Palliation according to Kent Robert and stuert
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Kent "Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy" palliation Stuart Close "Genius of Homeopathy" palliation
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Kent "Lecture 37" "difficult and incurable cases" palliation homoeopathic philosophy full text
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Palliation According to Kent (J.T. Kent) and Stuart Close
Both Kent and Stuart Close address palliation as a distinct concept in homeopathic philosophy, contrasting it with genuine cure and suppression. Their views are complementary and are best understood together.
KENT'S VIEW - Lecture 37: "Difficult and Incurable Cases - Palliation"
(Lectures on Homoeopathic Philosophy)
When Palliation Arises
Kent discusses palliation primarily in the context of difficult and incurable cases - patients who cannot be cured because their vital force is too depleted or the disease has advanced beyond the curable stage.
"While Homoeopathy itself is a perfect science, its truth is only partially known. The truth itself relates to the Divine, the knowledge relates to man."
Kent's Position on Palliatives
Kent is strongly opposed to crude, allopathic palliation while permitting well-chosen homeopathic palliation:
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Against allopathic palliation: Kent states plainly that the allopath uses strong drugs to make patients "imagine that something is being done to their benefit, whereas injury is being done whenever they are patched up by strong drugs." He finds it "unaccountable" that some homeopathic practitioners also use such detrimental palliatives.
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Opium as the arch-example: Kent singles out opium as the most dangerous palliative. It "annuls reaction" so completely that the symptoms necessary to guide the homeopathic prescription can no longer be read. The pain is stopped but the patient is not cured. Kent states emphatically: "When an opiate must be given, let it be clearly understood that a cure of this patient is abandoned." He asks: "What thoughtful physician will abandon the hope of a cure during painful sicknesses so long as life endures?"
Suitable Palliation with Homeopathic Remedies
Kent does allow a specific type of palliation - with potentized remedies - in genuinely incurable cases:
"The patient is palliated in this instance, and it is a suitable palliation for homoeopathic remedies."
This refers to cases where the correctly selected single remedy in potentized form can bring comfort, even if it cannot cure, because it acts in accordance with the law of similars and does not extinguish the vital reaction or obliterate symptoms.
The Role of Time and Patience
Kent emphasizes that in difficult cases where the physician has "zigzagged" through remedies over years, the image of the patient's illness becomes simpler and more clearly understood with time. He notes that patients who left and returned often came back with a more patient mindset, which itself aided progress. This suggests palliation should not be a first resort but a considered last one.
STUART CLOSE'S VIEW - The Genius of Homoeopathy
Definition of Palliation
Stuart Close gives a more systematic definition. He treats palliation and suppression as closely linked concepts:
"'Suppression,' or palliation of disease, is the removal of the external symptoms of disease by external, mechanical, chemical or topical treatment; or by means of powerful drugs, given internally in massive doses, which have a direct physiological or toxic effect but no true therapeutic or curative action."
He illustrates suppression-palliation with the example of surgical obliteration of a rectal fistula in a tubercular patient without prior curative medical treatment - the suppressed case "always goes bad" and the disease metastasizes to more important organs.
Right Way vs. Wrong Way to Palliate
Close draws a clear distinction:
| Description | |
|---|---|
| Wrong palliation | Removal of symptoms by non-curative means (mechanical, chemical, allopathic). Leads to metastasis to more vital organs, further complications and suffering. |
| Right palliation | Achieved by application of the curative principle (homeopathic law of similars). Curative as far as it goes, but the disease has passed beyond the curable stage. |
"The right kind of palliation is curative as far as it goes, i.e., it is achieved by the application of the curative principle; but in the nature of the case, or exigencies of the situation, cure in the complete sense may be impossible, because the case has passed beyond the curable stage."
He adds: "Palliation is permissible and all that is possible sometimes. But there is a right way and wrong way to palliate. The wrong way of palliation often leads to metastasis to more important organs."
When Palliation is Legitimate
Close identifies specific circumstances where palliation is not only acceptable but necessary:
- Incurable cases - where disease has passed beyond the curable stage
- Shock or collapse - citing Hahnemann's own examples of antidotes to sudden poisonings (alkalies for mineral acids, hepar sulphuris for metallic poisons, coffee/camphor for opium poisoning). In these acute emergencies, the vital force is not diseased but merely obstructed, so stimulation/palliation is appropriate.
- Surgical palliation - a judicious and conservative surgical operation may palliate when that is all that is possible.
"We may palliate symptoms and make the patient more comfortable by the use of well-selected homoeopathic remedies, or by a judicious and conservative surgical operation; and that may be all it is possible to do in a particular case."
Incurable Disease vs. Disease Reaching an Incurable Stage
Close makes an important philosophical distinction:
"We must learn to distinguish between incurable disease and disease which has reached the incurable stage. There is no such thing as 'incurable disease.' All diseases are curable before they have reached a certain stage."
This means palliation is not a concession to an inherently hopeless disease - it is a concession to a case that has been allowed to progress too far, often through prior suppression or delayed treatment.
Palliation vs. Suppression vs. Cure
Close warns that viewing pain, inflammation, and fever as the disease itself (rather than as the organism's response) leads inevitably to palliation or suppression:
"Pain, inflammation and fever are not the real disease nor the real object of treatment. To view them as such leads logically and inevitably to mere palliation or suppression of symptoms, than which there are no greater medical evils. It is based upon a false and illogical interpretation of the phenomena of disease which mistakes results for causes."
Summary Comparison
| Aspect | Kent | Stuart Close |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Implied - treating symptoms without cure; comfort without correction | Explicit - removal of external symptoms without true therapeutic action |
| Primary concern | Allopathic palliatives (especially opiates) destroy symptom picture needed for prescribing | Wrong palliation causes metastasis to more vital organs |
| Allowable palliation | Single potentized remedy in incurable cases | Right palliation via homeopathic principle; surgical palliation in fitting cases |
| Opium/narcotics | When opiate is given, cure is abandoned | Powerful drugs in massive doses = suppression/palliation |
| Incurability | Some cases are genuinely incurable and merit palliation | Distinction between incurable disease (none) and disease at incurable stage |
| Key warning | Don't abandon cure prematurely by resorting to palliation | The suppressed/palliated case "always goes bad" - metastasis to deeper organs |
Both authors agree on the central principle: genuine homeopathic palliation (using the simillimum in potentized form) is permissible and sometimes necessary, but crude palliation with allopathic agents or suppressive measures is harmful because it extinguishes the vital reaction, obliterates the symptom picture, and drives disease inward to more vital organs.
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