Crisis Situation in the Field of Medicine

The field of medicine is in a definite crisis situation, and not simply in terms of healthcare. Not only are people exposed to harmful agents present in the air they breathe, in the water they drink, and in the food they eat, but also to the harmful effects of drugs and potential treatments. Many questions may go through the minds of doctors and patients when faced with the idea of treatment. Why do patients so often weigh the benefits of a potential treatment against the harm it may cause? How are doctors and patients to evaluate the risks of a particular treatment when the manufacturers themselves are not fully aware of them? When people fall ill to the flu or common cold, some might wait it out. Many might rush to their physician’s office where they are typically prescribed an antibiotic. Others may turn to remedies provided by their local homeopath, a professional in a system of alternative medicine called homeopathy. To better understand the risks associated with utilizing homeopathic practices or allopathic (conventional) medicine, it is best to understand the purposes of each medical practice.

Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, created homeopathy in 1796, though the system’s concept dates back to the age of Hippocrates. Hahnemann became a member of the medical profession during a time when radical medical methods were used that weakened patients for no apparent benefit, such as bloodletting, clysters, and other derivative measures (Koehler, 1989). Based on the principle of “like cures like,” according to which a substance can cause symptoms in a healthy person, then it can create similar, self-healing symptoms in a sick person (“What is Homeopathy?,” 2002).

Every living organism follows an inherent law of life to const...

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...nventional medicine, the testing, selection and action of a homeopathic drug always covers the symptoms in body, soul and spirit and these are always considered as a totality (Koehler, 1989). One reason for the growing popularity of homeopathy was its apparent success in treating people suffering from infectious disease epidemics. During the 19th century, death rates in homeopathic hospitals were often lower than in conventional hospitals, where treatments used at the time were often harmful and nothing to combat the diseases. During the Flu Pandemic of 1918, it was reported “24,000 cases of flu treated allopathically had a mortality rate of 28.2% while 26,000 cases of flue treated homeopathically had a mortality rate of 1.05%” (Lebensorger, 2002).

Many professionals and scientists are skeptical of the use of homeopathic drugs because of the way they are created.