Undermining Professionalism - 'Caveat Emptor' per Naturopathy - Perle et al. & UW, UB & ISBN 1741140544:

here, I cite Perle et al. & U.W.S.M. as regards the 'preponderant ethical rigor' required of a modern healthcare professional of any kind [see 001., below]; the University of Bridgeport's labeling of naturopathy as 'nonsectarian science' [see 002.a., below] and 'naturopathic luminaries' labeling of naturopathy as 'professional' [see 002.b., below]; and a warning -- per caveat emptor!!! -- something that shouldn't have to be said about something claiming 'professionalism' [see 003., below]:

001. Perle et al. & University of Washington School of Medicine -- on 'credat vs. caveat emptor':

001.a. apparent 'chiropractic reformers' Murphy, Schneider, Seaman, Perle and Nelson state in "How Can Chiropractic Become a Respected Mainstream Profession? The Example of Podiatry" {Chiropractic & Osteopathy; 2008, 16:10}:

"the professions, which classically included medicine, law and the ministry, are vocations whose members 'profess' to have knowledge that the laity do not comprehend. Given the asymmetry of knowledge between professionals and the laity, society has granted to the professions a certain degree of autonomous control over themselves. However, this social contract demands that each profession, and each professional, place the well-being of society and the patient, client or parishioner ahead of the profession and professional [per fiduciary duty {see 001.b., below}]. Lay persons put their faith in the professional following the dictum credat emptor (let the buyer have faith) rather than [the dictum] caveat emptor (let the buyer beware)[per typical commerce]. This social contract imparts great freedom on all professions, but with this freedom comes great responsibility. When an individual consults a member of any of the medical professions, it is reasonably [!!!] expected that the advice and treatment that he or she receives is based in science, not metaphysics or pseudoscience ['ye olde sectarian medicine']. In addition, it is reasonably expected that the services he or she receives are being provided for the primary purpose of benefiting the patient, and not for any other reason. The financial benefit to the professional is secondary, and results from the degree of clinical benefit received by the patient. Patients place their faith in the professional, and trust that they will not be subject to fraud, abuse or quackery ['ye olde sectarian medicine']. This is the social contract as it applies to chiropractic physicians [& I would add 'all who invoke the status of a healthcare professional']."

Note 01: 'trustworthy'[literally], client-centeredness, and 'overall societal well-being' are hallmarks of 'the professions' as expressed in the dictum "credat emptor." In terms of a healthcare profession, the 'knowledge and technique set' is expected to be scientific / competent as opposed to pseudoscientific / fraudulent, physicalistic / naturalistic / actual as opposed to metaphysical / supernatural / woo-woo quackery abuse.

Note 02: I list Perle [perle@bridgeport.edu; academic homepage] in terms of authorship in the title of this blog-post for no other reason than because he's a former instructor I had [for a research methods course] at the University of Bridgeport while pursuing an ND there [a fraudulently categorized degree, GALORE -- to this day, completely at odds with the above passage!!!]. Murphy [rispine@aol.com] is actually this article's lead contact.

001.b. the University of Washington School of Medicine states in "Professionalism":

"because medicine is a profession and physicians are professionals, it is important to have a clear understanding of what 'professionalism' means [...] the words 'profession' and 'professional' come from the Latin word 'professio,'which means a public declaration with the force of a promise [...] the line between a business and a profession is not entirely clear [...] one crucial difference distinguishes them: professionals have a fiduciary duty toward those they serve. This means that professionals have a particularly stringent duty to assure that their decisions and actions serve the welfare of their patients or clients, even at some cost to themselves. Professions have codes of ethics which specify the obligations arising from this fiduciary duty [...] A Physician Charter. Medical Professionalism in the New Millennium was issued jointly by the The American Board of Internal Medicine, the American College of Physicians and the European Federation of Internal Medicine in 2002. Subsequently, 90 professional associations, including most of the specialty and subspecialty groups in American medicine have endorsed the Charter. The fundamental principles of professionalism are stated as (1) the primacy of patient welfare; (2) patient autonomy; (3) social justice. Professional responsibilities that follow from these principles are commitment to competence, to honesty with patients, to confidentiality, to appropriate relationship with patients, to improving quality of care, to improving access to care, to a just distribution of finite resource, to scientific knowledge, to maintaining trust by managing conflicts of interests and to professional responsibilities."

Note: professionalism in medicine includes the principle that the patient comes first per fiduciary duty, that patients and the public are dealt with honestly [disclosure / transparency], and an overarching commitment to scientific knowledge [modern epistemic rigor].

002. naturopathy's self-labeling:

002.a. per 'of the professions' 'nonsectarian health science' by the University of Bridgeport:

002.a1. U.B.'s 'professional science' labeling, in "College of Naturopathic Medicine":

"the University of Bridgeport College of Naturopathic Medicine is a non-profit, co-educational professional institution which grants the Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine (N.D.) degree to graduates who successfully complete four academic years of study including clinical training [...] naturopathic medicine is a distinct system of primary health care -- an art, science and practice of preventing, diagnosing and treating conditions of the human mind and body."

Note: naturopathy is labeled a profession, a science, and nowhere in the description is the supernatural mentioned.

002.a2. in "UB Spotlight: Health Sciences Programs":

"the University's professionally accredited health sciences programs [...include] the College of Naturopathic Medicine [...per] Naturopathic Medicine (N.D.) [...] the members of the faculty include skilled instructors with backgrounds in the biomedical and clinical sciences."

Note: the label "professional" / 'of the professions', and the label of "science" upon naturopathy by UB.

002.a3. UB nonsectarian label:

U.B. also is chartered & self-labeled "nonsectarian," and society was assured of this in 1995 by its President, per the New York Times, two years before the entry of the first students into U.B.'s naturopathy college & three years before my own entry.

002.b. per 'of the professions' by NDs Stephen P. Myers, Assunta Hunter, Pamela Snider, & Jared L. Zeff in "An Introduction to Complementary Medicine" {edited by naturopath Robson} (ISBN 1741140544; 2004):

"naturopathic medicine [...is a] profession [p.048...] the philosophy-based approach defining the profession [vitalism, et al....] the profession's ability to consistently voice its philosophy [...] the profession's unique identity [...] in 1986 the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) [was established as] a newly revived professional association [...and] commissioned Dr. Pamela Snider and Dr. Jared Zeff to create a unifying definition of naturopathic medicine [...via] input from the entire US profession [...] the committee found a single element of agreement among the profession upon which it built its process. This element was the general agreement that the profession was unified by a philosophy [vitalism, et al....] the committee sifted through input from the profession cataloging six principles upon which the profession generally agreed [...] these six principles were placed before the House of Delegates of the AANP at its annual conference in September 1989 at Rippling River, Oregon, which unanimously approved them, reconfirming and articulating in modern terms its core principles as a professional consensus [p.049...this] profession [p.052...our] profession [p.059...our] profession [p.060...] one significant interprofessional challenge [etc....] another interprofessional challenge [etc....] interprofessional communication [etc....] the professionalization of naturopathic clinicians [etc. p.062...the] rapid professional evolution within naturopathic medicine [etc....] naturopathic and orthodox health [p.065] professionals [etc....] many challenges will need to be met by the profession [etc....] those within the [naturopathic] profession generally see the future as positive and the potential of their medicine and profession as immense [p.066]."

Note: their labeling of naturopathy as medical, philosophy-based [principally, a sectarian belief-set centered upon the science-ejected concept of vitalism {a 'purposeful life spirit bioagency' sectarian belief / article of faith} supernaturalism, and overarchingly 'of the professions.'

003. naturopathy's explicit untruthfulness:

in sum, pseudoscientific, metaphysical, supernatural, vitalistic / science-ejected, sectarian 'dogma & quackery' are being falsely postured as scientific and nonsectarian. Therein, naturopathy is not a trustworthy domain.

So, my warning as regards this OBVIOUS pseudoprofession known as naturopathic medicine:

"danger Will Robinson, unethical sectarian pseudoscience!"

Caveat emptor!!!

Centered around and obligated toward 'the science-ejected sectarian' [more often expressed in a coded / occultic manner] but claiming 'health professions scientific status', naturopathy severely violates many professional ethical rigors per healthcare, medicine, and education.