April 11th, 2009
In BC naturopaths have just been granted the authority to prescribe medications if they get a certain certification. If that certification was “going to medical school” I would be fine with this… but, ha ha, of course that’s not what it is. The basis of naturopathy is not scientific and not even logically plausible. It’s quackery. People in BC want more choice and better access to medical care? Great. Give it to them. Give them more real doctors and change the billing process so GP’s are encouraged to spend more time with each patient. There really is a lot of room for improvement in the health care system – but addressing it by giving naturopaths expanded powers is like subcontracting out the janitorial work at the hospitals: it sounds great but there’s shit and blood on the sheets.
This is an oldie but a goodie: You know what they call alternative medicine that’s been proven to work? Medicine. “Alternative” is what you call your treatment when there’s no evidence it works.
Here is a tidy article that discusses the role of naturopaths as primary care physicians. (Science based medicine)
And here is a fantastic article written by a massage therapists here in Vancouver about what alternative treatments should really be. (Save Yourself)