ILLEGAL to give internet or email advice on health.............
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 2:32 pm
Its always been illegal in the US to treat disease unless you are an
MD............but sounding more serious for websites and email.
I don't have any more details than this
Sheri
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2 ... letter_and
_my_fmscfids_website.htm
From: Dominie Bush
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 2:08 AM
Subject: Death of the newsletter and my FMS/CFIDS website??
Dear Newsletter Readers,
1. I was contacted today by a leading attorney whose job it is to warn
those who give advice related to health conditions on the internet. This is
now illegal, unless you are a medical doctor. My website at
http://www.fms-help.com is not in compliance with FTC regulations.
2. Beginning Jan. 1, 2004, the FTC will begin a "sting operation" where
someone will email or call to ask for help with a health problem. Should
the kind-hearted soul reply with some advice, they can be fined
$250,000--yep, that's a quarter of a million dollars(!) if they are not a
medical doctor. I asked the attorney if the FTC would sue companies or
individuals and was told that the FTC isn't putting up with it anymore and
that individuals will be sued.
3. Because of this, I can no longer trust that people who write to me are
actually FMS/CFIDS sufferers. I will still be accepting email at dom@fms-
help.com but may not reply.
4. The attorney was most sympathetic with the use of nutritional
supplements, because of a family member with serious health problems that
drugs couldn't help. The person suffered serious side effects and is now
using ONLY nutritional supplements and doing much better. The attorney even
enthusiastically endorsed a popular nutritional supplement in the course of
our conversation.
5. The attorney said that Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois is trying to get
rid of dietary supplements and described him as "the meanest man on the
planet." My husband looked up Sen. Durbin's website and found an email
address to write to him: dick@durbin.senate.gov My husband also found a
good letter on the net at http://joeclarke.net/vitamins.htm (It's called,
"Hey Government, Don't Take Away My Vitamins.") There are many more letters
out there too, I've found.
6. Well, I have been in tears and grieving the loss of the website and
newsletter most of the day. I need to do something VERY QUICKLY about my
website, but I have no idea what! Please PRAY for me to know what to do!
Many of you have been with me for years and we have had the most wonderful
relationship of support and caring. I will always treasure that!!!
7. What happened to my freedom of speech?....Or is that only reserved for
pornographers now?! How can I get information out to people with FMS/CFIDS,
if I can't say anything because I am not a doctor?!!?? I am stumped!
8. My monthly newsletter is really YOUR newsletter, because much of the
information comes from you and I pass it on via the newsletter to others
who suffer with FMS/CFIDS. This is now against FTC regulations and they
will be enforced and I could be sued.
9. The information on my website at http://www.fms-help.com has helped many
people around the world and even prevented suicides. For the past 7 years,
I have had calls and emails from thousands of people who desperately needed
information and help in dealing with their fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue
syndrome. Their doctors have failed them and no one really understands what
it's like unless you have these conditions yourself. When you consider that
Dr. Kervorkian has "helped" 4 women with FMS/CFIDS to end their lives, you
realize the desperation and hopelessness in the hearts of many with chronic
"invisible" illness.
10. My FMS/CFIDS website has been on the net since 1996, but it appears to
now be coming to an end. At the very LEAST, I will have to severely curtail
the information I offer on my site in the next few weeks to avoid being
fined. If there's anything you want on my site at http://www.fms-help.com,
you may want to print it out now before it is taken down.
11. The attorney said that NO health condition can be mentioned along with
a nutritional supplement or advice of some kind. For example, when I say in
my tips site that magnesium helps the muscle stiffness of fibromyalgia,
that is a NO NO! All words have to be in "secret code" almost. Here are
some examples:
You can't say A.D.H.D. - You CAN say "trouble concentrating"
You can't say pain - You CAN say "discomfort"
You can't say insomnia - You CAN say "difficulty sleeping"
You can't say menopause - You CAN say "change of life"
You can't say fibromyalgia - Now I'm really stuck! Maybe I should
say--"severe discomfort in my body, count sheep all night, feel like an old
lady, can't stand up for more than 15 minutes, think negative thoughts,
have to lie down to rest frequently, can't stop my mind from thinking, have
to go the bathroom a lot, etc."
12. See "Stop Senator Durbin's Ban of Health Foods". There are many more
sites on the net about Senate Bill 722. Simply type in these words at
http://www.google.com -- Sen. Durbin's ban on nutritional supplements
bill--and you will get a lot of websites about this. I have already written
a letter to Sen. Durbin and ask you to do the same if this crisis in
American health is of importance to you.
13. I may be pulling my site down at http://www.fms-help.com soon so I can
work on it to try to make it compliant. That will be a mammoth job and I'm
not sure that I have the time or skills to do it. I am also concerned that
if and when I relaunch it, it will say next to nothing, like many other
sites that have been targeted by the FTC. They have been watered down to
where there's almost no point in reading them.
14. I am especially saddened because helping fibromyalgia patients has been
my life's work for the past 7 years and I believe was a calling from God. I
was glad that my 14 years of suffering hadn't been in vain--that what I
learned from dealing with FMS/CFIDS since 1982 could actually help other
people to not have to go through all the torments of this illness that I
did. But this can no longer be.....and I don't know what to do with all the
love and caring I feel in my heart toward those who are still suffering? I
am in tears! How can I help if I can't say what helps??!! It is so confusing!
15. I will be giving much thought and prayer about what to do next. Thank
you for all your contributions in the past years to the newsletter. We sure
have been a caring and supportive group of people and I have learned as
much from you as you have learned from me. The attorney told me that the
newsletter had great information in it, but is illegal. Frankly, I don't
know how to write a newsletter that uses only the "approved" language and
never mentions advice or a nutritional product in relation to a disease
condition. What about all those companies on the radio and TV who are
marketing their brand of calcium for people's "osteoporosis"?? I presume
they will also be targeted?
16. I feel that I am being muzzled. I hate it. I am hurting and confused.
Thank you for your prayers for me to know what to do. If my website
disappears for awhile and you don't get any more newsletters, it's because
I am either working on trying to make it compliant and still saying
something of value, or I have given up on it. I had the December 2003
newsletter almost ready to go and it's a great one! Was just putting some
finishing touches on it, but will not be able to send it now, since the
whole concept of the fibromyalgia newsletter violates the FTC regulations
(of giving people advice for a disease condition when you are not a doctor).
I am open to any thoughts or suggestions you may have. I may not write
back, but will be reading everything you write!
Faithfully yours,
Dominie Bush
Posted at November 25, 2003 12:00 AM | TrackBack
Comments
1. I founded (12 years ago)and run a support group and warm/hot line in
Davis,Yolo County, California. I have not had a website due to finances but
have wanted do have one.
You are to be praised for all of the out reach you have done. Thank you.
2. The URL is of the legislative advocacy organization that I volunteer for
on my better days (or hours).
Visit our website and use the links to find a copy of SB-577, which we
helped to get passed last year. Take it to every health food store, massage
(legit), any alt health person and start a grass roots fire to get similar
legislation passed in your state. This is a lengthy process but well worth
it and not impossible.
3. Contact the ACLU regarding the free speech issue.
4. Do you have a medical advice disclaimer promently placed at the head of
your website? If not, add one immediately.
5. At the beginning of EVERY phone, or even personal, conversation with
someone about FM/CFIDS do you state a disclaimer at the very beginning? If
not, begin to do so yesterday.
6. On e-mails, in phone calls and in conversation use the anti-entrapment
phrase/agreement. Every prostitute knows to ask a 'John' if he is a cop. If
he is and fails to immediately reveal such the case is tainted by
entrapment and groundless.
7. Unfortunately our U.S. and States constitutions and laws were all
superceded by GATT, NAFTA, WTO, Bechtel, Halliburton, GB1 and our sittin,
not elected,(by proclamation of the right-wing Supreme Court) dictator GB2,
the shrublet.
And because of artificially generated hysteria, laziness and ignorance
there was not a general uprising in the streets at the complete
overthrowing of our entire foundation of our culture.
That quite acceptance continues despite the stealth amendment of PATRIOT II
last week, redefining "financial document' for the FBI and now they have
full authority to snoop inside our computers and all e-mail, etc whenever
they want- without any warrent. Remember, PAT 1 & 2 already gave all police
and military the ability to enter your home, search it, remove 'evidence'
and not even notify you that this ever happened until you are dissapeared
without rights to an attorney or dragged up on charges in court (the better
of the two options).
Enlightenment has been eclipsed and the darkness has begun to gather over
the earth. Who is more dangerous, a tyrant who tells you he is King and you
have no rights or a usurper who fronts as believing in democracy, or at
least representative government?
Which one has more integrity?
Is it better to exist like a mouse before a hungry cat or die as the
talisman of God, speaking out for righteousness and truth?
Each person must decide. Apparently most of the country is asleep or has no
spine.
Unfortunately, it is going to get very much worse before it gets better.
It is agonizing to see every progress of the last 100 years, one by ten,
being overturned.
8. For the happy news--I will stand by you with ideas and any connections I
can make for your assistance.
If I had money I would hire a team of great attorneys. One of the wonderful
benefits of living well below the poverty line and essentially owning
nothing is the ability to speak the truth--no one can sue you for your money.
Some years ago while very depressed and looking at immenient homelessness I
was given a ticket for not having current tags on my car
(now they confiscate the car immediately and sell it in 30 days if
everything is not paid-including all the storage fees.) and I expalined to
the judge my circumstances, every time I was asked "How soon can you make
payment arrangements?" I replied, "Put me in jail, I can not pay and will
be homeless soon." The prosecutor was the first one to jump up, asking for
time with me to keep me out of jail. The prosecutor and public defender
both told the judge I was ill and unable to pay after I spoke with them.
The judge vacated the ticket. Today I would expect to loose my car and go
to jail. It is now 99.99% corrupt, then only 98%.
One of the first budget cuts that Gov. Terminator announced was the system
of support and programs for severely disabled children.
About the second item he cut was the elimination of benefits to all of the
disabled (that's me).
As soon as I can not see my doctor, get my medications or have any income I
will die. Many people die as infants, like I would have if not born in the
era of antibiotics. I've had a hard life but overall I am happy. All 57
years have been on borrowed time. The evil afoot may succeed in killing my
body but not my soul. Just imagine what I will be able to do to help fight
evil from the other side-they won't be able to contol or limit me in any
way.Yippy!
Please let me know everything that happens. I will try to find you a
miracle from my contacts and get you a plan and help.
Don't give up.
Donna Russell aka
Crusader Rabbit
A person is only valuable because s/he is a talisman of God. What we choose
do do
(ACTION) with and in our lives is what enriches our spirit and makes us
pleasing in the sight of God.
Posted by: Donna Russell on November 29, 2003 04:40 AM
Have you considered switching to testimonials. I think the FBI cannot stop
you from saying what worked for you, posting what others said worked for
them, or listing the results of research. In this case, you are merely
passing along information and reporting on research (yes there is some and
more all the time). This cannot be described as prescribing.
You should be able to organize this information under the vague headings
such as discomfort without using medical terms such as pain. I don't think
they can keep you from using the term fibromyalgia altogether. You will
need to keep it away from anything that looks like medical advice. Thus you
may be able to say "recovering fibromyalgia sufferer".
One of the best websites for looking at the literature is
http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/gw/Cmd
Use extenders e.g. supplement* will pull for supplement, supplements, or
supplementation.
Based on Donna's comments, I take it we are now to think of alternative
practitioners as terrorists. I hope the ACLU does take this one on. By the
way, I really like "Enemy fo the State." It gets more real all the time.
Posted by: Jan on December 1, 2003 03:08 PM
Is it genuine? I think it is
because if you go to the site mentioned in the letter (her own site) it
says at the bottom:
"I am sorry that I can no longer give my "100 Tips for Coping" on this
website or send out the newsletter".
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Classical Homeopath
Well Within & Earth Mysteries & Sacred Site Tours (worldwide)
Vaccination Information & Choice Network
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/homeo.htm
homeopathycures@tesco.net
ONLINE Introduction to Homeopathy Classes
ONLINE Introduction to Vaccine Dangers Classes
Voicemail US 530-740-0561 UK phone from US 011-44-1874-624-936
MD............but sounding more serious for websites and email.
I don't have any more details than this
Sheri
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2 ... letter_and
_my_fmscfids_website.htm
From: Dominie Bush
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 2:08 AM
Subject: Death of the newsletter and my FMS/CFIDS website??
Dear Newsletter Readers,
1. I was contacted today by a leading attorney whose job it is to warn
those who give advice related to health conditions on the internet. This is
now illegal, unless you are a medical doctor. My website at
http://www.fms-help.com is not in compliance with FTC regulations.
2. Beginning Jan. 1, 2004, the FTC will begin a "sting operation" where
someone will email or call to ask for help with a health problem. Should
the kind-hearted soul reply with some advice, they can be fined
$250,000--yep, that's a quarter of a million dollars(!) if they are not a
medical doctor. I asked the attorney if the FTC would sue companies or
individuals and was told that the FTC isn't putting up with it anymore and
that individuals will be sued.
3. Because of this, I can no longer trust that people who write to me are
actually FMS/CFIDS sufferers. I will still be accepting email at dom@fms-
help.com but may not reply.
4. The attorney was most sympathetic with the use of nutritional
supplements, because of a family member with serious health problems that
drugs couldn't help. The person suffered serious side effects and is now
using ONLY nutritional supplements and doing much better. The attorney even
enthusiastically endorsed a popular nutritional supplement in the course of
our conversation.
5. The attorney said that Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois is trying to get
rid of dietary supplements and described him as "the meanest man on the
planet." My husband looked up Sen. Durbin's website and found an email
address to write to him: dick@durbin.senate.gov My husband also found a
good letter on the net at http://joeclarke.net/vitamins.htm (It's called,
"Hey Government, Don't Take Away My Vitamins.") There are many more letters
out there too, I've found.
6. Well, I have been in tears and grieving the loss of the website and
newsletter most of the day. I need to do something VERY QUICKLY about my
website, but I have no idea what! Please PRAY for me to know what to do!
Many of you have been with me for years and we have had the most wonderful
relationship of support and caring. I will always treasure that!!!
7. What happened to my freedom of speech?....Or is that only reserved for
pornographers now?! How can I get information out to people with FMS/CFIDS,
if I can't say anything because I am not a doctor?!!?? I am stumped!
8. My monthly newsletter is really YOUR newsletter, because much of the
information comes from you and I pass it on via the newsletter to others
who suffer with FMS/CFIDS. This is now against FTC regulations and they
will be enforced and I could be sued.
9. The information on my website at http://www.fms-help.com has helped many
people around the world and even prevented suicides. For the past 7 years,
I have had calls and emails from thousands of people who desperately needed
information and help in dealing with their fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue
syndrome. Their doctors have failed them and no one really understands what
it's like unless you have these conditions yourself. When you consider that
Dr. Kervorkian has "helped" 4 women with FMS/CFIDS to end their lives, you
realize the desperation and hopelessness in the hearts of many with chronic
"invisible" illness.
10. My FMS/CFIDS website has been on the net since 1996, but it appears to
now be coming to an end. At the very LEAST, I will have to severely curtail
the information I offer on my site in the next few weeks to avoid being
fined. If there's anything you want on my site at http://www.fms-help.com,
you may want to print it out now before it is taken down.
11. The attorney said that NO health condition can be mentioned along with
a nutritional supplement or advice of some kind. For example, when I say in
my tips site that magnesium helps the muscle stiffness of fibromyalgia,
that is a NO NO! All words have to be in "secret code" almost. Here are
some examples:
You can't say A.D.H.D. - You CAN say "trouble concentrating"
You can't say pain - You CAN say "discomfort"
You can't say insomnia - You CAN say "difficulty sleeping"
You can't say menopause - You CAN say "change of life"
You can't say fibromyalgia - Now I'm really stuck! Maybe I should
say--"severe discomfort in my body, count sheep all night, feel like an old
lady, can't stand up for more than 15 minutes, think negative thoughts,
have to lie down to rest frequently, can't stop my mind from thinking, have
to go the bathroom a lot, etc."
12. See "Stop Senator Durbin's Ban of Health Foods". There are many more
sites on the net about Senate Bill 722. Simply type in these words at
http://www.google.com -- Sen. Durbin's ban on nutritional supplements
bill--and you will get a lot of websites about this. I have already written
a letter to Sen. Durbin and ask you to do the same if this crisis in
American health is of importance to you.
13. I may be pulling my site down at http://www.fms-help.com soon so I can
work on it to try to make it compliant. That will be a mammoth job and I'm
not sure that I have the time or skills to do it. I am also concerned that
if and when I relaunch it, it will say next to nothing, like many other
sites that have been targeted by the FTC. They have been watered down to
where there's almost no point in reading them.
14. I am especially saddened because helping fibromyalgia patients has been
my life's work for the past 7 years and I believe was a calling from God. I
was glad that my 14 years of suffering hadn't been in vain--that what I
learned from dealing with FMS/CFIDS since 1982 could actually help other
people to not have to go through all the torments of this illness that I
did. But this can no longer be.....and I don't know what to do with all the
love and caring I feel in my heart toward those who are still suffering? I
am in tears! How can I help if I can't say what helps??!! It is so confusing!
15. I will be giving much thought and prayer about what to do next. Thank
you for all your contributions in the past years to the newsletter. We sure
have been a caring and supportive group of people and I have learned as
much from you as you have learned from me. The attorney told me that the
newsletter had great information in it, but is illegal. Frankly, I don't
know how to write a newsletter that uses only the "approved" language and
never mentions advice or a nutritional product in relation to a disease
condition. What about all those companies on the radio and TV who are
marketing their brand of calcium for people's "osteoporosis"?? I presume
they will also be targeted?
16. I feel that I am being muzzled. I hate it. I am hurting and confused.
Thank you for your prayers for me to know what to do. If my website
disappears for awhile and you don't get any more newsletters, it's because
I am either working on trying to make it compliant and still saying
something of value, or I have given up on it. I had the December 2003
newsletter almost ready to go and it's a great one! Was just putting some
finishing touches on it, but will not be able to send it now, since the
whole concept of the fibromyalgia newsletter violates the FTC regulations
(of giving people advice for a disease condition when you are not a doctor).
I am open to any thoughts or suggestions you may have. I may not write
back, but will be reading everything you write!
Faithfully yours,
Dominie Bush
Posted at November 25, 2003 12:00 AM | TrackBack
Comments
1. I founded (12 years ago)and run a support group and warm/hot line in
Davis,Yolo County, California. I have not had a website due to finances but
have wanted do have one.
You are to be praised for all of the out reach you have done. Thank you.
2. The URL is of the legislative advocacy organization that I volunteer for
on my better days (or hours).
Visit our website and use the links to find a copy of SB-577, which we
helped to get passed last year. Take it to every health food store, massage
(legit), any alt health person and start a grass roots fire to get similar
legislation passed in your state. This is a lengthy process but well worth
it and not impossible.
3. Contact the ACLU regarding the free speech issue.
4. Do you have a medical advice disclaimer promently placed at the head of
your website? If not, add one immediately.
5. At the beginning of EVERY phone, or even personal, conversation with
someone about FM/CFIDS do you state a disclaimer at the very beginning? If
not, begin to do so yesterday.
6. On e-mails, in phone calls and in conversation use the anti-entrapment
phrase/agreement. Every prostitute knows to ask a 'John' if he is a cop. If
he is and fails to immediately reveal such the case is tainted by
entrapment and groundless.
7. Unfortunately our U.S. and States constitutions and laws were all
superceded by GATT, NAFTA, WTO, Bechtel, Halliburton, GB1 and our sittin,
not elected,(by proclamation of the right-wing Supreme Court) dictator GB2,
the shrublet.
And because of artificially generated hysteria, laziness and ignorance
there was not a general uprising in the streets at the complete
overthrowing of our entire foundation of our culture.
That quite acceptance continues despite the stealth amendment of PATRIOT II
last week, redefining "financial document' for the FBI and now they have
full authority to snoop inside our computers and all e-mail, etc whenever
they want- without any warrent. Remember, PAT 1 & 2 already gave all police
and military the ability to enter your home, search it, remove 'evidence'
and not even notify you that this ever happened until you are dissapeared
without rights to an attorney or dragged up on charges in court (the better
of the two options).
Enlightenment has been eclipsed and the darkness has begun to gather over
the earth. Who is more dangerous, a tyrant who tells you he is King and you
have no rights or a usurper who fronts as believing in democracy, or at
least representative government?
Which one has more integrity?
Is it better to exist like a mouse before a hungry cat or die as the
talisman of God, speaking out for righteousness and truth?
Each person must decide. Apparently most of the country is asleep or has no
spine.
Unfortunately, it is going to get very much worse before it gets better.
It is agonizing to see every progress of the last 100 years, one by ten,
being overturned.
8. For the happy news--I will stand by you with ideas and any connections I
can make for your assistance.
If I had money I would hire a team of great attorneys. One of the wonderful
benefits of living well below the poverty line and essentially owning
nothing is the ability to speak the truth--no one can sue you for your money.
Some years ago while very depressed and looking at immenient homelessness I
was given a ticket for not having current tags on my car
(now they confiscate the car immediately and sell it in 30 days if
everything is not paid-including all the storage fees.) and I expalined to
the judge my circumstances, every time I was asked "How soon can you make
payment arrangements?" I replied, "Put me in jail, I can not pay and will
be homeless soon." The prosecutor was the first one to jump up, asking for
time with me to keep me out of jail. The prosecutor and public defender
both told the judge I was ill and unable to pay after I spoke with them.
The judge vacated the ticket. Today I would expect to loose my car and go
to jail. It is now 99.99% corrupt, then only 98%.
One of the first budget cuts that Gov. Terminator announced was the system
of support and programs for severely disabled children.
About the second item he cut was the elimination of benefits to all of the
disabled (that's me).
As soon as I can not see my doctor, get my medications or have any income I
will die. Many people die as infants, like I would have if not born in the
era of antibiotics. I've had a hard life but overall I am happy. All 57
years have been on borrowed time. The evil afoot may succeed in killing my
body but not my soul. Just imagine what I will be able to do to help fight
evil from the other side-they won't be able to contol or limit me in any
way.Yippy!
Please let me know everything that happens. I will try to find you a
miracle from my contacts and get you a plan and help.
Don't give up.
Donna Russell aka
Crusader Rabbit
A person is only valuable because s/he is a talisman of God. What we choose
do do
(ACTION) with and in our lives is what enriches our spirit and makes us
pleasing in the sight of God.
Posted by: Donna Russell on November 29, 2003 04:40 AM
Have you considered switching to testimonials. I think the FBI cannot stop
you from saying what worked for you, posting what others said worked for
them, or listing the results of research. In this case, you are merely
passing along information and reporting on research (yes there is some and
more all the time). This cannot be described as prescribing.
You should be able to organize this information under the vague headings
such as discomfort without using medical terms such as pain. I don't think
they can keep you from using the term fibromyalgia altogether. You will
need to keep it away from anything that looks like medical advice. Thus you
may be able to say "recovering fibromyalgia sufferer".
One of the best websites for looking at the literature is
http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/gw/Cmd
Use extenders e.g. supplement* will pull for supplement, supplements, or
supplementation.
Based on Donna's comments, I take it we are now to think of alternative
practitioners as terrorists. I hope the ACLU does take this one on. By the
way, I really like "Enemy fo the State." It gets more real all the time.
Posted by: Jan on December 1, 2003 03:08 PM
Is it genuine? I think it is
because if you go to the site mentioned in the letter (her own site) it
says at the bottom:
"I am sorry that I can no longer give my "100 Tips for Coping" on this
website or send out the newsletter".
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Classical Homeopath
Well Within & Earth Mysteries & Sacred Site Tours (worldwide)
Vaccination Information & Choice Network
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/homeo.htm
homeopathycures@tesco.net
ONLINE Introduction to Homeopathy Classes
ONLINE Introduction to Vaccine Dangers Classes
Voicemail US 530-740-0561 UK phone from US 011-44-1874-624-936
