Legal question
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2002 3:11 pm
Arlene wrote:
"I was recently summoned to court to testify on behalf of a patient whom
I have been treating homeopathically for injuries suffered in a car
accident. The attorney for the patient commented to me that my records
were "atrocious." He wants allopathic-style medical
records--problem-oriented and focusing on objective physical findings
versus my records, which heavily reflect the patient's mental-emotional
state, physical generals, and modalities of her symptoms. This is the
first time I will be in the position of having to explain my homeopathic
case-taking in court, and I am dreading the experience. Have other
practitioners encountered this situation? If so, any advice?"
Dear Arlene,
Ah....We're damned if we do and damned if we don't! If we tread too close
to medical territory, we're in danger of being accused of practicing
medicine without a license, yet if we don't practice within normally
accepted parameters, which is reflected in our record-keeping, we're also
rebuked. A lawyer who has no understanding of homeopathy has no business
telling us how the records should be. Homeopathy is vastly different than
regular medicine--that's the whole point. We see and treat the whole
person, and our records show that. Homeopathy works within completely
different paradigms--that's the whole point.
Where are you? You might want to contact Steve Waldstein, President of NASH
(North American Society of Homeopaths): steve@homeopathy-cures. He might
help you with how to present yourself.
Good luck!
Charlotte
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
"I was recently summoned to court to testify on behalf of a patient whom
I have been treating homeopathically for injuries suffered in a car
accident. The attorney for the patient commented to me that my records
were "atrocious." He wants allopathic-style medical
records--problem-oriented and focusing on objective physical findings
versus my records, which heavily reflect the patient's mental-emotional
state, physical generals, and modalities of her symptoms. This is the
first time I will be in the position of having to explain my homeopathic
case-taking in court, and I am dreading the experience. Have other
practitioners encountered this situation? If so, any advice?"
Dear Arlene,
Ah....We're damned if we do and damned if we don't! If we tread too close
to medical territory, we're in danger of being accused of practicing
medicine without a license, yet if we don't practice within normally
accepted parameters, which is reflected in our record-keeping, we're also
rebuked. A lawyer who has no understanding of homeopathy has no business
telling us how the records should be. Homeopathy is vastly different than
regular medicine--that's the whole point. We see and treat the whole
person, and our records show that. Homeopathy works within completely
different paradigms--that's the whole point.
Where are you? You might want to contact Steve Waldstein, President of NASH
(North American Society of Homeopaths): steve@homeopathy-cures. He might
help you with how to present yourself.
Good luck!
Charlotte
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]