Have we lost core medical values?This editorial refers to ‘Homeopathy has clinical benefits in rheumatoid arthritis patients that are attributable to the consultation process but not the homeopathic remedy: a randomized controlled clinical trial’, by Brien et al., doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keq234, on page 1070.In this issue, Brien et al. [1] report the findings of a five-armed randomized controlled trial, which was aimed at differentiating between the effects of homeopathic remedies and patient consultations. The authors demonstrate that homeopathic remedies are placebos and show that ‘the benefits of homeopathy are attributable to the consultation’ [1].Critics of homeopathy have always pointed out that homeopathic remedies are so highly dilute that they must be devoid of specific therapeutic effects. They are biologically implausible [2], and the ∼150 published trials collectively fail to indicate clinical effectiveness [3]. At the same time, we know from several observational studies (e.g. [4]) that patients do improve after consulting a homeopath.