here, I cite from a 2009 Jennifer Reading "Survive and Thrive" horridly shallow naturopathy piece up on her youtube.com [see 001., below]; then, I analyze it [see 002., below]; and expose some MSND, AANP, AANMC naturopathic absurdity [see 003., below]:
001. in "Massachusetts Naturopaths Fight for a License" [vsc 2010-08-28]:
001.a. Massachusetts State Senator Marc Pacheco, author of the naturopathy bill, states:
001.a1. in the video:
"[Pacheco] 'I'm the author of the bill [...] we will have standards created, where the Department of Public Health is involved, where other medical professionals are involved, in developing and putting in place a standard that consumers at least have some degree of trust in' [...and we're told that the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) is unwilling to] evolve [...instead keeping] 'with the status quo [...whereas naturopathy is] cutting-edge, state-of-the-art.'"
001.a2. in the description accompanying the video:
"'when I first filed the bill, I don't think there was a state that had enacted the law,' said Senator Marc Pacheco, who first wrote the bill over a decade ago, 'And now there have been a number of states that have gone by us in terms of being on the cutting edge.'"
001.b. reporter Jennifer Reading states:
001.b1. in the video:
"naturopathic doctors in Massachusetts are not giving up their fight to be licensed [...though] the Massachusetts Medical Society [...has] been a long-time opponent of the legislation and says licensing naturopathic doctors will put the public at risk [...and] questions the role of naturopaths within the medical community in general [...that NDs will be] legitimize[d] with licensing [...] June Riedlinger [ND SCNM] is a practicing naturopath in Summerville. She says that's just not true [...] 'if we have a board of registry, one of their jobs is going to be to look at patient complaints and penalize naturopaths who are practicing outside of their trained scope of practice [...] naturopathic physicians are very consciencious [...and finds criticism of an impartial ND board] insulting [...that such accuses NDs on such a board of lacking ] integrity to be critical [...and finds examples used by critics to be] misrepresentative' [...and she speaks of] what naturopaths are taught in school [...according to the reporter] licensing will ultimately safeguard consumers."
001.b2. in the description accompanying the video:
"some Massachusetts lawmakers are worried that the Commonwealth is falling behind [...] the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians defines the practice as 'combining the wisdom of nature with the rigors of modern science.' Naturopaths treat patients by promoting the body's inherent ability to heal itself [...] 'the basic premises on which their practices are based are not sound,' said William Ryder, state legislative and regulatory affairs counsel for MMS."
002. my commentary on the above highlights, per:
-"standards created": I'd argue LOUDLY that 'standards are being lowered' [see below under the Oregon Absurdity];
-"other medical professionals": NDs do not meet the ethical standards of professionalism [see below under the Oregon Absurdity];
-"a standard that consumers at least have some degree of trust in": using Oregon as an example, a FALSE TRUST has been created by legislation and '.gov' support:
I call this the Oregon Absurdity, wherein the hugely science-ejected is falsely labeled -- in '.gov legislation' -- science and objective fact, and therein naturopathy trades under deceptive labels with government sanction as a "profession" [vsc 2010-08-28; that is what State licensure helps naturopathy with];
-"evolve": as if naturopathy's absurdity -- that I just mentioned above as the 'Oregon Absurdity' -- is a step FORWARD;
-"cutting-edge, state-of-the-art [...] falling behind": nonsense isn't the future, it is retrograde;
-"licensing naturopathic doctors will put the public at risk": I totally agree;
-"Riedlinger [ND SCNM]": this ND's school uses the science label upon the hugely nonscientific, as all of naturopathy does;
-"penalize naturopaths": judging from the permissiveness of naturopathy nonsense from the get-go, I don't think there's ANY kind of standard to hold an ND to beside very mundane torts. The professions-level standards aren't possible within naturopathy science it is founded upon falsehood and trains future NDs to act just as false;
-"integrity to be critical [...] conscientious [...] misrepresentative": the entire racket is misrepresentative, and I don't see integrity or conscientiousness because I don't see any thinking / honesty going on;
-"licensing will ultimately safeguard consumers": no it won't. The education consumer, like myself, will be misled due to false labels, and people will visit NDs clinically with the assumption that their knowledge is not absurdity-based;
-"the rigors of modern science": no, because if this was true, then certain premises wouldn't be within the naturopathic belief system that they call "principles," such as vitalism and supernaturalism;
-"body's inherent ability to heal itself": the great coded vitalism statement that NDs employ because if they told you that they're based upon science-ejected articles of faith which modern medicine has ejected, they'd not generate much traffic to their schools or their clinics;
-"the basic premises on which their practices are based are not sound": I totally agree, unless, of course, the hugely science-ejected is equivalent to the science-supported, and in that sense then, unless something is the same thing as that which it excludes etc.;
-"the basic premises on which their practices are based are not sound": I totally agree, unless, of course, the hugely science-ejected is equivalent to the science-supported, and in that sense then, unless something is the same thing as that which it excludes etc.;
003. release the absurdity: the reporter's ND, MSND, and AANP-AANMC:
003.a. ND Riedlinger states on her own web page "About Naturopathy" [vsc 2010-08-28]:
"what is naturopathic medicine? It is based on the core principles listed below: [#1] the healing power of nature: have trust and faith in the body’s inherent wisdom to heal itself [coded vitalism...#5] treat the whole person: view the body as an integrated whole in all its physical body, mental, and spiritual dimensions [supernaturalism...] a licensed naturopathic physician (N.D.) attends a 4-yr graduate-level naturopathic medical school and is educated in all of the same basic sciences as an M.D. or D.O. [science-expertise claim]. To learn more about naturopathic schools go to the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians [AANP] web site [...] a naturopathic physician takes rigorous professional board exams [...] to learn more go to the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC) web site."
Note: what's so fascinating here is the science expertise claim placed upon the coded nonscientific vitalistic and the explicit nonscientific supernatural. When modern science preponderantly excludes certain ideas for several decades ['life forces'] and a few hundred years ['spirits'], you are not getting the same science.
003.b. MSND states in "About Naturopathic Medicine" [vsc 2010-08-28]:
"NDs support the body’s innate ability to heal [coded vitalism] with natural therapeutics and by following the guiding principles of naturopathic medicine: [#1] support the healing power of nature. The body’s innate ability to heal [coded vitalism] can be restored by removing obstacles to healing [...] knowledge is power [...and speaks of] modern science."
Note: and that's all you are told. So, there's the hugely opaque / coded vitalism miscommunicated, there's again a claim of knowledge expertise, and a mention of science. Actually, licensure is power, and false-labeling is power. Also, at their homepage [vsc 2010-08-28], we're told by msnd.org:
"our mission is to promote the success of naturopathic doctors and the naturopathic profession in Massachusetts through education, public awareness, advocacy, and community."
This is not a profession because it is not transparent about its false premises and where they sit in terms of science, they are miseducators as their literature indicates, and they manipulate the public instead of increase their awareness about what naturopathy actually is.
And on their page "Licensure" [vsc 2010-08-28], MSND.org states:
"licensing would allow ND’s to provide the depth of health care that they are trained to give, providing you better service and more treatment options. Most importantly, it would protect the health care consumer by preventing untrained people from calling themselves naturopathic doctors [...] a law has to be passed to allow a profession to be licensed. Though we have been trying since 1995 to pass a licensing law we have not yet been successful [...] our main opposition is the Massachusetts Medical Society."
Again, the licensure of NDs protects ND nonsense, because complaints would go to these nonsense-purveyors, it is not a profession ethically speaking, and KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK MMS.
003.c. AANP and AANMC:
you can follow the pattern of deception / falsehood right up the organizational chain to the AANP, who falsely claims science upon the nonscientific [that's an ND who won AANP's vitalism award in 2008], and also AANMC, who falsely claims science upon the nonscientific.
Note: again, so licensure of NDs merely provides a layer of bureaucratic cover and government sanction that then PROTECTS these pseudoprofessional, pseudoscientific, hugely science-illiterate swindlers. Naturopathy starts in rather opaque, coded, brief language until a law is passed, then when licensed -- as the Oregon Absurdity clearly demonstrates, and Oregon is the seat of North American naturopathy historically -- the really really burning stupid is released.
004. "survive and thrive", huh:
how about: 'shallowly report and miss all the good stuff' and 'write a bill that, if passed, will victimize the public in the name of a bunch of sectarian whackaloons.'
2 comments:
I'd like to speak to the main point of this article--that NDs study both modern bioscience and an older philosophy of "vitalism" and since these two disciplines seem contradictory, this completely invalidates the entire practice of naturopathy and licensure of NDs in Massachusetts. But first I'd like to state that I am not a naturopath, nor do I work for/with one. However, I am a patient who has been to a naturopath for various health conditions and can therefore answer a few of the questions on this post. I feel that a little research reveals that the Science and supernaturalism are perhaps less related than the author has suggested.
1. Science Legitimacy: My research has revealed that the 5 US accredited Naturopathic colleges in this country are accredited by the same accreditation companies that evaluate and accredit every other major science program in the country. For example, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities is responsible for certifying both the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), University of Oregon, and University of Washington graduate science departments in addition to the region's Naturopathic Bastyr University and and National College of Natural Medicine. In other words, the objective accrediting body has determined these two Naturopathic colleges to have a bioscience curriculum that meets or exceeds the basics science requirements for a 4-year Doctoral degree in medicine (the very same standards used to accredit the other, more mainstream institutions mentioned above). The proof is both on the NWCCU website and in the fact that 5 American ND schools are eligible to offer government financial aid for enrollment cost. It seems to me the only people or organizations who question the academic integrity of Naturopathic bioscience courses have other political and personal agendas (ie, the Mass Medical Society who is simply engaged in this as a turf war of financial incentive). . .
2. "Supernatural Vitalism:" It's hard to explain what this means, not being an ND myself, but my ND explained this to be a philosophical concept that maintains that when people exercise, eat healthy, are in good mental health, don't overwork or stress, and maintain healthy spiritual practices (ie, a greater sense of purpose in the world), the body is much more resistant to disease. The inclusion of spirituality freaks a lot of people out, but the bottom line is that whether or not your doctor believes in the importance of spiritual health has nothing to do with whether or not he or she has been properly trained to handle basic medical diagnostics and procedures. The ND I have seen feels strongly that modern Americans lack a greater sense of Purpose in the world and that this leads to unhealthy behavior and, eventually, disease. This perspective has been deemed "Vitalism" in that it does not only apply to one specific religious practice but includes and applies to patients of all religious and cultural backgrounds. It's very easy to spin concepts in directions that suit our selfish agendas, but nothing about this seems to undercut the legitimacy of a Naturopathic science and medicine training--especially when the country's national accreditation commissions agree.
Finally, I'd just like to say that, in America, we have no problem using the title Doctor to refer to Doctors of Nursing (DNP), Doctors of Chiropractic Medicine (DC), Doctors of Psychology (PhD), Doctors of Physical Therapy (DPT), Medical Doctors (MD), and Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DO). Currently, in most states, anyone (ie, without formal training) can call themselves a Naturopathic Doctor (ND) because licensing laws have not been passed in those states. It seems absolutely absurd to me that, for political and private interests, the MMS and other mainstream medical organizations reject the inclusion of legitimate Naturopaths (from accredited 4-year institutions) to properly regulate the practice, instead of leaving it in the hands of whoever wants to call himself an ND.
Thanks for listening.
Tim
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