Homeopathy is dereliction of a duty of care 5 Jun 2009 In a rather upsetting case in Australia, two Indian homepathic parents (I do not mean that they parented by diluting contact) have been convicted of failing to render a duty of care to their 9 month old daughter, who died from an infection caused by eczema. They treated their daughter using homeopathic drops, and she died over a period of five months. Their failure to get real medical care, for what is an easily treatable condition, is being treated as a criminal act. They face 25 years jail each. Science Sermon
Biology Natural classification 23 Jan 201423 Jan 2014 It occurs to me that I haven’t plugged my own book here. What a failure on my part! It was published in December, so it is really time I did so. In this book, Malte Ebach and I discuss a topic not often discussed in the philosophy of science: the… Read More
Freedom Phobosophy 14 Aug 201714 Aug 2017 As everyone knows, philosophy comes from the two Greek words philo and sophos, and means, roughly, the love of wisdom, although as everyone also knows, Socrates declared his wisdom was his knowledge that he knew nothing. In recent years (by which I mean increasingly since the 1970s), there has been… Read More
Politics The law, Sharia, and religious control 12 Feb 2008 Language Log recently took apart the speech and interview by the Archbishop of Canterbury that the media are, inaccurately, reporting as advocating the introduction of Sharia law into British and by implication other common law jurisdictions. Its conclusion was that Abp Rowan Williams did not advocate Sharia law, but instead… Read More
What’s really troubling is that the people who convinced this couple that homeopathic ‘remedies’ were effective will themselves receive no punishment.
I am an ex-homeopath (I doubted in the beginning, but it took me 1 1/2 yrs to research my doubt, 2 years until out). I am an ex-Marxist — 5 years until out. I am an ex-Christian — 7 years until fully out. I also use to work in Dermatology. I saw lots of kids with severe eczema hospitalized and a few died. The vast majority were by families who just neglected not only their children, but themselves. Half of the inner city would be put in jail if we jailed these folks. Can society afford this, should the afford this? Is the government the way to handle this?
Sabio, it’s my opinion that failure to apply sanctions in support of the duty of care has made people in general pretty careless of their responsibilities to others. Yes, I think this is in fact something government, or at least the legal system, needs to address.