“Where
there is no official recognition and regulation, you
will find plotters, the thieves, the charlatans operating
on the same basis as the conscientious practitioners…
Frankly such conditions cannot be remedied until suitable
safeguards are erected by law, or by the profession
itself, around the practice of Naturopathy.”
Benedict Lust
circa 1902
founding father
of naturopathy.
Warning
Traditional
naturopathic doctors
Ensure
public safety
The
Brian O'Connell Case
'Naturopath'
Pleads Guilty....
Video:
why license
Public
Harm
In the 2005 Sunrise
Review of Naturopathic Physicians, the Colorado Department
of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) concluded that the unregulated
practice of naturopathic medicine in Colorado endangers
the health, safety and welfare of the public. This is the
primary sunrise criterion required in order for Colorado
to consider regulating a profession. DORA listed nine examples
of harm and injury that resulted people seeing practitioners
who claimed to be naturopathic doctors.
Need for
Regulation:
DORA's Sunrise
Review concluded that the public needs and can reasonably
be expected to benefit from an assurance of initial and
continuing professional competence:
“Few people have
the time or expertise to investigate a health care practitioner's
education or credentials. One of the purposes of regulation
is to assure a minimal level of education and competency.
State regulation assists the consumer in choosing a provider
with appropriate training and skills by issuing licenses
only to those the state deems minimally competent.”
The Problem:
Many people who
use some natural remedies describe themselves as naturopaths
or ‘Traditional Naturopaths', but they are not naturopathic
doctors. Their training varies from no formal training to
correspondence courses to possibly some apprenticeship.
Only naturopathic doctors have 4 years of graduate residential
training in US accredited schools.
The State of Colorado
does not regulate the practice of naturopathic medicine.
Without regulation, there is no standard imposed upon individuals
who use the title naturopath, naturopathic doctor, naturopathic
physician or naturopathic medical doctor. There is no government
oversight or review of practitioners to ensure that they
are adequately trained and competent in their skills. There
is no procedure in place that limits individuals who are
morally incompetent or ethically challenged from practicing
as naturopathic doctors. There is no review board or other
avenue through which patients can file complaints against
these individuals for presumed malpractice. Nor are there
rules requiring practitioners to carry malpractice insurance
in order to provide remuneration to consumers should a case
of harm occur.
In recent years,
public demand for naturopathic doctors has grown rapidly.
The accredited training programs and quality of training
have grown along with demand. A new phenomenon has also
appeared, correspondence programs. Companies now offer and
sell unaccredited home study courses in naturopathy awarding
certificates.
Traditional
naturopathic doctors
Traditionally,
naturopathic doctors have been educated at in-resident four-year
programs. Under the tutelage of licensed doctors, students
are trained in basic sciences and clinical practice and
tested in skills and competence.
This tradition
of thorough education and training dates back to the first
naturopaths that Benedict Lust trained a century ago. The
same tradition was followed in Colorado at the University
of Natural Healing Arts and its College of Naturopathy
which educated naturopathic doctors, physical therapists
and chiropractors from 1923 until it closed in the 1960s.
Located at 1075 Logan Street in Denver, the school offered
a four-year in residence dual chiropractic and naturopathic
degree program.
The school's 1956
catalog, nearly half a century ago, stated this issue clearly:
“The Doctor of
Naturopathy (N.D.) course requires four school years and
4,680 sixty-minute hours of instruction.... No correspondence
courses are offered...The nature of schooling, the responsibilities
of the practitioner, and the conscientious high standards
of the University do not permit haphazard or inferior
training.”
Unfortunately
the term 'traditional naturopath' is now used by correspondence
trained lay practitioners as a euphemism to describe their
training and imply that they are closer to the tradition
of naturopathy.
Ensure
public safety
The CoANP
believes that:
• In depth
training is necessary in order to ensure public safety.
• Licensing
or registration through the state is the most reliable method
to ensure that adequate levels of training have been met.
Buyer Beware:
As Colorado does
not regulate naturopathy, the consumer is responsible for
evaluating the credentials of any practitioner. Here are
a few points to keep in mind:
1. Licenses:
The State of Colorado DOES NOT issue licenses or endorse
licenses for naturopathic doctors. Any such licenses or
certificates are invalid. The Attorney General's Office
has issued cease and desist orders to the individuals
producing these invalid Colorado licenses. [View Cease
and Desist order]
2. Accreditation:
The Council on Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME) is
the only agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education
to accredit naturopathic educational programs. Other agencies
claiming to accredit any naturopathic training programs
lack recognition from any official state, federal, or
educational agency. Only graduates from CNME accredited
schools meet the educational requirements established
by state regulatory boards for licensing applicants. The
Colorado University of Naturopathic Medicine does not
exist.
3. Federal:
The federal government does not issue licenses for naturopathy.
Until recently the District of Columbia issued certificates
to anyone registering as a naturopathic doctor with no
requirement for residency or education. Anyone wanting
a license could easily purchase one. Over twenty of these
licenses have been issued to practitioners in Colorado.
Although valid in Washington, DC at one time, these licenses
were neither validations of competency nor permits to
practice naturopathic medicine.
The
CoANP believes that it is the state's responsibility to verify
credentials and not the consumer:
The Colorado consumer
can easily be misled into believing a practitioner is a
naturopathic doctor based on fake credentials.
The 2005 DORA
report issued by the state of Colorado itemizes a number
of cases of injury that have resulted.
The CoANP believes
that regulation of naturopathic doctors is needed for consumer
protection.
Allowing minimally
trained persons to hold themselves out to the public as
doctors is dangerous.
The average consumer
is unable to tell who is a naturopathic doctor.
Diploma mills
sell naturopathic degrees that are difficult to distinguish
from real accredited degrees .
View deceptive
credentials used in Colorado (link)
Information
about diploma mills (link)
New
Video Andrew Weil and others
speak on the value of naturopathic licensing:
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