Problem: In California we have a law that licensed physicians “MD” may only practice conventional medicine. When a complaint is filed against a physician, it may be from a health insurance company not wanting to pay for lab treatment etc., or from a physician who’s patient or former patient went to a physician for alternative treatment, or from a relative or friend of individual who felt that the individual should not go for alternative treatments. In the last case the relative may feel their potential inheritance is being needless spent since most insurance does not cover alternative treatments. There are many reasons that alternative physicians are discriminated against that has nothing to do with their effectiveness.
Because of the restriction in the current law, all alternative medicine is non-conventional and therefore illegal. In California the medical board staff, attorney general’s legal staff, and the administrative law is stacked against the physician that has a holistic practice. An example of this is the case of Dr. Robert Sinaiko M.D. The administrative judge ruled that the standard of practice for ADHD was ritland. Not the safe and effective alternative treatment that the child was receiving. The judge recommend lost of license and repaying the state $98,000 for the cost of the investigation and legal fees. Our organization has and continues to play a major role in supporting Dr. Sinaiko's legal defense. See Web Dr. Sinaiko for more information.
Bills that enable physicians to provide “alternative” treatments are called Medical Freedom Bills. New York, Alaska, and Texas in addition to other states have passed such bills. For more information on the states that have passed medical freedom bills or have pending bills www.healthlobby.com/news.htm.
In addition to the restriction on conventional medicine our state has a restriction that individual physicians may not treat cancer with other than chemotherapy, radiation or surgery. To do other wise is a felony offense and can and has resulted in jailing the physician.
California because of the current restrictive law and the policies in disciplining physicians is viewed by many as the most restrictive (dictatorial) state in the nation on alternative medicine. Our goal is to shift California from being one of the most restrictive states to a leading world center for all forms of safe and effective medicine and health treatment.
There is no quick or easy way to achieve our goal. Considering the opposition, we are making good progress in the sponsorship of SB-2100 and the ongoing legislative advocacy with the California Medical Board, The California Medical Association, Legislators, and other groups in the follow up. Our plans are to reintroduce a medical freedom bill in 2002 or 2003. We need to build our grass-roots infrastructure organization, expand our alliance of organizations and continue our legislative education and advocacy efforts to establish the foundation for reintroduction of a medial freedom bill.
SB 2100 Healing Arts- Alternative Medicine Bill This bill has passed the full Senate and House and signed September 24, 2000 by Governor Gray Davis. For full text of bill click here and put in "Senate" and "2100". (Most viewers can use the HTML version and not have to use the PDF version.) For problems and projects see project 2001.
Due to opposition from the Consumer Attorneys over technical requirements to have regulations defined in the bill, it was not possible to pass the bill in its original form. Senator John Vasconcellos and his staff took the approach of modifying it to a study bill that would form the basis of a future bill. Study bills are common and often used in order to gain enough support for controversial or complicated issues.
In summary, the revised bill requires the Medical Board of California and the Osteopathic Medical Board of California (boards) to establish policies related to the practice of alternative medicine. The boards would establish, on or before July 1, 2002, policies and procedures that reflect emerging and innovative medical practices for licensed physicians and surgeons and to solicit participation of interested parties. Both California Citizens for Health Freedom (CCHF) and physicians who work in the alternative medical field will have an active role in this process.
This bill, also requests that the University of California review the state of knowledge and emerging research regarding alternative and complementary health, focusing on cancer treatments and therapies. They shall make recommendations to assure that California citizens diagnosed with cancer have the best range of treatment and therapeutic choices. Again, CCHF will be a participant in giving feedback to this committee.
The recommendations and analyses of these two committees will form the basis for a new bill that will be introduced within two years. With a full new medical board, we have a good chance of educating them on alternative medicine and its benefits for California citizens.
Related web site The Cancer Cure Foundation Alternative cancer therapy website.