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Is this hypocracy?
I'm a part-time ER doctor. Last night I had a 40's man come in who had broken his hip in a basketball game. He was in a lot of pain of course. As I was taking his history, it turns out he is a practicing homeopath, takes nothing but homeopathic "medicine", some odd naturopathic diet, and was very proud he hadn't even taken an Aspirin in 20 years.
Since homeopaths believe substances get more powerful the more you dilute them, I offered to water down the morphine for him. He insisted on full dose morphine, and lots of it.
Isn't that hypocritical?
He also has no health coverage as he is an American living in Canada....so I won't get paid either. The bastard.
For those who are ragging me on my "bedside manner", I only jokingly offered to water it down. I often find humour (appropriate to the situation of course) very helpful in the ER to relax people who are usually very anxious.
Even allowing for his pain, he was also an obnoxious ,whiny demanding jerk who drove the nurses crazy. I would like to reassure you all that he was treated respectfully and appropriately even when he demanded to look at the xray and said "I don't see a fracture" even when I pointed to it, then demanded to be sent to a specific hospital where he heard the best surgeon worked.
I find it ironic that in times of an actual real medical problem, as opposed to the things homeopaths usually deal with, he turned to "allopathic" medicine. (FYI...allopathic is a pejorative term to real doctors)
15 Answers
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavorite Answer
While homeopathy does indeed suggest that the more you dilute a substance, the more powerful it becomes, it also operates on different principles. Namely the "like cures like" idea. That is, a substance which causes certain symptoms will induce the opposite effect in very minute quantities. No honest Homeopath is going to suggest diluting a substance which has the intended action as its effect. There's no hypocrisy here.
Incidentally, if you honestly stopped to ridicule a man in pain in that way, I think you need to improve your bedside manner--unless you're just a troll, which I find equally likely.
Edit: You said:
"I find it ironic that in times of an actual real medical problem, as opposed to the things homeopaths usually deal with, he turned to "allopathic" medicine. (FYI...allopathic is a pejorative term to real doctors)"
Depends on how you define a "real" medical problem. No one I know of denies that CWM (Conventional Western Medicine) excels at emergency medicine. If I break a leg, I'll come see you, too (though I may break out my needles for pain reduction after the fact). That said, I've seen patients show remarkable improvement for conditions that their CWM doctor couldn't even diagnose (yes, he could identify the symptoms--but there was no correlating illness that fit within the CWM system) by using alternative therapies (TCM in this case).
I don't want to come across as a Homeopathy apologist--some things about the theory rub me a little odd, too. However, I don't make the mistake of asserting that the system CAN'T work (as you do) just because it doesn't fit within the definition of medicine as I understand it.
Incidentally, "allopathy" is not a derogatory term, though some in the alternative fields unfortunately use it as such (via ignorance, I am sad to say). Allopathy merely means treating the symptom of some disease or condition by an agent that induces the opposite effect of the symptom (e.g. anti-inflammatory drugs for inflammation, etc). This is usually juxtaposed with "naturopathy" which, in theory, seeks to address the root of the problem (e.g. soothe the immune system to reduce inflammation, etc.) . Truthfully, though, I have observed both tendencies in all systems of medicine.
Source(s): Me, LMP and student of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) - natpractitionerLv 61 decade ago
No, I don't think he's a hypocrite even if he was not such a patient patient. He was obviously smart enough to know that a broken bone must be set.
By the way, I don't know what you ever learned about nutrition, but naturopathic diets are not "odd" in the least if a decent naturopath has put him on it. Maybe it was just a diet of his own making.
So far as his wanting morphine, what else could you have offered him? He isn't going to get homeopathic pain remedies from you, is he?
My major question is what is a guy in his 40s doing with a broken hip? His bones should not be breaking that easily unless he fell in some strange way or something. What caused his injury?
Source(s): naturopath - Anonymous1 decade ago
Well, not all of us homeopathic are crazy. I have an adverse reaction to any medication I take. I am not allergic to anything but I am one in a few thousand that get the quirky side effects that to me make life miserable.
So, when ever I get sick, I do 72-96 hours of alternative/homeopathic medicine using natural herbs, vitamins and diet and if my symptoms worsen then I head straight to my FP, but if my symptoms stabilize then I stay on the routine.
I am a firm believer in medications when necessary but also feel as a society we have gotten too use to getting prescription drugs for the money we pay...thus we over medicate ourselves when it isn't totally necessary. This prevents our bodies from doing the natural thing God created them to do and that is fight infections on our own building us antibodies and resistance to infections.
I have been practicing herbology/homeopathic medicine for 25 years and never heard of anything becoming more powerful when you dilute them. So with that said, glad to hear his obnoxious attitude didn't deter your bedside manner. Just remember too that some Dr.'s and Nurses (I know quite a few from being in the medical field many years) that are horrible obnoxious patients.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Why are you telling us all of this? What is your main gripe? I think that he's a
homeopath and you don't agree with his brand of healing. You are an allopath, which is much higher on the ladder. Aren't you being
sort of judgmental?
You were there to heal the
man or alleve his pain, not
to judge his lifestyle.
What if I came to you for
emergency care and told you I was a "faith" healer? or an
Indian Tribal healer? Where
would I be on your list of "medical" experts? Would I get good care? or would you
be crabbing to others about who I am?
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- ?Lv 45 years ago
it fairly is pertaining to the indisputable fact that everybody has a flaw that they decline to settle for. Yours could be your self-righteousness. Mine could be my viciously serious recognize-how of the international yet no longer my very very own character. p.s; self-righteousness interior of reason user-friendly for hypocrites, btw. edit to respond to further information "getting to know from you movements and changing isn't hypocracy"; i like reminding others of what's incorrect with existence and the folk in it, i think of it helps them be extra responsive to themselves. in case you have a issue with that, then i will remind you of the above textual content declaring 'self-righteousness interior of reason user-friendly for hypocrites'.
- old cat ladyLv 71 decade ago
Morphine is a narcotic drug and not a homeopathic remedy so of course when it is used it is not "diluted". Morphine is entirely appropriate for the situation and there is no hypocracy in a homeopath taking it as you as a physician would judge appropriate.
- MinxLv 71 decade ago
nope, not hypocritical at all ............ when was the last time you felt the searing red hot pain of a broken hip?? a bit more compassion and nuturing from you probably would have eased his anguish and distress though ♥
allopathic and wholistic healing should, in a perfect world, work in tandem with one another ..... it's not a competition buddy, it's people's lives you are talking about ♥
CHEERS
♥
Source(s): naturopath in training - ☮Jen D☮Lv 71 decade ago
I don't think it is hypocritical to attempt to live one's life free of dangerous drugs, but then want some pain medication for a broken hip.
I do think it would be hypocritical (and illegal) if a (real life) physician offered to "water down" medications.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
homeopaths dont believe that medicine gets more powerful as you dilute them - they believe that there will be better long term effects.
get it right.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Too bad he didn't get bone cancer. Yes hes an obnoxious hypocrit. May he pay for his mistakes. I'm into herbal medicine as well.