Ryke Geerd Hamer
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Ryke Geerd Hamer (born May 17, 1935) is a barred German physician who is the originator of the “Germanic New Medicine” (Registered trade mark), also formely known as "German New Medicine" and "New Medicine", an highly controversial approach to illness that, in turn, criticizes mainstream medicine. Hamer is also known for his anti-semitic claims. Hamer's licence to practice medicine was revoked by a court judgment in Germany in 1986 that was reconfirmed in 2003.
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[edit] Biography
Hamer studied medicine and theology. He graduated from the medical school in Marburg and became a specialist in Internal Medicine. He worked in the internal medicine department at the University Clinics of Tübingen and Heidelberg. In 1981, he had to resign from his position at a cancer hospital in view of the conflicts that arose with the development of his medical views. As he continued to treat patients, Hamer was under investigation several times on allegations of malpractice, leading to the death of patients; from September 2004 to February 2006, after being in jail in Germany from 1997 to 1998, he served a prison term in Prison Fleury Merogis / France on counts of fraud and illegal practicing.
[edit] Dirk Hamer’s death
The violent death of his son, Dirk Hamer (born 1959), was a key event in the development of the theories of Hamer. On August 8, 1978 his son was shot in his sleep on a yacht off the island of Corsica, apparently by Vittorio Emanuele, the Italian pretender. After a protracted medical course with 19 operations, leg amputation, and over 300 transfusions, Dirk Hamer died on December 7, 1978. On August 18, 1991 the Paris Assize Court did not find Vittorio Emanuele guilty of homicide; with a highly controversioanl decision, he was only convicted of the illegal possession of a rifle.[1] When Hamer himself developed testicular cancer three years after his son's death, he interpreted this event as a biologic response to the loss (“biologischer Konfliktschock” (translation: "biological conflict shock")), and proceeded to develop a system termed at first the "New Medicine" and currently the "Germanic New Medicine" to explain cancer and all kinds of illnesse as consequences of psychological conflicts.
[edit] GNM
Basically, according to Hamer, any disease, most notably cancer, is not dangerous in itself, but merely a symptom of a mental conflict situation. A so called Dirk-Hamer-Syndrome stands at the beginning of this process and as a mental shock (i.e. fatal injury of his son) affects psyche, brain , and an organ related to the type of shock. Hamer claims that the effect on the brain can be demonstrated by brain CT scans where a specific focal alteration (Hamer's focus, or “Hamerscher Herd”) is apparent. The peripheral organ allegedly responds with “cancer”. According to Hamer, this conflict needs to be resolved in order for the disease to be cured. Traditional treatments are not considered as having any primary value but are too dangerous. These Hamer's focus in brain CT scans have been identified by radiological experts to be ring artefacts.
Hamer also argues that conventional medical research is often in the interest of pharmaceutical companies, preventing accurate investigation in the causes and treatment of diseases, and ignores the role of the mind in the genesis of the disease. Despite all claims of Hamer's followers, there is not a single documented case of successful "Germanic New Medicine" treatment.[2] In turn, Hamer insists that his system is verifiable, and his proponents indicate that the medical establishment is failing to respond.
[edit] Notable case
Hamer became known mainly through his association with the Olivia Pilhar cancer case in 1995. Her parents, convinced supporters of Hamer and his pretensions, withheld conventional medical therapy from their child Olivia. The Austrian authorities finally removed their rights of care and control, and the parents then fled from Austria to Spain with the child. There, Hamer unsuccessfully treated the child using his method, the tumor continued to grow. After negotiations, the parents were convinced to return. By now, Olivia's tumor weighed several kilograms. The child was finally given emergency medical treatment after court order, against the parents' wishes and is still alive and healthy in 2006. Her parents received an eight month suspended jail sentence in Austria. The parents remain followers of Hamer.[3]
[edit] Other Victims
On March 13, 2006, an active follower of Dr. Hamer's teachings, Christina Connell, died of complications resulting from liver cancer. She had chosen to follow his teachings of a stress-free life in lieu of her oncologist's suggested regimen of chemotherapy. She had been told by her physicians that her particular type of cancer was extremely sensitive to chemotherapy as indeed it had proved to be during previous bouts.
There are a number of pages in German with stories of other patients of Hamer's who died of their cancers, including Michaela Jakubczyk Eckert, who died of breast cancer on November 12th, 2005, after being persuaded by Hamer to discontinue traditional cancer treatment. The obituary in English: We mourn for Michaela
According to the latet data the number of reported Hamer's victims exceeds 80.[4]
[edit] Antisemitism
The conflict between supporters and opponents of Hamer's pretensions, at the base of which what he calls "biological laws" lays, has become more acrimonious over the years, with Hamer using anti-semitic terminology and claiming that a genocidal Jewish conspiracy wants him silenced. In a similar vein, he has started to call his theoretical groundwork "German New Medicine" (GNM) - a registered trademark - or, in a literal translation from German, "Germanic New Medicine", instead of the formerly-used term "New Medicine". According to Hamer, Jews cure themselves with the Germanic New Medicine and prevent non-Jews from using it, and are therefore guilty of the "most hideous crime in the whole history of mankind".[5]
[edit] References
- ^ Summary of trial proceedings
- ^ Critical Analysis
- ^ Pilhar website
- ^ List of reported patients who died (German)
- ^ [Italian Hamer's Official biography, with his letters on the Jewish conspiracy]
[edit] Works by Ryke Geerd Hamer
- Hamer, Dr Ryke Geerd Summary of the New Medicine (2000, Amici di Dirk) ISBN 84-930091-9-9
- Hamer, Dr Ryke Geerd Einer gegen alle ( 2005, Amici di Dirk) ISBN 84-96127-15-X
- Hamer, Dr.Ryke Geerd “Krebs und alle sog.Krankheiten” (2004, Amici di Dirk) ISBN 84-96127-12-5
