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Consumer Health Digest #16-33
September 4, 2016
Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by Stephen Barrett, M.D
http://www.quackwatch.org/10Bio/bio.html,with help from William M. London, Ed.D., M.P.H
http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/william-m-londonIt summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; news reports; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making.
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Many Canadian naturopathic ads are violativeCarly Weeks, a reporter for the Toronto Globe and Mail, has found that the Web sites of naturopaths who are regulated by the College of Naturopaths of Ontario do not comply with the college's advertising standard
http://www.collegeofnaturopaths.on.ca/AsiCommon/Controls/BSA/Downloader.aspx?iDocumentStorageKey=7e9dc5ec-8930-4b21-b789-203820caed9a&iFileTypeCode=PDF&iFileName=AdvertisingWeeks wrote:
"I recently analyzed the websites of the naturopaths licensed to practice in Toronto. Of the roughly 300 regulated, active Toronto naturopaths with an online presence, nearly half appear to be in breach of the . . . rules based on claims made online. The promises are wide-ranging, from naturopaths describing their services as "cutting edge," to those claiming they can reverse the course of dementia, to others who make blanket statements that naturopathy can help anyone with any ailment fully restore his or her health."[Weeks C. Are we being served by the regulation of naturopaths? Not if patients are still being misled
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/canadian-naturopaths-need-to-follow-the-rules-if-they-want-regulation/article29785140/The Globe and Mail, April 28, 2016]
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California naturopaths suffer political setback.California's Assembly has failed to pass * Senate Bill 538, which leaves naturopaths under physician supervision when prescribing drugs and without the greatly expanded scope of practice they sought. As originally drafted, the bill would have enabled "naturopathic physicians" to order and interpret diagnostic studies, such as X-rays and mammograms, and prescribe drugs without physician supervision, including controlled substances. The bill would also have allowed naturopaths to use parenteral therapy, perform minor office procedures and biopsies, and added "cervical" to permitted routes of administration.
[Naturopathic practice expansion fails in California; opportunity to end practice approaches
http://www.sfsbm.org/index.php?option=com_easyblog&view=entry&id=1069&Itemid=649SFSBM Blog, Sept 4, 2016]
* California's naturopathic practice act will automatically be repealed as of January 1, 2018, unless the legislature enacts a law deleting or extending that date in its 2017 session.
Meanwhile, former naturopath Britt Hermes's Change.org petition
https://www.change.org/p/naturopaths-are-not-doctorsurging legislators to oppose naturopathic licensure, scope-of-practice expansion, and inclusion in federal and state health care programs has garnered more than 7,500 signers toward its goal of 10,000. Noting that naturopaths are lobbying aggressively for more legal recognition, she believes that naturopaths do not receive enough medical training to justify their legislative agenda. Hermes's blog
https://www.naturopathicdiaries.com/provides incisive analyses of naturopathy's shortcomings and propaganda.
An article she wrote for Forbes Magazine
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brittmariehermes/2016/08/17/are-california-lawmakers-gullible-enough-to-allow-naturopaths-to-prescribe-drugs/#44d07da97734may have helped defeat S.B. 538.
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Holistic dentist sued. G. Robert Evans, DMD, who practices at Groton Wellness in Groton, Massachusetts, has been sued for fraud and negligence by a former patient and her husband. In 2012, when the woman was pregnant, she consulted Evans for a routine cleaning. The complaint alleges:
Evans advised the patient that one of her front teeth was poisoning her developing baby and should be extracted.
The tooth may not have needed extracting and probably could have been saved by other dental methods that Evans falsely claimed were toxic.
After the extraction, Evans performed a bone graft without the patient's consent and without prescribing antibiotics, even though an infection was present. He also placed several herbal products in her mouth, one of which was comfrey, a substance that should never be administered to pregnant women.
Even though the infection worsened, Evans refused to prescribe an antibiotic and refused to see the patient when she returned with symptoms of infection. Two operations were required to remove the infected bone, but the infection did so much damage that it is unlikely she can ever have an implant. She also sustained nerve damage that has made her smile permanently crooked.
In 2008, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Dentistry received a complaint from a patient whom Evans and his wife (also a dentist) treated in 2003 and 2004, when they were part of another dental group. The patient reported that Evans performed cavitation surgery four times, two of which included unnecessary extractions of root-canal treated teeth. In 2010, Evans signed a consent agreement under which he agreed to serve on probation for two years and take continuing medical education courses in risk management and in diagnosis and treatment planning. The agreement said he had practiced outside the scope of dentistry and had failed to perform and/or document certain procedures when performing oral surgery. Quackwatch has additional details about Evans and his clinic
http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/Nonrecorg/groton/overview.html###
Burzynski proceedings inching forward. The Texas Medical Board's effort to stop Stanislaw Burzynski, M.D. from offering questionable cancer treatments has evolved into an intense legal battle before the Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH). In July 2014, the board filed a 202-page amended complaint
http://www.casewatch.org/board/med/burzynski/2014_amended_complaint.pdfthat criticized Burzynski's management of seven patients.
The document described an alleged pattern of substandard care that included
(a) improperly accepting retainers prior to providing services,
(b) failing to adequately evaluate tumor status,
(c) lacking a plausible rationale for his drug regimens,
(d) failing to provide adequate informed consent,
(e) permitting unlicensed, unqualified individuals whom he misrepresented as doctors to treat patients,
(f) doing unnecessary tests,
(g) failing to keep adequate medical records,
(h) charging exorbitant prices for drugs and services, and
(i) billing insurance companies improperly.
The board's 78-page closing argument
http://www.casewatch.org/board/med/burzynski/closing_argument_2016.pdf,filed last month in the SOAH proceeding, addresses the details of what is currently being litigated.
The board and the FDA have been trying on and off for more than 25 years to curb Burzynski's activities. ###
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=================================
Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Consumer Advocate
287 Fearrington Post
Pittsboro, NC 27312
Telephone: (919) 533-6009
http://www.quackwatch.org (health fraud and quackery)
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