MISTAKES MADE IN HOMOEOPATHIC TREATMENT



3. A young man was treated by a homoeopath for a swelling of glands under the jaw. The homoeopathic treatment was changed frequently during several months, but without result. The doctor examined the mans neck each time. Then the patient consulted another physician who found no remarkable signs in his face, head neck and chest, but on examining the spinal column, he found evidence of Potts Disease.

The swelling was only a cold abscess arising from the third cervical vertebra. It was a tuberculosis of the bones of the spine, causing a suppuration which, descending, produced a swelling below the jaw. The patient was given hygienic advice, rest, mountain air, diet in accordance with the diagnosis, and medicine based on the diagnosis which cured.

4. A patient, fifty-five years of age, was subject to cold in the head, was nervous, and had suffered for six months from sudden attacks of suffocation. He had been treated by various allopathic physicians with numerous anti-spasmodic and vagotonic medicines with no benefit and had deteriorated still further.

The patient walked with his head bowed, often belched aloud, spat continually and was afraid to swallow his saliva. Eating was a veritable tragedy for him, for he remembered that his first attack occurred while eating. He refused to take any liquid food, as this upset him more than solids. Finally he gave up his doctors, for they had told him that he was nervous, that he must pull himself together and that he should disregard his attacks. A first examination revealed nothing obviously abnormal.

For a time psychotherapy seemed to alleviate his fears. But neither Mephitis, Ignatia nor Lachesis could stop the attacks which, though less frequent, still occurred too often. After taking cold, laryngitis set in, causing a husky voice. The indicated remedies had no effect. According to all homoeopathic principles, the case was incurable. Examination of the larynx showed a paralysis of the right vocal cord and careful examination revealed a thyroid tumour, very hard, and as large as a tangerine, on the right side.

This caused the constriction of an important nerve. His loss of weight, age, complexion, and various symptoms pointed to the fact that this was a case of thyroid cancer, not a mere laryngitis. Unfortunately the patient found homoeopathy too slow, and returned to an allopathic physician. He applied radium needless which reduced the tumour which caused ulceration, and within eight days the patient died under terrible sufferings.

It is clear that the physician must know quite as well WHAT he is treating as WHOM HE IS TREATING. What can be said of those doctors who, not comprehending the case, called it “nerves” and advised the sufferer to pull himself together ?.

5. A young man of twenty had been treated for two years by a homoeopath with Aurum, Calcarea, Ignatia, Pulsatilla, etc. He was highly nervous and had frequent attacks of giddiness while working. He became so distressed and depressed as to weep hot tears. He worked in a bank, but his condition forbade his remaining there any longer.

The remedies hitherto prescribed had been given for mental symptoms, symptoms chosen somewhat at random, without regard to their due significance. A complete examination showed that Natrum sulphuricum was the indicated remedy.

A thorough examination revealed an advanced leukaemia with probable tuberculosis of the bone marrow. A homoeopathic prescription, an immediate sojourn to the mountains and a suitable diet, transformed this young man in a few months. It was a careful diagnosis, therapeutic and nosologic, which enabled the physician to cure this youth.

6. A Boston physician told me of being called by a homoeopathic colleague to see a young man who had fallen backward upon a fence and suffered excruciating pains in the rectum. The pain had been somewhat relieved by doses of Arnica administered by a homoeopathic doctor. The patient had the sensation as if there was a splinter in the rectum.

This symptom suggested to the doctor Nitric acid, then Hepar sulph, and then Silica. But the young man still suffered. After a few days of continued pain, the family insisted upon a consultation. The second homoeopathic doctor made an examination of the “site of pain”, and found a splinter deeply embedded in the rectum. The extraction of this splinter and a careful diet for a few days, restored the patient.

Here was an accident, not a sickness. Hence the physician should immediately make a pathological diagnosis and not prescribe disregarding a possible local cause. Had the mistake been made by a young practitioner, I should not comment upon it. But it occurred to a man who had been several years in general practice.

Pierre Schmidt
Pierre Schmidt M.D.(1894-1987)
Dr. Schmidt was introduced to the results of homeopathic treatment during the 1918 flu epidemic while living in London. There he met both J. H. Clarke and John Weir.
In 1922 he came to the United States and began his studies with Alonzo Austin and Frederica Gladwin, who had been a pupil of Kent's. He became the first graduate of the American Foundation for Homeopathy course for doctors. Returning to his native land he set up practice in Geneva, Switzerland. He was responsible for reintroducing classical homeopathy into Europe, teaching several generations of physicians, including Elizabeth Wright Hubbard.
Dr. Schmidt helped edit the "Final General Repertory" of Kent, and translated the Organon into French. In 1925, he was one of the main founders of the Liga Medicorum Homoeopathic Internationalis (LIGA).