Utter Nonsense Labeled as Science, Compassion & Caring - Utter, N.L. (ND Bastyr 2003):

here, I muse upon naturopathic miscommunication and outright unethical twistedness:

001. the Durango Herald's article "Bringing Compassion Back into Medicine" (2009-09-14), topically labeled "Green Medicine", by Bastyr naturopath Nancy Utter, states:

"I have a dream that health care in this country [etc....] in my dream, every person has access to health care that heals the whole person - body, mind and spirit [...] one place to start is to rekindle compassion in medicine [...a.k.a.] 'the sincere wish to alleviate the suffering of another' [...by] creating a setting in which doctors can be more caring and let their innate compassion show [...per] practicing good medicine [...] one of these models is practiced by naturopathic doctors [(really!)...] the essential premise of naturopathic medicine is that doctors must support the mind and the spirit as well as the body to promote full healing [...] it creates trust [...] it helps to lessen suffering [...] join me in my dream of putting the 'care' back into health care [...] Nancy Utter is a naturopathic doctor who completed a five-year training program at Bastyr University in Seattle."

Note: hold on while I VOMIT in my own mouth.

002. how compassionate and caring are Bastyr NDs? Compassionate and caring enough to totally misrepresent the scientific enterprise and not abide by the typical duty of "informed consent" that binds the physician-patient relationship:

002.a. naturopathy's misrepresentation of science:

Bastyr has this nonsense description of their programs and of naturopathy therein in "Bastyr University":

"Bastyr's international faculty teaches the natural health sciences with an emphasis on integrating mind, body, spirit [supernaturalism] and nature [vitalism]."

Note: so, we've an outright science label placed falsely upon the supernatural and coded vitalistic science-unsupported / science-ejected. How is it caring and compassionate to pretend that that which is in no way scientific is science? How do people benefit from such so-called compassion? How is this "good"?

002.b. not relating naturopathy's actual nonscientific position and therein violating informed consent:

to me, it is not permissible to misrepresent [per 002.a. above] the actual "nature" / context of naturopathy, literally -- which is the science ejected concept of "vis medicatrix naturae" aka vitalism.

003. this is quite a twisted version of compassion and care, in my view. It victimizes and exploits. It abuses the relationship between practitioner and trusting patient. It seems to me that NDs care much more about maintaining their sectarian, deceptive agenda than rationality, accuracy and patient autonomy.

004. Utter tells us at her own web page "Medicine by Naturopathic Physicians":

"naturopathic physicians (NDs) take a holistic approach to healing, and aim to cure disease by taking advantage of the body's self-regenerative powers and harnessing the restorative power of nature [(vitalism coded)...] naturopathic physicians work to identify and eliminate the cause of disease, and are guided by seven basic principles [...#1] the healing power of nature - facilitate each individual's own healing processes [(again, vitalism coded)...NDs are] educated in all of the same basic sciences as an M.D. [...a.k.a.] the same basic sciences as allopathic physicians [...] a naturopathic physician takes rigorous professional board exams [...] naturopathic physicians cooperate with other medical professionals [...] naturopathic physicians are rigorously trained [...] during 4 years of intensive study the curriculum includes all basic and clinical science courses offered in traditional medical education [...] students of naturopathic medicine use the Western medical sciences as a foundation."

Note: so, we're not told of the actual vitalism that defines naturopathy [though we are told of the actual supernaturalism that does] with any kind of transparency, but we are told falsely that there's this 'foundation of science' to the naturopathic. And we get the 'trust us' claim of 'professionalism' and supposed 'rigor'.

But, the scientific basis of the nonscientific is -- Utter nonsense [irresistible!].