HOLISTIC & INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE LAW
Holistic, Integrative, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Cam) & Health Care Public Policy & Legal expertise. Website under construction, not finished.
TENTATIVE WORKSHOPS FOR 2010
1. March 2010, Europe.
2. May 2010, Florida.
3. August 2010, France
4. October 2010, Oregon
General information on integrative clinics in the USA, Mexico and Europe.
ON-GOING LEGAL ACTIONS
1. Pancreatic cancer medical malpractice case.
2. Lung cancer medical malpractice case.
3. Federal case with Wa. state's attorney general (under 42 USC 1983), on constitutional challenges.
CLICK HERE FOR THE HOLISTIC AND INTEGRATIVE TEAM
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine homepage.
“I'm angry that in the land of freedom, Americans are still denied access to dozens of effective cancer treatments that are available in other countries around the world (…) I'm angry that the Food and Drug Administration denies people's rights to choose their own treatments (…) I'm angry that the Federal Government has failed to test a single alternative cancer treatment, despite years of efforts (…) I'm angry about the Mafia-like control of the cancer field by the drug industry, through their domination of virtually every single cancer research and treatment institution (…) I'm angry that the "scientific" studies of new drugs, funded by huge companies, almost always turn in favorable results and are approved by the FDA”. Dr Ralph W. Moss, Director of Cancer decisions, formerly from the Sloan Kettering cancer institute
HEALTH KNOWLEDGE SAVES LIVES & LEGAL PROTECTION PREVENTS DAMAGES |
THE NECESSITY TO BETTER PROTECT AND PROMOTE HOLISTIC MEDICINE
Holistic and integrative medicine practitioners and health-care professionals provide innovative and often effective approaches to illness and chronic diseases. However, by definition, these approaches deviate from mainstream standards and dogma.
Moreover, maintream (allopathic medicine) being officially the third cause of premature and avoidable deaths in the United States, patients are turning more and more to a responsible, scientifically sound and socially-friendly medicine, albeit not that well recognized by American legal and medical mainstream practice.
THE CHALLENGE
We therefore need experienced holistic health and law experts who are knowledgeable about integrative medicine and the law and who can assist holistic health practitioners and patients in the meeting of their security and legal needs.
OUR FIRST MISSION: PROTECTION OF HOLISTIC MEDICINE PRACTITIONERS
"We see no reason why a patient should not be allowed to make an informed decision to go outside currently approved medical methods in search of an unconventional treatment," the Appeals Court wrote. "While a patient should be encouraged to exercise care for his own safety, we believe that an informed decision to avoid surgery and conventional chemotherapy is within the patient’s right to determine what shall be done with his own body." (Second Circuit US Court of Appeals, in the landmark “Schneider v Revici case dated 1987).
With the growing popularity of holistic and integrative medicine, medical tort law is more and more applicable to holistic health practitioners. Holistic physicians therefore need to integrate within their practice the rules on how to practice holistic medicine without liability, on how to inform patients about legal protection strategies, including, but not limited on what is required substance wise.
Equipped with knowledge and different layers of legal protection from common medical liabilities. physicians, naturopaths and other holistic health practitioners will feel more secure in practicing their art, the central effect of which is to better promote holistic medicine and to significantly contribute in solving the Nation's public health problems and in helping patients to be better informed on the evidence that supports efficient holistic medicine. This is our mission.
OUR SECOND MISSION: PROMOTION OF HOLISTIC MEDICINE AMONG CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE PRACTITIONERS AND TRAINING ON NEW LEGAL PROTECTION RULES.
Dr Glenn Warner's "disenfranchisement was more than the separation of a doctor from his license. It removed his patients from the care that had spared their very lives. It put the citizens of Washington State on notice that deviation from the cancer cookbook, no matter how useless, was not permissible. The only problem was that recipes, rife with high-dose radiation and aggressive chemotherapies, are notoriously unsuccessful. Never mind: They were also quite reimbursable. (In late stage cancer patients, chemotherapy is acknowledged to have a 2 to 5% success rate.)" Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Jan, 2001 by Patrick McGrady
Conventional doctors also need to be better informed about medical legal rules regarding holistic and innovative medicine, from emerging standards to how to refer patients to holistic providers (as this is often a strong demand among holistic sensitive patients) and other key fields.
As more evidence accumulates regarding the safety, the efficiency and the limits of holistic medicine, all physicians and health care professionals need to better be informed about the the parameters of liability, on how to best protect themselves from malpractice suits, archaic laws and obsolete judicial precedents and on how to contribute in promoting a genuine public health culture in the U.S.
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