Tim Bolen Opinion
Article
Stupid Arrogance: So-Called
"Naturopathic Physicians"
Opinion Piece by Consumer Health Advocate Tim
Bolen
Dateline: July 11, 2003
I'm appalled at how stupid some people can be,
and how in desperation, they can do themselves irreparable
harm. Today, I'm going to tell you about California Senate
Bill 907, the so-called Naturopathic Physician bill, and how it's
supporters, negotiating an agreement in a desperate attempt to get
licensed as a health provider in California, screwed themselves... big
time.
Frankly, they deserved what they did to
themselves...
The so-called "Naturopathic Physicians" have
learned a HARD lesson in California State politics. They were
so eager to get a bill passed, ANY BILL, that they've given up the
right to call themselves Naturopathic Physicians, or to practice like
one - the whole point of their movement. All they got for
their efforts, in reality, was the right to use the term ND after their
name. Big deal.
These nitwits have given up everything they've
stood for, and prostituted themselves into total subservience to
conventional medicine - just to be able to bill $8.00 for an office
visit, to Medicare. I'll bet graduates of those so-called "ND
Universities" are right now are wondering why they spent all that
tuition money, to end up as a bed-pan-cleaner, or polishing bottles in
the Pharmacy.
Their final position on the health "food chain"
in California, after negotiations with the Pharmacists and the MDs, is
somewhere a little south of Nurse Practitioner. They can call
themselves "Doctor of Naturopathy" but they've made themselves so
tightly subservient to both MDs and Pharmacists that the average
medically untrained employee of an MD's office has more leeway to
practice health care.
Clerks in a health food store have more
leeway. A homeless bum, in an alleyway, has more health care
to offer. Neither of these has to get permission for anything
from an MD or a Pharmacist.
REAL Naturopaths, those that wouldn't be caught
dead with a pharmaceutical in their hand, are laughing themselves sick
over the NP's blunder. Why? Because the real focus of the
NP's battle was to discredit all those Naturopaths who graduated from
REAL Naturopathic schools, like Trinity, Clayton, First National, US
School, Gateways, International, Herbal, etc. - about 60,000
of them since 1956 - those places that, in good faith, gave out N.D.
degrees at a good value.
REAL Naturopaths in California, have the upper
hand in the Naturopathy wars - for they are protected under SB577, and
can operate independently - while the nitwit NPs have to get permission
from an MD to hand out a Kleenex.
I'm advising every graduate of Clayton,
Trinity, First National, Gateways, International, Herbal, and the
others to COMPLETELY DISASSOCIATE yourself from the so-called
University graduates. I advise all of you to drop the term ND
from your business cards, signs, etc. right this minute - lest someone
think you're one of these California idiots - and bring you a bedpan to
clean. Put the words "Real Naturopath," or just plain
"Naturopath," on your cards.
My friend Hulda Regehr Clark who previously
used the title on her books Hulda Clark PhD, N.D. is coming out with a
new revision of one of her books. It will say on the cover
"Hulda Regehr Clark PhD, Naturopath."
When you read the last draft copy of SB907, and
as of this morning, all of the changes are NOT up on the website, you,
like me, will wonder "how can anybody be this stupid?"
Naturopathic Physicians? Ah, no...
I Tried to Reason With the NPs...
First, I tried to stay neutral on this bill
simply because I have friends on both sides of what SHOULD NOT have
been an issue. In the end, I tried to negotiate a compromise,
but what I call "the Bastyr people" simply wouldn't budge on an
important issue. They want EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS to the term N.D.
(Doctor of Naturopathy,) nationwide. Too bad, they think,
that 60,000 decent people already had those degrees.
If you can believe these people's
arrogance. To them, only Bastyr, and two other
self-proclaimed Universities(?) are qualified to offer Doctor of
Naturopathy (ND) degrees. Who says so? The
accrediting organization THEY created - calling itself CNME.
What's interesting is that the CNME has been
thrown down the steps (so to speak) of the US Department of Education
who CANCELLED their right to accredit for very good reasons the CNME
isn't talking too loudly about.
Conventional Health Care in this country is all
about money. It's not about helping people. The so-called
"Naturopathic Physicians," to my way of thinking, have sold out for the
money - and not much of that.
Dumb, dumb, dumb...
Stay tuned...
Tim Bolen
The Bolen Report
- From a Whitman E-Mail Newsbrief
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