Peter Fisher (physician) explained

Peter Antony Goodwin Fisher, FRCP (2 September 1950 – 15 August 2018)^[1] was an English physician who served as physician to Queen Elizabeth II for 17 years.^{[2] [3]}

Life

A graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge,^[3] he went on to train at Westminster Hospital Medical School.^[3]

He was an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at King's College Hospital.^[2] He served as Clinical Director for 18 years,^[3] and Director of Research at the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine (formerly the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital) for 22 years.^{[1] [3] [4]} He was also President of the Faculty of Homeopathy and Editor-in-chief of the journal Homeopathy.^[4]

Fisher chaired the World Health Organisation's working group on homeopathy and served on their Expert Advisory Panel on Traditional and Complementary Medicine.^[2]

As a prominent practitioner of alternative medicine he was frequently criticised by sceptics.^{[5] [6]} In 2006 he participated in a debate with science writer Ben Goldacre at the Natural History Museum on Does Homeopathy Work?;^[7] his contribution was described by evidence-based medicine campaigner David Colquhoun as "shameless cherry-picking of the evidence".^[8] His claim that randomised controlled trials "cannot capture the possible benefits of homeopathy" and his defence of the disproven "water memory" hypothesis of homeopathic medicine was critiqued by Rose Shapiro in her book Suckers.^[9]

Fisher was awarded the Polish Academy of Medicine's Albert Schweitzer Gold Medal in 2007.^[3]

He had two daughters, Lily and Eve, from his marriage to Nina Oxenham, from whom he was divorced in 2015.^{[10] [3] [11]}

Fisher's other interests were gardening, sailing, swimming, skiing and scuba diving. As well as English, he spoke French, Afrikaans, and Dutch as a child.^[12]

Death

Fisher died in a cycling accident on 15 August 2018.^[13] Following his death, Dr Gill Gaskin, medical director of the specialist hospitals board of University College London Hospitals (UCLH), said, "Peter was a highly regarded colleague and friend of many at the RLHIM, where he worked for more than 35 years. He was an international figure in homeopathy who was committed to holistic and compassionate care for his patients."^[2]

Publications

• Alternative Answers to Arthritis and Rheumatism, 1999
• Numerous articles on homeopathy, including:
  • 10.1093/ecam/nek007 . 16550237 . 1375230 . Homeopathy and the Lancet . Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine . 3 . 1 . 145–147 . 2006 . Fisher . Peter .
  • 14510008 . 2003 . Fisher . P. . Homeopathy in childhood asthma . Thorax . 58 . 9 . 827; author reply 828 . Chatfield . K. . Mathie . R. .
  • 10.1002/14651858.CD003803 . 12535487 . Homeopathy for dementia . Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews . 1 . CD003803 . 2003 . McCarney . Robert W. . Warner . James . Fisher . Peter . Van Haselen . Robbert .
  • 10.1016/j.homp.2006.11.005 . 17227742 . A systematic review of the quality of homeopathic pathogenetic trials published from 1945 to 1995 . Homeopathy . 96 . 1 . 4–16 . 2007 . Dantas . F. . Fisher . P. . Walach . H. . Wieland . F. . Rastogi . D.P. . Teixeira . H. . Koster . D. . Jansen . J.P. . Eizayaga . J. . Alvarez . M.E.P. . Marim . M. . Belon . P. . Weckx . L.L.M. .

Notes and References

1. News: Doctor who worked for the Queen killed while cycling in London. Reuters. 2018-08-16. The Guardian. en. 2018-08-17.
2. News: Queen's homeopathic doctor dies in collision with lorry while cycling in London . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dr-peter-fisher-dead-queen-homeopathic-doctor-london-cyclist-deaths-lorry-crushed-homeopathy-a8494456.html . 25 May 2022 . subscription . live . 17 August 2018 . The Independent . 16 August 2018.
3. News: Peter Fisher, expert in alternative medicine and a Physician to the Queen – obituary . 17 August 2018 . The Telegraph . 16 August 2018 . subscription .
4. Web site: Dr Peter Fisher . University College London Hospitals . 16 January 2015.
5. News: Bad Science Homeopathy and the nocebo effect. Goldacre. Ben. 2009-11-28. The Guardian. en. 2018-08-17.
6. News: MPs' damning verdict: Homeopathy is useless and unethical Martin Robbins. Robbins. Martin. 2010-02-22. The Guardian. en. 2018-08-17.
7. Web site: Does homeopathy work? . YouTube.
8. Web site: Peter Fisher versus Ben Goldacre . 18 December 2006 . 16 April 2018.
9. Book: Shapiro, Rose . Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All . 978-0-09-952286-7 . 2009 . Random House . 95–97. Suckers (book) .
10. 10.1136/bmj.k3611 . Peter Fisher: Homeopathic physician to the Queen . BMJ . k3611 . 2018 . Illman . John . 81325472 .
11. Web site: Lives remembered: Peter Fisher, 1950 - 2018. 2018-08-25.
12. Web site: Dr Peter Fisher . BUPA . 17 August 2018.
13. News: Queen's 'homeopathy physician' killed cycling in London . 16 August 2018 . BBC News . 16 August 2018.