Homeopathy and mainstream medicine: a dialogue of the deaf?

Various definitions of complementary and alternative medicine have been proposed. Homeopathy is unique among CAM therapies in originating in European Enlightenment thought. It is controversial and scientifically implausible yet popular, widespread and durable. The result has been a longstanding 'dialogue of the deaf', with little progress or genuine discussion. Clinical collaboration and serious and scientific discourse concerning homeopathy is possible and should be pursued. The alternative is not that homeopathy disappears but that it is absorbed into a dis-affected medical counter-culture with adverse consequences, particularly for patients. The Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital is developing clinical integration and scientific collaboration with a major academic medical centre in London.