Britt Hermes, a graduate of the naturopathic college at the alternative medicine-focused Bastyr University, renounced her practice as a naturopathic doctor when she could no longer tolerate the pseudoscience and patient harm that characterizes naturopathy. On this blog and her own, Naturopathic Diaries, she has chronicled the insufficient education and training students receive before being allowed to practice as naturopathic doctors, deficiencies which all too readily can result in patient harm.
Her activism is not confined to blog posts. Her advocacy helped prevent an expansion of naturopathic prescribing privileges in North Dakota in 2015. Just this past Friday, she participated, as did I, in a presentation via conference call to the Colorado Department of Regulatory Affairs (DORA), organized by the Colorado Citizens for Science in Medicine. DORA will soon issue a report on the continued registration of naturopaths in that state. In her testimony, Britt told how her own naturopathic education and training made her woefully unprepared to practice.
A number of SBM commenters have wondered how they could do more to combat naturopathic efforts to become licensed as health care providers in all 50 states, as well as participating in Medicare, Medicaid and other publicly-funded programs. Britt just started a Change.org petition urging policy makers and legislators to “stop legitimizing pseudoscience.” She also posted some excellent talking points to rebut the misleading information naturopaths give lawmakers when lobbying. You can help by using the talking points in combating legitimization of naturopathy through licensing and inclusion in public insurance programs. You can also help by signing the petition and sending it around to others on your social media accounts.
