OHIO Naturopaths seek medical licensing

Some want more evidence that this nutrition- and herb-based practice works.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Healers who believe in using the body's intrinsic ability to fend off and even cure many diseases without medicine want the state to legalize their now-unregulated practice, known as naturopathy.
Naturopathic practitioners say they want to shift medicine away from what they consider an overreliance on antibiotics.
A physician might prescribe medication to treat an ailment; a naturopath might screen for food and environmental sensitivities, then look to correct an immune-system weakness with nutritional supplements.
This year, California became the 13th state to regulate naturopathic doctors. A bill to license their practice is pending in the Ohio House, and another is being drafted.
Both bills would create a state licensing board to set standards for naturopathic physicians, who would have to refer patients to doctors for diagnosis and treatment when appropriate.
Licensing requirement
Currently, anyone in Ohio can claim to be a naturopath. However, anyone who diagnoses, treats or tries to cure an illness is likely practicing medicine.
"That requires a state license," said Tom Dilling, director of the State Medical Board, which has shown little interest in adding naturopaths to its jurisdiction.
"We don't want them, that's what I think my board will say," Dilling told The Plain Dealer for a story Sunday. "Giving them licenses? All it does is add legitimacy to them. To treat illness, it takes more than a theory."
Dr. Jeffrey Susman, who directs the family medicine department at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, opposes any official recognition of naturopathic physicians.
"Until we've gotten some better evidence of effectiveness, I think we'd be sending people in the wrong direction," he said.
Setting standards
Creating a licensing board would force naturopaths to get professional credentials and set standards for practitioners that would protect the public, said state Rep. Merle Grace Kearns, a Springfield Republican.
"Let's face it, people are spending a lot of money out there on these natural remedies," said Kearns, drafting one of the licensing bills along with the Ohio Association of Naturopathic Medicine.
"It's a huge unregulated area. If you want alternative medicine, you don't know where to turn."
Ann Walsh, executive director of the Oregon Board of Naturopathic Examiners, said Ohio needs a licensing system to weed out untrained or incompetent practitioners. Oregon has about 600 naturopaths.
"It's not good for any Joe Schmo on the street to hang up his shingle and give someone six different kinds of herbs, not knowing how they would interact," Walsh said. "What if that person is on some kind of medication that could react with the herb? They could have a stroke."
Legislator's experience
State Rep. Mary Cirelli, a Canton Democrat who is a nurse, said her family turned to a naturopath last summer when her husband's lung cancer spread through his body.
She already has filed a bill that would create a state board allowing naturopaths to treat patients, but she knows it will be a tough fight in the Legislature.
"What led me into this is that my husband and I turned to alternative cancer treatments when we found out he was at Stage 4. When you have a death sentence, in essence, you look for anything and everything," Cirelli said.
A naturopath recommended a diet of organic and natural foods without preservatives, and distilled water. Though her husband died, Cirelli continues to mix a cereal of 20 ingredients in her kitchen coffee grinder, because she believes it will help her health.
"The naturopath gave us hope; the regular doctors wrote it off as a hopeless situation," she said. "We were willing to accept new ideas."