Results for: "naturopathic licensing"
Legislative Alchemy 2017: Acupuncture
Acupuncture is nothing more than a theatrical placebo. Yet acupuncturists, defined as primary care practitioners in some states, are succeeding in licensing and practice expansion efforts in state legislatures.
What is “integrative oncology”? Even the Society for Integrative Oncology doesn’t seem to know for sure
Last week, the Society for Integrative Oncology published an article attempting to define what "integrative oncology" is. The definition, when it isn't totally vague, ignores the pseudoscience at the heart of integrative oncology and medicine.
Legislative Alchemy 2017: Naturopaths push licensing and practice expansion while in damage control over IV turmeric death
Naturopaths are in damage control mode over the death of a naturopathic patient due to turmeric infusion, even as they lobby state legislatures for licensing and practice expansion.
Happy Thanksgiving from SBM!
Today is the American Thanksgiving holiday and SBM is taking the day off. Speaking of thanks, thank you to all of our readers and to those of you who take time to comment. Thanks to all of you who patiently explain to a neighbor why homeopathy does not (and cannot) work, complain to your pharmacy about its selling dubious dietary supplements, warn...
The cruel sham that will not die: Right-to-try marches on in California and beyond
State "right-to-try" bills are springing up like kudzu all over the US. Their advocates promise that they would save lives by allowing terminally ill patients access to experimental therapeutics. This is a delusion; even the most fervent supporters of right-to-try have trouble pointing to a single patient who has benefited from such a law. In reality, right-to-try laws are a cruel sham...
Legislative Alchemy 2016 Update: Acupuncturists win; naturopaths and chiropractors don’t (so far)
Legislative Alchemy is the process by which state legislatures transform pseudoscience and quackery into licensed health care practices. By legislative fiat, chiropractors can detect and correct non-existent subluxations, naturopaths can diagnose (with bogus tests) and treat (with useless dietary supplements and homeopathy) fabricated diseases like “adrenal fatigue” and “chronic yeast overgrowth,” and acupuncturists can unblock mythical impediments to the equally mythical “qi”...
“Complementary and Integrative Health” at the VA: Integrating pseudoscience into the care of veterans
In return for their service to our country, veterans deserve the best science-based medical care that we as a nation can provide. Unfortunately, the VA is integrating quackery into its medical care even more enthusiastically than medical academia.
Legislative Alchemy: Michigan House Bill 4531 gives naturopaths a broad scope of practice
Michigan House Bill 4531, if passed, would give naturopaths one of the broadest scopes of practice in the U.S., essentially equaling that of a family practice MD or DO. The bill made it through all the necessary House committees and is now before the House for an initial vote determining whether it will proceed further in that body. If it passes there,...
Acupuncture does not work for menopause: A tale of two acupuncture studies
Arguably, one of the most popular forms of so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) being “integrated” with real medicine by those who label their specialty “integrative medicine” is acupuncture. It’s particularly popular in academic medical centers as a subject of what I like to refer to as “quackademic medicine“; that is, the study of pseudoscience and quackery as though it were real...