Francis Hunter MRCVS dies, aged 83

Francis Hunter, UK veterinary homeopath, died on 30th September last year. A short obituary (which I missed) appeared in Veterinary Record on October 5th 2013 but another (which I did spot) has just appeared in the Homeopath Journal (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1475491614000265), written by his colleague, homeopath and radionics practitioner, John Saxton.

Most UK vets will have read his contributions to the debate on veterinary homeopathy in the veterinary press over the years. A leading light in the British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons, his attitude to colleagues who declined to embrace his preferred mode of treatment or - worse still - criticised it, was probably best described as bemused contempt.

His defense of homeopathy seemed predicated on unrelenting optimism - he used it and thought it worked, thousands of people all over the world believed in it therefore, in his eyes, it had to be effective. One of his more notorious phrases in defence of homeopathy was "treatments will either stand or fall depending on how successful they are".

He was still writing up to recently, suggesting critics should "get a life" (Veterinary Times 1/4/13) and seemed increasingly out of touch with the modern profession, waxing nostalgically about the days when he believed vets "practised more 'the art' rather than 'the science' of veterinary surgery" (Veterinary Times 1/4/13). He was inclined too, to critise colleagues for charging for conventional treatments when, by using cheaper homeopathy, in his opionion, "the results will be just as beneficial" (Veterinary Times 11/2/13).

Some of his opinions on the subject can be read here: http://www.vetpath.co.uk/voodoo/vettimes2.html#hunter1

Yuri

I intend to mourn this guy's passing by giving him exactly as much attention in death as I gave him in life.


Ooooops.........

I'm amazed at the apparent lack of any sort of obituary from his colleagues in the regular veterinary press. He was one for fighting his corner, you'd think they'd give him a bit more recognition.

Yuri

I wonder if all the animals that died using his worthless medicine are waiting for him.

I just wish there weren't younger ones being recruited to the delusion as the old guard peg it one by one.

Rolfe.