No Homeopathy on Prescription

[flamingjimmy]

so the doctor misdiagnoses you as being a hypochondriac instead of having a bad infection and gives you a placebo, hmm don't think the nhs will be giving out placebos hopefully.

 

In your example if the doctor's misdiagnosed you then you're not going to get the right treatment anyway so having a placebo or not would be irrelevant.

 

Also, you are wrong, any doctor worth their salt knows the value of a placebo http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/03March/Pages/97-percent-of-GPs-admit-prescribing-placebos.aspx

Edited November 14, 2015 by flamingjimmy

[dangerousedd]

well anybody can look up the drug they are prescribed online and most wouldn't be happy if prescribed a placebo.

[Eric Arthur]

In your example if the doctor's misdiagnosed you then you're not going to get the right treatment anyway so having a placebo or not would be irrelevant.

 

Also, you are wrong, any doctor worth their salt knows the value of a placebo http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/03March/Pages/97-percent-of-GPs-admit-prescribing-placebos.aspx

 

Don't you think that raises one or two tiny ethical issues?

[Vague_Boy]

well anybody can look up the drug they are prescribed online and most wouldn't be happy if prescribed a placebo.

 

The whole point of a placebo is that the precipitant doesn't know that they're getting a placebo. So (and here's the complicated bit) it wouldn't actually say "Placebo" on the bottle , but rather the name of the medicine the patient *thinks* they're getting.

 

Complicated stuff I know.

[dangerousedd]

The whole point of a placebo is that the precipitant doesn't know that they're getting a placebo. So (and here's the complicated bit) it wouldn't actually say "Placebo" on the bottle , but rather the name of the medicine the patient *thinks* they're getting.

 

Complicated stuff I know.

 

yes in clinical trials (where you would be informed you may receive a placebo) not during normal gp prescribing afaik, as wouldn't that be unethical? also how would the chemist prescribe it if it says the proper drugs name on the script?

[Eric Arthur]

Placebos work on people who know that it is a placebo. They work where people don't know they might be getting a placebo. They work in double blind tests where both the patent and the prescribing doctor don't know that the are prescribing the placebo. They work on animals who have never heard of placebos.

 

They are also unethical.

 

It IS complicated stuff.

[RootsBooster]

The Department of Health is considering banning GPs from prescribing homeopathic treatments in England. This is on the basis that they don't work and don't offer value for money. The Good Thinking Society seem to have forced the Government's hand by threatening a judicial review. The British Homeopathy Society have yet to comment on the proposal.

 

So, what say you? Is this a welcome move towards evidence based, scientifically rational medicine? Or, should GPs have the freedom to prescribe a well established set of treatments if they want to?

 

Link here, for anybody interested. Warning, contains fluffy, Leftie journalism

It would be a long overdue and common sense move.

I'm curious - what, in that particular article, do you find fluffy and leftie?

[aliceBB]

If people want wacky unproven remedies, let them pay the full cost of them, themselves.

[Branyy]

If people want wacky unproven remedies, let them pay the full cost of them, themselves.

 

In case of homeopathy the costs are almost nothing (water + sugar). Is it ethical to charge people disgustingly high prices for placebos then?

[RootsBooster]

In case of homeopathy the costs are almost nothing (water + sugar). Is it ethical to charge people disgustingly high prices for placebos then?

 

Unfortunately, the suppliers of homeopathic treatments do not charge water + sugar prices.