6 / 14
PALLIATIVE
SPECTRUM OF HOMEOPATHY
Jürgen Hansel ¦
VARIOUS REMEDIES
THE STRENGTH TO LIVE
Arnica is the simile, Carbo vegetabilis and Phosphorus are the final remedies
Saint Martin, later Bishop of Tours, sliced his cloak with
a sword and gave one half to the poor. Legend has it
that he was able to perform miracles, such as raising
the dead. The symbolic act of charity with the sharing
of the cloak – in Latin pallium – is associated with the
concept of palliation.
copyright ¦ El Greco / St Martin /
Wikimedia commons
Since the beginning of the hospice movement in Germany, thirty
years ago, outpatient and inpatient palliative care has become
an established part of the health system, most noticeably in
the last fifteen years. Since 2004, palliative medicine has been
compulsory in many medical syllabuses and was adopted as an
additional qualification for doctors. In 2007, the entitlement
to specialized outpatient palliative care was enshrined in law.
In Germany, there are now over 270 such outpatient palliative
care teams, 250 palliative wards, 214 hospices for adults, 14
hospices for children, and 1500 outpatient clinics. In November
2015, a law was passed to improve hospice and palliative care
in Germany, with the aim of improving the care of people at
the end of their lives, especially those living in the countryside.
The law increased by a third the funds available for hospice care
and palliative medicine.
AUTHOR ¦ Jürgen Hansel
SUMMARY:
homeopathy and palliative medicine have
both a similarly holistic approach. This case history
shows how they complement one another in practice.
A cancer patient with a pronounced fear of injury
is treated in the final three months of her life with
remedies from the Asteraceae family that match her
personality. When the life force no longer responds,
tried-and-tested remedies for the final phase of life,
such as Carbo vegetabilis and Phosphorus, briefly
revive her, providing effective support for the work
of the palliative care team.
KEYWORDS:
Arnica, Arsenicum album, Arsenicum
iodatum, Asteraceae, Bellis perennis, Carbo vegetabilis,
palliative medicine, Phosphorus, rectal carcinoma,
restlessness
The development of palliative medicine: when I started my
general practice, in 1983, palliative medicine was first appearing
in Germany. In the same year, the first German palliative ward
was opened at the surgical clinic of Cologne University. At that
time, there was not a single hospice for patients who were
dying, and for us doctors, there was no additional training for
how to deal with the existentially most challenging situations
in our work.
I still remember well the first patient who I was privileged to
care for during the last months of her life. I had to look up
the instructions for an outpatient oral treatment with opiates
– nowadays commonly used in the framework of the WHO
recommendations – in an English source. I found the chapter
“Relief of Pain” in the book “Management of Terminal Disease”
by Cicely Saunders from 1978. Saunders founded St Christopher’s
Hospice in London in 1967, which became the inspiration for
the modern hospice movement and palliative medicine.
Saunders advocated a holistic approach, which included the
physical, social, and spiritual needs of patients, the relatives, and
the treatment team. She placed the affirmation of life at the
center of hospice care, together with the acceptance of dying
and death as part of life. Death is neither induced nor delayed.
Active euthanasia is strictly rejected. The guiding principle is
“high-person, low-tech”; the person is the focus, whereas the
high-tech medical aspects are secondary. The treatment is aimed
at improving the person’s quality of life. They are treated in the
environment of their choice (outpatient, hospital, home, care
home) and are cared for continuously until death. Terminal care
includes the relatives and continues to the period of mourning.
16