Another stark example that homeopathy is WATER and nothing more

For the uninitiated to the marvels (read: stupidity, myths, fraudery, etc.) of "complementary and alternative medecine", aka CAM, one of its most notorious sub-specialities is homeopathy. Homeopathy is yet another one of these "New Age" shits that just keep popping up here and there, contaminating legitimate science and medecine with medical treatments as effective as dancing around an ailing patient while chanting ritual incantations. Specifically, homeopathy is the practice of diluting herbs and various other non-treatments in water to such an extent that soon there's it's unlikely there's even a single molecule of the substance left in the water. Yet, somehow, thanks to (unexplained, undocumented, untestable, inexistent) "water memory", the H₂O is somehow able to "remember" this diluted substance and act upon it. Or something.

Ie.: homeopathy is magic water.

But of course, that's not true, according to homeopaths and other quacks. Despite there not being one single case, ever, of a "homeopathic healing" that didn't occur with the eventual use of some actual medecine, or natural remissions of diseases/healings of injuries. No, drinking this will somehow cure whatever ails ya, from colds and flus to migraines, pancreatitis, eczema, even cancer while you're at it. After all, I mean, it *is* magic water.

Here is just yet another example of how you truly can't rely on homeopathy to treat shit. Or, in this case, a poor little girl who, suffering from severe eczema, died following her parents' obtuse reliance on homeopathic treatments.

THE parents of a nine-month-old girl who died from septicemia were responsible for their baby's death because they shunned conventional medical treatment for her eczema in favour of homeopathic remedies, a court heard yesterday.

A homeopath, Thomas Sam, 42, and his wife, Manju Sam, 36, are standing trial in the NSW Supreme Court charged with manslaughter by gross criminal negligence after they allegedly resisted the advice of nurses and a doctor to send her to a skin specialist.

Instead Gloria Thomas, who was born in perfect health in July 2001, allegedly died with malnutrition and eczema so severe that her skin broke every time her parents removed her clothes and nappy.

Jesus.

Hard to imagine the sort of suffering you're in for when the slightest contact tears your skin apart. Not to mention the overwhelming infections you're gonna land, themselves enough to take down an ox.

The parents were strongly advised, repeatedly, to consult actual doctors and physicians, particularly skin specialists who could've treated her eczema quickly and efficiently and prevented any further suffering, not to mention her death ... but no. Her father was a strong believer in the Stick of Woo, so naturally, a premature end was only inevitable.

Thankfully, this is also a (very) rare case where the quack is actually going to be punished for his neglect that resulted in the death of his own baby daughter. It's not every day where frauds and idiots are prosecuted for killing others from their magical beliefs and utter stupidity.

Of course, I'm betting the father won't come to reason in the slightest; no, it will have been traditional medecine's fault somehow, or that he'd screwed the homeopathy up somehow; anything to protect his dear magic water.

(via Respectful Insolence)