New Laws Are Essential To...
There is an urgent need to pass legislation to protect physicians brave enough to venture outside the current conventional medical model and practice integratively. However, all licensed practitioners should ideally covered by this legislation, to clarify the vague and overly broad current Medical Practice Act and to insure proper due process rights.
Licensed Practitioners
Licensed practitioners in the state of Connecticut have been and are facing investigations and charges by the Department of Public Health and the Medical Boards simply for offering complementary, alternative, or integrative treatments, even where no patient has been harmed or even complained. There is an urgent need to pass legislation to protect physicians brave enough to venture outside the current conventional medical model and practice integratively. Legislation should ideally include the following points:
Definitions:
- Licensed practitioners include those who practice the following:
- Conventional treatments: methods of diagnosis, treatments and interventions that are offered by most licensed physicians as generally accepted methods of routine practice, and are generally used by physicians in the same specialty or field
- Complementary and Alternative health care treatment: treatments that, based on the physicians professional experience, have reasonable probability for effectiveness even if they are outside recognized scientific guidelines, are unproven, or are not approved by the FDA
- Integrative health care treatment – plans that include both conventional and CAM practices
A statement that these treatments can be used in the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of illness, and that they are legitimate medical therapies that should be available to consumers
Informed consent: practitioners use a consent form that includes the following items:
- Practitioner's credentials, education and training in complementary and alternative medical practices (CE programs, certifications, internships, reading, additional degrees, etc.)
- The types of practices the practitioner is likely to use: nutrition, orthomolecular medicine, chelation, etc.
- A statement indicating that many of the practices used are considered outside the community standard of care and some may be considered experimental
- The most likely side effects likely to occur as a result of the treatments offered, if applicable
- A clear statement that the patient may be foregoing conventional treatments and using alternative treatments instead
As a condition of offering CAM:
- Patient must be evaluated, and that evaluation can include CAM diagnostic tests
- Diagnosis must be recorded in patient file
- Treatment plan must be recorded in patient file
- Results of conventional treatment, if it has been offered, should be noted in the file
- Possibly: If a patient does not show progress within a specific period of time, then physician must provide other alternatives or refer to someone else
Complaint process:
"The use of a nontraditional treatment by itself shall not constitute unprofessional conduct provided that it does not result in injury to a patient."
- A valid complaint is defined as one initiated and signed by a patient who has been harmed by CAM treatments administered by a practitioner, or by an individual who has personal knowledge of harm resulting from treatments given to a patient (these complaints also must be signed - no anonymous notifications permitted), or by an individual authorized to represent an individual who has been harmed by CAM treatments administered by a licensed doctor
- Prior to beginning an investigation, the complainant must furnish to the board evidence of harm (needs to be defined, but should include something like a written statement from a physician stating that he/she has examined the patient, the date of the examination, the diagnostic tests performed, the conclusions of the those tests and the basis for determining that harm has occurred as a result specifically of alternative treatment administered by the target of the complaint)
Should an investigation progress, the board must use as an expert witness a practitioner who uses the therapy in question in his/her practice (experts must be in active practice of integrative medicine, such as a member of the American Board of Holistic Medicine).
Non-Licensed Practitioners:
Non-licensed practitioners are those for whom there is NO licensure board. In Connecticut, some of these practitioners, such as nutritionists and homeopaths, have been sent letters by the Department of Public Health to "cease and desist" or they risk charges of practicing medicine without a license or other charges. These trained practitioners are offer non-toxic, gentle natural therapies and should not be criminalized for their practice. In Ohio, there is pending legislation that could serve as a model bill that could be passed here in Connecticut.
CONSUMERS:
AAHF participated in the successful effort to pass "Abraham's Law" in Virginia (read why this was necessary at #4), to protect parents right to choose what treatments they prefer for their own children, without fear of reprisal from state agencies. Our goal is to pass similar legislation in Connecticut and all states to end the madness of giving power to the state to dictate to you what type of healthcare you can choose for yourself and your family.
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