Indian Homeopaths come to UK to Lecture on Treating Cancer

31st January, 2016 15

This blog has been continuously critical of UK homeopaths who fund and set up clinics in Africa that treat people with serious illnesses such as HIV, malaria and TB. These homeopaths are able to practice their healing fantasies in ways that it would be very difficult to get away with in the UK. Practice in the UK is constrained by such things advertising laws, the risk of bad publicity and [read more…]

Chekhov, Homeopathy and the Placebo Effect

4th September, 2012 233

What can Anton Chekhov tell us about the placebo effect? Chekhov is best known as a great writer of short stories. But he was also a doctor and wrote many tales of medicine and doctors in everyday life. But recently, again, I have seen homeopaths claim that Chekhov “used [homeopathy] and swore by its curative effects”. No doubt, the source for such claims come from the American homeopathy entrepreneur, Dana Ullman. [read more…]

(False) Hope 4 Cancer

23rd June, 2012 258

Richard Branson has apparently intervened to fly a desperately poorly girl from Mexico who was undergoing last ditch cancer treatment to save her life. The treatment did not work and seven-year-old Olivia Downie found herself in a different hospital in a ‘critical condition’ and too ill to fly home. Appeals appeared in the Daily Mail and the Sun saying the parents were trying to raise £140,000 to charter a special [read more…]

Quack Totnes Cancer Conference Ends in Farce

27th March, 2012 45

Earlier this month, I wrote about how Dr Stephen Hopwood was opening a new alternative cancer clinic in Totnes, Devon, that was to “offer real alternatives to the conventional approach to cancer health care”. To celebrate the opening, Hopwood was holding a cancer conference, inviting people with cancer to come along, and inviting a range of cancer cure peddlers to temp attendees with their magic beans. What followed was quite [read more…]

Burzynski Clinic Issues a Statement

1st December, 2011 27

What to make of the press release issued by the Burzynski Clinic? Well, the good news is that Marc Stephens, the PR man who threatened my family, has had his ‘professional relationship’ severed. In this statement, we find out that Burzynski had indeed asked Stephens to stop criticisms of his business interests appearing on the web. And to do so, Stephens resorted to threatening bloggers, with the worst example being [read more…]

The Burzynski Clinic Threatens My Family.

24th November, 2011 184

Tonight, the entertainer Peter Kay will be performing the first of two special sell-out gigs in Blackpool to raise funds for a very poorly four-year old girl with brain cancer. The story of how this fundraising event came about was told in last weekend’s Observer. However, the £200,000 being raised looked like it was earmarked to send little Billie to a clinic in Texas to enrol in a trial that [read more…]

The False Hope of the Burzynski Clinic

21st November, 2011 184

Yesterday’s Observer contained a full page, heart breaking story of a 4-year old girl, Billie Bainbridge, who has a inoperable and rare form of brain cancer, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma. The only option for this aggressive cancer on the NHS is radiotherapy which may reduce symptoms for a few months. Two year survival is less than 10%. It is difficult to think of anything more devastating for a young family. [read more…]