The city of Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, is short on doctors and in desperate need of them, so the city council approved $45,000 in public funding for a naturopathic clinic. National Post.
“If this is truly to address the doctor shortage, it’s completely inappropriate and completely absurd,” said Michelle Cohen, an Ontario family physician.
The clinic will have seven rooms and will employ two naturopaths, a masseuse, a physiotherapist and a nurse. The clinic will be fully funded from a reserve fund.
“We have a physician recruitment program in place and we’re trying to attract more physicians,” said City Councilman Glenn Grant.
The controversy surrounding the clinic stems from its name and marketing: critics of naturopathic medicine say they have no right to call themselves doctors because they have no medical training.
Britt Hermes, a former naturopath, said the training naturopaths receive is very different from that received by medical students.
According to the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, naturopathic medicine takes a natural, holistic approach to treatment.
“Naturopathy recognises the natural and orderly ability of each individual to heal himself,” the organisation’s website states.
“Naturopathic doctors treat each patient by considering individual physical, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social and other factors,” the statement continues. “Because total health includes spiritual health, naturopathic doctors encourage individuals to pursue their personal spiritual development.”
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Britt Hermes doesn’t think this is enough.
“They’re taking classes with the same names as medical school classes,” Hermes said, “but pseudoscience and nonsense is woven into every class.”
Naturopaths do not have to take a medical entrance exam or complete any kind of postgraduate training, according to Elmes.
Sean O’Reilly, executive director of the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Physicians, said naturopaths are “not medical doctors in any way,” but “we have very similar training.”
Timothy Caulfield, a health policy expert at the University of Alberta, disagrees.
“The message is, number one, ‘We’re science-based, we’re medically trained, we’re medical professionals,'” Caulfield said. “And number two, ‘Yes, but we’re different. We’re naturopathic-based and we work on getting to the root cause.'”
Research published by Caulfield and his colleagues shows that naturopathic doctors play a role in the anti-vaccination movement.
“All CAMs [complementary and alternative medicine] “Health care professionals are openly anti-vaccination,” the study states. “There is an association between CAM use and not vaccinating children. Furthermore, studies have found that CAM training is associated with increased anti-vaccination attitudes, and in a 2004 study of Canadian naturopathic students, only 12.8% recommended full vaccination.”
Dr. Cohen is concerned that the public does not fully understand the difference between ND and NDR. [naturopathic doctor] medical doctor [medical doctor].
“They don’t do the same types of screening tests that we do,” Cohen said, “they don’t do the same preventive care that we do, and they don’t address the complex, chronic medical problems that a family doctor would address. There’s just no comparison.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom, seeking common ground and finding connections.
