RMNfeb16 07

Rocky Mountain News February 16, 2007

URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5355671,00.htm

Steven R. Nickerson © The Rocky

Dan and Laura Flanagan wait to testify Thursday at hearings for HB1192 before the Health and Human Services Committee about their son Sean's death under the care of Brian O'Connell, who is now in jail. The bill is aimed at regulating naturopathic doctors.

Proposed legislation would regulate naturopaths

Parents who lost son testify; panel OKs legislation

By Felix Doligosa, Rocky Mountain News
February 16, 2007

The parents of a 19-year-old cancer victim who died after being treated by a man claiming to be a naturopathic doctor asked lawmakers Thursday to regulate and license the profession.

Parents David and Laura Flanagan told the House Health and Human Services Committee that in 2003 they searched for alternative medicines for their son, Sean, who had cancer.

"We knew our son was going to die," David Flanagan said.

They consulted Brian O'Connell, of Wheat Ridge , who held himself out to be a naturopath.

Naturopathy is the practice of natural treatments such as healing through herbal medicines, diet supplements, sunlight or acupuncture.

"He told two very desperate people that he could cure our son," David Flanagan said.

Ten days after receiving the treatment, Sean was dead.

The Flanagans were among more than 30 people who testified on House Bill 1192.

Under the measure, a licenced naturopathic doctor would need a graduate-level degree from an approved school. The bill is modeled after laws in 14 states that regulate naturopathic doctors.

"It is needed for the safety of the consumer," said Rep. Jeanne Labuda, D-Denver, who sponsored the bill. "Anyone can put certificates on the wall."

The committee passed the measure late Thursday on a 9-2 vote.

Lawmakers were told there are many good naturopathic doctors who are not licensed but still can be trusted.

"They want to help the consumer," said Sheryl Strom, a registered nurse who practices naturopathy. "(This bill) will force them against their will to change their practice."

Strom said because naturopathic doctors use alternative practices, they should not be regulated the same way as traditional doctors.

Naturopathic doctors are "not diagnosing diseases" like medical doctors, she said.

But Rena Bloom, a naturopathic doctor, said many doctors use fake certificates and make documents such as phony degrees from the Colorado Alternative Board and the Colorado University of Naturopathic Studies.

"In Colorado , some people have gotten certificate happy," she said.

The debate over licensing naturopathic doctors caught public attention in 2003 after Sean's death.

He died after two weeks of "photoluminescense" treatments in which a small amount of his blood was removed, exposed to light and reinjected along with hydrogen peroxide.

His parents said he was in extreme pain for the last 12 hours of his life.

O'Connell was sentenced to 13 years in prison. The prosecutor said O'Connell duped his patients with walls filled with phony credentials, including one that claimed he was "Physician of the Year."

Prosecutors said he also hastened another cancer patient's death and nearly caused the death of a 17-year-old girl who went into cardiac arrest after receiving a photoluminescense treatment at O'Connell's office.

doligosaf@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2970