many of them die. They are not rushed to a homeopathic hospital!"Well, we knew this already, and in many analyses of what homeopaths really do, we discussed things like these.
But let us first look at what Edzard Ernst wrote today:
https://edzardernst.com/2024/07/why-are-the-death-rates-of-some-homeopathic-hospitals-lower-than-those-of-other-hospitals/[*QUOTE*]
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Why are the death rates of some (homeopathic) hospitals lower than those of other hospitals?Published Sunday 28 July 2024
I better start this post with an appology: I am going to try and explain something that is rather obvious to rational thinkers. But recently, we had comments on this blog that made it clear to me that some of my readers are are far from rational. They have suggested that the real life test of a therapy like homeopathy is the survival rate of hospitals where this therapy is being used.
So why are the mortality rates in homeopathic hospitals lower that for normal hosptials?
Does that fact not prove the value of homeopathy?
No!
Why not?
Because with every comparison we need to make sure that we compare comparable things.
Patients who are admitted to homeopathic hospitals are very different from those in a normal hospital. To put it in a nutshell: THEY ARE FAR LESS SERIOUSLY ILL.
I should know that because I worked both in a homeopathic hospital and in several normal ones.
Most patients who chose to go to a homeopathic hospital are chronically unwell. Some do have a chronic illness but many others are not truly ill. Hardly anyone has a life-threatening disease.
During the months I worked in a homeopathic hospital, we only had to report one single fatality. I do remember many patients with asthma, allergies, neck pain, obseity, insomnia and similar conditions. During a comparable time period when I worked in a normal hospital of a similar size, we had dozens of fatalities.
I am sure that we all have sad experiences of a seriously ill relative or friend. Because her diesease is so serious she gets worse and worse. Eventually, home care does not suffice and she is admitted to hospital. We hope that there her life will be saved. Sadly, this is not always the case.
In other words, moribund patients are often rushed to hospital where many of them die. They are not rushed to a homeopathic hospital!Or, to put it bluntly, the ‘real life test’ of measuring death rates of homeopathic (or naturopathic, integrative, etc.) hospitals and comparing them with the usually high mortality rates of normal hospitals is not just unreliable, it is meaningless rubbish.
As I stated above, all of this is entirely obvious – except, of course, for the deluded.
PS
There are comparisons between two or more hospitals that can provide useful information; they usually relate to specific conditions or interventions, e.g. hip replacement in hospital A versus hip replacement in hospital B.
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We have to make some big decisions, just like Bob Ross, the painter, so often said.
First of all we have to make 2 sides:
a) the side of the patient
b) the side of the homeopathic clinic
This separation is essential. If the patient has a serious condition OR if it is a matter of surgery, etc., then already the patient is "pre-informed" that this is not so much a matter for homeopathy.
But there is more on the side of the patient. The patient is not alone. He is surrounded by people around him, like family, neighbours and friends. Then there is the field of paramedics, his general practitioner. AND THE CLINIC!
The people around the patient influence him.
The people in the medical field move the patient to a clinic. But which one?
AND THEN we have the counter-part: the clinic. Will the clinic accept him? And how will the clinic treat him?
Each of these areas, groups, active societies has its own mental world, its own ideology, and its own interests.
Interests? Yes! The clinic of course does have interests. What is the clinic made for? Is it a generous project, funded by donations, or is it a commercial organization, meant to make money?
We can assume the latter. So then there is one more area to look at: What if the patient gets near death? Of course it is no good to have a dying patient. The more the patient whines and makes suffering noises, the worse. The effect on other patients is no good. And it takes a lot of time and material to care for the patient.
In total: dying patients are bad for the atmosphere in the clinic, and they are bad for the image. So the clinic has a strong interest NOT to have dying patients in the house. So, if the clinic realizes things go downhill, the clinic will either reject such a patient or, if possible, try to "export" him to a hospice, and, snip, the patient is no longer on the death list of the clinic, problem solved.
Now, what about the side of the homeopathic healers? More or less they make a clear decision: Is this a case for homeopathy or not?
Things like accidents, tasks for surgery, etc., I already mentioned. Homeopaths so very often mention this expressis verbis. They already themselves say this clearly. We have seen many statements of homeopaths on this topic.
So, where is the big trap? Edzard Ernst does not mention it here. The big trap is to look at the number of deaths!
The big trap is NOT that patients are treated with homeopathy and end their life in a homeopathic clinic, spoiling the success statistics. The big trap is that patients are fooled with such statistics, and that the homeopathic treatment ruins their chances of survival, or at least of getting well again. Homeopathic "treatment" is an act of destroying health, of destroying necessary time for useful treatments. THIS is the main damage done by homeopathy. Homeopathy is a parasite.
Parasites have several interests:
1. to make money
2. to cover up
3. to deny responsibility
4. to get rid of the damage, i.e. the damaged patients.
This makes homeopathic clinics completely different, compared with normal, scientific clinics.
The 4 points seems simple, and really ridiculous. But they are not. Look at
3. deny responsibility
Already Hahnemann did that! He piled up a large number of "contra" items, which, so he claimed, will spoil homeopathy.
From the very beginning homeopathy was and is a fraud. Hahnemann wrote:
"Das Organon der ächten Heilkunst"
https://www.ariplex.com/ama/ama_org6.htm[*QUOTE*]
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page 236
§260
Für chronisch Kranke ist daher die sorgfältige Aufsuchung solcher Hindernisse der Heilung um so nöthiger, da ihre Krankheit durch dergleichen Schädlichkeiten und andere krankhaft wirkende, oft unerkannte Fehler in der Lebensordnung gewöhnlich verschlimmert worden war (1).
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1) Kaffee, feiner chinesischer und anderer Kräuterthee; Biere mit arzneilichen, für den Zustand des Kranken unangemessenen Gewächssubstanzen angemacht, sogenannte feine, mit arzneilichen Gewürzen bereitete Liqueure, alle Arten Punsch, gewürzte Schokolade, Riechwasser und Parfümerieen mancher Art, stark duftende Blumen im Zimmer, aus Arzneien zusammengesetzte Zahnpulver und Zahnspiritus. Riechkißchen, hochgewürzte Speisen und Saucen, gewürztes Backwerk und Gefrornes mit arzneilichen Stoffen, z. B. Kaffee, Vanille u.s.w. bereitet, rohe, arzneiliche Kräuter auf Suppen, Gemüße von Kräutern, Wurzeln und Keim-Stengeln (wie Spargel mit langen, grünen Spitzen), Hopfenkeime und alle Vegetabilien, welche Arzneikraft besitzen, Selerie, Petersilie, Sauerampfer, Dragun, alle Zwiebel-Arten, u.s.w.; alter Käse und Thierspeisen, welche faulicht sind, (Fleisch und Fett von Schweinen, Enten und Gänsen, oder allzu junges Kalbfleisch und saure Speisen; Salate aller Art), welche arzneiliche Nebenwirkungen haben, sind eben so sehr von Kranken dieser Art zu entfernen als jedes Uebermaß, selbst das des Zuckers und Kochsalzes, so wie geistige, nicht mit viel Wasser verdünnte Getränke; Stubenhitze, schafwollene Haut-Bekleidung, sitzende Lebensart in eingesperrter Stuben-Luft, oder öftere, bloß negative Bewegung (durch Reiten, Fahren, Schaukeln), übermäßiges Kind-Säugen, langer Mittagsschlaf im Liegen (in Betten), Lesen in wagerechter Lage, Nachtleben, Unreinlichkeit, unnatürliche Wohllust, Entnervung durch Lesen schlüpfriger Schriften, Onanism oder, sei es aus Aberglauben, sei es um Kinder-Erzeugung in der Ehe zu verhüten, unvollkommner, oder ganz unterd-
page 237
rückter Beischlaf; Gegenstände des Zornes, des Grames, des Aergernisses, leidenschaftliches Spiel, übertriebene Anstrengung des Geistes und Körpers, vorzüglich gleich nach der Mahlzeit; sumpfige Wohngegend und dumpfige Zimmer; karges Darben' u.s.w. Alle diese Dinge müssen möglichst vermieden oder entfernt werden, wenn die Heilung nicht gehindert oder gar unmöglich gemacht werden soll. Einige meiner Nachahmer scheinen durch Verbieten noch weit mehrer, ziemlich gleichgültiger Dinge die Diät des Kranken unnöthig zu erschweren, was nicht zu billigen ist.
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Hard to read, even for Germans. Hahnemann's followers use a more modern wording. They cover up by "softening" Hahnemann's crap and his boasting and lying.
Here is a "modern" version:
https://www.homeopathyschool.com/the-school/editorial/the-organon/aphorism-251-260/[*QUOTE*]
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§ 260 Fifth Edition
Hence the careful investigation into such obstacles to cure is so much the more necessary in the case of patients affected by chronic diseases, as their diseases are usually aggravated by such noxious influences and other disease-causing errors in the diet and regimen, which often pass unnoticed.1
1 Coffee; fine Chinese and other herb teas; beer prepared with medicinal vegetable substances unsuitable for the patient’s state; so-called fine liquors made with medicinal spices; all kinds of punch; spiced chocolate; odorous waters and perfumes of many kinds; strong-scented flowers in the apartment; tooth powders and essences and perfumed sachets compounded of drugs; highly spiced dishes and sauces; spiced cakes and ices; crude medicinal vegetables for soups; dishes of herbs, roots and stalks of plants possessing medicinal qualities; old cheese, and meats that are in a state of decomposition, or that passes medicinal properties (as the flesh and fat of pork, ducks and geese, or veal that is too young and sour viands), ought just as certainly to be kept from patients as they should avoid all excesses in food, and in the use of sugar and salt, as also spirituous drinks, heated rooms, woollen clothing next the skin, a sedentary life in close apartments, or the frequent indulgence in mere passive exercise (such as riding, driving or swinging), prolonged suckling, taking a long siesta in a recumbent posture in bed, sitting up long at night, uncleanliness, unnatural debauchery, enervation by reading obscene books, subjects of anger, grief or vexation, a passion for play, over-exertion of the mind or body, especially after meals, dwelling in marshy districts, damp rooms, penurious living, etc. All these things must be as far as possible avoided or removed, in order that the cure may not be obstructed or rendered impossible. Some of my disciples seem needlessly to increase the difficulties of the patient’s dietary by forbidding the use of many more, tolerably indifferent things, which is not to be commended.
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Indian homeopaths mostly write in English, so we can read in English of today:
https://www.lifeforce.in/what-to-eat-avoid.aspxWhat do we see? Answer: A LONG LIST OF FOUL EXCUSES.All these foul excuses are to deny any responsibility for the homeopath, and homeopathy in general, for not delivering a help to the patient. Everything is a cover-up.Now, when there is such a life-form, which from the beginning does nothing else but deny any responsibility, what will it do, when things go bad? Answer: It will do everything it can to avoid such a patient, either by already rejecting him, or by getting him out of the office as fast as possible, when things go bad.
Homeopathy is fraud. And we have to look at it "holistic". Which means not only to look at the dead, but to look at EVERYTHING homeopaths do. And what do they do? Answer: THEY PARASITIZE! And, as parasites, they make money by "treatments" and "consultancy", and then spill out the patient to keep the office clean.
Homeopathy is easy.
Homeopathy kills, but in more than one way.
Homeopathy is fraud. Homeopaths delude. To point at the ("low") number of deaths is fraud. How can be handle is? Answer: by simple statistics!
As Edzard Ernst writes: things must be comparable.
To compare the success rates one from the beginning must differentiate and look at each medical condition separately.
How big is the success for a broken leg?
How big is the success for a cut hand?
How big is the success for a liver cancer?
How big is the success for a heart attack?
You can guess it at first glance: ZERO!
How about the success for chronic diseases?
A chronic disease is a chronic disease because the patient is ill, is not killed immediately, but is able to withstand for a longer time. Scientific medicine can not heal. At best it can keep the situation somehow stable.
This situation is the best possible base for a fraud like homeopathy. Because the patient can not escape to scientific medicine (because scientific medicine can not heal him), and with mumbo-jumbo the homeopaths can rip off the patient over a long time. This, exactly this, is the reason why homeopaths so intensely claim that chronic diseases are THE FIELD for homeopathy.
Homeopath is easy, yes, it is. One only has to look at it "holistic", from a bird's view, to see what really happens. Separating all the diseases and looking at the success rates FOR EACH DISEASE we see that homeopathy is worthless shit.
We also see, why homeopaths are so interested in the placebo effect. Because the nearer to the placebo effect they go, especially in studies, the lesser the difference is FOR LARGE NUMBERS, and so the homeopaths make SMALL study sizes, where, just by random choice, the outcome goes up or down and can be manipulated with fraudulent statistics. AND THEN they prefer to publish success stories, and keep the negative results secret. They conceal the truth.
Homeopathy is fraud. And as such it hides its deaths. As I said: one has to look at the matter holistic. This means: Not only to look at those patients, who are exported of a homeopathic clinic in a coffin, but to look at who they accept to enter, and to look at how many patients ENTER a homeopathic clinic, and then go down the drain, still alive, but end up dead (because of the homeopathic fraud) at other places later.
Health insurance companies could do this statistics. They have the raw material. Why do they not get to work and do the calculations? Or,... did they already do this and keep the results secret? They won't tell us. But we can guess...
