Sean, a cancer patient from Colorado, 2006 Flanagan, 18, died shortly after the naturopath injected her with hydrogen peroxide and exposed her blood to ultraviolet light. Unlicensed naturopathic doctor Brian O’Connell pleaded guilty to manslaughter and practicing medicine without a license and was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Colorado’s “naturopathic doctors” (NDs) have used the death of Sean Flanagan to regulate the state, giving legitimacy to NDs who graduated from programs accredited by the profession itself. The Colorado Naturopathic Doctors Act went into effect in 2014. The bill was supported by Sean’s mother, who viewed her son’s death as “at the hands of a man calling himself a doctor.”
Ten years after Sean’s death, Colorado The Naturopathic Medicine Act is set to expire in September 2017. A new bill, SB 106, would continue regulation of naturopathic doctors until 2022 and add prescribing rights for chelating agents and hormones. Naturopathic doctors use chelating agents, a lead poisoning treatment, in a variety of unproven ways for cardiovascular disease, autism, and “detoxification.” Hormones also pose serious health risks. Current law allows the intravenous administration of “homeopathic preparations, natural remedies, and treatments,” as well as the use of “other methods designed to support, stimulate, or complement the body’s natural healing capabilities.”
Vaguely worded and undefined uses of these “red flag” drugs misused by NDs Allowing activities in legal grey areas. Stephen Purcell, a naturopathic doctor in Boulder, Colorado, is a good example: His clinic promotes intravenous hydrogen peroxide, ultraviolet blood irradiation, and chelation therapy, the latter of which can cost $2,000 to $3,000 a session.An effective course of treatment lasting one year.
Intravenous hydrogen peroxide and UV exposure to blood are dangerous and have no medical basis. UVLRx, which manufactures the UV equipment used in Dr. Purcell’s practice, was conducting questionable and possibly illegal clinical trials in the United States, primarily at naturopathic clinics, until I reported on the situation last September. Although chelation therapy has not yet been added to naturopathic medical law, Dr. Purcell acknowledges on his blog that he has “been practicing this treatment for many years.” Naturopathic physician Mary Shackleton, MD, of Boulder, Colorado, also offers chelation therapy. Both Dr. Shackleton and Dr. Purcell practice with physicians, which may allow them to get away with a practice that is prohibited for registered naturopaths.
Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) has failed miserably. A sunset review of naturopathic medicine laws in 2016 was meant to evaluate the law and the need for continued regulation, but it did not comprehensively scrutinize naturopathic practice. According to Linda Rosa, a vocal patient safety advocate and naturopathic skeptic, DORA “totally ignored important testimony, particularly two hours of testimony from six internationally renowned experts.”
I participated in a two-hour conference call with DORA along with Dr. Paul Offit, Jean Bellamy of the Society for Evidence-Based Medicine, and four other medical experts.DORA’s 33-page Sunset Review sums up our concerns about naturopathic medicine in one sentence:
Some critics of naturopaths believe that naturopathic and other alternative medicines, if effective, would be incorporated into medical practice and should therefore be banned, which should be reserved for doctors.
This summary ignores serious concerns about patient safety and the systemic failure of the naturopathic education system to provide graduates with doctoral-level medical training that NDs developed and continue to operate without rigorous oversight. Colorado’s registration law was intended to make it easier for patients to identify NDs from accredited naturopathic programs who claim to be trained in primary care medicine. By omitting our criticism, DORA prevented lawmakers from knowing that naturopaths are being trained to use treatments with extremely poor evidence of safety and effectiveness, potentially causing patients to delay or avoid reliable medical care. Colorado’s naturopathic registration authorizes naturopaths to use dangerous “treatments” – the same ones that caused Sean Flanagan’s death.
The new naturopathic registration bill, SB 106, is scheduled to be debated in the Colorado Senate tomorrow, April 17th.
