King Charles hired a pro-homeopathy doctor as head of royal medical household, and it has raised concerns about the new appointment.
King Charles hired a pro-homeopathy doctor
King Charles has appointed a doctor who has long championed alternative medicines to head the medical wing of the Royal Household.
Dr Michael Dixon is leading the Royal Medical Household the Palace confirmed to the Telegraph.
Michael Dixon, 71, worked in the NHS for almost 50 years and now practices as a part-time GP in Devon.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement to the newspaper that Dr Dixon was a practising GP, a Fellow of the Royal College of GPs, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
“Dr Dixon does not believe homeopathy can cure cancer. His position is that complementary therapies can sit alongside conventional treatments, provided they are safe, appropriate and evidence based,” the statement said.
“As Prince of Wales, The King’s position on complementary therapies, integrated health and patient choice was well documented. In his own words, ‘Nor is it about rejecting conventional medicines in favour of other treatments: the term complementary medicine means precisely what it says’.”
Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor at the University of Exeter, said the support for homeopathy undermines “undermining evidence-based medicine and rational thinking”.
Not effective
“We and others have shown that homeopathy is not an effective therapy, which has today become the accepted consensus. To me, this means its only legitimate place is in the history books of medicine.”
The Sunday Times reports Dr Dixon has held his post in the royal household for around a year.
During his career, it reports that the physician has written papers suggesting Christian healers may be able to help chronically ill patients, despite this being an ‘unfashionable’ assertion.
The Good Thinking Society told the Guardian it was concerned by Dixon’s appointment. Michael Marshall, project director at the society, said: “It isn’t appropriate. I think the role of the monarchy, if it has one in current society, isn’t to be advocating for their own personal projects and their own personal beliefs or using the power and influence they have to further causes that run directly counter to the evidence that we have.
“It’s absolutely unequivocal that homeopathic remedies do not work and just because you happen to be in a position of extreme power and privilege, that doesn’t change that.”
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