It is surprisingly easy to sell snake oil. I know, because I’ve done it. In 2014, I helped create and sell The Right Detox. This was a bogus detoxification program that purported to improve anyone’s well-being and perhaps, cure disease. I was the face of the scam. I launched The Right Detox at a spring-time women’s health expo in Tucson, Arizona.
I kicked off my sales-pitch in front of a small …
Behind the scenes of a detox scam
I learned recently that the Massachusetts legislature passed the latest installment of the naturopathic licensing bill S.2335 in the final minutes of the 2016 legislative session. The bill is currently sitting on Governor Charlie Baker’s desk. He has a few days to sign the bill, which would make Massachusetts the 19th state to license naturopaths. If he does nothing, S.2335 will die from a pocket veto.
Senate Bill 2335 is asking a …
Massachusetts should reject naturopaths: A message to Governor Charlie Baker
Naturopaths hate it when I draw attention to examples of patient harm resulting from naturopaths failing to uphold medical standards of care. The Ezekiel Stephan case was a prime example of the harm that can come from naturopaths trying to play doctor.
Nineteen-month-old Ezekiel Stephan died in 2012 from bacterial meningitis after his parents sought medical advice from naturopath Tracey Tannis. Per Tannis’s recommendation, Ezekiel’s parents treated him …
Naturopaths have no place providing health care to children
Another child has been severely harmed by a naturopath—this time, in the UK.
A four-year-old boy with autism received naturopathic treatments that landed him in the emergency room. The boy had severe dehydration and dangerously elevated calcium levels. A naturopath had prescribed a regimen of vitamin D, calcium, cod liver oil, zinc and a long list of other substances that included silver, enzymes, salts and trace minerals
As a …
When naturopaths treat autism, children suffer
I find it amusing to be accused of being an unsuccessful practitioner of naturopathic medicine. I graduated with high grades from Bastyr University. I landed a highly competitive naturopathic residency. Had I remained in practice, I would currently be eligible to take the naturopathic pediatrics “board-certification” exam offered by the Pediatric Association of Naturopathic Physicians.
I was making decent money at my practices in Seattle and Tucson. By all accounts, I was …
I have seen both worlds, and the naturopathic one is terrifying
Naturopaths are currently engaged in an intensive lobbying effort at the Capitol in order to gain recognition as medical practitioners and inclusion in Medicare. As a retired naturopath who was licensed in two states, I want to offer a primer to this political maneuver: Naturopaths are not who they say they are.
To be fair, naturopaths (NDs) are no longer obscure practitioners. NDs are currently licensed or registered in 18 U.S. …
Naturopaths have weaseled their way into the health care system, and they want more
You may be aware of Ezekiel Stephan, a 19-month-old boy, who died in 2012, after his parents chose home remedies and naturopathy for the treatment of viral meningitis. The parents currently are on trial in Canada for failing to provide the necessities of life.
Over the course of many days, Ezekiel’s condition rapidly deteriorated, but his parents chose to “give him as much natural product as possible,” including syrup, frozen …
Naturopaths should be restricted from treating children. Here’s why.
I was a licensed naturopathic doctor in two states. I quit practicing naturopathic medicine after discovering my former boss, also a licensed ND, had been importing and administering an illegal cancer drug. I trusted my boss, as did his patients, because he was well respected in the naturopathic community and his credentials included “FABNO” (Fellow of the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology). This FABNO treated any kind of cancer, even …
The shocking confessions of a naturopathic doctor
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