California’s medical board threatens to revoke Dr. William Edwin Gray III for selling homeopathic audio files over the Internet that he claims – without proof or reason – cure a variety of ailments, including life-threatening infections such as Ebola, SARS, Mexican flu, malaria, typhoid and cholera.
In a suit filed with the state (PDF), the medical board writes that Gray is guilty of gross negligence and requested a hearing in which the board would decide whether he might revoke or suspend his license.
In an interview with the Los Angeles TimesGray said he had decided not to contest the board’s allegations because it would cost too much money to fight. He added: “Honestly I think we would lose anyway.”
That leaves Gray’s fate entirely in the hands of the board, which will make a decision in the coming weeks, the statement said Time. Gray didn’t seem bothered by the prospect of losing his medical license. The doctor said he has largely focused on homeopathy since he finished medical school. According to his website, he graduated from Stanford Medical School in 1970. Because homeopathy does not require a medical license, he can do without it for the most part.
Homeopathy, as Ars readers may be aware, is an age-old, scientifically implausible system of “alternative medicine.” It is based on principles such as ‘as heals as’, meaning that a substance that causes symptoms similar to a disease or ailment can cure that condition – if highly diluted. Homeopaths also believe in the “law of infinitesimal things,” which suggests that dilution increases the potency of a substance. Most homeopathic remedies are diluted to such an extent that they no longer contain the original substance. Some homeopaths believe that water can have a memory of the substance.
Dilute Logic
Expanding on that illogical bunkum, Gray claims that sound waves can carry “the energetic signal in homeopathic remedies” to treat patients. He claims to be able to collect that energy by placing vials of homeopathic remedies (such as water) in electrical coils of wire and recording any emitted sounds. Using this method, he produced 263 “eRemedies,” 13-second recordings (easily available as .wav or .MP3 files) that are said to sound hissing.
Patients — who have not been studied or even seen by Gray — can get these “remedies” through Gray’s website, mdinyourhand.com. There they can “dose” themselves with the recordings to treat all kinds of ailments. The website lists 23 conditions that the admissions treat. A user simply answers a series of questions about their condition and the website offers the appropriate eRemedy. The individual withdrawals go for $5 a pop and users can also subscribe to get 25 for $100.
In the biographical section of the site, Gray claims he “created” in 2014 [a] campaign to treat Ebola via mobile phone, cure 3 out of 3 within 4 hours by simply playing the correct eRemedy multiple times per hour.
The board is concerned about all this. There is clearly no evidence that the withdrawals are safe and effective. If they were really going to treat such serious conditions as Ebola, they would have to be prescription-only and would have to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The fact that patients were not seen Gray was also concerning, the board wrote. Those with serious medical conditions who listen to the “eRemedies” can delay the actual medical treatment and thereby endanger their lives.
Even homeopaths seemed wary of Gray and his claims. Robert Stewart, who founded the New York School of Homeopathy, wrote to the… Time in an email: “He’s on his own.”