Published 27 November 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b5080
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b5080

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Giving homoeopathy on the NHS is unethical and unreliable, MPs are told

¹ London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Experts have described the practice of prescribing homoeopathic medicines on the NHS as unethical, unreliable, and pointless.

Several witnesses giving evidence to MPs on the parliamentary science and technology committee on 25 November questioned the wisdom of giving such remedies to patients in an NHS setting.

The committee was holding a one-off evidence session on homoeopathy as part of an investigation of the scientific evidence that underpins the government’s existing policies.

MPs asked about the ethical dimension and James Thallon, medical director of NHS West Kent, giving evidence, said: "I’m not saying that it does not happen, but in principle if you prescribe with that which you know to have no clinical efficacy on a basis which is essentially dishonest with the patient, I personally feel that is unethical behaviour."

Fellow witness Edzard Ernst, director of the Complementary Medicine Group at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, said: "I would . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Mathie, R. T, Fisher, P. (2010). What parliamentary witnesses also said about homoeopathy. BMJ 340: c592-c592 [Full text]  

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