Manitoulin Island Alternative Medicine Background

Manitoulin Island Alternative Medicine

So What Is This Alternative Medicine All About ?

Definition:

Alternative has two possible meanings. Correctly employed, it refers to methods that have equal value for a particular purpose. (An example would be two antibiotics capable of killing a particular organism.) When applied to unproven methods, however, the term can be misleading because methods that are unsafe or ineffective are not reasonable alternatives to proven treatment. To emphasize this fact, we place the word "alternative" in quotation marks throughout this book (The Expanded Dictionary of Metaphysical Healthcare by Jack Raso, M.S., R.D.) whenever it is applied to methods that are not based on established scientific knowledge.
     -   http://www.quackwatch.org

         Quackwatch is a nonprofit corporation whose purpose is to combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, and fallacies. Its primary focus is on quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere. It was founded in 1969 by Dr. Stephen Barrett, M.D. as the Lehigh Valley Committee Against Health Fraud and was incorporated in 1970. In 1997, it assumed its current name and began developing a worldwide network of volunteers and expert advisors.

In 2002, the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Section staff of the National Library of Medicine classifies alternative medicine under the term complementary therapies. This is defined as therapeutic practices which are not currently considered an integral part of conventional allopathic medical practice. They may lack biomedical explanations but as they become better researched some, such as physical therapy, diet, and acupuncture, become widely accepted whereas others, such as humors or radium therapy, quietly fade away, yet are important historical footnotes. Therapies are termed as Complementary when used in addition to conventional treatments and as Alternative when used instead of conventional treatment.
     -   http://www.pitt.edu/~cbw/altm.html

         The Alternative Medicine Homepage - University of Pittsburg

Recent History:

In July of 1996, a group of physicians met in Banff, Alberta to form the Canadian Complementary Medical Association (CCMA) -- an association dedicated to promoting the best of unconventional and orthodox therapies in medical practice. They were spurred on by a successful campaign to introduce legislation in Alberta ( Bill 209) that freed doctors to practise low-risk innovative therapies and the Alberta College’s response to that legislation, which promptly tried to circumvent the law by introducing new regulations. The CCMA has been joined by some of Canada’s top physicians in order to give a legitimate voice to the medical therapies that have been kept on the periphery of accepted standard practice, yet have been shown to benefit patients and improve healthcare in other countries world-wide.

The Ontario Society of Physicians for Complementary Medicine successfully petitioned the Ontario Medical Association to form a complementary medicine section in 1999.

Ontario deserves credit for being the first province to pass legislation protecting physicians who provide nontraditional therapies. On December 21, 2000 the Ontario Legislature unanimously passed an amendment to the 1991 Medicine Act, stating: "A member shall not be found guilty of professional misconduct or of incompetence ... solely on the basis that the member practices a therapy that is nontraditional or that departs from the prevailing medical practice ..."

This simple piece of legislation is quite profound and revolutionary. It allows physicians to prescribe acupuncture, Tai Chi, herbal tea, or meditation to his or her clients without the fear of reprisals by the College of Physicians. This is a milestone in the evolution of Canada's health care. The other provinces should follow Ontario's lead as soon as possible.

Liberal MPP Monte Kwinter first introduced the bill in 1997. The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons initially resisted the bill, stating they were prepared "to speak out strongly against it..." Kwinter points out that in the ensuing years the College's opposition has "fallen silent."

Dr Linda Rapson, from the Ontario Society of Physicians for Complementary Medicine, wrote to the Ontario legislature that, "Your bill comes at a time when there is an even more urgent need to improve the knowledge and experience of the medical profession in the area of nontraditional medicine. Our long-range goal should be to critically evaluate complementary therapies in the same way we are assessing traditional medicine." The Ontario Minister of Health has confirmed "this government supports freedom of choice for patients." (The OSPCM apparently does not have a web page.)