{"id":232,"date":"2010-01-28T15:23:27","date_gmt":"2010-01-28T14:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/?p=232"},"modified":"2010-02-01T14:09:40","modified_gmt":"2010-02-01T13:09:40","slug":"this-may-be-the-last-post-i-ever-make-on-this-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2010\/01\/28\/this-may-be-the-last-post-i-ever-make-on-this-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"This may be the last post I ever make on this blog…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday\u00a0morning, 30th January 2010, I – along with many other people – will be taking a massive overdose. \u00a0As it happens, I’ll be doing so in a seminar room at the Wellcome Trust, so there will probably be lots of medical sorts nearby.<\/p>\n

I’ll tell them not to intervene. \u00a0I may even encourage them to join me in overdosing.<\/p>\n

I’m not being foolish. \u00a0I’ve thought about this a lot.<\/p>\n

Oh, yes. \u00a0I ought to mention. \u00a0It’ll be homeopathic remedies on which I’ll be “overdosing”, and the stunt is part of the 10:23 campaign’s<\/a> attempts to show, graphically, that homeopathy is not only bollocks, but bollocks that is taking up NHS resources, and with is making people think that they can do without real medicine. \u00a0The idea is to gather people together in public places to have mass overdoses. \u00a0Follow the link to see if there’ll be any such events near you.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, James Garvey comments here<\/a>, and seems to be on the money:<\/p>\n

But there is harm [to things like homeopathy], the mental analogue of the cellular degradation associated with heavy background radiation.\u00a0 These things don\u2019t usually damage us directly \u2014 sometimes they even seem of use.\u00a0 But all the while, almost imperceptibly, we all get a little more stupid as a result of having them around.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still – it would be unfair to insist that homeopathy lacks any credibility at all – there’s\u00a0this scientific rationale for homeopathy<\/a>\u00a0(WARNING: may contain parody, though it can only be a matter of time until it’s cited in all seriousness…):<\/p>\n

This paper is a first step towards a full, quantum understanding of homeopathy. It is clear that quantum mechanics is the only way to understand the success of homeopathic medicine in a physical context. It is also immediately clear that doctors should avoid patients after treatment. Patients must also be aware of their responsibility in this respect. What is not yet clear is whether conscious observation of patient by doctor pre-treatment may result in the collapse of the wave-function as well. Double blind trials with doctors either seeing or not seeing their patients should be carried out in a strictly controlled environment to ascertain the importance of total patient-avoidance by homeopaths.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Thanks to Legless<\/a> for the pointer.)<\/p>\n

Lastly, The Times<\/em> has a nice little article<\/a> on just how much active ingredient there is in the average homeopathic “remedy”.\u00a0 It’s a real jaw-to-the-floor thing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

UPDATE: I’m still here.\u00a0 Obviously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday\u00a0morning, 30th January 2010, I – along with many other people – will be taking a massive overdose. \u00a0As it happens, I’ll be doing so in a seminar room at the Wellcome Trust, so there will probably be lots of medical sorts nearby. I’ll tell them not to intervene. \u00a0I may even encourage them to […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[963,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-curios","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThis may be the last post I ever make on this blog... - Journal of Medical Ethics blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2010\/01\/28\/this-may-be-the-last-post-i-ever-make-on-this-blog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This may be the last post I ever make on this blog... - Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saturday\u00a0morning, 30th January 2010, I – along with many other people – will be taking a massive overdose. \u00a0As it happens, I’ll be doing so in a seminar room at the Wellcome Trust, so there will probably be lots of medical sorts nearby. 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