001. at news.nationalpost.com, Sharon Kirkey reports in "Alberta toddler’s Meningitis Death a Warning to Parents Who Spurn Conventional Treatments: Ethicist" (2016-03-12):
"his body was so rigid and stiff from meningitis, 19-month-old Ezekiel Stephan reportedly could not even sit up in his car seat the day his parents took him, not to a conventional medical doctor, but to a naturopath. Now, as the Alberta toddler’s parents stand trial, accused of failing to provide their son with the necessities of life, bioethicists say the case could ultimately serve as a warning to any parent in Canada who spurns potentially life-saving medicine for unproven natural 'cures' and home remedies [...]";
a sad case. But WHY is the burden solely on the parents, as a warning? The Province permits naturopathy with a licensure law and an overseeing "college."
a sad case. But WHY is the burden solely on the parents, as a warning? The Province permits naturopathy with a licensure law and an overseeing "college."
"renowned medical ethicist Arthur Caplan said Ezekiel’s slow and tragic death is an example 'of the harm alternative medicine does' and that the child suffered for his parents’ beliefs. 'I think the parents, sadly, were neglectful of their child, even though I don’t doubt they loved the child,' said Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at New York University’s Langone Medical Center. 'But, when you have a little kid who is sick, seriously sick, and a nurse tells you that it might be meningitis and you continue to pursue interventions that clearly aren’t working, you’ve got to bring that kid into a mainstream health facility. That should be the expectation of any parent in Canada, whatever their beliefs about medicine' [...]";
hear, hear. What's isn't funny is that NYU's Langone has a naturopath, and NYU falsely terms naturopathy a "branch of medical science." That alone is pseudoscience. Fix your institution, Dr. Caplan.
"Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in health law and policy at the University of Alberta, said the case could create policy tensions for Alberta and other provinces. Caulfield said granting naturopaths self-regulation creates the impression their therapies are grounded in science, when his own research has found the vast majority of services advertised by naturopaths are 'largely evidence free' [...] he worries the growing tolerance and embrace of 'pseudo-science' is leading to poor health-care decisions that, in the most tragic cases, 'facilitate these kinds of really sad situations' [...]";
agreed. But I did Tweet:
!
