Tag: Pennsylvania

State legislators dispense with standard of care for COVID treatment and encourage medical misinformation

State legislatures are considering bills that protect doctors and other health care providers from being held accountable for using unproven COVID-19 treatments and spreading medical misinformation.

/ February 10, 2022
COVID-19 vs. FDA and CDC

State legislatures consider bills prohibiting COVID-19 vaccination mandates and other public health measures

Bills seek to prevent the states and private employers from mandating COVID-19 vaccines and other pandemic mitigation measures. Some proposed legislation would severely handicap public health officials in combating future health emergencies.

/ March 11, 2021

FTC warns naturopaths, acupuncturists, physicians, and chiropractors about false and misleading COVID-19 claims  

Since March, the FTC has issued almost 250 warning letters to companies and individuals making unsubstantiated claims for COVID-19 treatments. Included among these are naturopaths, acupuncturists, physicians, and chiropractors.

/ June 18, 2020

Legislative Alchemy 2019: Chiropractors seek scope of practice expansion, including authority to prescribe drugs

In 2019, chiropractors continued their push for practice expansion, including prescription privileges, as well as co-opting the opioid crisis to mandate physician recommendations for "chiropractic care".

/ January 30, 2020

Decision Against Spelling to Communicate – A Small Victory for Science

Spelling to Communicate is just another form a facilitated communication, an invalid technique that was disproved decades ago but refuses to die.

/ December 18, 2019

How to make the opioid epidemic worse in Pennsylvania

Two bills are pending in the Pennsylvania legislature - SB 675 aimed at restricting prescription of buprenorphine, and HB 1005 that imposes reporting requirements in cases of suspected drug overdose. Both are a bad idea, and I hope Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf will continue his past trends of vetoing bad bills that will harm his constituents.

/ December 6, 2019

Zapping Antipsychiatry ECT Nonsense

These days people's perceptions of electroconvulsive therapy have a fictionalized understanding of what it is, and its harms. The reality is quite different.

/ July 25, 2019

Legislative Alchemy 2018: naturopathic licensing and practice expansion shutout?

Naturopathic doctors pushed for licensing and practice expansion in 16 states in 2018. Looks like they are in for a complete shutout.

/ December 6, 2018

More Political Science: Proposed laws protect “Lyme literate” doctors from discipline

"Lyme literate" doctors are scamming patients out of thousands of dollars with needless long-term antibiotics based on a fake diagnosis of "chronic Lyme." So why are state legislators trying to protect these doctors from discipline and make insurers pay for unnecessary treatments?

/ March 15, 2018

Legislative Alchemy 2017: Naturopathy

Via the magic of Legislative Alchemy, naturopathic "doctors" gained state licensure and practice expansion, but also suffered major defeats, in 2017.

/ December 21, 2017