Complementary and Alternative Medicine – General Consultation (Discussion Page)
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regarding line 37 – My understanding of alternative medicine is that it is NOT scientific. So, the definition you propose does not really make sense?
The best example would be homeopathy – something with no supporting evidence and no physiologic plausibility, etc.
Evidence –
“Since the three ‘high quality’trials are those that were already identified as ‘reliable evidence’,there is no change in our main conclusion from previous meta-analysis based on the best-quality RCTs: the medicines prescribed in individualised homeopathy may have small, specific, treatment effects.”
REFERENCE
Mathie, Robert T; Van Wassenhoven, Michel; Jacobs, Jennifer; Oberbaum, Menachem; Frye, Joyce; Manchanda, Raj K; … Fisher, Peter (2016). Model validity and risk of bias in randomised placebo-controlled trials of individualised homeopathic treatment. Complement Ther Med, 25. pp. 120-125. 10.1016/j.ctim.2016.01.005
https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/handle/10161/13042
Mechanism
It has been postulated that all substances have a bioelectric wave signature within water, and that this is the possible mechanism of action (Roy et al., 2005). An illustration of this concept was published by Montagnier et al. (2009) showing that the DNA of pathogenic viruses and bacteria in dilute solutions “could emit low frequency radio waves” that induce water nanostructures, that themselves are capable of reproducing and propagating these radio waves. It was suggested by the investigators, that these radiofrequency properties persisted even in ultradiluted solution, whereby one would expect no molecules of the original DNA was present – similar to the concept and explanation for homeopathic remedies. More recently, Manzalini & Galeazzi (2019) scientifically explained this theoretical model of “information transfer” from the substance to the water solution, through quantum electrodynamics (QED).
REFERENCES
> Roy R., Tiller W.A., Bell I.R. (2005). The structure of liquid water: novel insights from materials research. Potential relevance to homeopathy. Mater Res Innov.. 9:577-608
> Montagnier L., Aissa J., Ferris S.: Electromagnetic signals are produced by aqueous nanostructures derived from bacterial DNA sequences. Interdiscip Sci.. 1:81-90 2009
> Manzalini, A., & Galeazzi, B. (2019). Explaining Homeopathy with Quantum electrodynamics.
Homeopathy, 108(03), 169–176. doi: 10.1055/s-0039-1681037
It should be up to the doctor and the patient on what course of treatment they can take and tolerate. There is no reason that a doctor can’t determine that alternative methods of healing will help in conjunction with traditional methods. Appropriate consideration should be given to use less-invasive and less-harmful interventions, while addressing the whole person in addition to the disease. This is the basis of functional medicine. The government should not have the right to take away our choice or the doctor’s choice in these matters.
I agree with this
Agreed.
I agree with this as well, we should have the right to choose, the treatments I receive I pay for – I have researched and it is how I want to treat myself. I want the right to make decisions and have treatment I am comfortable with.
100% Agree
Totally agree!
I agree with this too.
I agree as well.
I agree. Alternative treatments can be lower risk than conventional and can be effective, alone or in conjunction with conventional treatment more effective
I totally agree that each individual has the right to choose which care works best for them. Alternative treatments should not be dismissed by conventional medicine instead they should embraced and used in conjuction with to treat an individuals case.
Agree, alternative medicine can be so helpful and effective, and with a lower risk. Many alternative practices do have a lot of evidence to back them. It’s dangerous to lump all alternative practices under one umbrella.
I agree with this too!
I agree with this!
I totally agree with this statement. It is up to me to decide the type of medical treatment I want, not the government.
I agree wholeheartedly with this. Let the person decide what they want to pursue toward good health. I do not want the government or the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to determine what is in my best interest. The mainstream model is so often a pharmaceutical avenue and for many people they want a more natural, non-invasive, and negative side effects approach.
I agree with this.
I absolutely agree with the statement that it is up to the patient to decide on the treatment.
As a cancer survivor with peripheral damage as a result of treatment that was not supported by traditional medical intervention, I looked for alternatives.
I chose Ozone therapy to treat a persistent ear infection that had been present for over a year and half. Traditional medicine offered no resolve except for radical surgery to permanently close my ear canal. and end any ability to support hearing in my left year. 6 months after Ozone therapy the infection has cleared, my hearing with the support of a hearing aid has returned.
I chose a physician that used traditional and non traditional methods because of the expertise they had in both camps. This made for a confident and secure way forward for me. To lose the ability to find physicians who practice holistically severely restricts patient rights to collaborative treatment.
I totally agree!
agreed!
I completely agree with this statement. It is my body and I am the one who will suffer the harm from the treatment. The government has no right to take away my choice of treatment or limit my access to full and complete disclosure of ALL treatment options available. In my experience, conventional medicine can do more harm and less good than alternative treatments. As an example, I suffered for years from asthma, with significant side effects from the inhalers including recurring serious lung infections (bronchitis, pneumonia), thrush, chronic cough, and hoarseness. I tried multiple different inhalers to reduce the side effects and improve my health. After two decades of suffering, I removed dairy from my diet and within a week was off all inhalers and have not had either bronchitis, pneumonia or anything more than a very mild asthma flare up since. If I had been fully informed of alternative treatments decades ago, I could have avoided a great deal of health issues. I also suffered liver damage from antibiotics used to treat a chronic infection following a “conventional medicine” approach and my symptoms just rebounded after treatment. Just changing my diet and using herbals to support immune function, I have improved 95% without damaging my liver. There is a great deal that can be done to naturally support immune function and treat the whole person rather than relying on harsh treatments that only treat symptoms just because a pharmaceutical company paid for a double-blind study.
Agree!
agree with this
I agree with this as well.
Yes It should be up to the doctor and the patient on what course of treatment they can manage to improve patient’s health.
I wholeheartedly agree with this! Patients should have the right to choose to be treated with alternative medicine. CPSO and government should not take away our options or our freedom to choose. People turn to alternative medicine when conventional medicine has not worked. There won’t be any less business for CPSO or pharmaceutical companies.
Medicine is not a one size fits all or exact science. It is a process of elimination, and ruling out things.
I agree completely with this. Personal experiences in dealing with difficult health issues have made clear to me that both conventional and functional medicine have their place in medical care and doctors and patients should all have the right to choose.
Very well put… We should have the right to choose for ourselves how we want to be healing.
Completely agree.
I agree
I agree with this. The government should not take away our right and the doctor’s right to choose what is best.
I completely agree.
I fully agree.
Totally agree! We should have the right choose how and with what we are treated. It would be most beneficial for our health if all Doctors would acknowledge alternative treatments and work together for the optimal health of their patients. Finding root causes and practicing preventative therapies instead of just treating symptoms with medication to me seems a good practice.
Well said!!
I agree that there must be proper policies to control CAM, but the inherent bias in the draft policy and survey is unacceptable.
The College clearly feels threatened and the tone, wording, ambiguity and unachievable standards to be met, appear to be the response to this perceived threat.
The policy needs to include the input of successful, respected Integrated/Alternative/Functional medicine practitioners and eliminate the bias to produce a useful, practical and effective policy, which is not what the proposed policy represents.
I could hardly be more dissatisfied with the proposed policy as written.
Beautifully articulated, March 23, 2021 at 5:58 pm! I agree 100%
I have experienced tremendous stress release accompanied by physical and emotional benefits from integrated / alternative / functional health practice.
I agree with this completely.
It should be up to the doctor and the patient on what course of treatment they can take and tolerate. There is no reason that a doctor can’t determine that alternative methods of healing will help in conjunction with traditional methods. Appropriate consideration should be given to use less-invasive and less-harmful interventions, while addressing the whole person in addition to the disease. This is the basis of functional medicine. The government should not have the right to take away our choice or the doctor’s choice in these matters.
I agree 100%
agreed
I agree entirely.
“No supportive evidence”—-who is going to pay for getting this supportive evidence??????
“No physiologic plausibilty”—-It depends on how narrow is your knowledge on what is plausible ???? when you have only learn one set of medical paradiagm, of course, you would not know that it is plausible.
If you do not understand electromagnetic energy, you will find that a remote control handset for adjusting a television is NO WAY POSSIBLE OR PLAUSIBLE !!
People respond differently to healing. Some people respond to drugs or vaccines; others to complementary and alternative healing methods. It depends on the person’s consciousness and beliefs. TRUE HEALING is of the body, mind and spirit, and not just our physical bodies. . Unfortunately our doctors and government have have been bought out by the big pharmaceutical companies and have become advertising salespeople for these companies. It’s time people stood up for our rights to choose how to look after our own bodies.
I agree with this. Big Pharma is using CPSO to remove all alternatives to the pharmaceuticals they manufacture and sell to the public.
Agree 1000% with this. This is a very political document and why is it coming along now? For what reason? Who is pushing for this?
I agree. Pharma is a business. Making more and more money is the point. I believe they are attempting to manipulate CPSO into helping them do just that. I am very disappointed with CPSO in this matter.
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I have personally benefitted from Alternate medicine which has helped me full recover from a STROKE.CONVENTIONAL HAS LIMITATION. Iit is because of [redacted] experience & knowledge of Alternate medicine that I am ALIVE & fully RECOVERED. ANY ATTEMPT TO ELIMINATE [redacted] FROM PRACTISING ALTERNATE MEDICINE WOULD BE DEPRIVAL OF MY RIGHT TO CHOOSE & My right to live.
Should [redacted] not be able to practise then the College Would be Guilty of Violation of our human rights. About which we will take action Thru UNITED NATIONS.
I agree that this definition does not make sense. They are lumping “Integrative Medicine” with homeopathy.
The Ontario healthcare system is so far behind our American counterparts, it is abhorrent. From here: https://www.abpsus.org/aboim/
The American Board of Physician Specialties
as Integrative Medicine continues to gain wider acceptance, its basic foundational tenets remain constant:
Consideration of all factors that influence health, wellness and disease – including mind, body and spirit
Use of conventional and alternative methods to facilitate the body’s innate healing response
Appropriate consideration given to use of less-invasive and less-harmful interventions, when possible, while addressing the whole person in addition to the disease
The concept that medicine is based on good science, is inquiry-driven and open to critical consideration of new paradigms
Healthcare is best provided as a partnership between physician and patient
In addition to scientifically sound treatment concepts, an Integrative Medicine practitioner espouses the broad concepts of health promotion/illness prevention and healthy living. Practitioners also are expected to exemplify these concepts and to remain open to self-exploration and self-development. The ABOIM’s rigorous, clinically based exams are designed to allow qualified physicians to demonstrate their proficiency in all of these concepts.
It is in the patients best interest that doctor offer all treatments that may assist them. As a patient with chronic conditions I can say that many of the Pharma therapies are profitable but not necessarily the best treatment for the patient. I am regularly told to take pregabalin for my fibromyalgia. It is not only ineffective against my chronic pain, it caused side symptoms that added to and aggravated my pain and health. The doctors continue to disregard my and many other chronic sufferers. Many others with my similar conditions have similar experiences of being offered one or three Pharma therapies and if these dont help, doctors throw up their hands and blame the patient over recognizing we know our bodies best. If a therapy is tried and the results are not positive or helpful, it is not the fault of the patient. It points to a need for further investigation and other therapies. By removing any and all alternative, natural, and intermodal therapy approaches and focusing only on pharmacological approaches with big bucks behind them, the patients will suffer even more.
In this day and age I am thoroughly disappointed that this is being put on the table when what we need is more discussion, more open testing not driven by profit, more open-mindedness towards complimentary therapies, and a mingling of western and alternative approaches.
Patients first – foster an open minded approach to find what works for the patient.
I totally agree with this statement. Big Pharma is using the CPSO to remove all competition against their expensive and sometimes ineffective drugs
Have been reading the above and agree with all responses.
Absolutely agree. I have experienced similar issues. Over time, it has become apparent to me that my physicians prescribe first, and “think” later. Numerous times, I have been prescribed medications that are not appropriate in my particular situation, because they were not (adequately) tested on subjects with my specific conditions. My physicians do not take such issues into account. If Health Canada allows it to be prescribed–that’s good enough for them. I have had much more thoughtful evaluation of potential treatments from my CAS-oriented team.
Alternative medicine helped me many times. I was always was coming for help to modern medicine, and if it could not help me, then I asked help from alternative ( actually historically more proved, proved by Years). And in many many cases just Alternative medicine helped me. I believe that people should have equal access to the both medicine: Modern and Alternative. I do Respect both of them.
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My husband, a retired physician, has been struggling with Parkinson’s Disease in the past few years. the neurologists we have seen are severely limited – they only know how to prescribe medications and provide absolutely NO other helpful interventions. The adage about neurologists – “diagnose and adiose” – is sadly very true. With visits every 6 months the patient and family are abandoned to struggle on their own.
The only help we have received is from [redacted] an alternative and integrative medical clinic. Through their interventions, including neurorehabilitation, there is some hope and ‘evidence’ that he has been able to live better. The exercises and supplements they have prescribed have enabled him to manage his symptoms better especially the increasingly frequent ‘off’ periods. To deprive patients such as my husband to access to such care would be a huge disservice to the public.
And the sad thing about this, is the extent to which CPSO’s so-called ethical stance in driving this new policy directive, does not obtain to conventional practitioners who leave patients to suffer when their “treatment” options (with drugs), have hit a wall. They have nothing else to provide, because they’re not encouraged to provide anything else — because CPSO, does not require it of them. Rather, if CPSO really wanted to “integrate” integrative medicine into the universe of treatment, they would have approached it from this perspective. ie, what else can CONVENTIONAL practitioners do, be encouraged to apply? With what research and funding resources? We are stuck still in the past, and falling behind other nations, and jurisdictions (like BC for instance).
Completely agree with original post and follow-up. I am in a similar situation. Some of my regular physicians appear to really want to help, but don’t seem to be able to do any more than throw various drugs at the problem. The only positive results I have obtained have resulted from the advice of my integrative team. CPSO’s directives appear to subject these un-conventional practitioners to rules to which conventional practitioners are not subjected.
Vaccines are homeopathy.And physics supports it. Experiments have been done diluting a substance in water. With sufficient dilution, the substance disappeared but the water took on the characteristics of the substance. Then the more it was diluted, the stronger it became. Nothing to do with homeopathy, and not difficult to duplicate.
I went for homeopathy in despair because my daughter had been on antibiotics for ear infections for 3 years straight. I actually was wondering what I was doing in this cabinet with my 4 years old daughter crying under the desk of the homeopath with her ears hurting her badly. I answered his questions and he prepared a few drops and she drank them in a bit of water. It was instantaneous the pain disappeared ( I couldn’t believe it, my 4 years old daughter wasn’t pushed to believe anything as her own mother was very septic).
I was totally amazed, 25 years have gone by and I have never looked back…only using alternative medicine…and we are all in far better health than the majority of the population….actually in great health.
There is far more in this world than mets the eye…so when you say only ”science” you are missing a whole lot and should look further for the real well being of your patients.
As a woman on HRT I rely on an integrative medicine specialist who prescribes individualized hormones and carefully monitors my health. I found that conventional MDs were dismissive of my questions and concerns regarding HRT and have only very basic knowledge of the risks and benefits. Integrative medicine should exist alongside conventional medicine.
Homeopathy is amazing. Just because you don’t understand it or are willing to take some time to understand it, doesn’t mean it isn’t healing, effective, and amazing.
You will never see or understand something that you refuse to see and understand. Typically it is ego that prevents this learning from taking place. Occasionally it is a sense obligation to toe the line or a fear of persecution for not toeing the line. Whichever reason it is, it is chosen nescience which is neither becoming of a doctor, nor demonstrates the makings of a good doctor as there is ALWAYS more to learn about the human body and always the potential for new discoveries or developments in medicine.
Also, it’s easy to disregard potential tools in medicine that have not been extensively studied. Sadly, many promising treatment modalities have not been studied nor developed to their full potential simply because the possibility of positive outcomes from these studies or developments would not serve the self-interests of the funder(s).
The most profound things in life can’t be explained by science. Science is extremely over-rated. Just because you don’t understand it and can’t open your mind to it doesn’t mean it’s not true or valuable.
“It should be up to the doctor and the patient on what course of treatment they can take and tolerate. There is no reason that a doctor can’t determine that alternative methods of healing will help in conjunction with traditional methods. Appropriate consideration should be given to use less-invasive and less-harmful interventions, while addressing the whole person in addition to the disease. This is the basis of functional medicine. The government should not have the right to take away our choice or the doctor’s choice in these matters”.
Mother with AD, dad with PD, clearly some potential hardwired risk genes. Took a 23ndme genetic test, found out some SCIENCE based impacts of my genome. I have 2 advanced University degrees, one in engineering, so I am a science based person. My pre genome test health was not great, clearly had some epigenetic/biomarker risk factors for neurodegenerative and general mortality. Decided I was going to do something about it. Did a deep dive into the scientific literature, and as of today, have amassed/read almost 5,000 papers in all the major journals. During this scientific review journey, I approached my family doctor, who threw me to the curb…completely UNSUPPORTIVE. So I fired him, and found a certified FMD (trained MD, practicing alternative optimal health medicine). Together, and acting as my “coach”, we have undertaken a SCIENCE based approach to optimizing my health for neurodegenerative prevention, and general reduction in all cause mortality. Mnny things we agree on, some things we don’t, but we let the biomarkers and science guide. I don’t recognize myself today. I am in SUPREME physical shape, and have OPTIMAL biomarkers. My DNAge epigenetic test shows me as 4 yrs younger than my biological age! My cognitive health is stellar. No way would I be in this state with my regular “conventional statin-care” doctor. Certainly, the FMD should be science driven, but that is the ONLY min criteria. After that, it is MY right to direct my healthcare.
I am strongly opposed to CPSO’s proposed changes in the draft policy document. They unfairly target physicians using complementary and alternative treatments. The draft policy changes are too heavy handed. If CPSO is worried about risks to patients, then their proposed policy changes should ALSO be applied to conventional medicine, rather than building a double standard where complementary and alternative medicine is unfairly targeted and restricted. There is a growing body of peer reviewed scientific evidence for complementary and alternative treatment therapies. Let the evidence grow and acknowledge the data rather than limiting access to non-conventional treatments simply because there are decades of data and studies behind it. Many conventional treatment options for diseases offer little help to patients and do not alleviate suffering or cure diseases. If complementary and alternative treatment options can offer benefits, then physicians should be free to use their professional judgement about whether to prescribe them.
what’s the purpose of these consultations? they never seem to matter to the final outcome anyway.
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please read the enclosed PDF , outlining our carefully laid out argument . https://docdro.id/dN2DFZk
with many thanks
[redacted]
Alternative medicine or complementary medicine are names that denigrate it to start with. It is really functional & natural medicine we are talking about. I have studied both. The correct name for “conventional medicine” is “pharmacological medicine”. It is inferior in all cases in my experience for the treatment of chronic conditions. The pharmaceutical industry’s agenda is to make money, fair enough. What that entails is it must be a patentable drug (which means all natural substances are of no interest), & it must be a drug that does not cure the condition. Those are the two criteria of this “conventional medicine”.
Functional & natural medicine look for the underlying malfunctions in the body, & then restore them with natural treatments, i.e. reverse the conditions instead of treating the symptoms only.
There are thousands of examples. I gave my mother-in-law 1 supplement to take for her diabetes at the age of 85. Within 1 year she was off of her 2 diabetes drugs. She is now 97 & still requires no drugs for diabetes. Why? Because the root cause was addressed & she was not given a drug that only treats the symptoms.
I think that doctors should have to explain why they would consider a conventional medical treatment (i.e. drug) which dooms the patient to never resolving their health problem, instead of a functional medicine treatment which heals the condition.
We need some leadership to learn functional medicine & natural medicine, and go away from pharmaceutical drug treatments. We need to wake up & see that the drug way is not correct for chronic illnesses in almost all cases. The public is becoming more & more aware of this & wanting it. Wellness clinics are flourishing. “Conventional Medicine” does extremely well with acute conditions, but is sadly getting further & further behind due to not learning functional & natural medicine for chronic conditions.
I was glad to read this statement regarding the benefits on Functional and natural medicine.
Excellent points I am a strong believer in functional and natural medicine.
your points are interesting. From where do you see the leadership arising, and from where the impetus/structure for said leadership?
Bravo doctor! Are you taking any patients?
Yes. Functional and natural and looking at the whole body/root cause rather than just treating symptoms. This should be top priority for everyone’s health and not to mention, saving taxpayers money on medical expenses claimed under “free” healthcare.
Only big pharma can afford all the testing required to prove the efficacy of a specific treatment which leaves herbs and other natural food medicines unable to compete.
I understand the importance of protecting patients from being treated incorrectly however beyond this there needs to be funding for studies on the natural options to keep folks from being over treated with pharmaceuticals and a consequential myriad of side effects to then be treated for and so on and so on.
I am a nutritionist so the idea of having md’s stay “in their lane” of pharma is actually beneficial to my business however this is of huge detriment to lower income people who don’t have access to healthcare beyond their medical doctors who are actually practicing “sick care” rather than treating root causes. The system is broken and there needs to be way more done beyond this policy to incorporate evidence based treatments and not just pharmaceuticals backed by placebo controlled double blind testing.
Thank you very much for posting this. You captured my point of view in its entirety. We need strong voices within our broken conventional “sick” model of medicine and CAM doctors are bringing light to it by providing better and more effective outcomes for their patients than conventional medicine.
This is long winded (sorry), incomplete, and will show an absence of proof reading. My apologies. It is so appropriate that during the era of Q Anon there would be so much angst over something simple as proof.
Those who lack critical thinking skills tend to seek out evidence that supports their own beliefs. Those who have critical thinking skills look objectively at evidence.
If it is true that alternative or whatever medicine is flourishing, you have to ask why and whether your answer is based upon facts or a need to validate your own “belief”.
I could argue that the non-regulated alternative world has grown due to marketing by the purveyors of the products used by the alternative gang as well as by grocers, and the clinics themselves. I could also argue that the advent of alternative medicine seekers has been aided by the big pharmacies (you must hate them because they make a profit) who are jumping on the “remedies” business because of the monster profits made by selling “natural remedies” without having to substantiate that what they are selling is safe to ingest. Of course, without proper evidence, YOUR opinions are about as useful as MY alternatives.
You have done a great disservice to yourself and your profession by dragging out the lame claim that what you deem to be pharmacologic medicine (tell that to a surgeon, radiologist, orthopod, etc.) is really a pawn for money grabbing drug companies.
Of course drug companies are evil – in your world – but what about the money grabbing unregulated world of alternative medicine that preys upon the vulnerable and charges outrageous prices for itsy bitsy bits of an herb or formulation and filler? What about double billing docs that charge OHIP for a visit where they are selling a bag of natural remedy at a profit? What about the insane prices being charged above OHIP by some “natural medicine” practitioners? What about the businesses putting out the fake newspapers that disguise themselves as health news as they promote their own herbs, formulations and remedies…that have not been scientifically validated? What about the lack of any oversight over the stuff that the natural remedy vendors put in their forumulations?
Making the drug companies your demon is disingenuous when you ignore the insane prices being paid for a teensy weensy bit of fairy dust at health food stores, pharmacies and grocery stores. Go to Shoppers and see how much shelf space is dedicated to “natural products”. Talk to a grocer and learn how shelf space is bought by the vendors or allocated on the basis of how much profit the product makes for the business. The big lie in your world is that the drug companies are monsters. Next time you get cancer, dab a bit of coconut oil on it, and skip the chemo.
The U.S. and Germany (probably others too) have established research facilities to determine the efficacy of “natural remedies”. What would be so difficult for homeopaths, naturopaths, and “alternative” medicine docs to live with scientific proof? Germany has come out with some very interesting proof of the efficacy of some “natural remedies” and has proved some to be folkloric nonsense.
I am one of the masses of vulnerable people who end up going to physicians who live in the world of alternative medicine. Like many others, as a last resort, I have done as instructed, with the only benefit experienced is in the pocket of the purveyors of the magic herbs, potions and formulations. Modern medicine has a lot to learn but at least it honestly tells you what it knows and what it doesn’t know. Don’t be afraid of facts.
By the way, I have had some in your world go nuts about the handling of the pandemic, insisting that remedies (never vaccines) already exist that would end the pandemic in a flash. Look behind their pronouncements and look at their double blind studies. You will find that none of them have anything to do with viruses. There has been so much reliance on the quacks that Trump hired, especially when they had their 2 hour U.S. special senate stage.
The reason that this site is so full of comments from backers of the natural remedy world is that alternative/complementary/functional/whatever doctors are feeling threatened that they might have to meet the same standard as the rest of the medical disciplines. How many people – myself included – would have known about the move by the CPSO were it not from an email from their natural healer urging the converted to stand up for unregulated practice.
Last comment – I know, you hate me – if you have such a strong belief about the good of this business, hand in your physician’s licence, avoid dealing with the CPSO and become a unregulated practitioner of Wellness with your own Wellness Clinic, as they are apparently becoming so popular…and profitable.
Some people need both remedies to see results so it ultimately it should come down to CHOICE! Did you ever think of it in a way where these medical doctors with no knowledge or experience with integrative therapies felt threatened by those doctors that can provide both services to their clients? Maybe they’re losing clients so of course they would want the policies to be more strict to limit practitioners that offer both.
I agree 100% with this statement
You see it with one direction only. Who made you God? People should have a choice. Period. If you don’t like it, keep handing out the pharma products with a multitude of side effects. Why can’t a more natural approach be taken? What ever happened to that idea? Oh right. Pharmaceuticals were born.
AGREED!!!! Should always have a choice.
Excellent points spoken from experience. I wish there were more like you in the field who were willing to speak up.
Thank you for saying this, as a physician. With my own chronic condition, both a history of GPs (3) and a specialist have told me it’s just the way I’m wired, so I have to deal with it. Whereas the naturopaths that I visit are asking questions (what a concept!) as they search for a reason it’s happening and offer treatment.
So thank you for your comments.
Yes, everyone should at least have the right to choose.
I am happy to hear a physician saying what has been on my mind for years. We still have hope if people like you are among us. Thank you!
Well said.
This is correct! In fact sir William Osler himself said our goal as Physicians is to get patients off drugs. Of that means helping them leant to eat properly and adopt evidence based practices such as yoga and meditation, than that is what we should be doing. So much of what ails us today is stress and conventional medicine does not deal with it well.
Well said! I agree. Ontarians most definitely need leadership to promote the benefits of functional medicine for chronic disease. After he diagnosed me with a chronic disease, my specialist suggested (in an offhand manner as I was about to leave his office) that some people with my disease do well on a specific type of diet. That dietary advice was the only CAM thing he has ever suggested — and it was also the most useful thing he offered. I went home and immediately changed my diet. Two years later I am 100% meds free even though most people with my condition need surgery, a ton of steroids and a lot of other pharmaceuticals to barely manage their downward spiraling symptoms. I also take a lot of supplements that the specialist declines to discuss with me. I would very much like to find a functional doctor who is interested in helping to take me further in my healing.
At the very least, I certainly hope that a mere diet suggestion wouldn’t be prohibited by CPSO.
The College risks making a serious error in policy making if they go ahead with including novel therapies implemented early by physicians quickly assessing new evidence with the naturopathic-type practice that would typically be thought of under the “Complementary and Alternative Medicine” label.
It is completely different for a physician to be trying a novel therapy that might be supported by case series but not yet a large trial when they feel that a specific patient might benefit from it and engage in an appropriate discussion with informed consent versus someone using some type of “natural” or homeopathic remedy. These should not be covered under the same policy.
To my mind, as a research scientist, this is the greatest concern about this policy. There absolutely needs to be a separate policy (and there still needs to be one, especially with regard to informed consent) for treating patients based on preliminary evidence. Doctors who are current in their expertise and willing to try new treatments (with informed consent) based on preliminary data is simply not the same domain for policymaking as protecting the public from predatory supplement sales and the like.
I understand that “integrative medicine” and such willfully blur the lines, but these doctors should be held to precisely the same standards as conventional practices. It wildly misrepresents the state of research science to assume that we have some arbitrary number of large scale trials for every malady a patient is likely to encounter. Doctors have an ethical obligation to treat their patients to the best of the ability. Denying treatment to patients, especially those with pressing issues with short-timeline prognoses, because they have not had enough trials yet does not meet the pressing needs of that patient who does not have enough time to wait.
Doctors who are willing to try to help their patients based on the limited information they have definitely are potential venues for abuse and should be overseen, but should absolutely not be included in a policy meant for dealing with predatory supplement sales etc. If MDs who call their practices “Integrative medicine” are the target of this extension of the policy and are the problem this policy seeks to address, the solution is not to develop an overly broad definition of homeopathy. The solution is to hold them to the same set of standards as any other MD.
A reasoned, middle ground voice amongst a lot of homeopathic and “don’t tell me what to do” drivel…
Are the writers of this policy conflating off-label use of a medicine with homeopathy, naturopathy, etc.? I always understood conventional medicine to be whatever there was reasonable evidence for and whatever was the best practice.
This is a very important document.
All medical practice needs to be science based. All physicians need to be held the the same standard, whatever label they apply to themselves. The only standard that can be used to judge appropriate care is science. If you throw out science, you cannot regulate, because outside of a system of objectivity, any decision can be justified. There will be pressure to change this document, as many practitioners make a lot of money pushing unscientific practices on vulnerable patients. Please to not bow to that pressure. Medicine needs a scientific basis first and foremost if our patients are to trust us.
No one understands what magnetism is. Scientists in western medicine say it has no effect on the body. The measurement of a magnetic field is measured in Teslas. Nikola Tesla – the greatest scientist of all time invented magnetic field therapy and is used extensively in the former Soviet Union countries – and not as a complimentary medicine. In Canada – it’s considered complimentary medicine.
An herein lies the error: most complementary / alternative medicine practiced by medical doctors in Ontario is absolutely science-based. Not randomized phase 3 double blinded placebo-controlled trial based science, but evidence-based in any case.
Also, one has to be cognizant of the fact that most things that an allopathic “conventional” physician practices are not actually supported by clinical trials of this nature. And what is supported by trials is often biased by massive conflicts of interest of the researchers and misrepresentation of the data. I never knew this coming out of residency, but when I decided to look for myself, this what I found.
Surprisingly there are even many approved therapies that are not based on any evidence at all! Doctors have even published on this very subject (of fraudulent research). Don’t believe it? Do your own homework.
Medical profession needs to wake up. CAM is not quackery. But CPSO seems to think so and wants to effectively ban it. Clearly that is what this ridiculous policy is all about.
I totally agree with what this doctor is saying, particularly the following:
“Also, one has to be cognizant of the fact that most things that an allopathic “conventional” physician practices are not actually supported by clinical trials of this nature. And what is supported by trials is often biased by massive conflicts of interest of the researchers and misrepresentation of the data. I never knew this coming out of residency, but when I decided to look for myself, this what I found.
Surprisingly there are even many approved therapies that are not based on any evidence at all! Doctors have even published on this very subject (of fraudulent research). Don’t believe it? Do your own homework.
Medical profession needs to wake up. CAM is not quackery. But CPSO seems to think so and wants to effectively ban it. Clearly that is what this ridiculous policy is all about.”
Until patents, profits and conflicts of interest are eliminated from academic research and medicine, we will never truly have “evidence-based” allopathic treatments. So, I find it incredibly ironic that the government and the CPSO turn a blind eye to this, while trying to enforce standards on CAM that are not being met in allopathic medicine. As a health care consumer, please don’t dictate to me the treatments I’m “allowed” to use. Instead, clean up the whole, Big Pharma-corrupted system, and create an integrative health care model based on ethics, transparency and accountability. There is no justification to keep the whole false polarization between allopathic and CAM going. It will (and is) just bankrupting health care.
And who determines which Science is true and good? The Pharmaceutical controlled Medical Establishment. They have been suppressing cures and natural remedies that work for years. They suppress anything they cant control or make money from! EG. Vitamin C injections, light therapy for pain, herbs for parasites, just to name a few.
Who are the scientists and who pays them?????
Exactly! Because we have seen how the current “science table” of Ontario does not promote healthy living or supplementing with Vitamin D during this time of Covid, or any flu season for that matter.
You have made an assumption that what integrative doctors do is not based on science. This is false. Integrative doctors are often the ones using the science knowledge that is published years before you will see it presented with a new designer drug developed to target a particular mechanism or receptor. Keep in mind that most of the drugs have origins in herbal sources that are then further studied, molecules isolated, altered and then patented.
EVIDENCE: “Many conventional drugs originate from plant sources: a century ago, most of the few effective drugs were plant-based. Examples include aspirin (from willow bark), digoxin (from foxglove), quinine (from cinchona bark), and morphine (from the opium poppy)”.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071505/#:~:text=Many%20conventional%20drugs%20originate%20from,(from%20the%20opium%20poppy).
You state: “Many practitioners make a lot of money pushing unscientific practices on vulnerable patients”. Your blanket statement generalizing “many” is merely an opinion without a clear example to prove your point. Integrative treatments are not insured, and therefore have fees. Plastic surgeons performing ‘non-OHIP’ procedures for breast implants or other cosmetic procedures charge large fees. Botox injection fees are OK. Somehow ‘conventional medicine fees for non-OHIP” procedures are OK, but integrative medicine fees are not OK. Why is this so?
I agree medicine needs to be scientific. However, I am embarrassed as to why Ontarians do not regard Integrative treatments as scientific? The American Board of Physician Specialties has long identified it as sound science. Why not us? Why are we so behind?
From here: https://www.abpsus.org/aboim/
“as Integrative Medicine continues to gain wider acceptance, its basic foundational tenets remain constant:
Consideration of all factors that influence health, wellness and disease – including mind, body and spirit
Use of conventional and alternative methods to facilitate the body’s innate healing response
Appropriate consideration given to use of less-invasive and less-harmful interventions, when possible, while addressing the whole person in addition to the disease
The concept that medicine is based on good science, is inquiry-driven and open to critical consideration of new paradigms
Healthcare is best provided as a partnership between physician and patient
In addition to scientifically sound treatment concepts, an Integrative Medicine practitioner espouses the broad concepts of health promotion/illness prevention and healthy living. Practitioners also are expected to exemplify these concepts and to remain open to self-exploration and self-development. The ABOIM’s rigorous, clinically based exams are designed to allow qualified physicians to demonstrate their proficiency in all of these concepts.”
The negative bias against Integrative Medicine is blatant in this document. The document implicitly states that Integrative Medicine is unscientific and exploitative. This policy ignores the fact that there is much scientific evidence supporting more natural, innovative and less harmful options to support optimal wellness in patients. It further ignores the fact that Integrative Medicine is a Discipline recognized by the American Board of Physician Specialties.
The Ontario College is the college of Physicians and Surgeons.It is not the college of Medicine.Furthermore the Ontario College are not experts in the integrative field of medicine and should play no part in complaints that are outside their scope of expertise.It has been the position of the Ontario college to ban all integrative medicine and in this they are prejudiced and basically support the multi national drug companies in all instances.They should have no part to play in judging integrative practices as they are patently prejudiced and lack the expertise.
Your comment and analysis is spot on and highlights the bias of the College.
What a scam they are.
people should have a choice when seeking medical treatments
not all conventional medicine is appropriate in many cases and I have found out
this personally from almost having complete liver failure to Pharmanceuticals and
my Alternative Doctors found a solution , not any specialist at TGH ! liver clinic !
its insulting that the government feels the need to now dictate the type of care a HUMAN choices
its my BODY AND MY CHOICE
As a patient who has worked with a variety of complementary and Alternative medicine practitioners, I am concerned the policy is too restrictive. My personal experience has proven far more effective than traditional medicine as it takes into account my entire personhood, physical, mental and sexual health. My IHCS has time to listen, advise and suggest health options including diet and exercise. My traditional dr has time to treat one issue and requisition a specialist consult. Putting in place more restrictions and more paperwork means less time for patient care. I went from not being able to walk at the end of the day due to RA to being an active member of a gym and walking without pain because of the health regime provided by alternative medicine. I would lose one day a month at work because of flare ups aligned with my menstrual cycle, once I started working with my IHCS to balance hormones my RA monthly flare ups subsided and my allergy an asthma flare ups disappeared. My sick days disappeared and I live an active lifestyle. If alternative health care practitioner is severely impacted by this policy, I am concerned that I return to a world of pain and sleeplessness that impacts my ability to work, my independence and will increase my demands on the health care system.
It appears to me that the policy imposes additional requirements on an Alternative Medical practitioners that would make its practice in many cases irrelevant or unnecessarily
difficult because of additional bureaucratic paper work required. It is clear to me, as a non medical practitioner, that there is an inherent bias towards “traditional medicine” and traditional “Pharma” solutions. All of the above would make the practice of Alternative Medicine very difficult.
My experience indicates that the training that doctors receive today focuses little on explorative or preventative medicine and is oriented way too much towards the drug companies. My spouse had an issue with hypothyroidism and the only thing the doctor measured was TSH which really does not tell the entire picture. There was no blood test looking at iodine levels, free hormone levels or the like that may provide you with the full picture. Instead all she received of course was a script for Synthroid. The doctor had no idea whether or not her thyroid issue was due to a conversion issue, iodine deficiency, etc. In addition, the doctor had been monitoring her TSH levels for many years and stood by and let her get hypothyroid just because her TSH was not above the magic number even though she had been complaining of symptoms of hypothyroidism for several years. Doctors need to be taught to look for the source of the issue and not just prescribe something. The Medical Association needs to put rules in place to prevent doctors from interacting with the drug companies in any way. That means no phone calls, no emails, no doctor’s office visits, no free samples or other perks. The only way that a doctor should know about a new medication is through a peer review done by the Medical Association and shared with doctors.
Why can’t all medical professionals work together for the greater good of the patient?? I am so tired of medical doctors turning their nose up at alternative therapies when they have little knowledge of the field. For the sake of science and the future health of the population it would be nice if some just got out of the way of progress and acknowledge that alternative therapies WORK. Just ask someone with a chronic condition.
As I turn the corner of 65, integrative medicine has helped me with stress, maintaining muscle mass and enhancing my sex drive. I am followed closely by my specialist with bloodwork and physical assessments so if there were any negative side effects, they could be dealt with early.
I don’t see how a recommendation to practice meditation would have any sort of negative impact. Do we not have anything else of greater importance and priority to do?
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If, as the CPSO writes, ‘…ensuring the safety of patients is our first priority’, how we can ever consider offering CAM?
There is very little, if any, science in homeopathy-the profession that touts that water has memory and the more a substance is diluted, the more powerful it becomes. The profession defies basic premises of science, unless of course it IS true that they can treat Chagas disease in Honduras. Please watch, if you haven’t, You Tube ‘Homeopathic Emergency Room’.
Acupuncture, which by sticking needles into the skin, claims to be able to help infertile couples by improving eggs, and sperm function. [Redacted]
A patient [redacted] saw a Chinese Medicine practitioner and paid $8,000 for the consultation and 2 months of creams. When theirs was a Provisional College, they tried to obtain the title ‘doctor’ for their members, notwithstanding, there was at that time, no formal educational colleges and no formal examinations and their practitioners had no requirement to speak English or French. They wanted the title to be grandfathered as long as the member had practiced for a certain number of years, and had seen a certain number of patients. There is no CME, nothing. [Redacted]
Chiropractors, many of whom were advertising at the onset of the COVID epidemic that back manipulation could help prevent this disease, are still also claiming that manipulation can help such issues as ADHD and asthma, to name only two. Finally, after too long, their College has ruled that it is improper to promote anti-vaccination.
Naturopaths, who advertise treatment of female and male genital issues, because they are ‘trained’, are NOT required to have performed one pelvic or digital rectal prostate exam during their 4 year course, because if they haven’t, they would qualify if they did the examination on a lifelike dummy.
The term ‘alternative medicine’ is a misnomer. It should read ‘Alternative TO Medicine’.
These CAM practitioner’s tenets are bereft of science background and their Regulated Health Colleges have no idea how to impose scope of practice on their members.
[Redacted] never have these Colleges stated outright that the member had practiced outside the scope of their practice.
I am mystified why the CPSO wants to bequeath a veneer of respectability on these practices, most of which have no evidence based studies behind them.
CPSO would never put up with a physician who practiced ‘anti-vaxxer’ dogma.
I am so disappointed in the CPSO for their position on this issue.
Acupuncture has been used to medically treat people of various social status and cultural background, and even the head of state of respectable first world countries. Why would the CPSO be shamed for including it as actual medicine?
Acupuncture has no lack of scientific backing. Research on acupuncture has taken place in many universities and research institutions around the world, increasing our understanding of how the human body works. Knowledge has been greatly increased especially in the areas of physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, kinesiology, neurology, and neuroanatomy. It is the pillar in medical treatments in many countries, mostly in the East and also in in US and Germany as part of conventional medicine. In the US, many hospitals have acupuncturists on staff since the NIH acknowledged this modality’s usefulness in 1997.
(Acupuncture gained wide acceptance in the US conventional medicine. See NIH paper from 2013. “An Historical Review and Perspective on the Impact of Acupuncture on U.S. Medicine and Society” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3796320/)
And to answer the question how acupuncture can improve issues from pain to fertility issue to anxiety, the way I understand it, the power all lies in the stimulations through needles along the special energy pathways associated with organs called meridians. It is not that hard to accept the concept of having meridians in the body, or the benefit of energy enhancing intervention. Theories don’t need to be visible to the eyes to be true. Quantum theory does not need visual witness of every particle to be upheld.
How naive do you think patients are? If it was about protecting patients well being or advancing an archaic medical system, we wouldn’t even be here right now. It is and always has been about money, conventional doctors ie OHIP serving the well being of doctors. I spent five years researching my conditions before I sought help when my family doctor let me down time and time again. I was 35 and could not leave the house without running for the toilet with severe IBS symptoms. My doctor told me what it was without testing me at all and proceeded to tell me there was nothing she could do but adapt my life to it. She told me an adult diaper might help. Really? I sought help from alternative practitioners ( by the way done in Europe for over 50 years, as well as the US) and after being put on probiotics and informed of my food sensitivities, my IBS was all but gone! I resumed a normal life. My family doctor was stunned. Inadequate testing is the norm for conventional medicine, a nurse told me once that if testing comes back showing no issues, doctors are held accountable. My doctor left me sub clinical hypothyroid for two years because our ranges have not been updated to align with the rest of the world. She also offered me birth control pills at 50 to ease menopausal symptoms which everyone knows synthetic hormones cause heart disease and cancer. So the question I have is this, what exactly is it the OMA trying to accomplish here? Who’s best interest are they trying to serve?
The new CAM policy is negatively biased against Integrative Medicine Physicians and will make it easier for the CPSO to discipline doctors who practice Integrative Medicine. It is well known that many conventional doctors are not huge fans of alternative medicine, but that does not mean that patients should not have access to integrative healthcare. The CPSO should represent the needs and values of patients. If the new CAM policy is approved by CPSO Council in June, most of the doctors who provide integrative healthcare will be forced to change their practice or leave the province. This is an example of regulation that does little to promote patient safety but hugely impacts our access to healthcare. This means that I will lose my doctor, my treatment, or both.
I am a patient with a chronic medical condition. For years, I suffered from debilitating symptoms that were resistant to multiple medical therapies. I sought the expertise of many specialists, as well as my own GP, but nobody had any solutions for me. That is when I began to explore the field of integrative medicine. My integrative physician – through combining the best tools of both the conventional and alternative fields – was able to conscientiously and holistically address my health condition in a brilliant way. As a result of integrative medicine, I am able to live a healthy life today.
I have spent time reading through the draft policy, and I am very concerned that it will discourage physicians from seeking integrative solutions.
We have to recognize that conventional medicine simply cannot have all the answers. It is in the best interests of our healthcare system to encourage physicians to think outside the box when they encounter medically challenging patients.
CPSO, I urge you to remove any changes that would deter physicians from using integrative treatments. It would be to the detriment to so many patients like myself.
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It is not an exaggeration to say that integrative medicine gave me back my life. In the late 1970s I was chemically sensitive and allergic to all but boiled denatured lamb, lettuce and rye crisps. I was housebound, extremely underweight and continuing to lose weight. I pursued conventional treatments and eventually attended the then top rated conventional allergist in Toronto. He confirmed my allergies but stated there was nothing he could do to help me. Sent me home! Very fortunately a friend referred me to an integrative physician ([redacted] now deceased). With the support of various functional, natural medicines I greatly improved and was able to resume a broader and well balanced diet. My chemical sensitivities still persisted for some years but eventually [redacted] discovered the root cause which was – and still is treated – by a non-traditional therapy.. I was able to resume a normal active life including secular work, volunteer work and extensive international travel. Given that the root cause of my illness can only be treated – not cured – I shudder to think what may be the result to my health and life I if my current integrative physician is prevented from continuing to treat me.
I agree with you. Before I got sick I did not believe in alternative medicine as I work in conventional medicine. I have been seen by numerous Specialists and after 2 years I got a diagnoses with no treatment. I am relying on complementary treatment and I can tell you from my experience acupuncture, homeopathy work. From this experience I can claim that we need both Medicine for the sake of our patients healthThere are limitations on both sides but if you can find a doctor who can practice both you are in good hands.
It is critical to recognize the reality that many natural treatments cannot be patented. They will therefore never attract the financial resources required to conduct a large-scale clinical trial. Without the incentive of a patent, there is no incentive for any company to invest in a trial.
It is not right to prevent physicians from using natural treatments that (by virtue of being natural and unpatentable), simply cannot meet the “science-based” bar you’re referring to.
We must open our minds to finding ways to substantiate a treatments’ effectiveness and benefits outside of pure ‘science based’ trials.
CPSO’s mandate is to regulate medicine “in the public interest.”The Working Group has spent over a year developing a policy that will hamstring my doctor who has chosen approaches to patient care that are made largely on the basis of safety of Complementary and Integrative Medicine.
Where is the policy that regulates overprescribing and polypharmacy? The use of pharmaceuticals has long recognized to heavily contribute to morbidity and mortality, especially among the aged – I am 80! Where is the policy that would regulate off-label uses of drugs? Even approved uses of pharmaceuticals has a distressingly high rate of morbidity and mortality, documented back as far back as the Lazarou study in 1998, and yet there are NO reports of any physician pulled up on the carpet for prescribing improperly. And where is the policy that prevents physicians from charging insurers large fees to routinely deny accident victims safe treatments that can potentially benefit them?
It is out of step with current evidenced-based medicine thinking to make randomized controlled trials (RCTs) the only acceptable standard for efficacy. Furthermore, making it a standard solely for CAM therapies is certainly a double standard when it is generally acknowledged that a considerable proportion of traditional medical practice does not have such evidence. Where are the RCTs that support new surgical techniques? Essentially there are none because innovation in surgical techniques does not lend itself to evaluation by that particular research modality.Therein lies the contradiction, and the double standard: what’s acceptable for surgery is not acceptable for complementary and integrative medicine.
Your inherent bias and hostility towards CAM that produces safe and positive patient outcomes is quite clear. After all, isn’t Positive Patient Outcomes the goal of the Health Care system? Or is the CPSO abandoning its duty and responsibility to serve and protect the public?
I concur with the statements that this is not in the publics best interest. This is pandering the big pharma. A patient should have every opportunity to receive the care they desire. A well trained complementary doctor will know and use these alternative remedies properly with the consent of the patient. This is hostility towards alternative and should be dismissed.
Given that CAM use in on the rise in Canada and elsewhere, it is important to ensure that use is appropriate to minimize adverse effects. Integrative medicine overcomes the problem as the physician knows both conventional and alternative practice.
The new policy is a way to stop physicians providing Integrative medicine. It will not stop people using alternative medicine but it will make it more risky without the advice of a qualified physician. The CPSO is not protecting the public with this policy.
Conventional medicine has limitations and the public has good reasons to use Integrative medicine, better well-being and better quality of life. In my case, I have a rare cancer witch is incurable. I have no conventional treatment; my oncologist told me that nothing can be done, only palliative treatment when things will get worse. As the cancer is rare, no research protocols, no trial. With the new CPSO policy, I may lose my integrative physician who has the knowledge in alternatives and the medical training required to get me a safe health plan in order to maintain a good quality of life.
There are strong arguments made by many authors I have read that Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) is not always the best form of evidence, because carrying out RCTs for ‘proving’ CAM treatments is not only practically impossible, it is inherently non-financeable – nobody wants to finance treatments that are not patentable. Furthermore the structure of RCTs ignores the very tenets of CAM philosophy – THAT EACH PERSON IS AN INDIVIDUAL WITH INDIVIDUAL BIOCHEMISTRY, NEUROLOGY AND EPIGENETICS, AND THEREFORE NOT SUBJECT TO GROUP AVERAGING AND DIAGNOSTIC CATEGORIZATION THAT BLURS INDIVIDUALITY AND CONFOUNDS OUTCOMES. – RCTs WERE DESIGNED TO TEST MEDICATIONS, NOT PEOPLE.
I am a patient who has experienced life-changing benefits from Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). Your proposed policy will rob me of my right to obtain the care that I need and want. It will also stifle innovation in the Ontario healthcare system.
Agree with the above comment. Many natural substances and treatments are not patentable.
Why was the language changed in the new policy that require physicians to only provide CAM treatments “supported” by evidence and scientific reasoning instead of the more flexible wording “informed by” in the previous policy? If the words “treatments that are informed by evidence. . .” are good enough to be used in policies in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, why isn’t it good enough for Ontario.
OCEBM (Oxford University Centre for Evidence-based Medicine) defines evidence-based medicine as “THE CONCIENTIOUS, EXPLICIT AND JUDICIOUS USE OF CURRENT BEST EVIDENCE IN MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT THE CARE OF INDIVIDUAL PATIENTS”
Good doctors and health professionals use both individual clinical expertise and the best available external evidence and neither is enough. Without clinical expertise, practice risks becoming tyrannized by evidence, for even excellent external evidence may be inapplicable to or inappropriate for an individual patient. Without current best evidence, practice risks becoming readily out-of-date, to the detriment of patients. Evidence-based medicine is not restricted to randomized trials and meta-analyses. It involves tracking down the best external evidence with which to answer clinical questions.
The OCEBM states “Evidence ranking schemes have been (inflexibly) used and criticized, for decade, and each scheme is geared to answer different questions. Early evidence hierarchies were introduced primarily to help clinicians and other researchers appraise the quality of evidence for therapeutic effects, while more recent attempts to assign levels to evidence have been designed to help systematic reviewers, or guideline developers. While they are simple and easy to use, early hierarchies that placed randomized trials categorically above observational studies were criticized for being simplistic.
In some cases, observational studies give the ‘best’ evidence. For example, there is a growing recognition that observational studies -even case-series and anecdotes can sometimes provide definitive evidence.
The philosophy of evidence based medicine has evolved. Exponents increasingly emphasize the limitations of using evidence alone to make decisions, and the importance of the values and preference judgements that are implicit in every clinical management decision. They now see clinical expertise as the ability to integrate research evidence and patients’ circumstances and preferences to help patients arrive at optimal decisions.
To reflect the evolution in evidence based medicine, and “in light of new concepts and data”, the OCEBM has designed the 2011 OCEBM Levels of Evidence described as:
“1. A hierarchy of the likely best evidence
2. Designed so that it can be used as a short-cut for busy clinicians, researchers, or patients to find the likely best evidence.”
The 2011 Oxford CEBM Levels of Evidence Introductory Document expresses the following caveat: “THIS MUST BE READ BEFORE USING THE LEVELS: NO EVIDENCE RANKING SYSTEM OR DECISION TOOL CAN BE USED WITHOUT A HEALTHY DOSE OF JUDGEMENT AND THOUGHT!”
I believe we live in a wonderful country with great a terrific medical system and yet it has failed me twice when conventional medicine could not diagnose an ailment. It was only through alternative medicine that I/my family was able to find support and relief. Please be inclusive and consider all those who benefit from not just traditional medicine.
The CPSO should not has a CAM policy revision working group that does not has a CAM knowledgeable physician as one of its member.
Excellent point. Wishing you continued good health.
Ontario Medical Association Complementary and Integrative Medicine Medical Interest Group (OMA CIM-MIG) CAM Policy Task Force
Response in PDF format
- Proposed Policy
- Proposed Advice
This so well put and the recommendations reasonable and knowledgeable as they are submitted by a group with hands on experience and education in the practice of Complementary and Integrative medicine. Certainly mindful in creating the Right Balance!
As a member of the health care community, and Métis woman, and a patient who has experienced life-changing benefits from Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). I have recently learned that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) has proposed revisions to its existing CAM policy which will make it extremely difficult for Integrative Medicine physicians to practice without the fear of being unjustly disciplined by the CPSO. The changes will rob patients of their right to obtain the care that they need and want. It will also stifle innovation in the Ontario healthcare system. Canadians should have the right to chose a health plan for themselves. Alternative medicine has been long used by the Indigenous and Métis people and is a crucial aspect of our health care. To restrict us of this option is unconstitutional.
I have been treated for years by conventional medicine, never receiving relief without significant side effects and requiring new medications to treat the side effects. After finding my physician who focuses on complementary and alternative medicine, I was able to find more natural alternatives that were actually more effective than the conventional medicines, without the harmful side effects. I have no lately recovered from the many symptoms I was experiencing and I am able to live my life again. If I were to lose access to these treatments I would not be able to get out of bed, hold a job or help my family.
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I strongly believe in the importance of integrative medicine! I am a patient who has experienced life-changing benefits from Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). I have recently learned that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) has proposed revisions to its existing CAM policy which will make it extremely difficult for Integrative Medicine physicians to practice without the fear of being unjustly disciplined by the CPSO. The changes will rob patients of their right to obtain the care that they need and want. It will also stifle innovation in the Ontario healthcare system.
We should be encouraging (not prohibiting!) physicians to explore all safe and effective options for patients. If physicians are forbidden from thinking and acting ‘outside of the box’ for the benefit of their patients, this will silence innovation in the Ontario medical system. We will also risk losing empathetic, innovative physicians to other provinces.
Minister Elliot, we need a powerful voice like yours. Please represent my concerns to the CPSO before it is too late. Please urge them to reconsider their draft policy to make it more favourable for CAM physicians (specifically, eliminating increased evidentiary requirements, including the Section 5.1 reference, and including a CAM physician in the policy revision committee) and in turn, for patients like me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Our healthcare system needs to continue to provide crucial services to people from both allopathic and integrative medicine models!
Please
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Had we not had an MD who “thinks outside the box”, my son would have died of Crohn’s Disease 7 years ago. He was a highly promising athlete [redacted]. His career cut short due to Crohn’s and conventional tx that went very much awry – Why did conventional meds on their own cause such chaos? Because my son was so very ill, his body could not handle the offered conventional tx. He [lost weight] until we found an MD who could offer intravenous therapeutics that brought his body’s ability back to being able to absorb nutrients, allowed him to gradually gain weight – and then allow his body to successfully handle the interim Conventional tx – which took him to the next level of healing, and allowed natural substances thereafter to bring about a cure. Yes, a cure. We and millions of others, realize now that Big Pharma is only interested in keeping people ill to thereby provide these pharmaceuticals with unending incomes. But the Canadian people are not so stupid. And if you are sufficiently threatened as to push your weight to ban natural healing – we shall all go elsewhere. Your most sensible route is to allow CAM, which keeps us all still using (to a large extent) the conventional medical protocols. Without CAM – you will ultimately die out. We will not see our children and grandchildren suffer and DIE because of your insular, narrow minded fight to stay alive. You will thrive better by allowing complementary medicine. It’s up to you.
All natural treatments cannot be patented. No patent, no monopoly, why would anyone put expensive studies together to prove it. No stringent studies, there will be “high quality evidence”. The profession will not accept treatments that have not gone through large, well designed studies.
Most regular MD are not aware that, for their whole career, they are spent on prescribing artificial molecules that did not exist in nature before someone patent them.
Please do not think that these are the only treatment methods that work.
This policy basically stop all complementary medicine, because, by definition, they are all treatments that has not measure up to the standard of “proven medicine”.
I’m against CPSO’s proposal to make changes to the CAM policy that will restrict the right of patients to receive integrative / alternative medicine. Natural substances don’t have large-scale randomized controlled trials because they cannot be patented, but should be allowed as they have a long history of effectiveness with less side effects.
Me and my mother have been receiving cam treatment since 2014 and it’s not even close to what we received from other drs,so it’s our right and life and health choice,why you are trying to rub it from us?
You mention “No supportive evidence”—- unfortunately the only treatment that has supportive evidence is the one that is attached to pharmaceutical companies that make these band aid treatments. The enormous funding that goes into this enables supportive evidence. The only evidence we have are RESULTS we see with our loved ones and I will explain this further.
Why are you taking away my rights and freedoms to seek alternative care and want to make this illegal when it works for us. Why are you dictating what we can and cannot have when the pharmaceutical care is not what we want for us and our families. We should have the right to receive treatments that work from medical providers that can offer it. We do not need evidence, our evidence are the results we see.
“No physiologic plausibility” How can you judge what is plausible have you done research based on patients that have received treatments and had great results? Why must we agree to be treated in a medical practice that is pharmaceutically driven based vs a practice that offers us alternatives. It is our right to choose you cannot take this away from us by limiting our doctors to do this type of treatment.
The correct name for “conventional medicine” is “pharmacological medicine” and it is driven by billions of dollars in backing. I feel that it is inferior in all cases for the treatment of all chronic conditions.
The pharmaceutical industry’s agenda is to make money, fair enough but you are allowing this to take our rights and freedoms away. What that entails is it must be a patentable drug (which means all natural substances are of no interest), & it must be a drug that does not cure the condition. Those are the two criteria of this “conventional medicine”. In other words band aid medicine.
Functional & natural medicine look for the underlying malfunctions in the body, & then restore them with natural treatments, i.e. reverse the conditions instead of treating the symptoms only.
There are thousands of examples. My daughter suffers from anxiety and depression. The first thing that the “medicine driven” doctors did was to give her antidepressants. These pills were the worst thing that could have happened to my child. The side effects were horrible and my child’s personality severely changed my child became suicidal.
I saw what the drugs did and decided to look for alternative treatments and took my daughter to a doctor that offered these alternative treatments. After a few sessions of these “alternative treatments” I got my child back.
Within 1 year she was a different person all thanks to these alternative treatments. I spoke to many patients of this clinic and they all had the same thing to say. “Alternative Medicine” changed their life and brought them back to life.
I think that doctors should have to explain why they would consider a conventional medical treatment (i.e. drug) which dooms the patient to never resolving their health problem, instead of a functional medicine treatment which heals the condition.
I believe that we need some leadership to learn functional medicine & natural medicine, and go away from pharmaceutical drug treatments. We need to wake up & see that the drug way is not always the correct treatment in all cases. In our case and many more cases it was not!
Why do you think there is an abundance of Wellness clinics? People want options when it comes to their treatments, they want the freedom and right to chose what is best for them and what works and does not work for them. You cannot take away our freedom to choose what we know works for us.
I agree with what you have stated. I was also prescribed more and more drugs for my condition ( IBS) and when I refused to take any more of my doctor’s prescriptions, I was then to that there was no other treatment and that I would just have to live with it. After two years of research and reading of independent research results I have been able to restore my gut to a healthy state. The way drug companies fund and manipulate research findings is no different than what went on in the tobacco industry. Unless the public demands the right to make their own informed decisions and treatment options, the pharmaceutical companies will continue to do their best to block complimentary and alternative treatments and those who offer them. Stand up for your rites, people!
To fellow colleague, Please do not apply your negative impression from Tarro card advisors and ear candles to physicians who try to go out of their way to find answers for the patients.
Many CAM methods of treatments work. You may have seen cases of failures, but, one see a lot of failures from conventional medicine too.
Natural or old drugs cannot be patented. No patient, no sponsor, no stringent large scale studies.
Dear Colleague, the while allopathic medicine are based on artificially created molecules, that is the whole truth.
Some colleagues commented that some alternative medicine theories are not scuentufully plausible, that is because we are only exposed to one sets of paradigm. There are many paradigms to look at the body.
To someone who has never been exposed to a remote controlled TV converter will accuse whoever that use it as “ scientifically impossible”.
I want to comment on the proposed revised policy. As I understand it physicians in Ontario will be prohibited from using natural approaches to treat patients because they are not “evidence-based” theories. Let’s be honest here, when it comes to natural substances and other non-patentable treatments who is going to provide financial backing for costly, large-scale randomized, controlled trials to be conducted. That creates a problem for natural, holistic, health care.
I think that consumers should be allowed to choose the treatment they feel is right for them. If the Government wants to put warning labels, etc. so that consumers are aware of their choices that’s fine, but I think this proposal that practitioners can not use “conventional” treatments is wrong. I find it odd that you want to control this aspect in the “name of consumer health” but we still allow cigarettes to be sold on the shelves… with warning labels. Give me a break.
I have personally benefitted numerous times from “un-conventional” therapies where a conventional doctor would have prescribed pharmaceutical drugs. At 47 I”m currently not on any meds at all. I think you need to keep more of an open mind and allow people to choose the health care that is right for them.
I believe that policies like this one, that impact the health of the public and an individual’s right to make their own health choices, should receive wide consultation from the general public. And I would strongly suggest that there has been no effort to communicate widely and openly what the CPSO is attempting to do with individual choice regarding one’s health by restraining what doctors can provide to them. I am all for regulating the medical practice and ensuring quality health care is provided. But I am not supportive of a rigid holding onto of conventional past practices when there is evidence emerging that other practices may be just as good or better in some cases. And, it should also be recognized that some of these supposed complementary and alternative practices have thousands of years of observed clinical evidence and are, in fact, conventional medicine (just not in the western world…and it is rather arrogant to always so quickly believe we know better). Let our highly trained doctors use their scientific reasoning to determine what is right for an individual patient – that will naturally require them to consider evidence as they scientifically reason through what is best suited in the situation at hand. If you are concerned they are making too much money from CAM as part of their practice (yes, I can appreciate that concern), then deal with that specifically rather than throwing out the baby with the bath water.
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Please please reconsider your decisions regarding care for patients fighting long term Lyme disease. The doctors providing care need access to a larger medical community as do all the patients fighting this hidden and insidious disease.
This us not ‘alternative care’ as even [redacted clinic] endocrinologists could not diagnose.
I believe we all deserve life saving medical treatment., what ever delivery is required.
In your survey it states “physicians to undertake a conventional medical assessment first and communicate any conventional diagnoses and treatment options to a patient, before offering complementary or alternative medicine.” However when asked about the extent to which the survey respondent agrees or disagrees the statement is “must undertake a conventional assessment and communicate conventional treatment options to patients.” The “before offering complementary or alternative medicine” portion of the draft policy is removed in the survey question. This omission from the survey statement therefore is a misrepresentation of the policy statement and creates bias in the question.
The only useful successful help I have received in the past couple decades has been alternative natural homeopathic remedies/modalities… sadly nothing in the western medicine world has ever worked for me thus I have had to pay out of pocket for all my medical expenses
. I and many of my friends would be dead now if we didn’t seek alternative medicine, in many cases outside Canada, so we could still be alive and spend time with family… very sad that such an “advanced” country like Canada is so behind in the field of helping sick people heal 
There are clear dichotomies between Canadian Health Care and other universal systems. Most doctors in other countries are learning functional medicine and developing an integrated approach because it works. Measure the outcomes. What makes it extremely difficult in Canada, is the resistance of restructuring our antiquated 1962 Universal health care model and we have become very stagnant. Government views almost any “new” method as another expense; not a resource. Socialization of health care does not work (limited money and scarcity model) and Canada is falling way behind on research, diagnostics, treatments, and specialty teams, etc… The only way out is to restructure the system into a Universal public / private partnership (Australia, Israel, UK, etc….) I can’t understand why Canadians don’t see this except the fear based tactics used by unions in this country.
1) I cannot locate the members of the working group. Working group members, their relevant experience and/or group that they represent should be accessible and transparent, readily available and easy to find on the General Consultation page. I am concerned about the potential lack of Indigenous representation. It is in my opinion that this policy imposes restrictions on physicians to practice in culturally safe ways. Canadian medicine being is deeply rooted in colonization, racism, and privilege. Several reports have made recommendations that practitioners, especially policy makers, actively engage in decolonization processes in order to effectively contribute to Indigenous health development.
2) There needs more clarification around the change from “informed” to “supported” by evidence. Evidence-based practice is typically based on the best available evidence and several conventional medical clinical guidelines state that evidence for some recommendations is “low-quality.”
3) Are the survey results and general consultation summaries made available. What is the process for addressing common themes that emerge as a result of the consultation?
Medicine began as supplemental and alternative throughout all history. Only in recent times are we being controlled to use big pharma. Honestly it’s just plain weird that we might be limited to not be able to choose a more natural and normal way of healing.
Many patients are being helped by alternative methods of treatment when mainstream has failed.
So natural treatments with few to no side effects are not allowed under this even if it has proof to work on patients. But big pharma can push their drugs? Often time natural alternatives does not have the money to do the big testing that would be required under this new policy. Big pharma does. This would be terrible shame for choice in our health care system.
Wow this is ridiculous. I have had stomach issues for 20 years and the “Scientific” medicial world failed me over and over again, misdiagnosing and mistreating me. It wasn’t until I discovered Chinese medicine, intergrative functional medicine, and homeopathy that save me!!! Don’t get me wrong, I am not against our amazing medical system as it’s fixed me when I broke my arm, my son hit his head etc.. but when it comes to the body as a whole, they look at it in isolation. There is absolutely a need and place for all to co-exist, and it should be our human right to decide where we go and alternative solutions be available to our community.
You have no right to try and take away our freedoms..we get to choose the medical help we want..not you and dont ever forget it!!
Alternative medicine has saved my life. Western medicine treats the problem. Very effective. Powerful and needed. Alternative medicine prevents the problems. We need it.
Let it be known. As a human being on this earth each and every one has a right to decide how they will treat their own health. I have found natural complimentary treatments to work tremendously for a variety of conditions and thank the doctors and naturopaths who helped me along the way. This should not change. If a doctor feels a natural therapy is best then they should be able to apply that method without question. Anything else would be a denial of our human rights as free beings on this earth. Do not violate that.
i oppose this control on physicians. they are already controlled in this area heavily. i know from experience when my gp doctor wouldnt/couldnt support my natural cancer protocol chosen course over 6 yrs ago. instead of naturally reversing cancer, they were only offering me full mastectomy, chemo and radiation and was told i would die if not choosing this treatment. i was sent home with palliative care pamphlets which i threw out immediately on returning home. so disappointed how controlled the medical profession has become. why not instead embrace all ways if healing, money making or not! thank God i followed my gut feeling choice and not some government pushed money making unhelpful torture treatment recommended.
Curious why you would ask about Race/Ethnicity at the beginning of this survey? Seems odd to me.
The CPSO is not going in a forward direction. Any country that has a great health care system (Germany for example) has an Integrative approach. My GP would take 5 minutes to listen to my concern and then prescribe a drug or refer me to a specialist (who would also just prescribe a drug to treat the symptom). We integrative patients are not a burden on the health care system – just the opposite in fact. I have paid upwards of 6 figures from my pocket for integrative treatments that have allowed me to keep working and being a productive member of society for the past 10 years. If not for integrated medicine, I would most likely be a statistic – hooked on opiates (prescribed by my GP by the way), and on disability. So who is really doing more harm? Let people have a choice – that is all we ask.
I am also concerned about the Royal “We”. Most decisions like this are actually made by just a handful of people, none of which believe in or use alternative therapies, yet they wish to impose rules on the general public that will affect thousands and thousands of people in need of real care for chronic conditions. The proposed changes will simply cause individuals to seek medical care elsewhere in the world or in a different province perhaps.
CPSO – you are taking a step backwards in my opinion and this whole thing sounds very self serving.
What would have happened if I had chosen traditional pharmacological medicine? The truth is I wouldn’t be here, or at the very least I would be on disability insurance and hooked on pain killers – basically one of the thousands of statistics you hear about every day in this country.
I didn’t ask to become sick, it just happened. I chose to work. I chose to live, I chose to stay off any additive pain killers, and I chose to continue to be a contributing member of society, and not a drain on our social assistance programs. This was only possible through functional medicine. Please don’t take away our freedoms.
Ontario Medical Association Complementary and Integrative Medicine Medical Interest Group (OMA CIM-MIG) Executive
Response in PDF format
- Attachment C
- Attachment D
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DoNOT remove my Dr and my right to choose any therapy necessary in our opinions, including non pharmaceutical ones
Health care decisions need to be my autonomous ones and my dr needs to be licensed and authorized to recommend all not just big pharmaceutical companies choices… alternatives have been around since humans began over 20,000 years ago
Not just 200 years ago
Conventional Medicine cannot solve all health issues.
As an individual doing my best to responsibly look after my health, using an integrative doctor in addition to my regular GP, has been the best strategy to keep healthy. It’s an important service that I want to maintain. I feel strongly about this.
One of the important aspects of Integrative medicine is that it provides a significantly greater focus on prevention of health problems. It’s noticeable that the health care system over the years has paid very little to prevention and has in fact cut down access to preventative testing.
Particularly at this time, it’s important to reduce Ontario’s health care costs. I’m personally paying for a wide range of prevention strategies. This lessens costs that the health care system would pay out down the road.
Please remove the proposed changes.
Why do you want to know my gender and race?
Alternative and complementary health care services are needed. Not all diseases in people respond to drugs and vaccines. TRUE HEALING is healing of the BODY, MIND and SPIRIT. It sounds to me like our government and health care services have been bought out by the big pharmaceutical companies.
Stop doing their advertising for them. Let us people have a choice in our healing. Alternative and Complementary health care works. We are spiritual beings having a physical experience. That should be taken into consideration when talking about health care, NOT just our physical bodies.
How can there be scientific evidence or scientific reasoning involved in a treatment that is impossible to patent, as is the case for alternative treatments? If there is no money to be made then there will be no funding for research of these types of treatments. We are, all of us, well aware of that fact. I can attest, for a fact, that alternative therapies have life-changing beneficial outcomes. My family members and many of my associates and friends can as well. It is wrong- rather- it is draconian, to restrict or disallow CAM physicians to treat in their quest to assist patients who have been left with very poor alternatives – or no alternative at all- to chronic illness. I am shocked by what is implied by this draft and I strongly request you reconsider the wellbeing of patients- and not the associated interests of parties that are influencing the College. If the rulings in this document come to pass, many patients who rely on alternative treatments will be forced to seek help out of country – or live in misery.
I read once that, “science is a tool, rather than the soul of medicine.” Rather, the soul of medicine is clinical judgement- and yes, knowing when the “rules” do not apply or when scientific treatments require additional support. Science offers the illusion of certitude – but it is often just that; an illusion. Ask anyone who has received relief– and a better quality of life from aternative treatments –they are overwhelmingly grateful that those efficacious alternatives exist.
I have read with interest the comments from the public. It is a wonderful testament to see that they have been helped by Complementary and Integrative Medicine (CIM). They are fearful that they will lose the support of their physician who is delivering their treatments. To be clear, there is nothing in the policy that prohibits physicians from practicing CIM. However, this policy creates a “two-tiered” system where CIM physicians are expected to repeat conventional assessments and diagnoses, creating needless inefficiencies,are held to a higher, unreasonable level of asking for consent to treatments, citing scientific evidence and unattainable documentation, far beyond of what is expected of their conventional colleagues. For all the wonders of conventional medicine, even when appropriately used, its medical harms far out pace the harms of CAM. There is no sound reason for this unbalanced policy.
Furthermore, the policy’s tone is that of distrust and highlight’s exploitation. The physician’s guide sets the guidelines for professionalism. Why is it necessary to focus on exploitation here? Why is this not highlighted for e.g.physicians in the medical cosmetic field where risk of exploitation is so much more?
This proposed policy will make CIM physicians feel like they have a target on their back with no room for a reasonable defense. It will dissuade good qualified CIM physicians from continuing on and ultimately, it is the patients that will suffer. The CPSO must reconsider this policy in its tone and content.
Response in PDF format
I agree with the idea that people should HAVE A CHOICE in the type of medicine that they search for to help their health issues . It is important that more people know that there are choices and not always give in to just taking the prescribed medication. A lot of harm has come out of the idea of “just go with the flow” prescribing of medications. The oxi crisis comes to mind.
I honestly believe that physicians should work in tandem with natural health practitioners. And after all it is MY BODY MY CHOICE
It is morally wrong to take away possible health choices just on the basis of no adequate testing. Whonis going to pay to test a product you CANT patent.
Thank you .
I see an MD who is also integrative medicine. He is one of the top rated doctors. The conventional system failed to identify and treat my illness. He has been the only one to identify and treat my illness where others have not. I strongly encourage that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) not overstep their authority, and the rights of Canadians in their ability to choose and receive their treatment. To do so otherwise is not only inhumane but wrong. My experience is a testament and there are many others.
Although some medications may help others in life, Holistic medicines, Natural Healing Modalities have been around for centuries. More and more the public is finding through their own experiences that Holistic Healing does work. No one should have the right to take away any healing services for those whom choose it. If you do your homework on the history of the Chinese Healing modalities and that of others that have proven time and time agin to be effective no one has the right to take that away from anyone nor the right to take away from those of us that have spent years training and practicing healing for the best interest of others. There is too much control over people’s health. No one has the right to play God. It is the right of us Healers to treat those in need and the right for patients to choose.
Albert Einstein said a very long time ago, “It’s all energy” “Everything in the physical world is energy. I am sick of the medical model staying so stuck in the Newtonian way of seeing, where “only matter, matters” and only matter is tested and considered with the exception perhaps of the MRI machine. Even then most doctors speak about the MRI results like they are looking at the matter of … on a screen. We had a homeopath in the College of Physicians back in the 70′s. He knew when he left it would be the end of something progressive and he would not be replaced. It seems just fine when Big Pharma world turns to nature for it’s answers, like willow bark and then dissects out an active ingredient to patent it’s property but now what you are saying by this law, if the doctor chooses to go directly to nature and bypasses the patented creations of Big Pharma they are going to be punished for taking the wrong road to help their patient. Why is it the wrong road to choose nature’s medicine’s directly from nature? Because it bypasses corporate Big Pharma profits and it bypasses being safe. What our politicians are believing and government is saying then is Big Pharma’s version of nature’s medicine is safer than nature itself? If this is passed it is going to be clear to me that Big Pharma owns our governments; that they are making the policies that we will all live within including the doctors,using bought or weak politicians to do it. Doctor’s have taken an oath to “Do no harm”. They have already been having a problem squaring themselves with that oath which could be why this “alternative medicine” “natural medicine” field (which should not be a separate field) exists at all. This close minded way that the medical world has been here in North America has made a hole and a need for more help coming in to be with the people.
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As Canadian citizens we should have the right of choice to what ever health care we chose. Especially since what the government has to offer is not health care but ill care. You have to be sick to use it and the system only manages symtoms. That leaves us with alternative, functional medicine to stay healthy and try and find the root cause to our illness and treat the source of our illness.
Regards [redacted]
Hi, this is in regard to your decision to change your Complementary and Alternative medicine policy. I understand that the pharmaceutical companies are pushing for this, obvious loss of revenues. Over the years more and more people are starting to realize that conventional medicine is just a business. Keeping you alive, on a bag full of pills, so you can use their product… I tried conventional, it didn’t work. I started on alternative medicine and I fix it. It is simple, maybe you should change the conventional medicine approach. Change the one that does not work. We need real doctors not salesmen of the pharmaceutical companies. You should be ashamed for even mentioning to change this policy. Listen, nobody is asking you or anybody else to get alternative medicine. This should be our choice and not yours. You want to be the mouse of the conventional medical establishment, knock yourself out… Nobody is stopping you.
I think the amendments to your alternative care and holistic policies are overreaching and draconian. As a free, sovereign and reasonable individuals, we as patients and free thinking and responsible adults, must accept some degree of responsibility for our care. It’s on us to make decisions for ourselves and our bodies. It is not up to you, or the government or pharma, to tell us and dictate to us what we can and cannot do. Just like in the past, all means of healing need to be available. Pharma medicine doesn’t work for all. Many times, it can help, most times it creates more issues. Why don’t you start promoting health eating, exercise, clean and healthy lifestyle first, instead of promoting and advertising prescription drugs. A healthy and clean lifestyle is imperative to health. Holistic medicine and treatments is imperative for our healing, even healing from prescription medicine side effects. Start wasting tax payers’ money on draconian measures that don’t serve us; they only serve pharma and those who make money of pharma. Spend money on finding and funding more holistic treatments so people can afford care whether it’s medical or alternative. Also speaking of evidence based. There are plenty of research articles and studies that support that alternative and holistic medicine often works better than pharma medicine. Spend more money on research of energy, our body’s ability to heal when given the chance and supported right, healthy lifestyle, toxins.
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I’m a sixty-two year old farmer from Ontario and I have been using alternative medicine for 25 years. I had health problems from exposure to farm pesticides and herbicides. I’ve also had exposure to vomitoxin from corn harvest and aflatoxin from wheat harvests and had lung and health issues as a result. After using a combination of EDTA chelation and Ozone over the years I have found relief in my symptoms. I require this treatment to continue farming and maintain the quality of life these treatments have awarded me.
I have been to many doctors over the years and have not received results anything close to what I have received from my naturopathic doctor. I have received terrific results without the need of using any pharmaceutical drugs and it would be unjust for this to be my only option moving forward. I would be happy to talk to anyone about my experience and I will continue advocating for these treatments.
[redacted], Farmer
[redacted], ON
The current trend of limiting availability of natural or functional medical treatments performed by medical doctors is a grave violation of our right to choose our own treatments. As long as a treatment is not proven to be harmful it should be allowed. There are many of us who have turned to natural medicine to treat chronic conditions as a complimentary addition to pharmacological medicine. We consider this “integrated medicine”.
There are many, albeit not enough, medical practitioners that integrate natural and pharmacological approaches quite successfully. Limiting the tools available to them for the benefit of the public smacks of improper influence of Big Pharma. But more important it robs all of us of the right to choose how we want to respond to illness, whether acute, chronic or preventative.
The bottom line is that in a so called free country we demand the right of choice concerning our own bodies with the caveat that any treatments must be safe without respect to evidentiary proof that it cures. It is our choice and not that of the government or a panel of doctors who most probably are not well educated in the field of natural and functional medicine.
Professional Association of Residents of Ontario (PARO)
Response in PDF format
I am a very healthy ex nurse. I had a coronary and ended up with stents. I was put on a statin for cholesterol and it nearly killed my muscles. I was put on a BP pill that was made in China and it was discovered to contain a carcinogen and was yanked off the market. There is nothing else my cardiologist can offer me…including venogram. So I wait to die. I had heard of chelation therapy and how well it worked for cardio. My research showed that it is respected and COVERED in many countries. I have been delighted. Now to hear that the jealous and rapacious MD’s want to get rid of this option. Well. I am disgusted. And you cant tell me that ozone therapy can do any harm, it is extra oxygen. People are really being helped by natural products that cant be patented or a money maker for big PHARMA. Canada has lost so much over the years to pressure groups and big corporates, lets not be stupid. Do not pass this bill on March 15th. PS anyone remember Connaught Labs? The politicians sold out to big Pharma who moved it out of the country.
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Five years ago, I was struck suddenly by an unusual and highly debilitating autoimmune disorder. My symptoms included night sweats, daily bouts of intolerable chills, followed by equally intolerable fevers, and a level of physical exhaustion which left me completely bedridden. After considerable delay, my family doctor managed to have me admitted into a special branch of [redacted hospital] where the resident physicians began searching for the cause of my illness. I underwent a litany of tests and consulted with experts from every imaginable medical field, including an infectious disease specialist. Unfortunately, as well-intentioned as these physicians were, none of them were able to determine the cause of my illness, and so it remained undiagnosed and untreated.
My condition worsened until, one month later, my family intervened and took me in to the Emergency Ward at [redacted hospital]. I spent two weeks as an inpatient while I was subjected to still more tests—including two spinal taps and a bone marrow biopsy—and consulted with even more highly credentialled specialists, none of whom were able to determine the nature of my illness. Meanwhile, the swelling which had developed in my brain due to inflammation was enough to affect both my speech and my ability to chew my food. I believed death was so imminent that I began to sort out my affairs and prepare to say goodbye to my wife and young daughter. However, the doctors made one last desperate attempt to combat the dangerously high levels of inflammation in my body by prescribing a long course of high dose Prednisone. In fairness, this extremely aggressive drug intervention brought me back from the brink by completely shutting down my body’s natural immune system. But as my dose was gradually tapered down over the course of six months, withdrawal from the drug brought about a new onslaught of challenging medical side effects, including a high enough degree of physical pain to make basic walking nearly impossible. Furthermore, within one month of finishing the course of treatment, all my symptoms returned in full force.
With no hope of finding a cure or effective treatment through our traditional health care system, I naturally turned to a licensed medical doctor who embraced Complementary and Alternative Medicine. And thank goodness I did. After a friend recommended a doctor who was very highly ranked on RateMDs.com to me, I consulted with the doctor and began his prescribed course of treatment. Miraculously, within a year I was back to my old self. Indeed, today I feel healthier than ever, and except for the small dose of desiccated thyroid I take every day, I have completely weened myself off all my medications, including any immunosuppressants. But is “miracle” the right word to describe my recovery? Or is it more accurate to say the Complementary and Alternative Medicines which the doctor treated me with simply proved to be effective, even if certain factors have prevented their effectiveness from being tested through clinical research?
It would be ideal if conventional medicine had answers for all ailments. Unfortunately, this is not the case. This new policy prevents conscientious physicians like mine from trying their best to solve their patients’ medical problems using all methods available to them. Had I not been fortunate enough to consult with my doctor when I did, I have every reason to think I would still be extremely ill, if not dead. What’s more, the Prednisone which was prescribed to me through our conventional health care system is known to have long term, potentially negative health consequences. As such, I now live with the fear that these negative effects might one day come back to haunt me.
I hope CPSO will reconsider moving forward with any policy that might undermine our freedom to choose the type of health care and treatment regimen we want for ourselves.
Response in PDF format
I am deeply disappointed that this change is being considered. Integrative medicine has saved my life, where traditional medicine could not give me answers for my sudden digestive issue and onset of autoimmune disease. There is so much malpractice and harm that is caused by prescription medication and SO much money can be saved if Doctors practiced integrative medicine and focus on prevention rather then just subscribing medications that suppress symptoms. Integrative/ alternative/ natural medicine does not cause harm and helps so many people…it makes no sense to not allow it, aside from financial gains to the pharmaceutical industry. Can we please consider the wellbeing of people rather then just profit?!
Complimentary medicine is the way of the future…this is what truly helps people address their symptoms and get better rather then just taking medication to suppress/ cover up symptoms. This change makes no sense and looks like an attempt for the government to gain further control without consideration for people’s health. Let’s start focusing on PREVENTION so we can stop paying up to half our salaries in taxes. We should be focusing on integrating traditional medicine with natural for best results rather then causing further division and separation, which will inevitably lead to a greater burden on our healthcare system that is already struggling.
Please don’t
Many go the old ways of our hertiage
Many use alternative
All alternative meds are based on history
Right down to clean pure oxygen one would get in mountains
To acupuncture and herbs plus much more
Taking this is stealing heritage, history, religous beliefs
and healing. Just cause some do not understand it does not
make it any less real. Do not take our heritage and history.
Do not kill us
I had chelation therapy due to palpitations. I was also on medication. The physician administering the chelation never suggested to stop the medication. My own physician did as my palpitations ceased. The clinic I attended administerd the chelation under very careful medical observation.
If this is taken away from us then we will need to go to naturopaths…as they do administer chelation…and by the way when I asked a Naturopathic physician what the drug was…he did not know. So the naturopath will continue to administer chelation without the proper checks and balnces in place.
Instead of denying the patient population with this therapy…instead fund the physicians offering this to do RCTs. Presently there are plenty of correlation studies to support it’s use as a therapy.Why not fund a systematic review for a start.
Without functional, natural and integrative doctors I would be basically a drug addict still in massive pain with no where to go. Treatments for auto immune diseases are injections and very harmful arthritic drugs that take away years of your life and do not find the problem or even attempt to. Put a diagnostic name on it and give them pharmaceuticals, don’t test for parasites, viruses, use cheap lyme testing and just more and more radioactive exposure that shows nothing. Natural and integrative treatments have been a major reason I have managed with all my health problems. They found soo many issues that regular doctors were clueless about and changing my diet, etc. I feel our healthcare system is nothing more than a controlled pharmaceutical pusher. I would rather pay for these doctors than go to a regular doctor and put my life on it!
For transparency’s sake, it would be good to make it clear why it is that you feel that a new policy is needed, to update the one you approved ten years ago. What has changed? What new evidence drives you to revise the policy?
I was involved in 2 severe car accidents 8 months apart and dealt with excruciatingly endless pain for 15 yrs while I bounced around from Doctor to Doctor. I received countless evidence based injections and therapies that did nothing except make me part with my hard earned Money. I was at the end and then found an alternative treatment(Ozone therapy) and after 10 sessions my back was cured. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!!!! You want EVIDENCE!! Watch me pick up my BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER!!!
I have suffered from debilitating fatigue and loss of energy. My gp has had no answers and no solutions only to live with it and to dismiss something has been off with my body. THE ONLY THING THAT HAS HELPED ME REGAIN MY ENERGY IS ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE in the form of chronic fatigue and adrenal drips and proper nutrition.
Why does the hospital serve my friend with Stage 4 cancer Jello as opposed to food with nutrition? Allopathic medicine is great for things such as accidents and emergencies what it fails to do is promote the right conditions to foster health to avoid disease in the first place. Pharmacies do not gain profit without sickness – follow the money it is that simple. If an alternative therapy proves to work for an individual why is this a problem? Are we not allowed to have individual power of choice over our own bodies? The government has jurisdiction to make alcohol and cigarettes legal which only encourage illness and disease yet we need to regulate alternative therapies that promote health and have helped many. This is a democratic injustice. We have access and freedom of choice to buy cigarettes to make us sick but no freedom of choice over things to make us healthy? As we can see as many pharmaceutical companies are now including so called alternative ingredients – such as melatonin in sleep products and ginger in gravol – the alternative conveniently becomes mainstream when it can produce a profit.
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I am 62 Years old and attribute my fortunate good health with the help of our Alternative Medicine they
have helped with multiple instances of health problems that conventional medicine could not address, integrating both systems has proven to me a better choice to my health. I am taking far less medication than I Initially was on and am a much more fit, and contributing member of the work force and society.
Thanks to the complementary and Alternative medicine
[redacted]
Dear CPSO,
As a patient who has been helped by many CAM treatments over the years, I am urging you to reconsider the proposed changes which will make it more difficult for patients like myself to find licensed MDs who are willing to practice integrative medicine. By implementing overly restrictive policy changes (eg. requiring all treatments to be supported by scientific evidence which may not be economically plausible or unreasonable written documentation requirements), I will inevitably be forced to seek treatments out of province or from less regulated healthcare providers. Please do your part in supporting a strong health care system that represents the beliefs and values of patients in Ontario. More and more patients are seeking CAM treatments in addition to their conventional treatments – this is not the time to make it harder for us to do so.
Just because CAM physicians might use treatments that are outside of “mainstream”, they should not be assumed to be taking advantage of patients or doing something “wrong”. I have been helped by genuine, intelligent, empathetic integrative medicine practitioners who have given me the quality of life that I otherwise wouldn’t have. I hope that the biases against CAM are changed so that more people can access the type of healthcare I’ve been privileged to obtain.
I am deeply concerned with this proposal as it clearly prevents people from having ownership and a choice in regards to their health. Why now? May it be because, as all over the world, people realized that western medicine and especially money making drugs do not provide the best solution to their problems?
When the world advances towards a holistic approach to health, understanding the human body as a whole and finally accepting that nature and the body’s capability of repair exceeds any advancements in drug development, testing and diagnose methods western medicine applies, it is with horror that I witness this attempt to impose only treatment methods that offer temporary alleviation of symptoms, and ensure permanent consumption of drugs and costly treatments (as these seem to be the ones for which funds are available for studies).
We have an amazing trauma care system but nowhere a decent “health care”; you only provide “sick care” as I didn’t experience any interest for promoting prevention, proper nutrition, advice that takes into consideration the whole human body, from both an emotional and physical perspective.
And to take away the choice of alternate treatments based on natural products and methods proven to work for decades, is an abuse of power and a submission to money-making businesses and lobbyists.
This is unacceptable!
We need to protect our access to natural products, services and practitioners!
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I am so tired of government butting into my health care choices. Are physicians scared that they might lose business? Are politicians in bed with pharmaceutical companies? The Ontario government doesn’t practise prevention well. They are too compartmentalized. We ought to have clean air, food and water. Then, watch illness / disease drop. Why are they not coordinating? Why has the ON government stopped outpatient sports clinics in hospitals? The physiotherapist there got me back to 100% after a sports injury. I broke my wrist (another sports injury) a few years ago and was told by the doctor at [redacted hospital],”Life is your physiotherapist.” What a bunch of crap…! I paid for physiotherapy and was told I should have been there weeks ago. What do physicians know about nutrition? Almost nothing. Why isn’t the Ontario Government paying for chelation therapy? Given how toxic our world is today, we are all contaminated with some degree of heavy metals. Test for heavy metals with an I.V., collect and test the urine. A blood test is mostly a waste of time. Too bad the next provincial election wasn’t tomorrow…! See, they don’t really care about helping people.
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I have been informed that CPSO has announced it’s intention to change it’s Complementary and Alternative Medicine policy .
If allowed my physician will no longer be allowed to practice.
As a patient who has not been successful with most conventional medicine , I find this intention by the CPSO extremely cruel and an invasion on my rights as a Canadian to have the freedom of choice to select the means I require for my health and well being .
You will hear from many like myself who pray you will consider this matter with common sense and compassion.
Yours truly
[redacted]
Hello,
I am writing to say that I have experienced life-changing benefits from Complementary and Alternative Medicine and am very concerned that my general well being will be negatively impacted if changes are made.
Many natural treatments will never be substantiated by the level of evidence that the new policy requires because they are not patentable. Natural substances/non patentable treatments will rarely obtain the financial backing to allow for costly large-scale clinical trials. No patent, no profit, no proof. CAM physicians often apply therapies that are outside the box to help medically challenging patients, and thus often rely on collective experience and previous patient outcomes to approach such patients.
Can we not, for the interest of all, have health options that work in conjunction with each other rather than my team vs. yours.
I have for the last 3 years been under the treatment of an integrative doctor in the Ontario area and would like to state that if it wasn’t for this doctor I would probably be dead. The medical community only looks at you when you are beyond help instead of using preventative measures. This is my experience and that is why I searched for an integrative doctor. If you shut these people down – then we will have to look outside of Canada for treatment and less money for Canada!
I have heard of the CPSOs’ plan to drastically change the ‘Complementary and Alternative Medicine’ policy
I am a member of the public who you claim to represent ….meanwhile, I have been unspeakably helped by my amazing Dr who uses alternative therapies. The reality is, it is HARM that conventional medicine caused me that drove me to try alternative medicine
If I had not found my doctor and received these treatments I would possibly be dead as I could not have tolerated the level of pain I was going through – now you seek to stop this !?!? why? so big pharma can make more $$$$?
Don’t let the CPSO look like shills! ….because at this rate, you are fanning the fires of the sadly evolving image of Doctors in bed with pharma
The proposed changes to the CPSOs CAM policy are not only unjust but are totally unobtainable and you know it. It is well known that clinical trials are heavily funded by pharmaceutical companies and those in pursuit of lucrative patents etc.
It doesn’t matter how effective and beneficial a natural therapy may be, there is NO way anyone will fund an unbiased and rigorous trial -big pharma, and sadly science itself, is now thick with conflict of interests, you will only see glowing account of efficacy and safety for drugs – not natural health
The CPSO appears to have jumped in bed with pharma by raising a bar that the natural health community could never reach
By doing so, the CPSO is disregarding the damage done by excluding large portions of our population who will now be unable to receive care from a healthcare professional.
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My life has been saved by Holistic medicine as they’ve had to clean up the messes left by allopathic docs. I am enraged CPSO is persecuting these better trained holistic practitioners who understand all the systems of the body instead of specialized parts. How can 5,000 years be even compared to our 200? Don’t you think we have had enough erosion of freedoms in 2020/21 already? My body, my choice. I used to be a proud Canadian, now I want to move from what seems to be a more and more Communist, draconian place to live. We have a birthright under God to be happy, healthy and free and I am not any of those, thanks to allopathy and all these rules. First do no harm??? I should be suing [you]! An unsatisfied customer is an understatement!
It’s clear that there is a strong bias against Complementary and Alternative Medicine practitioners in this policy.
It puts these kind of doctors in a position beyond any others to be admonished.
These physicians should be judged at the same standard as all other doctors.
They are doing a wonderful job of bringing together conventional and alternative types of therapies with knowledge that comes with medical education and experience .
Without them, I would be forced to seek advice from less qualified and informed individuals. That is more likely to be where harm would occur.
We certainly do not want to discourage these physician from practicing this type of healthcare which I personally have
benefited a great deal from without any adverse effects.
These doctors should be judged at the same standard as all other doctors.
Please revise the policy accordingly.
Thank you.
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Dr. Nancy Whitmore and company,
You people must analyze your own allopathic policies before prosecuting holistic practitioners who are cleaning up your messes. First do no harm? This is Topical Steroid Withdrawal. I’ve had 4 cytokine storms this year already from Betaderm, prednisone creating nerve damage in my face. This is not eczema nor autoimmune. My tram flap breasts had metabolic waste accumulation from heavy metals from chemo which botanicals and clay cured. How can dermatologists sleep at night prescribing steroids all day? How can oncologists sleep knowing their chemo kills and never cures? I survived these 13 years due to my Naturopathic’s insistence on building my immune system back. How dare your Allergist/Immunologist prescribe Dupixent, a known immune suppressant [redacted]. Of all times to limit Integrative docs work when they are the ones preventing virus spread by prescribing Vitamins and Minerals! Nutrition isn’t even taught in your schools…Allopathy is a joke! Your pills gave me leaky gut. But this perpetuates Big Pharma’s agenda.
[Redacted] I will fight tooth and nail for these practitioners who have had more schooling than allopathic docs in order to know the contraindications of their remedies if mixed with your synthetics. It is unlawful to prevent bodily choice. I am gathering the necessary documentation now. Holistic medicine saved my life from a sepsis-like state and from helplessness when your docs said this was “all in my head!” It’s like you WANT to kill people. [redacted] I rid my herpes zoster with plantain, a common broad leaf plant unpatentable by Big Pharma-so what? It works! I think you’re jealous so many people have left your system for the “allied” system. My practitioners have followed all your guidelines with more time, patience and kindness than I ever experienced from your docs. Iatrogenic experiences like death, crippling, side effects, all in my family, just do not happen with complimentary treatments. Without health, there’s no wealth. Since I’m on a fixed income, I went bankrupt to get at the ROOT of my problem and I’d do it again. I have been victimized by your system but I will never be a victim. Stop the harassment! Let these Alternative life savers do their work in peace. Shame on you all.
Please watch to understand my anger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR2XUxcZwNfZqUoSHAfo8xwIY3eIWDaPD_cpMpNM2Mioasmxga4sWEqMVCU&v=x4ypA9w81f0&feature=youtu.be
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I have a number of chronic health conditions, including cancer, which are in the process of being cured by alternative medicine. These conditions were caused by an adverse vaccine reaction. My health has vastly improved under alternative medicine and ancient food wisdom. Modern medicine is useful only for acute conditions, including trauma, and should be used in less than 5% of cases. In the words of a wise doctor, modern medicine is not “evidence-based” but “evidence manufactured”, and there is no pill for every ill but there is definitely an ill following every pill. The current pantomime has effectively demonstrated the deep-rooted corruption and complete lack of conscience on part of most mainstream medical doctors worldwide. [redacted] Please try to grow a conscience and stop harassing good healthcare practitioners while you rake money under your Faustian bargain.
I strongly urge you to continue supporting physicians who include aspects of functional/complimentary approaches to healing. We all deserve the right to choose between the big pharma driven practices of many practitioners and the safer, and often more effective, approaches of those who incorporate alternative medical practices as well.
Dear CPSO,
Complementary and Alternative Medicine saved my life when conventional OHIP covered medicine couldn’t. I had chronic lead poisoning and heavy metal toxicity. My family doctor literally couldn’t do anything to help me. My CAM doctor prescribed IV chelation therapy to detox which completely changed my life from a 3/10 energy level and a 7/10 pain level to a 7/10 energy level and a 3/10 pain level virtually over night, and in just 5 treatments I was completely detoxed. Almost 18 months later post treatment I have an 8/10 energy level and less than a 2/10 pain level most days now. I spent 20 years languishing with bad health which was cured through finally the right diagnosis and the right treatment. EDTA chelation therapy is the standard prescribed course of treatment for lead poisoning going back decades but it is not prescribed by most conventional doctors. Neither is the heavy metal challenge test.
Standard allopathic medicine is great for lots of things like emergency care, and it is also pretty good at diagnostics. However, it’s somewhat lacking when it comes to effectively treating many chronic conditions. This is where complementary and alternative medicine comes in.
Why would you wish to deny patients the freedom to choose what they feel is the right for their bodies? CAM treatments ARE evidenced based science….I’M LIVING PROOF. I’ve got the science and data and evidence to show for it too.
Having experienced a lifetime of chronic illness, I have regained optimum health only by using integrative and complementary medicine. I was sent home from hospital dying, and complementary medicine saved my life.
I disagree with imposing restrictions on integrative physicians. All the doctors I have seen are professional medical practitioners with care and respect for their patients. They go out of their way to find answers for their patients when other doctors (conventional) do not have the time or inclination or knowledge to do so.
am not surprised by the College of Physicians action. . I think that big money plays a part in political decisions and healthcare is no exception. Any alternate ( natural ) health care is a threat to big pharma and their pocket book. I believe that they have some political pull on this decision. It is also interesting that it is happening now as more and more people are now seeking out alternative therapies. Two large generations , the boomers and the even bigger Millenials are looking to work with other choices than just what is dictated to them, so the writing is on the wall now, more than ever. I really don’t know if they take into consideration other cultures when they made this decision. An example is that native indians and others often use both forms of healthcare. Without choices many people will put off seeking treatment until it is too late. At the end of the day we will all pay the price , in some form.
I believe that everyone has a right to choose the medical treatments that work for them.
I spent 8 years going from Physcian to Physcian, trying to find help for my adrenal condition. The answer was always the same-your tests are normal. The difficult thing for me was that I was getting more ill as each day passed. By the time I had my first appointment with a Physcian who practiced complementary and alternative medicine, I was one step from being totally bedridden. My life consisted of going from a chair to my bed. I was unable to leave my house. In other words, my life was agony.
When I began treatments with this Physcian 2 years ago, he used a combination of traditional and alternative medicine, I began to get my life back. I now lead a close to normal life. I can’t imagine having these treatments and medications taken away from me. My life would be doomed.
I am living proof that complementary and alternative medicine works.
CPSO
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I would like to say, that the only reason I am functional and happy today is because of my alternative care provider, [redacted]. I was recently informed that there is an intention to make drastic changes to the CAM policy.. I have an innate passion for science, holistic care and wellness and I have something to say about this.
The only time alternative care treatments may cause ambiguous results is if the patient’s baseline or particular state at a given time is so compromised by external factors like medication, environmental stress and conventional medicine. In cases like that, the approach to their care would be different, as their cells would need a proper detox, etc. This is for the care provider to decide. I trust [redacted] with his care and judgment. Him and his team know what they are doing. They help get to the core, the root of problems, problems that the conventional system chooses not to target.
In order to go deeper, the system needs other methods of testing, testing that is not open to the public or is very limited and available to a few. We need to expand our healthcare, not do the opposite. The reason I am alive today is because of [redacted], my alternative care doctor and my naturopath, [redacted]. Their care helped restore me from the conventional system – a system that misdiagnosed and mistreated me with their rigid protocols, and I am not the only one.
It would beyond tragic to limit the alternative care provider, we need to help expand this sphere of medicine and include extensive testing and more treatments to prevent disease. I support alternative medicine, and it’s about time that these treatments get recognized, and hopefully some day at least a portion of them will be covered by OHIP.
I’m willing to be your supportive evidence !! Seriously, alternative treatments helped me during a very confusing time in my life…a time when the conventional system made my situation worse, and did not understand me at all. I felt betrayed by this system.
At this time, I am facing another challenge, and I will turn to alternative medicine again, to help me live my most healthy life.
This just doesn’t make sense. This policy is essentially censoring access to healing modalities performed by highly trained, educated, informed professionals and relegating complex alternative therapies to be performed by those less skilled. What is the end game here?
Integrative medicine makes sense. Science is not a magic word. ( Earth used to be flat before it was round). So why not combine western and eastern medicine? Why not trust people to know what is best for them?
Integrative medicine works well and it should be part of the overall health policy.
People respond differently to healing. It is disheartening to see that our doctors and government have have been bought out by the big pharmaceutical companies. It is our right choose how to look after our own bodies. If that right is taken from us then this government will need to go.
Good day,
I recently received a disturbing letter from my alternative medical doctor regarding changes to the complementary and alternative medicine policy. I found it difficult to understand why the college of physicians and surgeons of Ontario can dictate that a complimentary-physician cannot provide alternative treatments for a patient’s illness.
Through my wife’s illness and mine we have gone through many standard physicians in order to diagnose and provide appropriate remedies or cures.
Many of these doctors attempted to diagnose our illnesses but fell short and ended up prescribing useless, to ice medications.
We’ve tried acupuncture, massage therapy, chiropractic adjustments, physiotherapist, and even osteopathy, all “sanctioned” by CPSO, but nothing helped in the long term.
Where are their clinical trials to prove that their treatments work?
And what about the pills they prescribe? All it appear to be doing is “pushing” pills.
For example, my mother is in a long tern care home and before she became a resident she was taking four or five pills per day.
Today she is up to 13 pills per day.
Daily I would see a man with a dolly stacked 4 feet high with pizza like boxes delivering drugs for the 150+ residence.
No one can tell me that with 13 pills there is no contraindication.
Let’s look at cancer treatments. Over 70 years ago chemotherapy and radiation were supposedly the “gold standard”. Supposedly tested and approved for use.
Here we are 70+ later and there has been nothing new to treat cancer as chemo and radiation still is the standard treatment.
Now, we hear about the Pfizer vaccine having an efficacy of 95.5% where the cancer survival rate is 2.5%!
Why is this allowed?
So, the bottom line is why can an organization whose sole purpose is to “protect” their little golden goose and shield themselves from being found guilty of being exposed at their lack of knowledge out there and acknowledging that in most cases alternative medicine does work.
Our Complimentary and Alternative Medicine doctor should be congratulated by CPSO for being a maverick, for taking the time to “care” and “listen” to his patients not reprimanded.
They truly care and want to treat the illness that regular physicians are not capable of doing.
My wife and I “MUST” have the freedom of choice to go to anyone we wish to go to if the regular physicians can’t help.
So, in summary the way we see it we did try to go to “your” traditional physicians first. We gave each of them a chance to be a “star” and resolve our issues, but the failed, or at least fell short.
They, forced us to seek out alternative treatments.
We are glad we did as our health has been improving and we finally can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
When there are already existing guidelines for conduct and ethics for physicians and avenues available to hold physicians accountable for their behavior and treatments, adding an additional layer of standards to those practicing alternative/complementary medicine seems strongly biased and prejudicial against those physicians offering alternative/complementary medicine. Either your existing guidelines aren’t strong enough for all physicians or these new guidelines are biased and should be redrafted.
This proposed draft is beyond the scope and parameters of The College of Physicians and Surgeons. It is a draft and attempt to control what a Canadian citizen has access to and what choices a citizen is freely able to make on their own merits – We are free to choose our medicine – our care – we do not need a governing body to answer to – our health care choices are a protected right in Canada. This draft is unethical immoral and an affront on the Rights os a patient client and citizen. The College has no say in cultural historical alternative care or treatments that a person may see fit to use or choose. Abadon this thinly veiled attempt to control what is NOT your business to meddle in.
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Complementary and alternative medicine treatments have been a game-changer for many of my family, friends, and clients over the past 20 years.
These two articles [redacted] will show you how powerful these treatments can be when conventional medicine has failed:
How I Saved My Mother’s Life – https://www.theelitetrainer.com/blog/how-i-saved-my-mothers-life/
Learning to Walk Again – https://www.theelitetrainer.com/blog/learning-to-walk-again/
I have found treatment by my CAM practitioner to be very effective. While I still value the input of our Medical Doctor, there have been times when I found the natural treatment to be safer and more effective while offering peace of mind, as in my case it did not only treat the symptoms but addressed the root cause of the problem. It is no secret that these two schools of thought are completely opposite, although they both seek to help patients. I am wondering if the CPSO comprises of doctors with an in-depth knowledge and understanding of CAM so that they are able to make informed choices, as the outcome will affect many, and it is the responsible thing to do.
I have a number of questions regarding your proposed changes to the CPSO’s policy on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). What is your goal in doing this? What problem are you trying to solve?
I refer you to the oath you take as physicians, the Hippocratic Oath to “Do no harm.” Is this what your goal is, to eliminate the potential for harm supposedly coming from doctors who practise CAM? If you say that this is your goal, then that causea me to be highly suspicious. In fact, I often wonder how doctors practising conventional medicine can sleep at night. The preferred treatment by conventional medicine is drug-therapy. And I spent the past few years reading the long list of possible side effects from drugs and witnessing them in my mother, who was in the care of conventional medicine every time she went into the hospital. Many of the druga she was put on were so damaging that a patient could die or have life-altering effects to their essential organs. It was right there in print. Is this acceptable? Is this doing no harm?
You no doubt claim that approaches used by practitioners of CAM are not backed by proper studies, but neither are a lot, if not most of the drugs that are used by conventional doctors. Many drug companies fudge the statistics and, if doctors actually read their studies, they would see many badly run studies there are that somehow pass for evidence that the drugs are worth prescribing, given the risks in using them.
Of course, we should all know that this is inevitable. Big Pharma is not in business for the patients. It’s in business for the profits. So, anything they can do to reduce their costs and increase their profits, they will do. Can you really claim that doctors incorporating CAM into their practices are posing greater risk to their patients than conventional ways of practising medicine? Do you ever demand of the drugs that you so freely prescribe that they come with safety guarantees and standards? Do you ever ask Big Pharma to develop such safety standards before you’re willing to use their drugs on your patients? No. You go ahead and blindly give in to prescribing drugs that you must know are doing harm to your patients.
Here’s what I propose: Why don’t you allow physicians to incorporate CAM into their practices and join together in agreeing on ways of living up to your Hippocratic Oath. I put to you that CAM practitioners are already way ahead of you. In fact, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that medicine in Ontario, in fact in the world, would be of far greater value to patients if all med schools were revamped completely and doctors were educated properly on how best to aid and support their patients in the pursuit of vibrant health and well-being.
P.S. If you go ahead with your plans, you will be forcing patients who don’t accept drugs to avoid the physicians that you license. As it is, I already only go to my doctor once a year or every second year, precisely because she has been afraid for years to practise anything that could be called CAM. Get out of the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry and please come back to real medicine.
I highly recommend looking at how Australia handled this very same question:
https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/why-the-complementary-medicine-regulatory-push-was?fbclid=IwAR1mlh48cJDILhfOF678EIHNYlGNpcakw4IoPbWKw1kV-VQxFF1Xr6Y8qyo
Hello there,
I am a woman who uses natural remedies as a first line of defense against all types of ailments. This has been such a beneficial experience for myself and my family. We think it is of the utmost importance to have doctors who can offer alternative options in line with my beliefs and values. I value natural health and want to see the rights of complementary and alternative medicine practices protected in our province and country.
Response in PDF format
Response in PDF format
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There is nothing to substantiate the position that Integrative medicine is unscientific. Integrative Medicine is a discipline recognized by the American Board of Physicians as a specialty. Integrative medicine does what it says – integrates Western medical practice with vitamins, supplements, nutritional and dietary recommendations, and/or other holistic practices. From the Mayo Clinic’s website – the **MAYO CLINIC** no less –
” Integrative medicine can help people with cancer, persistent pain, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and many other conditions better manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life by reducing fatigue, pain and anxiety. there is much scientific evidence supporting more natural, innovative and less harmful options to support optimal wellness.”
I’m not sure I understand the negative bias.
I have been diagnosed with Lyme disease- a disease that many MD’s in Canada deny even exist. Even the CDC is now slowly but surely raising the number of known cases in the US. If not for my integrative medicine doctors i would be continuing on a costly path to visit one specialist after another that looks at my symptoms from only their specialty lens rather than someone asking deeper/wider questions. What would have seemed like a cancer diagnosis was cured with less pharmaceuticals and more empowerment of what it might be. On the road for recovery thanks to integrative medicine. Please stop restrictions in how patients are treated and wake up – the doctors starting out today have much more open minds.
I don’t know where I would be with out functional medicine. Trying to get to the root of the problem rather than just treat symptoms with pharmaceuticals is what has gotten me better. Looking outside the box and treating based on the whole person is so important. Let these doctors practice the way they have been. As a patient we leave conventional medicine covered by provincial health insurance and choose to pay out of pocket because we know there’s better treatments out there, more testing and different kind of help even if it costs us. See that one pays a lot of money to get help they need.
Also these doctors do base their treatments and testing on science but perhaps other than what is learned in medical school with the text books that are funded by pharmaceutical companies. Science may come new studies and from any part of the world but perhaps this government is too concerned with its own agenda of what’s allowed here when there’s been proof that other therapies including different pharmaceutical are working in other parts of the world and these doctors want to help their patients by trying those therapies here. It is the patients decision to take the therapy and pay for it. There’s a reason why patients leave conventional medicine and go to functional medicine.
Where are these physicians supposed to get all this supported evidence from? A follow up question? Who’s going to pay for it?
I feel, having personally had alternative medicine available to me, there has been a significant change in my everyday life and I’m grateful my doctor suggested it to me. I tried going the conventional way and left up to that, I would be dead right now. I suffered from heavy-metal poisoning and of course, no conventional doctor was going to admit that. A gross reaction to injection medication put my life on hold for two years.
As a doctor I have seen first hand what alternative medicine can do for someone. I had a multisymptomatic condition nobody could diagnose. Every doctor I saw said it was in my head. I found a functional doctor who ran some unconventional test that I paid for out of my pocket. He cured me because he looked at the underlying condition not just masking the symptoms. Big Pharma is powerful and the CPSO is being influenced. Some people don’t respond to conventional therapies and its important to not restrict doctors from thinking outside the box. I disagree with the Policy.
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When it comes to health, everyone has a story. Here is how CAM got my health back on track and why CAM may be the key to meeting healthcare needs coming out of COVID19:
I have a new Super Power. The ability to comprehend and navigate my own health has transformed. Over the past 12 months my fantastic family doctor, specialists — and most of all, my integrated medical doctor gave me freedom and power.
I was experiencing burnout (or so I thought).
Since I was 14, my thyroid had slightly alerting levels, but never far enough to warrant further investigation… Or so I thought. “Your TSH is elevated, but your T4 is okay… lets wait and see”. now, 29, on a whim and recommended by a friend I explored an alternative approach…
Prior to my initial visit, I had frequent visits to my family doctor, blood tests, raising concerns with digestion, energy and mental clarity. My desire to feel at my best had me opt in for an out-of-pocket private medical at [redacted] – a clinic established on a wide and deep diagnosis…
Every conventional medicine interaction found the flags but not the reason why my TSH levels were elevated.
What I learned was my levels were due to an auto-immune disease slowly creeping up shown by the presence of antibodies attacking my thyroid due to food sensitivities my whole life – ultimately tearing me apart over time (digestive, energy, body weight) – accelerated during Lockdown.
I was feeding myself to death with practically every item being allergenic or elevated sensitivity. [Redacted clinic], in fact, recommended foods due to a low iron result – all of which turned out to be an allergen proven by my Integrative doctors’ analysis.
The results across the wide tests collected after my initial visit blew me away. These answers were right there. I was finally able to navigate the pattern I was constantly repeating to friends, family and medical doctors.
Success came from the knowledge of knowing how I ‘used’ to feel – and want to feel. It had gotten so bad that I knew something was wrong. I had a very specific goal in mind which helped my Integrative doctor guide me, inform me and coach me.
Can you imagine how empowered that felt?
For the first time, I took control of my well-being. By the way, this did not replace my family doctors (who are amazing). The combination of all of my doctors working together was the true breakthrough that followed.
When it comes to health, restricting the professional physicians who truly care about patient outcomes puzzles me. My experiences resulted in my wellbeing dramatically improving. I hope others find this path when they are ready. It takes intention and mindfulness. A rare trait we often lose in our busy lives.
Let me tell you something – when any of us or our families get sick – we end up with doctors who provide this level of care in partnership with your family doctor.
These doctors are a best kept secret between every CEO and entrepreneur I have met. It feels like 80% of the dinner table conversations in my network are around healthcare. Humans are more passionate than ever to find a way to feel at our best.
The question I have for who is approving this shift in limitations through the CAM Policy – how is evidence against CAM being represented as justification for this direction? Perhaps there is merit to reset on how CAM may play a role in partnership with conventional medicine, versus a dismissed follower to public care options.
Consider this a helpful question because coming out of COVID our Province will need every able bodied health professional ready to provide their expertise and attention. Every doctor has a role to play for the upcoming wave of mental health and overall well-being needs. I would definitely NOT want to be associated with limiting healthcare options available or add more layers of complexity for patients to jump through via required conventional/pharmaceutical-focused medicine ‘evidence’ or methods.
Healthcare has the greatest capacity for innovation in our future. Thank you for hearing out my comments and best of luck as the committee finalizes the CAM Policy guiding better healthcare in Ontario.
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In September 2014, I was having chest pains. I went to my doctor who sent me to the hospital and after an angiogram I had a double bypass operation. In November 2014 I found out about [redacted] who is an physician who provides complementary and alternative medicine. He told me that if I had come to him before the operation, his treatment would have eliminated the need for an operation that left me with a severe chest wound and all the discomfort that goes with it. Although the pain I had before has not reoccurred, the wound has not healed properly. I met other patients at [redacted]‘s office who stated that after a few treatments of [redacted] method, their chest pains started subsiding and eventually disappeared. There was no need for these other patients to have an operation. [Redacted] treated me with a number of IV treatments of EDTA and Plaquex drips and other supplements. He also recommended dietary changes. I am on a monthly maintenance program of EDTA, Plaquex and supplements. During the following years, I have had several stress tests and all has shown that all is well with my blood pressure and heart functions. After I had the operation, my cardiologist told me that most bypass patients arteries starts clogging up again around the 5-year mark. I believe that [redacted]‘s treatments has been keeping my arterial system clean and functioning properly. I believe that the complementary and alternative medicines provided by [redacted] is of great benefits to his patients as it assists in the solutions of health problems.
As a patient of both conventional medicine and CAM I have experienced better care and help from CAM. I have more trust in my integrative medical physician who does his due diligence in listening to me and getting to the root of my health issues (rather than a 10 min MD appointment only to put a bandaid on the problem). All MDs have offered me is pain medication. My integrative medicine physician has given me my life back. If I relied solely on the the conventional health care system I would be dead. Period. Treating patients isn’t one size fits all. There are benefits to both conventional and integrative options. Not allowing integrative medicine would be a huge disservice to the wellness of Canadians.
Alternative therapies have helped me go from a zombie to a functioning human. Please do not take away my life line.
As someone who suffers from Lyme i think this is so irresponsible of the Canadian Government. We are so behind on Lyme treatment, If the Government will not invest in research then do not penalize the few physicians that will try new treatment options. Some Lyme patients are so desperate that any treatment with healing potential is worth the risk. If the government is so concerned then let the patient choose,, have us sign a waiver confirming we have been made aware of the risks!
Please, something has to be done!!
Without alternative medicines, my nephew probably would not be here today. Not every case is the same and traditional medicines don’t always work best. People should have the option to choose the treatment that is best for them without being penalized. Alternative medicine is just that – an alternative when traditional medicines are not successful. Do not take away our ability to choose how we heal our bodies. We live in a democracy not a dictatorship.
Please don’t do this, it’s cruel and it’s punishment for no good reason. This has big pharma written all over it. I have a chronic illness and almost every single general physician has failed me. If it wasn’t for alternative medicine I would be dead. It’s my right to choose how I would like to be treated and the CPSO Is trying to take that away, it’s not right. It’s 2021 in Canada! What are patients supposed to do if they’re allergic to antibiotics? Every Canadian should be furious.
Naturopathic Doctors provide essential services to those whose illnesses are insufficiently researched by conventional medicine, such as post-treatment Lyme disease, mold toxicity and hormone deficiencies. Please look at the example of British Columbia where NDs are allowed to prescribe medications including antibiotics. This would take some pressure off overbooked family doctors. Note that the public needs to know the difference between an ND and a “naturopath,” however. Consider preventing non-NDs from calling themselves “naturopaths.” Please also look at the U.S. where Integrative Medicine is a discipline recognized by the American Board of Physician Specialties. Other jurisdictions are recognizing the importance of looking at patient’s complete health picture, not just taking 5 minutes to decide which drug to prescribe.
I’m suffering since 3 years (muscles pain, nerves pain, headache,…) and after seing 21 health specialists, the only one that’s helping me is a doctor in integrative medicine. Please don’t leave me with anything… I really need his help and the medication is provide me!
Do not take away people’s rights to choose this type of treatment. What an outrage.
These treatment are beneficial to treat the whole person and not just the symptoms.
Body and choice.
I am shocked and appalled by this proposed change. The updated policy has guidelines for discussions and documentation of treatments that are far beyond that which conventional doctors must do and are virtually impossible to follow. The negative bias against Integrative Medicine is blatant in this document. The document implicitly states that Integrative Medicine is unscientific and exploitative. This policy ignores the fact that there is much scientific evidence supporting more natural, innovative and less harmful options to support optimal wellness in patients. It further ignores the fact that Integrative Medicine is a Discipline recognized by the American Board of Physician Specialties.
We are so behind our American neighbours when it comes to health care advancements and research, and this policy change will take us back decades. With, as of this writing, 852K Ontarians who have had Covid-19, and an estimated 10% of whom will have long term chonic illness resulting from that, this policy change would leave those so called “Covid long haulers” alone and without treatment plans, left to suffer in pain and indiginty. This is absolutely a violation of our very basic Human Rights, and I will be embarrassed to call myself a Canadian if this were to go through. Please. Reconsider.
Please do not discipline physicians who practice integrative medicine. For many patients traditional drugs and treatment are not effective for their painful diseases. My daughter has suffered from Lyme disease for over 8 years and has had no relief from her traditional MD so has turned to an integrative physician with positive results. Turning patients away from MD’s will open the door for questionable and untrained practitioners with dire results.
This is heartbreaking censorship of potentially great doctors doing their job to seek answers. Science is never absolute. Puts all the power in the hands of big pharma which has shown over and over it is not infallible and sometimes hideously harmful (see opiate crisis).
My family has benefited greatly (cancer relief and remission) from smart doctors thinking beyond the box and concurrently we lost a family member who was poisoned by a bad prescription. There has to be a way to make this system inclusive, these prospective changes are lazy and short sighted.
The Ontario government refuses to acknowledge that Chronic Lyme disease exists, regardless of the fact that thousands of Ontarians have it. Because of this, Lyme disease patients are already left with few if any treatment options, and are forced to suffer in pain every day, with no hope for the future. Alternative and Integrated medical doctors are the only source of hope for these patients. To take away their right to prescribe the appropriate treatment for Lyme disease (long-term anti-biotics, or alternative therapies) is closing the door on these patients, and leaving them for dead. This is ethically wrong. These therapies have been proven time and time again in Canada, the US, and Europe. This policy change will only widen the medical advancement gap that Ontarians are negatively experiencing compared to other developed nations.
Why will the Canadian and Ontario government not recognize chronic Lyme disease? Lyme disease can cause delayed neurologic symptoms similar to those seen in multiple sclerosis (MS) such as weakness, blurred vision caused by optic neuritis, dysesthesias (sensations of itching, burning, stabbing pain, or “pins and needles”), confusion, and cognitive dysfunction, and fatigue. Because of this, Lyme in Canada and Ontario is often misdiagnosed as MS, and the treatments for MS only rapidly worsen the symptoms of Lyme. This is ethically wrong. It has long been accepted that Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world (much higher than the US), but miraculously has a much lower rate of Lyme disease (especially compared to the US border). Why do so-called scientists believe that ticks don’t cross the Canadian-American border and that some home MS is just running rampant here instead? Why can they not open their eyes to the FACT that Lyme disease is real, and it exists in Canada and Ontario? Please, stop leaving patients suffering from Chronic Lyme in the dust. Our Integrative and Alternative health practitioners are our only hope. If you take away this right, you will directly be the cause for increased suicides in Ontario. These patients are suffering and will have no other way out.
Rather than restricting the abilities of Alternative and Integrative Doctors (whose practices have long been backed by science by the American Board of Physician Specialties) to provide the best possible care to their patients, who oftentimes are given no other treatment options in Ontario, perhaps instead we could invest in completing clinical trials. Rather than turning our backs on treatments and medicine that actually work, perhaps we should learn more about them and how we can use them to help make Ontarian’s lives better. Rather than retreating, could we not move forward and actually improve our healthcare system in Ontario?
As someone who has paid into Ontario Health Care my entire life, I am shocked and appalled by these proposed changes to the policy. I have recently become ill, and my only hope to receive treatment for my condition in Canada is to pay out of pocket at an Integrative Health Care Centre. Your policy change, will take away my right to treatment, and leave me with no options and no hope. I am angry. I am frightened. I need help. I have seen countless doctors through OHIP – all of whom have scratched their heads and offered me nothing in the way of treatment or pain management. I finally saw the light when I found my integrative clinic and spoke with my new doctor who actually believed my symptoms, has heard of my condition before, and has actually treated and cured thousands of Ontarians in my position. Please, do not silence my doctor. Do no leave myself and other Ontarians with no treatment and no hope for any quality of life. I beg you. I am desperate, and I need my doctor. We need more Integrative doctors, not less.
I have been dealing with debilitating chronic fatigue for over 6 years. I am currently on medical leave from work and on long-term disability. I have consulted with over 20 physicians and specialists including internists, epidemiologists, virologists, rheumatologists, neurologists who cannot identify what’s wrong and I am left without any treatment options as a result, aside from avoiding stress and managing my energy and exertion. Without the support and treatment through my integrative medical clinic, I would be left without any treatment options or hope of recovery and maintaining a reasonable quality of life.
There is an obvious negative bias against Integrative Medicine that is blatant in the proposed policy. It implicitly states that Integrative Medicine is unscientific and exploitative, which is not true. The proposed guideline ignores the fact that there is much scientific evidence supporting more natural, innovative and less harmful options to support patient wellness. It further ignores the fact that Integrative Medicine is a Discipline recognized by the American Board of Physician Specialties. I have as a patient had many better outcomes through integrative medicine than through conventional medicine alone. In fact, I have had to educate a number of conventional practitioners on the scientific evidence supporting some natural and integrative options which have and are on a evidenced based approach, successful in terms of patient outcomes. The college would be better off spending its time, ensuring that conventional medical practitioners actually have the facts and understand how non-conventional treatments can sometimes create better patient outcomes. I find the college’s obvious bias on this issue depressing. You should be concerned about patient outcomes not about protecting the ignorance of conventional practitioners. A policy requiring practitioners to understand evidence based non-conventional options that may yield better patient outcomes would be a better professional practice guidance than the current proposal which seems only to prevent access to non-conventional options which may benefit patients.
Please tell me why? Why would the government take away the only treatment option for its sickest residents? For some of us, alternative and integrative therapies are the only things that have helped and given us some quality of life. Why take that away?
The changes to the CAM policy are a direct assualt on the autonomy of the patient and their doctor’s ability to treat patients effectively. Shame on the CPSO for attempting to disguise these changes as being in the best interest of patients. Removing the treatment options available to patients based on whether they have undergone the same scientific scrutiny as profitable pharmaceutical treatments is detrimental to health of many people. I have received better health outcomes from my CAM doctor than I have ever received from conventional doctors and their limited choices of treatment. Not every patient benefits from conventional medicine, as we all have unique bodies and needs, and eliminating choices you are discriminating against the very patients you propose to protect. Please protect both CAM doctor and patient autonomy and do NOT follow through with the proposed changes.
Naturopathic doctors and functional medicine should be recognized as fundamental pillars to our healthcare system. Their services help provide holistic support – particularly to patients whose needs are underserved by the traditional medical community due to a lack of research or prescribed solutions. I have personally found working with a naturopathic doctor to be extremely useful for dealing with amennoreah that lasted two years, for which my family doctor had little to recommend. In situations like this, as a patient I’d rather try something to solve the problem (ex: change lifestyle, incorporate supplements), especially when these solutions are low-risk, than do nothing because there isn’t evidence to support any solution.
I absolutely agree. My wife was going from doc to doc without any help if not heavy drugs that were NOT needed at all. She found help with functional medicines specialist who are scientific enough to look for cause and not just dismiss you because of their ignorance and throw a few pills at you after a 10 minutes consult.
And they called that science. Please
I respect the medical providers in Ontario and grateful for their help however , alternative medicine has helped me greatly with options that are much more natural , safer and not as invasive on my system
How can you honestly say that drugs are a better option .
Why are the drug lords in charge of our lives . This is insanity ! Their greed for money and power is obvious and disgusting to man kind .
Please reconsider our alternative medicine as part of a necessary protocol provided by our MD’s .
Integrative medicine is the best practice of medicine I have ever experienced. Complex illness are completely abandoned by traditional medicine. All traditional doctors would have something to learn with the principal of Integrative medicine. Traditional medicine is simply drug pushers with simply not time and not interest in getting a patient healthy. Symptoms are treated but not the cause. The college should not treat this differently then conventional medicine physician. Both should adhere to the same demands and policies and documentation. Science is not absolute, and new findings are made every day conventional medicine does not allow or accept new acquired knowledge. Take decades to accept new findings. Drugs therapies are far more dangerous then alternative treatments but far less demands are made on traditional physicians to justify use of serious drugs, Absurd to me to add more barriers to safer therapies, and to a medical practice that treat the root cause and not just symptoms. In fact conventional doctors should be provided guideline and policies forcing them to treat cause of illness, and not just mask it with Drug. Conventional Medicine is what needs to be improved and the source of much more harm then Integrative treatments.
I feel as though there is a negative bias against Integrative Medicine overall… so socially and medically. Integrative Medicine is the opposite of unscientific and exploitative; the inverse is true (often so-called traditional medicine takes advantage of public funding to use it an excuse to give sick patients no treatment at all). This policy ignores the fact that there is much scientific evidence supporting more natural, innovative and less harmful options to support optimal wellness in patients. It further ignores the fact that Integrative Medicine is an internationally-recognized discipline. Having been diagnosed by the Ontario government’s lab tests for 1) [blood test] Lyme Disease 2) [double-biopsy] Lichen Planopilaris (with FFA) and 3) blastocytosis [stool sample], I would have been doomed to receiving no treatment whatsoever other than a short course of tetracycline for all three conditions, which is completely unacceptable. And at first, I was never even told what I had by my family doctor(s) (I see different residents at a clinic but no one wanted to help).
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My son has suffered both vaccine injuries and has tested positive for Lyme, no thanks to our family doctor at all. When he developed a serious and life threatening reaction to thee MMR Vaccine our family doctor did nothing. Our son was dizzy with extreme neck and head pain, he had inflammation spreading to his brain. We were told it was likely how he slept that night. When my son suffered a tick bite last year, our now ex family doctor told us not to treat it nor did he have any advice on what to do. [Redacted hospital] ID Department told us ticks don’t really exist in Canada!!! What is going on with the medical system in Ontario? The only doctors that have helped our family have been integrative/functional doctors. They listen, and offer life changing treatments. In a time where most of our freedoms are being taken away, this is absolutely revolting. Who will help those with autoimmune conditions or think outside the box to provide treatment? Please don’t take this away from the people of Ontario. Already we are paying out of pocket for medical help, this is a step in the wrong direction!
Can you please explain why the RCOP will not support CAM doctors for offering their services to Lyme patients? If consent is given and we the patient are paying for out of pocket why do they want to absolve them? Are doctors being sued ? And what’s the alternative for Lyme patients, the dump? We are already neglected and feel like criminals in our own country.
Thank you.
Alternative options and therapies are Essential
The Best Medicine or Functional Medicine is so Necessary
With so many aliments / diseases being Chronic in Nature
MD’s need to prescribe best medicine a combination of
Medicines … if Alternative medicines do not have enough
Scienctic backing … Let’s commission to get more not shut
Them down … that simply makes no sense so many people
Benefit from a duel approach.
When I first started going to my current doctor, she would prescribe homeopathic remedies and other things that were considered “alternative”. It was one of the things I really liked about her, along with the fact that she actually listened to her patients. Then, from one day to the next, she suddenly stopped using anything but “approved” medical solutions. That change in her approach coincided with the witch-hunt by the CPSO against a highly effective doctor, loved by his patients precisely because he use CAM. It seemed obvious that the much-publicized witch-hunt against the other doctor (I forget his name now) was designed to scare other doctors in the province into not wandering outside of the proscribed box approved by the College. So, my doctor became just like everybody else and I understood that she had her hands tied. It wasn’t her fault.
As a result, I found other practitioners and only see my GP when absolutely needed. Not for drugs, because I don’t need them. But for things that non-medical practitioners are not permitted to do.
If this is what the CPSO is aiming for, then you are on the right track. If, on the other hand, this is not what you hope for, then how about working together with all of your member doctors to come up with standards that you can all agree upon. Perhaps it’s only a matter of assessing the safety of a modality that a doctor has incorporated into her/her practice. This could apply both to conventional medicine and complementary medicine. In my opinion, it can only improve medicine in Ontario.
I believe that it’s time to stop treating us patients like children. I respect my doctor but see her only as being a member on my team, the goal of which is my continued well-being. If all she is permitted to do is to prescribe drugs (I’m 78 and don’t used pharmaceutical drugs), then she isn’t of much use on my team. I will see her as little as possible and only often enough not to be dropped from her practice.
We, in the public, are getting much wiser than we have ever been before. Yes, there are some people who take no responsibility for their own health and well-being and depend entirely on their doctor to tell them what to do. Those are the patients that clog doctors’ waiting rooms for any little sniffle. If that is the kind of practices you want your members to have, then go ahead with your proposal, because you will be forcing all of the intelligent and self-governing patients away, not to mention chasing the best doctors out of the province.
I profoundly hope that all of the comments you are receiving will wake you up to understand your true role: supporting people in Canada in their quest to be in as vibrant health as possible. Doesn’t that sound inspiring to you?
You may currently be shackled to the pharmaceutical industry, but isn’t it about time that you throw off those shackles and do an honest job at the CPSO? I believe it is called living by the Hippocratic Oath that you all took.
My family went through complex and difficult illnesses, autism, chronic stress Hashimoto’s etc. Conventional doctors can offer very little in those cases, so we turned to doctors with knowledge of alternative medicine. Made a big difference and they made possible to live a somewhat normal life.
It would be ideal if conventional medicine had answers for all ailments. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The new policy prevents a conscientious physician from trying his or her best to “problem solve” using all methods available.
If the new policy is adopted, physicians will be prevented from using natural and innovative treatments that have helped thousands of people like me. Irrespective of their safe and effective benefits to patients, natural treatments will always be considered “unproven” and therefore, disallowed. Physicians will inevitably be forced to prescribe only pharmaceutical drugs.
We should be encouraging (not prohibiting!) physicians to explore all safe and effective options for patients. If physicians are forbidden from thinking and acting ‘outside of the box’ for the benefit of their patients, this will silence innovation in the Ontario medical system.
I personally find these so called integrative system being the one that get the job done. I have worked with functional medicine specialists at P3 Health clinic: they were the only one that actually helped.
My wife was going from doctor to doctor getting nowhere. Finally a functional medicine specialist found the CAUSE of the problem and did not try – like other two neurologist – to just shove a pill down her throat without any reason. And I am saying that when I asked why that drug, they couldn’t answer….. there is your science.
average docs are so behind with research that they push pills just to not look bad.
Let the body heal naturally. Allow for intergrated medicine.
I think your Complementary and Alternative Medicine perspective ignores the many scientific studies proving that supplements work. It is easy to conclude that because of your bias, there is probably a significant financial influence pushing your perspective. I wish real facts were used and personal biases along with financial influences were eliminated from the decision making.
It is also important to consider that there is a significant portion of the population that do not want to be prescribed the latest chemical on the market.
All of our doctors work hard. And while we have excellent care, our free system has its limits.
There are only a small handful of integrative MDs in Ontario. They help fill in the gaps and are able to take the time to dig deeper, using a combination of proven functional medicine tests and treatments that our free system isn’t able to provide (time, money or resources).
The college should be working WITH them. Making some of their practices mainstream and accessible … not making them jump through hoops to prove their validity and efficacy with additional paperwork, comparisons to conventional treatments and whatnot. This is just ridiculous.
Integrative medicine is standard care in Europe, and it’s recognized in the US by the American Board. Why do you want to make it harder for people to get the healthcare they want and are willing to pay for, or discourage other doctors from thinking about health prevention and adding new techniques to complement their existing modalities … to the benefit of the patient?
I’ve used an integrative MD for a few years as part of my daughter’s larger health team. The MD was able to get us a celiac diagnosis when we were told “no” by our conventional doctor, and helped us ID and treat imbalances in her body related to a secondary autoimmune. We did functional lab tests, short rounds of antibiotics, nutraceuticals and that helped my child avoid a long list of harsh medications that could potentially put her at risk for other conditions. How on earth is that a bad thing?
By institutionalizing biases against doctors who legitimately question if current medical models serve patients well as possible, particularly those whose medical conditions are not well researched and for which conventional medicine offers no treatments, the College may in fact drive patients to completely unlicensed practitioners. When conventional medicine continually tells you that they offer no treatment for your recognized illness, you will keep trying find ways to get treatment. The College would do well to support CAM doctors and to increase funding for research into CAM and to diversify from a reliance on pharmaceuticals for funding. There is much to be learned from CAM doctors, who generally have a much better bed side manner than conventional doctors as they can actually take the time to learn all bout your health and not make a decision based on a 15 minute interview. They take the whole person and the whole intricate human system into account which in my experience leads to much better health outcomes.
I was recently railroaded into minor surgery that in the end was completely unnecessary and has left me with pain and fatigue for over a month. Prior to the surgery I asked the Dr for information on the likelihood of my abnormal cells turning into cancer and was given no answer. I was not provided with scientific evidence on how this procedure was necessary. I outlined for her how I have an underlying condition which could cause complications. My concerns were completely dismissed by her. In the end, my cells had already reverted back to normal on their one and this intervention was completely unnecessary and would have saved my life from being upended. Again, why was this Dr not required to give me valuable information so as to be able make an informed decision? I feel like consent was coerced.
Once the hospital finally returned my calls regarding the pain, I was seen by another Dr whose first response was to suggest opioid treatment. He denied that they were addictive and then proceeded to say that it was impossible that my pain was related to nerves (even though 3 other doctors have confirmed that the whole pelvic area is innervated).
So my question to the CSPO in all of this is, why are you not reviewing policy guidelines for conventional medicine to ensure the regular doctors are required to give an informed opinion and seek actual consent from patients following full disclosure of possible effects? Furthermore, a mainstream doctor gave me completely misinformed advice not supported by science. Why is he not being sanctioned? I would be curious to know about his interactions with the makers of Dilaudin – he should have had to disclose this to me. Regular doctors brushed me aside and their only solution was to go ahead with surgery where side effects are not documented and then to offer me very powerful and addictive drugs. CAM doctors are the only ones who actually took the time to explain to me why this is happening and suggested some nutritional supplements which are far less dangerous than opioids and which will not cause a whole host of new problems related to addiction.
I find it so unfortunate that the college views functional medicine doctors as the enemy when they are often the only doctors who treat patients who have been mistreated and dismissed by conventional doctors. It would be useful if the college could apply the same energy that it is doing to penalize CAM doctors to exposing the dangerous influence of the drug companies on conventional doctors and to force these doctors to reveal their interactions with drug companies to patients. This new policy appears completely hypocritical to me and I think that it will worsen outcomes for patients not protect them. There is room for great synergy between conventional and CAM doctors, how unfortunate that the CPSO has taken a pharmaceutical based approach and not a patient based approach.
The people who profit from it seem to be afraid to put their capital behind proving that any of it works. Capital can be raised for all kinds of endeavours, some insanely crazy.
If the natural remedy makers and alternative practitioners of the world could prove or wanted to prove that their herb, formulation of treatment works, they would do the same thing everyone one else does in the health care industry…put their money on the line and prove or disprove the efficacy of their product(s)/treatments. Nothing tough about that…unless fearful of the truth.
My Understanding is That How a Medical Doctor knows about a Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia active ingredient,a required dose and complete effects on the different parts of body after Prescribing Homeopathic Treatment. WHO recognize Homeopathy as well. Who does not believe in Homeopathy please study Nano Medicine. So my request not to rule out and say anything please spend some time and research.
Let me correct all Canadians that Homeopathy is a Regulated Profession now in Ontario. In 1869 Ontario passed the “ Ontario Medical Act “ according to that CPSO board takes care of eclectic, allopathic and homeopathic. Homeopaths were represented with 5 Members on the Council of the CPSO until 1934.
Please leave integrated medicine alone. It is an integral part of the medical system. To help paitents like myself avoid seriouosilness before it has a chance to take root. It has helped me become aware of antigens attacking my thyroid. This is when myt3 t4 and tsh were normal. Altering my diet and supplimenting i reversed my condition and recaptured my health. Without this information, i would not have discovered this problem until it progressed with to the stage of abnormal tbyroid requiring medication for life. The burden on the health care system is hugely reduced by integrated medicine. It is cutting edge and scientifically proven. Please lets move forward and use all the tools available to improve quality of life and ease the burden of the health care system by keeping people healthy by trwating them upstream of illness. Please.
How dare you take away our right to alternative medicine, how dare you! How deep is big pharma into your pockets? Disgraceful.
Your policy which I’ve read is nothing but a blatant attempt at censoring integrative doctors, being punitive and keeping the public sick and ignorant. As many of your mainstream establishment are. I find it laughable that you would insinuate that doctors who practice integrative medicine are somehow not well researched, when it’s actually your conventionally narrow scope players that are some of the most ignorant and unresearched practitioners I have ever met. This is why the public is moving away from conventional medicine and you are continually losing credibility. Why? Because you have a consistent failure rate. You have things like an opioid epidemic and you have the nerve to make it seem like safe alternatives somehow carry more risks than pharmaceutical drugs and all their many side-effects. You will only push the public away with asinine, patronizing and condescending policies like this. We don’t need your protection. We need you to educate more competent doctors that take the whole person into consideration and end the tyranny of labels and a one-size fits all approach. That is unscientific and not evidence-based. We the public are doing are research and that’s why we don’t trust your ‘conventionally’ trained narrow-minded practioners. This policy only serves big interests (pharma) not the public and that is its clear attempt.
As an individual with severe, documented and sometimes life threatening allergies and sensitivities to many drugs, I am often only able to be treated by complimentary or alternative medicine. I have appreciated the knowledge of the CAM medical doctors, I have been fortunate enough to access and have been grateful for their medical knowledge coupled with their additional knowledge and training in complimentary and alternative medicine. To someone with chronic health problems ( some of which were the result of conventional medical treatments) and/or severe allergies to drugs, these methods offer the opportunity for someone to take am active role in their health care under the supervision of a medical doctor, with additional training, when no other medical help may be available. Without the assistance and knowledge of CAM doctors, many of us would not be able to function as well as we are. The language used in this CPSO proposal is extremely derogatory and biased and shows a lack of knowledge of the field of CAM, better described as the widely accepted field of Integrative and Functional medicine. It also shows a blatant disregard for and lack of knowledge of the very patients they claim to be protecting. I truly wonder what the real motives are of this proposal. It certainly cannot be to protect, we the patients, as CPSO has not made any effort to reach out to we, the patients, and consult with us, nor with the very doctors they are attempting to prevent from helping us. Many of the highly effective treatments, widely used in Europe and the USA, that I have used for years, without side effects, have been blocked from entry into Canada, under the guise of protecting us. I strongly suspect it is the result of a strong pharmaceutical lobby. It would appear that this may be happening again, with this policy and its clear bias against non drug approaches to health. Conventional medicine can only offer “live with it” which leaves the patient no choice but to fend for themselves. I am extremely grateful to have found some knowledgeable integrative and functional medicine doctors who were willing to guide me to a better quality of health, through CAM. There should be a place for both CAM (integrative and Functional Medicine), as well as regular pharmaceutical oriented medicine. There needs to be a choice for those of us not helped by conventional medicine or pharmaceuticals, and for those of us unable or unwilling to take pharmaceuticals. If you stop our access to these highly trained, compassionate integrative and functional medicine doctors and prevent them from offering alternatives (that are well researched…you just have to read the right research, by the way), many of us silent sufferers will no longer be able to operate as fully functional individuals and will further burden the system. In a country, such as Canada, where diversity is so highly prized, there should be diversity in our choices of medical treatment. We should not be forced to go to individuals who may not have the medical knowledge to support their integrative and functional medicine knowledge. Some of us have no alternative but to use alternatives. I find this proposal so negatively biased and incredibly insulting and clearly lacking in knowledge toward the many CAM ( integrative and functional medicine) doctors who work so hard to assist and educate their many, often, chronically ill patients. The very same patients who have often been told by conventional doctors that they have nothing to offer or to live with it. The CPSO needs to slow this process down and make more of a concerted effort to reach out to actual patients of integrative and functional medicine. This proposal seems very inaccurate, out of touch and rushed and I have to ask, why?
Scientific evidence? And who shall be the judge and jury on what this evidence is and where it comes from? The biggest wallet? How about life evidence? How about a building distrust based on experience with the approaches and recommendations of Ontario’s doctors, leaving multiple members of my family in worse shape than they started? Integrative medicine saved my family and this fear-based approach to ‘alternatives’ is shameful. I teach my kids to be open, cooperative, mindful and base decisions on knowledge and experience, not fear and exclusiveness. This world tries to teach them something different at every turn. I expect to have to explain misguided actions and words of politicians in this country, but not of medical regulatory bodies. Could be time to find a new place to live.
Response in PDF format
As a patient who has experienced tremendous progress and success in turning my health around with the assistance of Integrative Medicine, I find myself yet again trying to justify and defend the importance of Integrative Medicine in our system. This is not the first time that our community has been called to voice our opinion and give our input, which I feel is done merely as a legal formality to ensure that our lawmakers can claim that democracy has been upheld. Ontarians would be foolish to believe that the opinions’ of the people are taken into consideration. I’m sure that a perfectly politically correct statement is ready to be released pretending that much consideration was taken and that the peoples’ opinions were heard, but ultimately they have come to a conclusion that they feel is in the best interest of the safety of the people of Ontario based on science and so on.
The fact of the matter is that this government claims to use science, yet this science they use is the same science that has failed our senior citizens during the entire COVID-19 pandemic. I’m shocked that amidst a pandemic that has left our senior citizens to die unnecessarily in Long Term Care Homes and left the already marginalized in society to become marginalized even worse, that the government has the time to find yet another group to target and marginalize.
Doug Ford uses the phrase “God Bless the people of Ontario” at the end of his press briefings, but shouldn’t have the indecency to do so because a person of faith does not isolate or create division. It is tasteless, hypocritical and offensive. If he is truly a man of faith, then he should lead a government that first cleans its act up in our Long Term Care Homes before it begins to target a community who asks nothing of the government and is willing to pay out of their own pocket to buy supplements and eat a healthier diet. I should mention that these supplements that people choose to take are based on science, a science that is recognized by many medical associations is the United States and Europe. I don’t think that Ontario and Canada as a whole is in a position to argue and debate the legitimacy of these scientific facts accepted by much more successful players in the world. We can tout all we want that we are the greatest province in the greatest country, but when it comes down to the facts, we’re a nobody on the world stage.
I’m not sure if there is anything anyone can say that will change the biased minds that are behind these proposals. This is why this post has not been dedicated to defending and providing endless sources of research to prove the legitimacy of Integrative Medicine, but rather it has been dedicated to reminding both government and citizens that there have been tremendous failures in our current system within the past 12 months and its an undeniable fact. Maybe the government and the College of Physicians and Surgeons should be more focused on fixing the current system and realize that after a year of colossal failures that have resulted in the atrocities that we have seen in the treatment of our elders, they shouldn’t be searching for another group to target, segregate and punish. Too many families have suffered enough, so now is not a time to inflict more pain on more families.
I have greatly benefited from Interactive Medicine, (i.e. Plaquex & Ozone) and would not like to see other patients (or myself) denied of care which would be of help. Thank You.
Stop-gap measures to delay the inevitable rise of health solutions not based in symptom masking through expensive pharmaceuticals. Shooting yourself in the foot here. The Boomers are nearing their end and the next generations do not hold the same love or trust in your organization’s practices. Western medicinal practices were all considered ‘alternative’ at some point, and many will be considered NOT alternatives in the future. Thank you for putting this discussion into the spotlight.
Integrative medicine is the medicinal approach that most helps people with chronic health conditions.
I appreciate traditional western medicine for its ability to treat emergency and acute conditions… as well as life saving surgery. But when it comes to treating ongoing chronic conditions, Integrative medicine is the way to go and can be a life changer. I say this from my own health care experience…as well as seeing the results with others in my family.
Unlike in the past, patients in present times have access to more health related education and can access their own information to help them decide which health care providers they wish to work with. Please do not make it difficult for trained doctors doing integrative work to keep offering the treatments that actually help.
I see a lot wrong with this new direction that is forcing alternative care givers to live by. People go to functional, integrative doctors mostly because the traditional route has been lacking and and not helped the patient. That is why people are desperate and quite will ing to spend money on their well being. Medicine is always about the best educated guess. However, a functional medical team has more tools in their tool kit to address situations that traditional doctors do not. I can speak for myself. I am prepared to spend money on the possibility of getting well because I have not gotten the care needed with traditional medicine. Why would you take that freedom away from the public? No proven evidence???? Really? Are forcing the public to wear masks following the science? Show me one study where this is the case. I am horrified by the fact that is is actually being considered. My Lyme disease would never have been diagnosed if it had not been for an integrative approach to my health. All the ways to help me get well would never have been proposed if this proposal of yours was a reality 7 years ago. Are you looking to kill people with this proposal? Traditional doctors told me there was nothing wrong with me. Where was I to go? How is this in any stretch of one’s imagination helping to bring health and vitality to the public. This is really a disgrace. Yes, who decides which science is right and which is not?
I have Lyme disease. It’s hard enough getting anyone to take us seriously. Please let doctors do their jobs. LLMD’s in BC is it? Can prescribe….If I hadn’t found my LLMD in Ontario, I would be dead right now. She not only helped me, she directed me to an MD who COULD help. Thank you.
Alternative medicine helped me tremendously in my Lyme disease recovery journey. Please don’t make me travel to the states to get this type of treatment. It should be my decision to do these types of therapies.
Making it more difficult and risky for my doctor to practice alternative and complementary medicines is a bad idea. If you believe lowering the threshold for disciplinary action is going to make my life and the lives of everyone like me better, that is a joke. My celiac doctor is going to be forced out of either her practice or the province. Who are you helping? Clearly not me, nor my doctor.
To be clear, this medicine that you are removing the protection from like exposing a live wire or demyelinating a nerve sheath has saved the lives of myself, my mother and countless others.
This feels counter productive to our progressive society.
My daughter has suffered for more than 6 years with excruciating pain and a laundry list of debilitating symptoms. She has seen several specialists of many disciplines only to be told that all of the tests she has received show she is perfectly healthy, despite the fact her pain and horrific symptoms won’t even allow her out of bed at times. Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia, Myofascial Pain Syndrome, Chronic Pain Syndrome and even psychiatric issues were all based on CPSO’s opinion of what constitutes “evidence and scientific reasoning”. Six months ago we sought the expertise of an integrative clinic. My daughter’s improvement has been spectacular. She is not back to her former self yet but she improves every day. If she had been denied this treatment because of this proposed policy I have no doubt that by now she would have taken her life! We now have a family doctor who I would describe as “progressive” and he totally supports our actions and the treatment she is receiving because he could provide no answers and he is astounded with improvements he has seen in her health. Perhaps it is time to recruit other like minded younger MDs to the CPSO so that a truly balanced, progressive and integrative approach to medicine can flourish rather than being suppressed.
One supposed physician posted something about science. Does he mean the science that big Pharma pays for? Treatment varies. Each person has individual needs and treatment should reflect that. Integrative medicine focuses on that very issue. Only in Canada do physicians practice strictly allopathic medicine while in Europe, physicians us both allopathic and alternative medicine. Canada is so behind on so many levels. Thankfully integrative medicine fills in the gaps. I am truly grateful for our doctors who practice integrative medicine!
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In my early twenties I was diagnosed with a slowly progressive neurological disease called CMT1A which results in muscle wasting, primarily in the feet and hands. So far there is no cure and no treatment available. The prevalence of this disease in the population is about 10.5 per 100,000 individuals. In 2014 I retired early. I was struggling to walk and could barely get to the mailbox at the end of my driveway.
My Chiropractor thought that I might be a good candidate to try chelation to remove heavy metals. I understood that there were no guarantees, but after completing about 20 sessions I could walk much better and to this day, after so many years, I am still not in a wheel chair, although there is virtually no muscle movement left.
For years I have resisted to seek conventional medical help for treatment of any health condition due to the possible neurotoxic side effects on my nervous system. I decided that the best course of action for myself and my wife is to first seek alternative Health Care treatments before consulting with a Medical doctor. The big irritant is that only medical doctors can order Lab tests and Xrays etc., and that means that basic diagnostic information is not available to the patient unless the patient consents to treatment by the medical doctor. If you don’t consent you are not compliant and the doctor will not see you.
My wife has rheumatoid arthritis for which there is no cure either. The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis is as much as 1% of the population. A naturopathic doctor referred her to an Integrated Medicine Physician who then diagnosed her with increased intestinal permeability or leaky gut by way of a “Live Blood Cell Analysis”. We are thankful to this day that we have this diagnosis that is likely the root cause of her arthritis. With a relatively balanced diet and the aid of probiotics and digestive enzymes to aid her gut microbiome and several vitamins and minerals she has managed to stay relatively pain free, but weakening as time progresses. To this day Rheumatologists have a limited understanding of the processes that trigger RA but would be happy to prescribe RA drugs like Corticosteroids, Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDS), their favourite Prednisone and other gut-meddling medications.
In [redacted] my mother-in-law passed away. She died from a dead upper intestine after being treated with a dozen or more conventional pharmaceutical drugs daily for 20 years of which she was bedridden for 10 years. She had rheumatoid arthritis and experienced a lot of pain, especially the last 3 years of her life when she was admitted to hospital 2-3 times each year. She had plenty of issues with the drug cocktail that was prescribed by her rheumatologist who did not see her but kept renewing her prescriptions. I am absolutely convinced that the drugs killed her, not her arthritis. In my mind her drug treatment was a case of malpractice but other family members were indirectly guilty as well for making sure she took all her medicines.
I am deeply concerned about the actions of the CPSO medical regulators to propose new restrictions, especially at this time of a crippling pandemic outbreak. It seems the CPSO is taking the opportunity during COVID to solidify their own objectives. In my opinion the numerous deaths that have occurred and are still occurring could mostly have been prevented if it weren’t for rigid regulations. And so I believe it is time for an awakening of the public and advocate for Health Care Freedom and a Patient Centric approach to health care as opposed to an even more rigidly designed system of Health Care as you are proposing.
Physicians need to think twice about what they’re prescribing, or NOT treating. If doctors really care about the person sitting in front of them they need to think about how they are helping their patients and not act like common drug dealers. And if they don’t know what the best options are, go research, go look it up, go look at other alternatives instead of reaching for their prescription pad. If doctors don’t think they can go there they must be mindful in their response and send the patient to a person whom you think might have studied this. This is basic. This is Science 101. That’s why it’s called HEALTH CARE. Today patients in Ontario are forced to navigate the medical establishment that is regulated by the CPSO and are treated by a “system”, not a doctor. There are many people like my wife and I who prefer to stay off prescription drugs as long as possible, either because of a lack of trust, or simply because medications may cause short term or long term negative effects which we want to avoid. This our choice.
The Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA) became law Jan 1, 1994. Under RHPA, professions’ accountability to consumers, and public involvement in the governing of the professions are dramatically increased. One of the fundamental principles written into law is that consumers have the right to be treated with sensitivity and respect. The RHPA represents a balancing of interests, and re-affirms that the regulatory system is based on the knowledge of ALL professionals, but also ensures greater public involvement in health care. The law is clear and requires the CPSO to seek public input. However, it could be said that the current COVID-19 story exposes bare naked the raw material interests involved in the development of medicines in Canada and indeed, all over the western world. The pharmaceutical companies must earn a return or heads will roll; regulators and government agencies are nurtured on an industry-driven order—and for good reason, as it is an industry that develops drugs. However, what has also become very apparent was a completely resistant, recalcitrant stance of the majority of powerful influencers in medicinal research (extend this to government and media) to this emerging and evolving trend. Integrated Medicine and off-label use of existing drugs is beneath them—it didn’t originate from them nor was it of sufficient quality to be considered by them. This is despite a growing cry by a number of respected peers in this country, the USA and Europe.
So, will the best patient-centric doctors in Ontario now face sanctions for Alternative Medicines or for prescribing off-label drugs? I think NOT! What the CPSO should be doing instead is to back off and forge a strong relationship between allopathic, naturopathic medicine and all other professionals with a focus on affordable, accessible and effective health care that works for everyone, even if that means OHIP may opt not to cover all of the cost of alternative treatments. If the CPSO cannot do that, then I suggest it is time for formal recognition and the creation of a new and separate Regulatory Body specifically for licensed Integrated Medical Physicians under the Health Profession Regulators of Ontario. The focus of the Integrated Medical Physicians could be senior care and Long Term Care homes under the supervision of the local hospital. This is a relatively straightforward approach that addresses multiple long standing issues in a broken Health Care system.
Response in PDF format
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I’m a scientist with 45 years of experience In nanomaterials. I have an access to scientific papers. This is a lie that alternative medicine is not based on science-based evidence’. Actually, mainstream medicine has to be an ‘alternative’ because Integrative medicine is basing on a whole-body approach, and those blessed doctors really improve well being of people with chronic illnesses often WITHOUT horrible side effects! There are tons of publications in very prestigious medical journals about the use of natural compounds to treat certain health conditions. They are all based on evidence and tested on animals and even being based on human trials. [redacted]
Canada supposes to be a country of freedom. Citizens have to have the option to use free healthcare or integrative medicine. My family is not rich but we prefer to pay for the visit and get so-called alternative treatments without side effects. Is this privilege exists only for the ‘elite’ like Quine of England and her Royal family? They are allowed to use homeopathic treatment and doctors. We switched to an integrative medicine doctor after 20 years of dealing with public medicine. After the certain treatment followed by special IVs ( the whole treatment took about 15-17 sessions), my husband got much better with his symptoms of angina and HBP problem. His thyroid was in terrible condition. He could not tolerate Synthroid and quit taking it before we change the doctor. He could not tolerate blood pressure medicine either! He almost had a car accident after a week of taking it. He got foggy after taking blood pressure tablets and it affected urine flow. Our new physician prescribed him to do a full blood test on the thyroid and then sent him to a compounding pharmacy for he got a glandular therapy medicine. His THS level is normal now. His energy level got better. His blood pressure is stable and went down from 160×110 to 130×85. During the first consultation, the doctor advised my husband to change his diet and switch to the keto diet. He lost weight. He is 72 y.o. but he is still working and doesn’t want to retire. He is still paying huge taxes by the way because he is capable to work. Thanks to a good doctor. I’d say many different things about our integrative physician in regards to how he makes diagnoses, what kind of tests he prescribes to the patients, how he uses the whole body approach, how he deals with our stress, how he also helped our son and myself with chronic conditions. Some people are good with conventional treatment but some people have to have a choice! Finally, I want to discuss the following statement recently produced by bureaucrats from The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) : “The issue is that natural substances and other non-patentable treatments will rarely obtain the financial backing to allow for costly, large-scale randomized, controlled trials to be conducted”. This is a lie! From my knowledge ( I am a scientist with 42 years of work in the area of materials research) there are so many papers written about natural substances and how they work for many aliments including mental disease. They were published in peer-reviewed and often high-rated medical journals. Their work is based on evidence, statistic, and human and animal trials. Why do authorities lie to the public?
we need a meaningful definition of the terms “alternative”, “functional”, “metabolic”, “integrative” and “complementary”.
functional medicine, metabolic medicine, homeopathy, osteopathy, herbal medicine, Chinese medicine, acupuncture, physiotherapy, chiropractic and various other “disciplines” cannot be considered, discussed or evaluated under a general heading such as “alternative” or “complementary” medicine.
to my mind, the physician who posted on 2023-12-10: 30 7 PM evidently excluded “functional” and “metabolic” medicine from his comments, in that he stated that “alternative medicine is NOT scientific”.
without going into too much deep detail, please be assured that functional and metabolic medicine are based more deeply and more solidly on basic research than is traditional (Western) allopathic medical practice.
I would ask the college, in consideration of the guidelines proposed, to ensure that clear delineation is made between the “dilettante”, entrepreneurial, “dabbling” practitioner and those who have undertaken a study course with the A4 M (American Academy of antiaging medicine) or some other reputable organisation.
Evaluation of university training in medicine is already a necessary and indispensable part of the CPSO’s mandate: rather than denigrating the talents, authenticity and reliability of currently active functional medicine practitioners and rather than enacting obstructionist policies, why not undertake a study of the programmes available for education in functional medicine with a view to evaluation and approbation of degrees conferred?
Were this done, practitioners with acceptable degrees could be encouraged and those with poor quality (or absent) training could be required to upgrade their skills.
** The A4 M requires a two-year study course, followed by an extensive written examination, the results of which need to be verified by an oral examination one year later.
Help stop arbitrary and unjustified restrictions on integrative and alternative medicine
We really need your help and participation in this issue. It appears certain medical authorities in this country have decided to launch a wholesale crackdown on any alternative or allopathic medical practice, by proposing a clause in a medical reform bill which would effectively prohibit any medical treatment which doesn’t fall into the category of what is considered by the loaded phrase “evidence based medicine”. There are countless arguments as to why this term is a highly inappropriate means of using ideologically loaded phrasing to denigrate and trivialize any sort of alternative medical practices, including those backed by a significant number of scientific studies. It appears clear to us that the purpose of this bill is to restrict the range of available treatments to a specific type of medicine based on a specific type of institutional ideology and its powerful pharmaceutical backing that has nothing to do with legitimate medical science. We strongly believe that this heavy-handed and arbitrary approach violates the patient’s right to choose their treatment and ask you to look into this urgent matter.
The Policy lists Platelet Rich Plasma, as a general term with complete lack of knowledge that there exists several types of Platelet Rich plasma with different cytokine profiles and have specific indications for various pathologies, and within certain pathologies there is substantial Level one studies to support their efficacy . The arbitrary labelling of Platelet Rich plasma as Alternative is completely irresponsible and shows total lack insight and ignorance of up to date literature.
Does the “conventional medical community” have evidence to support their views? Is there a “conventional medical committee” as part of the CPSO looking at the care being provided by the “conventional medical community”? Is this being created to allow for the same policies to apply to all medical practice? Has the “conventional medical community” looked carefully through the evidence or is it just a feeling around what was learned and used in the past (ie. convention/what is usually done/medicine without much evidence as practiced for decades)? Is the “conventional medical community” held to the same practice standards for the care they recommend? I challenge the CPSO to define the “conventional medical community” and to understand the treatments they/we offer in the same fashion and we will be paralyzed by the lack of evidence for so much of what we do.
Response in PDF format
Response in PDF format
I believe the patient should be able to decide the course of action they want to take in order to improve/maintain their health. I had a bad accident that required surgery close to a decade ago.
I spent years trying to feel better and get back to work. I saw over 76 specialists and no one could get to the route of my constant infections, loss of weight and overall feeling of being unwell. Fortunately an MD referred me to a clinic that offered complementary and integrative medicine. Although I still have quite a road to recovery ahead of me, I am thrilled to know I have a medical team that are very proactive in helping me to feel better; and not simply offered narcotics and drugs to try and mask my pain I actually had one pain specialist tell me to take 3 narcotics/day for the rest of my life or until the pain subsided in order to control the neurological pain I had…that’s absurd!!! He had tried several methods to try and easy my pain from radiofrequency ablation, prolotherapy, lidocaine infusions etc etc and none were successful. I do not think narcotics are the way to go. My MDs who are combining traditionally and alternative medicine are fianlly getting results for me and I am trhilled.
As well, my GP gave up on me and I cannot tell you how disappointed I am with the lack of professionalism I received from him/her and the office. I had been a patient of this GP for over 25 years and all was good until I got sick!!!
The draft from the COPS states several times that their is “NO PROVEN SCIENCE” supporting alternative medicine. Where is the proven science for lock downs and wearing a mask???
Don’t get me wrong, I am more than happy to comply and wear a mask as well as accept that lockdowns may have to be put in place, Bottom line though, where is the proven science behind these decisions??
One area where I believe complementary and alternative medicine could improve is to have some sort of compassionate pricing for those who cannot afford the treatment…just like most of the medical cannabis distributors have. A T4 could prove who needs the compassionate pricing and who does not.
Thank you for your time!!
Response in PDF format
I tried going the medical route for 10 years….I got sicker and sicker. My doctor (GP) just didn’t have the understanding and training to deal with my illness. He had no idea what was wrong and after sending me to specialist after specialist, he concluded that my physical symptoms where due to mental health issues and put me on anti-anxiety and anti-depression medications.
I kept getting physically worse until I was unable to work. Without alternative treatments and doctors, I would not be where I am today. I received a diagnosis that my GP would not acknowledge, but interestingly enough once treated for it by my functional medical doctor. I am almost fully back to health and have been able to ween off the anti-anxiety and anti-depression medications. I feel amazing for the first time in 10 years. Do not take away the options that we turn to in desperation when health care is failing to support us! I implore you to hear our stories and walk in our shoes. My GP never took the time to hear all the symptoms together…he would only listen to one issue at a time. He never put it all together to see the big picture. He never considered that I might have Lyme Disease that was left untreated. He kept treating symptoms and not getting to the root of the problem. He is a good GP, but he was trained very differently than alternative medical practioners. We need both! We need them to work together. We do not need to limit or hold one over the others. The reason alternative has less proof is that it isn’t owned by big drug companies who stand to lose money if we turn to alternate treatments. Big Pharma is the reason and they like to keep people sick and on their drugs or they lose money. Stop taking away a patients right to choose. It may not be a great alternative for everyone, but for some of us it has been a lifesaver. The only people we can turn to when the medical profession was unable to help us. Please do not take away this option.
How do you explain that so many patients say that we have found cures in alternative treatments.
I feel patients deserve the right to make choices in their care and treatment. It should not be your decision to limit the treatment options available to people. Some treatments may not have enough quantitative evidence…but what about qualitative evidence. Who has take the time and care to measure that? How about who has actually done the studies to show this evidence. What do they stand to gain from the fact that these alternate treatments are not being offered?
I have accessed alternative treatments for migraines with great success and I should have the right to seek alternative treatments especially when traditional medical treatments have failed. How can you take away this right for those of us who suffer debilitating symptoms without these treatments? You do realize that you will increase the amount of people who must access disability without these treatments? If I choose to pay for these treatments because they work for me… why should you be able to stop me accessing them?
Many people worldwide would not be alive today without access to CAM. Medical doctors, by the very nature of their training, rely entirely on pharmaceutical drugs. If those drugs don’t work, they very often have no alternatives. Naturopathic doctors on the other hand focus on the entire body, not just the ailment itself. I myself once had an infection which went on for seven months in total. The consultant treating me prescribed strong antibiotics for three months. After six weeks, he agreed I must come off them, as they nearly killed me. However, as kind and caring as he was, he had nothing else to offer except different antibiotics. I had no choice but to seek alternative treatments and two months after doing so, I had the first relief I’d had in over half a year, soon after that, my infection cleared up entirely. Strengthening the immune system and supporting the adrenals, helped me to fight the infection and allowed my body to heal naturally. My story is one of millions.
This policy is nothing but a blatant attempt to remove choices and options for those of us seeking a healthier life. Many turn to alternative therapy after conventional medicine has failed or has produced horrendous side effects. You need nothing more than the TV commercials we’re subjected to nightly stating the possible side effects of the drugs which are advertised. No side effects are experienced from supplements, Homeopathy, herbs, manipulation or calm healing treatments, if taken in the correct dosages. Canada is a democratic society and we therefore have every right to seek treatments for our own bodies. It is for us to undertake the research and make our own decisions on whether a practitioner is credible or not. Instead of trying to remove such a critical service, which has literally saved so many from pain and suffering, it should be accepted that both traditional and alternative treatments have their place, just as they’re being used now. Nobody would seek alternative treatment for a broken leg or to have open heart surgery, but for thousands of common ailments that can make patient’s lives miserable, alternative treatments are a Godsend and a lifeline. If this is a genuine consultation, then the remarks made here by so many, should be heeded. We should have every right, having paid into OHIP for years, to use the system when we need it and to pay for alternative treatments ourselves, when we choose to try a different approach.
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Two years ago, My sister-in-law was having a problem. She was vomiting occasionally. When she had the urge to go the the toilet, nothing will come out at the bottom end. She was eating normally. She went to her doctor who sent her to the hospital. She stayed there for 2 nights at [redacted hospital]. They performed 2 colonoscopes and did blood tests. She drank a certain dye and the doctors traced it with their testing equipment. They did not find any problems. She was sent home with no change in her problems. She was still vomiting and had the same toilet problem. My son’s friend knew a practitioner who practiced alternative medicine. She went to see him. He diagnosed her as being infested with parasite and worms. He gave her an over the counter treatment of Combantrin and a herbal capsules called black walnut. After 1 week all her problems disappeared. Complementary and Alternative Medicine practitioners and definitely needed. There is a huge place for them in the treatment of problems that affects people.
On a personal note, for months I was suffering from various seemingly unrelated symptoms. To cut a long story short, my family doctor, to her great credit, after attempting conventionally accepted treatments acknowledged the limits of her areas of expertise and referred me to a highly qualified doctor to be treated for chronic Lyme and associated tick borne diseases. As I understand it, there is a difference of opinion in the medical community about whether Lyme can be a persistent disease that is resistant to short courses of treatment with antibiotics if not caught early (more akin to tuberculosis) or an illness for which a short course of treatment is always effective and curative (more akin to an ear infection). My personal experience and from reading medical literature tends to point to the former. I do not want revisions to the policy to lead to possible disciplinary consequence for my doctor and imperil my choice of treatment while I wait for medical science to catch up and resolve this difference of opinion. In the meantime, I am seeing great benefit from my treatment and respectfully wish to continue it without interference in my autonomy. Having read the draft, I feel it will have a chilling effect on the profession and as a result my treatment options as an informed patient.
The medical regulatory body in Ontario is so far behind other jurisdictions. Therapies that are accepted as mainsteam in Europe never have a chance to be tested here because docs are so frightened of the CPSO. I applaud doctors who are willing to explore alternative and functional therapies despite the obstacles they face.
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I am very distressed by the proposed changes to the policies of the CPSO in regard to complementary and alternative medicine.
Many alternative medicine treatments provided by functional medical doctors, like the ones at [redacted clinic], would no longer be available to people with chronic illness and tick borne diseases, like myself.
If these changes are approved, Ontario would have the most restrictive framework of all the provinces and territories in Canada, and doctors who currently practice integrative medicine would be forced to make major restrictions, and perhaps leave Ontario.
I wonder if there is evidence of harm done by these alternative treatments? If so, I believe this should be published. Otherwise, many would believe it doesn’t exist.
Please consider the lives of people who will be denied treatment if the proposed changes go through.
Mother Nature does not fund research studies to provide the “evidence” CPSO is seeking on natural remedies. This is a sham to allow big pharma to remove any alternatives to its expensive drugs which will go up in price after they succeed in destroying alternative medicine.
I am writing to you with an urgent request to protect my access to healthcare.
I am a patient who has experienced life-changing benefits from Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Please allow patients to choose how we want to be cared for. I have always taken an integrative approach to my health care and want the freedom to continue.
It should be the Drs and Patients choice on what course of action is taken. I’m a cancer survival myself and I believe I was able to stay healthy and survive because of a combination of treatment protocols. It would be very sad to take away integrated treatments. I don’t think this would make sense at all. I’ve had more problems with pharmaceutical treatments that were backed by science.
Response in PDF format
The proposed changes to the policy regarding complementary and alternative medicine greatly concern me because they seem to be biased towards a pharmaceutical drug-based model of disease that reaches for a prescription drug to treat symptoms rather than on finding the underlying cause of the illness and finding more natural ways to promote health and build the immune system—a method that is also scientific though less likely to be supported by the pharmaceutical industry because treatments might involve vitamins or off-patent drugs.
The proposed changes but an undue burden on the integrative physician and risk my ability to get the kind of care that I have received that has prevented me from becoming disabled. My allopathic physician, who is an excellent doctor, did not investigate for the extensive bone loss I was experiencing at a young age, but my integrative physician did check it out because of vague seemingly unrelated health symptoms that most allopathic physicians would have dismissed as normal aches and pains. I was found to have osteoporosis in my spine and was heading in that direction in my hip. My integrative physician who had seen instances of bad side effects for the prescription drugs for building back bone through research into cutting edge science on bone loss, advised me to take a protocol of supplements that literally built back 10 per cent of my bone mass in one year with no side effects. I built back similar levels so that now I am no longer in danger of this crippling disease even though I am in now in my 70s.
Medicine is an art, but I fear too many physicians are relying on tests to diagnose and sometimes the tests are not accurate and some of the traditional ways for diagnosing illness that existed before the test was invented should still be employed. Integrative physicians use the tests, but my experience is they do deeper investigations. For example, my integrative physician checked me for Vitamin B12 even though I am a meat eater. I was found to be extremely low and my doctor’s persistence uncovered a gene that does not convert B vitamins to a form usable for my body. The low B12 was affecting my memory and consequently my ability to work. I now take B Vitamins that are converted into a form my body can use and no longer have any problems with my memory.
If integrative physicians must give alternative approaches to their patients that avoid some of the possibly serious side effects of many pharmaceutical drugs. My experience of integrative medicine is that its practitioners want their patients to experience robust health and that no ache or pain is “normal” in that paradigm.
I have struggled for several years with numerous symptoms affecting my quality of life such as fatigue, food sensitivities, brain fog, interstitial cystitis, heart palpitations and IBS symptoms. The best conventional medicine was able to offer was a beta blocker to reduce my heart palpitations, which I turned down as this medication is not without side effects, and this “solution” provided nothing in the way of understanding why I was experiencing palpitations in the first place. Thanks to complementary and alternative medicine, I have been able to uncover that I have Lyme Disease, mold toxicity and small intestinal bacteria overgrowth (SIBO), and proceeded to embark upon treatments which have substantially diminished my symptoms and improved my quality of life, such as nutritional and herbal supplements, nutrient infusions and mold binders. As demonstrated through my own story and that of the many others who have commented here, CAM is effective, progressive, empowering and human-centric – and (contrary to mainstream believe) is evidence-based. If this new policy is approved, you will be greatly hampering the well-being and morale of MANY Ontario residents, and you will be setting our province back markedly in terms of innovation and progress. I implore you to take to heart the chorus of intelligent, genuine, honest voices speaking out and reconsider this new policy.
I have been told that The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is proposing to change the policy for CAM (complementary alternative medicine) which if implemented will stop physicians from practicing the type of medicine that they do.
CPSO really wants to be in control regardless of the well being of patients doesn’t it? If you want to be so involved you should teach proper thyroid care and gut health.
I want it on record that a CAM doctor saved my life and that if you take my doctor away from me, you will be responsible for my death.
I have hypothyroidism and cannot convert T4 medications into usable Free T3. I was bedridden for 5 years. Five years of my life wasted because your care (synthroid) wasn’t working for me. I was told “your thyroid is fine” by my GP who then put me on antidepressants while ignoring the fact that I was 60 lbs heavier, almost bald, no eyebrows or eyelashes, riddled with anxiety, unable to walk by myself and unable to brush my own teeth let alone shower and get dressed but…my thyroid was just fine on synthroid (based on numbers on a paper with no regard whatsoever with the symptoms I was having).
It was not fine
I was not depressed.
I was suffering from shoddy thyroid care based on your treatment plans which do not help every person out there. The only thing my GP tested is TSH and T4 while completely IGNORING Free T3 and reverse T3 and yet Free T3 is needed by every single cell and organ in our bodies. Why do you ignore Free T3? Because pharma told you to.
What happens when people don’t have enough Free T3 in their systems? They get sick & some even die. Those that don’t die end up diagnosed with other ailments, all for the sake of pharma making money. IF you were to treat thyroid correctly, like they did prior to the invention of synthroid, you would have much happier and healthier patients but that’s not your goal is it. Your goal is to obey pharma in order to collect that much loved funding.
I found a great CAM doctor who I pay for out of pocket in order to get appropriate thyroid care. Information that every single one of you is lacking.
My reverse T3 was through the roof and my free T3 was just about non-existent. You call that care? I call that medical malpractice and you should be ashamed of yourselves.
I was taken off T4 meds and put on sustained release liothyronine. It saved my life. Had I remained stupid and uninformed, I’d be dead right now.
You tried this stunt 10 years ago and received a huge pushback for it. You will receive a huge pushback again.
You cannot do this! CAM doctors are doing the work that you should be doing but refuse to do because of your valued pharma funding. God forbid you actually CARE about patients. The money is more important.
I have the right to choose any doctor I like and since I’m paying out of pocket for it I fail to see how this is any of your business. Is CAM a threat to your monopoly? It must be.
CAM doctors treat patients far far better than you ever will again and that’s why doctors are leaving and opening their own CAM clinics.
Thousands of thyroid patients across Ontario suffer while in the care of doctors that know nothing about thyroid and you want to take away their only hope at normal lives?
You will not take my CAM doctor away from me.
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Hi,
I was recently informed about the potential policy for Compliment Alternative Medicine. I AM FULLY OPPOSED TO THIS!
Complementary Alternative Medicine has been the only thing that has worked to manage my thyroid condition and give me my life back. My practitioner is an amazing person, with an impeccable standard of care. The new changes that could come into effect means many patients(myself included) will have a reduced standard of care. My GP has a full roster, I certainly can’t rely on her to manage my condition(which includes constant monitoring, etc) in addition to all the patients who continue to need her for a multitude of reasons.
I suspect that you will continue to hear from many others in the same boat. If you truly care about patients and their best interests, the potential policy changes are not the way to go. Listen to the patient experience, if anything, we need more changes in the direction of more freedoms and less restrictions.
The current policy, is an excellent one and I encourage to stay the current course at least, if not amended in favour not this idea of more restriction – IT IS NOT NEEDED.
Thank you,
[redacted]
Mainstream medicine uses conventional treatments in a non-conventional way on a regular basis. This should not be deemed alternative. It should be acceptable for any doctor to do this after a discussion with patients re: risks and benefits.
I have had an illness (ME/CFS) that has virtually no conventional treatments for quite a few years now. I have been disabled from work for 4+ years. It is likely that I will be able to return this year and it is basically ONLY due to conventional medicines used in a non-conventional way. Obtaining access to these medications was very difficult under our current system. CPSO practices should advance to make this access EASIER; NOT more difficult.
The reality is that conventional medicine is slow to advance and slow to implement cutting edge science. Patients like me should not have to remain ill and prevented from gaining access to cutting edge health care advances that will allow them to re-enter the workforce and make productive contributions to society.
Response in PDF format
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CPSO
March 1,2021
Gentlemen:
During this crises an undertaking for changes to how an MD does alternative care came to my attention. This is my objection to this myopic stance.
Patients that have been receiving this form of alternative care are now being thrown under the bus under the guise of “non scientific”. Your opinion of treating symptoms rather than preventing them is frought with hazards. Treating a mired of symptoms with side effects is easily evident from the T.V. commercials your association is allowing. (Direction here is better served for your membership.) Your view of a code of silence will allow a mired of complications your endorsement is allowing.
The “alternative care” suppression will reveal benefits these DR. are providing to not exist. Thus an exacerbation of side effects and symptoms will surface like a “cytokine storm”.
Has your association contacted other primary care fields to inform them of your intentions. If not ; why not? I hear of covid every day yet the Media has not spoken of your plan. Why not? It affects everyone ,as covid does.
This plan is introduced during a crises, yet the public is not informed in an appropriate fashion. You look for respect and trust while not showing this yourself. The public is the recipient of health care and are your employers as well as the government. Proper transparency commands respect which you are seeking yet not providing.
The “non scientific alternative care” approach needs enlightening. Is this to impact “off label” use of drugs such as colchicine. Presently it is being refurbished for our present crises. However, the quandary you are proposing is obviously going to impact this product as well as others your colleagues would like to incorporate to save lives.
I strongly propose a revisit of your stand on “alternative care” for your colleagues.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Doctors are considered by society to be intelligent. If this is true, then they are smart enough to know if there is some merit to alternative medicines.
I believe my particular doctor is very smart. He has helped me in many ways with ALTERNATIVE modalities. Please do not restrict my doctor in what he can do.
Integrative health care is essential to our medical health system . I have sought out multi- disciplinary integrative health to help with a Traumatic Brain Injury that has crippled my day to day life . Without the combination of my integrative health practitioner in conjunction with my neurologist and the assigned pain killers prescribed to help counter my debilitating, excruciating headaches; I could not function at all . My osteopath physio therapist chiropractor , cranial sacral therapist and neuroplasticity program required to retrain my brain and rehabilitate my injury are cutting edge and essential . Without my team , I would be completely incapacitated.
I was brutally , viciously and with pre/ meditation assaulted by my husband’s ex- wife because of greed , vulgarity and selfishness.
Integrative Medecine is evolutionary; and without it I would be a victim to an uncivilized lunatic’s whim to incapacitate for me forever .
Integrative medicine takes an approach or step further than traditional medecine and helps to solve the problem beyond pain killers . There is still so much to learn and understand . One day we will look upon chemotherapy as barbaric , when advances are made not to kill off a person’s healthy cells in conjunction with the unhealthy.
Stem cells , PRP , antibiotics , vaccines , implants , the list of evolutionary medecine and revolutionary practices continues to expand .
If a patient is living with zero quality of life , and taking prescribed medication to alleviate their pain but not move beyond it ; and that very patient has the opportunity to regain a life through integrative health that understands the complex workings of the brain , and understands we have just touched the tip of the iceberg in retraining the brain to operate and navigate through day to day activities; and furthermore do so while eliminating pain then no one government or person should interfere with that patient’s choice to improve their situation and navigate a path towards full healing .
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To whom it may concern:
My name [redacted] in the Linguistics and Cognitive Science programs at [redacted]. I was made aware of the changes to the CAM policy that are currently under review and asked to comment. [redacted] As a person who makes a career out of training and educating practitioners who are on the bleeding edge of clinical applications of new research, I felt I needed to draw your attention to serious concerns I have about the proposed policy changes (but also praise other changes).
It is transparent to me that the purpose of these changes are meant to curb the ability of MDs who dabble in snake oil sales. I am reminded of Dr. Oz. I am also aware of the existence of “integrated medicine”, which are doctors that use both traditional treatments and alternative medicines, and it seems to be the case that they were not previously covered by the CAM policies. As an editorial note, the description of integrated medicine seems needlessly biased to me. It clearly implies that integrated medicine is by default predatory and any well-meaning practitioners are exceptional. I don’t know enough about integrated medicine to comment on if this is appropriate, but it struck me as remarkable in a formal policy. I suspect there is a less confrontational and inflammatory way of saying that there is a need to stop Dr. Oz from shilling poison and calling it a miracle drug without implying an entire sector is predatory.
I thoroughly applaud the fact that you have added clear requirements that doctors seek informed consent from their patients when using treatments that haven’t been rigorously tested through, especially, metastudies of clinical treatments (though I do with those rules were a bit more explicit, but I think the intent is clear). It is clear to me that patients need to be informed when doctors are going out on a limb. I am fully supportive of these parts of the policy.
However, I think that broadening the definition of Alternative Medicine to include MDs is extraordinarily dangerous. Medical doctors, or other practitioners of conventional medicine such as my students, regularly use innovative treatments on patients based on limited evidence. They simply *must* do this. These people are not naturopaths or supplement salesmen. These are Medical Doctors doing what MDs have always done: pushing the limits of known treatments to treat their sometimes desperate patients who often have understudied maladies. My niece recently died of a type of a brain cancer that is so rare and that kills so fast that is it literally impossible to study with the large scale studies that this policy requires. It is clear to me that the heroic doctors that prolonged her life fall under your policy, as do my students who go on to apply their research to their own patients. You have set a standard with your change from “informed by” to “supported by” that is impossible to meet for any disorder or malady that is sufficiently rare (or severe) that large scale studies are not possible. You have also created a situation where there will be an inherent bias for those drugs and treatments that can afford to self-fund large scale studies to get their products to market. It is clear to me that innovating doctors that specialize in understudied afflictions will be forced to leave Ontario as a result of this expansion of the definition of “Alternative Medicine” to include all treatments from medical doctors that don’t meet this “supported by” standard that simply doesn’t exist in research science. Worse, the patients who suffer from these understudied issues will be forced to leave the province for treatment, likely causing their treatments to not be covered by their insurance. This will cause a “Brain Drain” for the province and severely injure the very members of the public we are meant to protect (vulnerable populations).
“Informed by” is sufficient and gets across the point. Doctors can’t prescribe hokum. “Supported by” is excessive and creates a very dangerous standard. I generally object to including traditional practitioners in the same category of naturopaths. If it is the case that “integrated” practices are both naturopathy and traditional practices so they don’t fit neatly in either, it is clear that they should be held to the standards of the latter, not the former. But if you must do this broadening for reasons I can’t see, I strongly suggest that you do not change the “informed by” wording.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to my feedback. I hope you find my concerns constructive.
[redacted]
Response in PDF format
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March 2, 2021.
Messsage – if you are a conformist to the current system, you will likely be offended.
1) I disagree with the CPSO. YOU will not limit my choice of health options, I will decide.
2) News flash CPSO. Integrated Medicine has been used around the world for thousands of years. It is well integrated into medicine options for all people in the G20, except Canadians and apparently not allowed for people in Ontario. And in fact, before big pharma, many Doctors in Ontario practiced Integrative Medicine for decades – as well as helping people without “relying” on the normal “ranges”.
3) Hey CPSO, the USA has great success using and integrating typical and Integrative Medicine to the choice and benefit of Americans – an example is the company I use – [redacted]. Great for thyroid. They serve clients in many countries. So if the USA can do it and Austria and Sweden and Germany (places that I have had excellent dual regular and integrated medical care during my work), why is it not “good” for Ontario???? – according to only you CPSO.
[redacted]
4) So lets see, for those all worried about having “proof” ie “scientific’ proof, well if you use an Integrative Medicine approach and supplements – there will never be “proof” because this approach and ingredients are natural and can not be patented for what – profit $, hence the objections from big pharma who are likely financing some part of the CPSO.
This is the scam folks.
5) Message to all on this board – The CPSO are non elected individuals who want total power over the people, as per communist centrally planned, centrally controlled and centrally rationed configuration, ie the current health care system in Canada. Summary – you non elected people, CPSO, will not decide what health care I can access.
6) The Ontario health care configuration is NOT replicated in any other G20 country. For those folks on this board who have travelled, you are likely aware that no other G20 country has the system here in Ontario. Even Russia has a private, public and alternative medicine system. Summary – why would I support the CPSO based on world wide evidence?
__________________________
I have contacted the Minister of Health Ms. Elliott and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Not happening CPSO.
Please have a great day everyone!
Why is CPSO being so restrictive. Let the MD & PT determine
what works best!!!
Pls clarify….
Does this mean that drug x is only to be prescribed for disease Y EVEN if it seems to alleviate symptoms?
Your thyroid issue is well documented in many venues around the world. Check out Thyroid UK which is the best site anywhere for active thyroid discussion.
“Regular” doctors completely fail on the thyroid by focusing on the TSH only and a few migrate to check out the free T4. The free T3 is the key.
Most do not realize that most thyroid issues are autoimmune, ie Hashimoto.
They send you to an Encrinologist who are even more closed minded because they focus on only Diabetes.
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To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing in regards to my son [redacted]. [redacted] is a grade 2 student here in Ontario. In 2019, after Christmas, [redacted] was suddenly debilitatingly ill, seemingly overnight. His family, teacher, and principal all noticed that [redacted] was dramatically different. They told us that it was like he was like a different child than before then holidays. We immediately took him to his paediatrician and then the emergency room at [redacted hospital]. The [redacted hospital] ER told us that my son had developed PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal infection), but he was given no medical help, only a referral to psychiatric services and printout of a 10 year old information sheet they seemed to have just found on the internet. His brain was inflamed from a strep infection which caused severe OCD, sleep disturbances, extreme separation anxiety, intrusive thoughts, defiant behavior and fight or flight type reactions that had him trying to bolt out of the doors of his school that he loved so much just once month prior. He developed a completely irrational fear of the water in the bathroom so intense that he had an accident on the carpet of his classroom in front of all of his peers. [redacted] had been toilet trained from the age of two with almost zero accidents.
There are no words to express how horrific it was as a mother to watch your child descend into an illness that made him incapable of attending school, playing with his friends, or telling me that he loved me. It was a living hell for me and for my husband and children. As if this blow to our son and our family wasn’t enough, we could not find anyone who could help us treat him. Everyone knew something was very, very wrong with [redacted], but no one was able to provide medical care effective enough to help him. Neither his pediatrician nor [redacted hospital] were able to help us. They knew the diagnosis, but PANDAS is so understudied that it does not have a standard treatment they could offer. We finally and desperately sought the care of an Integrative Medicine Doctor with expertise in PANDAS, and almost immediately the care he provided my son improved his condition.
We are now a little over one year away from the beginning of the horrific journey this illness has brought upon our family. My son now attends school in person full time in French Immersion. He leads a mostly normal life and we navigate flare ups of his illness when they occur. He is an active, popular, sweet, and extremely smart little boy who has fought so hard to get himself through the challenges he has faced at such a young age. [redacted] has regained his health and energy that he lost thanks to the cutting-edge treatments that his Integrative Medicine Practitioner provided to him and continues to provide. Because the research on PANDAS is so preliminary, doctors such as ours sought to find innovative treatments for understudied maladies such as this. The changes to the CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) policies currently being circulated for comment by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario broaden the definition of alternative medicine to now include practitioners such as ours and additionally contain a very concerning revision of the wording informed by current studies to supported by. This is a very high standard of evidence that will have the apparently unintended consequence of stifling innovative treatments for maladies that are just being understood such as Fibromyalgia or Crohn’s Disease was 10 years ago. This means that families such as ours could not receive any treatment, even experimental, for our son precisely because PANDAS is not well studied or understood. We would have no choice but to leave the province, the only home our children have ever known, for another province that allows innovative treatments for understudied medical issues. I refuse to let my son return to the state he was in, and I will do everything in my power to continue his medical treatment. Nothing is more important to me than my children. The thought of losing this care is nothing short of completely devastating to me. Since I have learned of this policy change, I have been beside myself with worry about the future. This loss of care would impact my son’s entire future if the inflammation to his brain is not treated effectively.
I feel the need to make you aware of the consequences of the new guidelines on families such as ours in Ontario. I have sent a personal letter to the Hon. Christine Ellliott and our local MPP, the Hon. Lisa MacLeod, and I will be forwarding this letter to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association as well.
Thank you for your time and for your consideration.
[redacted]
What implication does this have for patients with mental health problems? Provide a list of restrictions.
This is causing anxiety!!!!
Evidence-based integrative medicine is a right. Many people benefit and MDs who provide care, in my opinion, is one of the best choices.
Response in PDF format
Response in PDF format
The one size fits all in Western Medicine no longer works and this has been repeatedly proven time and time again. All the big pharma companies profit continuously and only mask the issue with Western medicine rather than getting to the root of the problem and healing it. I am a big believer and an example of where alternative medicine helped time with my health issues. If anything there should be more focus on alternative and healing rather than profits.
As a patient who has experienced life-changing benefits from Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). I have recently learned that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) has proposed revisions to its existing CAM policy which will make it extremely difficult for Integrative Medicine physicians to practice without the fear of being unjustly disciplined by the CPSO. The changes will rob patients of their right to obtain the care that they need and want. It will also stifle innovation in the Ontario healthcare system. Canadians should have the right to chose a health plan for themselves. Alternative medicine has been long used by the Indigenous and Métis people and is a crucial aspect of our health care. To restrict us of this option is unconstitutional.
In my personal experience I have undergone severe trauma leading me to become a danger to my own wellbeing to the point where I ended up in a psychiatric ward. I experienced long lasting detrimental effects of post-traumatic stress disorder due to a long outdated, broken and corrupt healthcare, justice, and school system. The Complementary and Alternative medicine treatments that I have been receiving from my physician not only helped me improve my worsening conditions and my pathway to recovery, it has saved my life.
I have tried to make my voice heard through all these “conventional systems,” When I was physically assaulted daily in school from six years old until sixteen years old. I would go to the teachers and principals for support only to be belittled, ridiculed, and have my voice silenced. My health only worsened from there. I had to get hospitalized because I thought there was no other alternative or method to make my voice heard. I had to endanger my own life to make people care. In order to gain the attention I need to get my problems addressed I went to a psychiatric ward. My condition remained stable until the healthcare staff decided for me it would be in my best interest to go to a group home for teens.
At the time I was recently recovering from depression, PTSD, and anxiety among other health issues. The group home was a living nightmare. I had to be surrounded constantly by the same bullies and incompetent healthcare staff that put me in this situation in the first place. The only difference is that the staff are working with vulnerable, impressionable children and causing an even greater health concern. I was being manipulated, coerced, and the staff used gaslighting tactics to make me further question myself and my sanity. As a child with autism it was extremely damaging to my mental health, especially regarding the fact they would restrain me from contacting my mother or any form of legal aid, support or any resources outside of that group home.
Lastly, I went to see my Integrative Medicine physician. At the first appointment I knew he was different from the rest because he cared to listen to my concerns. He would make my voice heard. He actually listens to understand. His treatments did more than improve my health and wellbeing, it allowed me to flourish and develop into a vastly different person than I was when the trauma occurred. I have a more positive outlook that not every system is broken, but these new policies might just take away my freedom and right to access healthcare treatments that have helped me when no one else was there for me.
I want you to finish off this by stating the reason why I reached a breaking point in my mental health and physical health was due to people not listening or caring. I ask of you to be the difference, listen to my voice and so many others like me. Be the change you want to see in the world and help protect my right to obtain treatments of my choosing and respect the autonomy of patients to access healthcare that is vital to their success and happiness which would not be possible if these policies are to be put into place.
10 years ago I suffered from a severe condition that has been rapidly worsening and would have eventually led to my permanent disability. A specialist doctor at an Ontario hospital offered an immune system suppressant drug and a “pain maintenance” medication. Today, 10 years later, in the context of the current corona virus pandemic I feel blessed, that, at that time, I refused to start taking immune-suppressant drugs that were the only option offered by conventional medicine. Also at that difficult time 10 years ago, I refused to become another victim of opioid crisis in Ontario and I refused to default to painkillers offered by a conventional medicine specialist.
Instead, I turned to a complementary integrative medicine doctor for help. It turned out to be a very successful relationship. It took almost 5 years to completely eliminate the root cause of my chronic illness and become symptom free. My health 100% returned back to the pre-crisis condition. I was literally given my life back by a doctor of Complementary and Alternative medicine (CAM). It seemed like a miracle but it wasn’t. It was the deep experience and knowledge of my CAM doctor.
Unfortunately the conventional “western” medicine suffers from severe limitations when it comes to treating most chronic conditions. To my great dismay I read the disturbing news about the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) undergoing a process of drastically restricting the practice of Complementary and Alternative practitioners in Ontario and as a causal effect the only realistically permitted option for every sick patient in Ontario will be to default to costly medicine products offered by the Big Pharma. I certainly see the increased profits and benefits for the big pharmaceutical companies but I hardly can view this new CPSO policy to be “patient oriented”. Shouldn’t be CPSO policy changes motivated by striving to provide maximum benefits to Ontario patients? What is the real motivation behind drastic changes to the CAM policy, changes that are not driven by the use of best available healing practices, practices that have been proven safe and effective outside the limited realm of the Province of Ontario? One of the healthcare principles in Canada is patient’s autonomy and freedom to choose between different methods of treatment. The proposed CPSO policy clearly targets Ontario CAM practitioners and their ability to continue their current practice. It will lead to elimination of a range of alternative treatment options in Ontario and therefore this new policy severely attacks and restricts the principle of patient’s autonomy and civil liberties.
This attack by CPSO against CAM medicine seems to be quite isolated within the limited realm of the Province of Ontario with its rather small population of 14 million. CAM medicine and its best practices have been widely accepted and well integrated into the healthcare systems in the United States of America as well as the European Union, all with their combined population of almost 1 billion. These mega-countries have no plans to suppress alternative medicine treatment therapies that are usually less costly and quite often more effective than conventional western medicine. Unsurprisingly the quality of care in the Ontario’s healthcare system is so far behind our American and European counterparts. I am perplexed why a small regulator like the Ontario’s CPSO strives to become an outlier when it comes to enacting tough restrictions around Complementary Medicine and base their decision on the advice of Ontario’s non-expert panel. None of the policy revision committee members have clinical experience with CAM. One would wonder what evidence the “expert” panel provided and what independent studies has CPSO conducted to provide an undisputed proof of an urgent need to overhaul the CAM policy, all in the middle of a raging pandemic. Without the evidence one can only conclude that this is just another baseless attack against Complementary medicine in Ontario.
Ontario is in the midst of a healthcare crisis of a century due to covid19 pandemic, and yet, CPSO’s current focus is on “fixing” Complementary Medicine. I guess CPSO’s “self-regulation” status allows them to pick and waste taxpayer’s money on whatever – regardless of a need or urgency. As a taxpayer though I am outraged!
People should be able to receive whatever treatment works. Not everyone is the same, Taking away a persons ability and necessity to heal with alternative medicine should be encouraged.
I totally agree with this response shown below: “It should be up to the doctor and the patient on what course of treatment they can take and tolerate. There is no reason that a doctor can’t determine that alternative methods of healing will help in conjunction with traditional methods. Appropriate consideration should be given to use less-invasive and less-harmful interventions, while addressing the whole person in addition to the disease. This is the basis of functional medicine. The government should not have the right to take away our choice or the doctor’s choice in these matters.”
I have had physical problems since I was about 8 or 9 years old that started with the use of a very strong shot of penicilin. Back then, there was not instruction to care for the microbiome after such a shot so while I was alive, I was sick. At 21 I suffered from a condition that I did my best to overcome naturally. I learned a lot about self-care during that time and the value of a proper diet, exercise, adequate sleep, and a loving environment. In the end, I did need to go for surgery to take care of the condition I had. Since then, I have continued to learn how to care for my health naturally and with the help of CAM and appreciate how well I have been. I am now 71 and have not missed more than a few days due to being ill. I cannot imagine life without the knowledge and concern that CAM doctors can provide. They work outside Big Pharma’s box and that is extremely important for our human rights and freedoms.
Many conventional treatments have potential long term or short term harmful side effects. Doctors are not required to disclose those, and often don’t. Many alternative treatments are lower risk than the corresponding conventional treatment and/or work more effectively for some people, particularly people with more difficult to treat issues. This policy would remove my right to treatments that are highly effective, to the point of being life changing. Education about alternative treatments makes sense. Eliminating them because there haven’t been enough peer reviewed studies is not beneficial.
I agree with every comment that I have read here.
Vaccines are homeopathy.And physics supports it. Experiments have been done diluting a substance in water. With sufficient dilution, the substance disappeared but the water took on the characteristics of the substance. Then the more it was diluted, the stronger it became. Nothing to do with homeopathy, and not difficult to duplicate.
Medicine is supposed to be scientific and evidence based. Above all, do no harm. I think allopathic medicine is good for short term problems, but not so much for chronic. Because medications must be synthesized and altered to be patented, I am concerned that unnatural compounds are being introduced into the body with little understanding of their long term effects.
I am concerned that medicine is evolving from science to religion. With doctors in danger of being excommnicated if they stray from dogma. Medicine is both an art and a science, and the wellbeing of the patient must take precedence over everything else.
As a person who spent time traveling to the US to receive treatment from an Alternative Medical Doctor and regained health when conventional medicine in Ontario did did not help. I am very disappointed that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is still trying to block alternate ways of treatment. Why can’t conventional and alternate medicine find a way to work together for the benefit of the patient? Most people choose alternate methods of treatment when Conventional methods have failed them. If someone is willing to pay for this treatment then it obviously is a choice they have made. It is unfortunate that I had to go out of Ontario in order to get the treatment I was looking for.
Under the revised policy, Ontario physicians will be effectively prohibited from using natural approaches to treat patients because they are not considered “evidence-based” therapies. The new policy specifies that physicians must only provide treatments that are supported by scientific evidence, such as randomized controlled trials and case-control studies. The issue is that natural substances and other non-patentable treatments will rarely obtain the financial backing to allow for costly, large-scale randomized, controlled trials to be conducted. Simply stated: if there is no patent to obtain, there is no incentive to finance the required ‘evidence’.
There are a number of other changes in the revised policy that create a hostile and unreasonably burdensome environment for CAM physicians. One example is the CPSO’s proposed removal of the current policy’s reference to section 5.1 of the Ontario Medicine Act, which protects physicians who provide treatments outside of conventional medicine. This provision states, “physicians shall not be found guilty of professional misconduct or incompetence solely on the basis that they practice a therapy that is non-traditional or that departs from the prevailing medical practice.”
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Like many patients, I spent years in the healthcare system looking for answers, at great expense to OHIP. I finally was referred to [redacted] at [redacted] and to [redacted]. Both of them have been transformative for me, and I am now well and no longer a burden on the OHIP system. These are highly qualified medical doctors who are able to parse their way through the “wild west” of complementary and alternative treatments with deep knowledge of the patient’s entire medical picture and determine what is right for them. Without their blended expertise, the patient is on their own trying to bridge alternative and traditional treatments, often with ineffective and occasionally with disastrous results. A large proportion of patients access alternative treatments – the only question is whether they do so with the advice and oversight of a doctor or whether they attempt it on their own.
It is extraordinarily arrogant and small-minded in this age of diversity and inclusion for doctors in Ontario to believe that only medical practices developed in Europe and NA and taught in certain schools is viable medical care. Rejecting the thousands of years of experience in China and India, and the many 21st century breakthroughs in understanding the human body, is biased, even racist. [redacted] is a qualified Chinese doctor, and Ontario physician, and has developed expertise in a range of alternative treatments, and as a result is healing many patients who have no where else to turn. The medical profession should encourage this, not cut it out. It is the future, whether the Ontario medical profession is ready for it or not.
Alternative medicine or complementary medicine are names that denigrate it to start with. It is really functional & natural medicine we are talking about. The correct name for “conventional medicine” is “pharmacological medicine”. It is inferior in all cases in my experience for the treatment of chronic conditions. The pharmaceutical industry’s agenda is to make money. What that entails is it must be a patentable drug (which means all natural substances are of no interest), & it must be a drug that does not CURE the condition. Those are the two criteria of this “conventional medicine”.
Functional & natural medicine look for the underlying malfunctions in the body, & then restore them with natural treatments, i.e. reverse the conditions instead of treating the symptoms only.
The root cause is addressed & the patient can be cured.
I think that doctors should have to explain why they would consider a conventional medical treatment (i.e. drug) which dooms the patient to never resolving their health problem, instead of a functional medicine treatment which heals the condition.
We need some leadership to learn functional medicine & natural medicine, and go away from pharmaceutical drug treatments. We need to wake up & see that the drug way is not correct for chronic illnesses in almost all cases. The public is becoming more & more aware of this & wanting it. Wellness clinics are flourishing. “Conventional Medicine” does extremely well with acute conditions, but is sadly getting further & further behind due to not learning functional & natural medicine for chronic conditions.
Please reconsider this entire policy. It is likely to drive many alternative physicians out of practice completely. It appears to me that this may be the actual intention of the College. Years ago, the College drove my physician to leave his practice, after ongoing harassment and unnecessary requests to document treatments that not a single one of his patients ever complained about. I currently cannot even find a family doctor now that mine is retiring, and you are undertaking a process designed to remove some of the most forward-thinking and innovative medical professionals in practice today.
I have been using homeopathy since the early 1990′s. I am a celiac patient with multiple food allergies. Conventional medicine either has corn, gluten, or some other ingredient that makes me ill because of my many allergies. I have studied homeopathy since first being introduced to it. I have great success using homeopathic remedies on myself, family members, and pets. Unless you have tried it after studying it, please do not make assumptions about it. I also have hyperoxaluria and there are remedies that help me live with that. I try very hard to limit my intake of oxalates, but homeopathy is what helps me live with that health issue. I really had no idea how wonderful homeopathy could be for me until I gave it a fair try. Since homeopathy will not harm, why not let the people of Canada have the freedom of choosing whether or not to use homeopathy in their health care.
Response in PDF format
Response in PDF format
Response in PDF format
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Dear Nancy Whitmore,
I’m emailing you because the CPSO’s Complementary and Alternative Medicine policy proposal has to be stopped. In Canada, we have a foundational belief that every person deserves access to healthcare, and limiting the type of healthcare people can get significantly oversteps into that foundational belief. Many of these treatments, especially those referred to by integrative medical doctors, are scientifically-backed with evidence supporting their use as a form of treatment. This is why it’s concerning that the CPSO is using “patient safety” as the public reason for putting this proposal forward. A change in policy this significant is not – cannot be – for the good of the people. I urge policymakers to dig deeper to find ways to work with integrative medical doctors and integrative clinics to find a better way to protect patients from unsafe and/or inadequately trained alternative therapy practitioners. By binding the hands of integrative doctors and preventing them from operating in the way that has helped so many, it hurts the very people the CPSO claims to be trying to help.
Please reverse this policy and, if patient safety is truly a concern, I urge you to work with integrative doctors to ensure that the policy does truly protect – and not hurt – healthcare patients in Ontario.
Regards,
[redacted]
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[redacted] is an exemplary MD and Functional/Integrative physician.
I suffered a brain injury in 2012 and he was the only doctor that had the broad spectrum of knowledge, expertise and experience to help me. Because of his exceptional care, I enjoy a much better quality of life than I did before his treatments. His thorough testing uncovered a severe hormonal imbalance which had so far been undiagnosed by my GP, the infusions he recommended did improve my chronic fatigue (which no other doctor could help me with) and his thoroughness ensures his follow-up appointments keep my health on track.
Impinging on his ability (and physicians like him) to practice is unjust as the new requirements would make it virtually impossible to continue with his clinics and his patient load which is extensive. Ultimately this would make it almost impossible for patients to access the type of care that they need. My quality of life has been much improved under [redacted]’s care and the proposed changes are unnecessary and intrude on patients’ rights to seek the care that they deserve.
My classic migraine headaches that I suffered from for over a decade were eliminated through the use of homeopathy by a physician trained in prescribing. The medications never helped me.
I was very surprised to hear about this proposal, naively thinking that we were working toward a health care system which embraced different and/or unconventional modalities as a complement to the traditional medicine practised here in Canada. I have been afflicted with a chronic illness for the past 25 years, and have been so fortunate to have a health care provider who offers me balanced advice, literature, various options, and spends an average of an hour with me at each appointment, discussing my progress, looking over my bloodwork or other tests, always allowing me to help chart my own path in order to achieve an overall state of health to help my body cope with the burden of this unfortunate illness.
The proposal states “…physicians who provide complementary or alternative medicine must practise …
c)in a manner that is supported by evidence and scientific reasoning, … ” The idea of treating a
symptom or symptoms, rather than the person as a whole, is the way medicine is practised here, and to my mind, leaves out a whole array of other very important variables when dealing with a compromised patient; variables that don’t necessarily lead to a nice fit into the category of “evidence and scientific reasoning”. Of course, there are practitioners out there who may take advantage of desperate people, and those people need to be weeded out, but it seems outrageous to me that this proposal seems to suggest that we need some kind of government protection against the mostly above-board alternative health care providers who are trying to give us help where we may not get it from our traditional doctors, who know very little about nutrition, vitamins, homeopathy, etc. etc. I have lived long enough now to belong to the Cynics’ club, and I have to say this sounds a lot like
pressure is coming from the powerful pharma lobby, as perhaps they see their profits dropping due to
the rise in people choosing another path to health. I say, let people choose as they see fit. There is no “one size fits all” solution when it comes to our health.
I have treated myself solely with alternative medicine for the past 35 years and my conventional doctor is always amazed at how good my health is.
He comments: ”You’re lucky you are healthy and don’t need medication”. I respond: “I am healthy because I don’t take any medication”.
A few years ago, he gave me a prescription for cholesterol. The following year, I have a pharmacist greeting me in the consultation room???
He asks me about the effects of this medication…and then I realize it’s this prescription I had never filled. I told him he was just the obvious proof that I would have been a guinea pig, had I taken this prescription. I will not be part of experiments on humans, thank you!
My one concern with this guidance is section 16 (b)…who decides if a physician is charging an ‘excessive fee’ for an uninsured service? Considering that community based physicians are in fact in business and must pay the usual costs of business including rent, employees, equipment costs, consumables, contractors, bank charges etc etc, this would be something that I feel should not be guided by or commented on by the CPSO. The ‘market’ always decides the costs of things, and patients are free to obtain competitive quotes for similar services as with any market driven service which we all engage in daily in the usual course of our lives.
It is reprehensible the way current “science” is used. A common belief is that what is published in a peer reviewed journal is beyond reproach/trustworthy. It is not hard to see from the “disclosure of associations” in certain medical journal articles, that results from independent researchers can be different from ones where the researchers are mainly associated with a prominent biotech company, and that the results the latter present are favourable to the overall mindset and goals of biotech companies (eg whether the gut microbiome has an effect on mental health – it doesn’t, for biotech, it does, for most independent researchers, in my investigations).
Also, the biggest problem in this overall discussion is the idea that unless “science” has been able to explain why something works, then it doesn’t work, is unsafe and must be disregarded. This is an absurdity that passes for absolute truth and is constantly used to discredit anything that does not fit within a patentable, biotech framework. Leaving aside the bias caused by the economic need to discredit anything that cannot be patented and manufactured in a lab, this kind of “science” is reductionist, and also colonialist, in that it rejects hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge, with its own records, which are disregarded (eg. in the case of Chinese medicine for example) as “anecdotal” because they do not fall under the paradigm of narrowly conceived western scientific methods of validating knowledge.
The current state of medicine is appalling, not because of doctors (who work very hard) but due to the stranglehold of this mindset. Science on several fronts (eg. in regenerative agriculture, ecology and environment) is showing that the human desire to control nature by dealing with it reductively, manipulating it by means of synthetic chemicals, is causing only harm. This is true, but as yet unrecognized in the field of medicine as well (except by those using alternative treatments), as some science is beginning to show (eg. research in the gut microbiome). History will judge us harshly, if holistic and natural treatments are squashed and suppressed, as it will eventually be shown (just as it has already been shown in agriculture) that we have been going down the wrong path, spending massive amounts of money to line pockets, while damaging the body/our fields and farms with synthetic treatments.
With ever changing lifestyles and methods of care for people, it is imperative that alternative medicine always be factored in. When the end result is helping, curing and being innovative, it is only right that all areas be administered. If the healing process is considered alternative or homeopathic, then it should be available for administering. If I am giving concent, paying for and signing for it, then I should be able to receive the care and the Doctor should be able to deliver.
The current proposals to limit complementary and integrative treatments to members of Ontario College of Physicians. This is a further blow to those with chronic conditions that medical system in Ontario has no interest in addressing because it is too much work and/or not in the interest of pharmaceuticals. The proposed changes should not be made.
This policy is absurd, dangerous to public health and extremely transparent. Every doctor and patient should have a right to choose their own treatment, based on the patient’s needs. Integrative/functional medicine and various “alternative” treatments are also in fact very much science based, they just don’t jive with the agenda of big pharma, which greatly and sadly strongly influences the medical community.
Response in PDF format
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Dear [redacted] and members of the Committee,
I am a family physician practicing in [redacted]
I am grateful that the CPSO is re-examining their policy on CAM.
However I believe the present policy as it stands protects the public and has done a very good job at preventing exploitation and harm to the public.
The new recommendations are far too excessive and would severely limit the services of medical doctors who provide alternative treatments for patients.
I would much rather have a medical doctor who has been trained and certified to practice medicine provide services like acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal remedies, and nutritional medicine than having naturopaths, homeopaths, acupuncturists and many unregulated practitioners see my patients.
I believe providing “evidence-informed” therapies to be more in keeping with the original philosophy of evidence-based medicine.
I agree with the comments submitted by the OMA section on CAM.
1) Overall Tone and Language
a. The draft policy remove language pertaining patient exploitation; we recommend instead referencing the general Physician Code of Conduct.
b. The policy remove unprofessional language sensationalizing the risks of CAM therapies and portray a more honest, truthful, and balanced view of the risks of CAM and conventional therapies.
2) Physician assessments & clinical judgements
a. Physicians be given the professional latitude to rely on or review clinical assessments performed by their colleagues in conducting assessments.
b. The draft policy reconsider the language used when referring to other health professionals to maintain the standards of interprofessional collaboration set out under CanMEDS roles as well as medical education standards.
3) Evidence requirements
a. The advice document depicting the evidence for CAM therapies be rephrased to more accurately reflect the true state of evidence pertaining to CAM.
b. The draft policy return to the original language of “evidence-informed” therapies to be more in line with the original philosophy of evidence-based medicine, and that the roles of patient preference and clinician experience be incorporated into the definition of evidence based medicine.
4) Documentation
a. The draft policy relax its documentation requirements so as not to overly burden physicians with unrealistic requirements that go drastically above and beyond the requirements set out in the Medical Records policy.
5) Scope of practice
a. Clarification is required as it relates to the scope of practice of general practitioners who offer CAM.
b. Remove language restricting physicians to the use of treatment modalities within their conventional scope of practice as this is unnecessarily restrictive, ambiguous, and stifles innovation.
c. Remove the requirement for physicians to cross-certify as another regulated health professional in order to provide services already considered to be within the scope of practice of a physician
If you change the policy I believe you will do much harm to the practice of medicine.
Please do not alter the present legislation and accept the fact as it stands it is a very complete and excellent guidance for the profession.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
“Evidence” is a word often used as a weapon against complementary and alternative health methods. The allopathic medical model functions within a mechanistic view of the human body, applying one drug or therapy to one issue. Apply it to an entire population and tally the results on the narrow focus. Evidence. Moreover, alternative therapies often use inputs that represent little profit for private companies, so there is little money and funding available to conduct such scientific research with the necessary scope and number of studies to meet your requirements of the definition of “evidence.” I will not demonize the pharmaceutical industry, but it is a reality that in our world, money counts.
In many complementary and alternative health models, the therapy or substances are applied based on the individual characteristics of that population, respecting the complexity of an organism’s response on many levels and throughout many systems within the body. It is a perspective of inter-relationship, not narrow processes applied with tunnel vision.
In this definition of what a “scientific” study application should be, many integrative therapies get left out in the cold as there is no reasonable way to apply such testing methods that truly gives the whole picture. This is why you may have years, decades, even centuries of recorded clinical experience with significant statistically recorded benefit that is completely dismissed by the allopathic model.
I would point here to recorded clinical data of something like homeopathy, for example, which has recorded cases in detail for two hundred years, kept statistics of care during epidemics, and has proved to have statistically significant effects in modern day hospital models and epidemics, which is often summarily dismissed, even as new ways of applying homeopathy are garnering the attention of US universities. Please refer to the Banerji Protocols that have co-written scientific publications with major US universities regarding their treatment of brain tumours.
Until a more human-centered approach to “evidence” is embraced by allopathy and equal funding is given to alternative health methodologies for needed study, you are comparing apples to oranges.
Allopathic treatments and drug interactions can sometimes cause a great deal of harm in and of themselves. According to adrcanada.org, “Each year, there are an estimated 200,000 severe adverse drug reactions in Canada, killing up to 22,000 Canadians, and costing the Canadian healthcare system between $13.7 and $17.7 billion.” These stats simply do not exist in alternative healthcare, yet physicians are being presented the possibility that recommending or even supporting a patient’s complementary care could be tantamount to harm? Why should an informed physician not be willing to support a patient in their health choices and work hand in hand with an alternative health practitioner? It is this fear of reprisal and being dismissed that keeps healthcare providers from working together and ultimately, makes patients hide crucial treatment information from their physicians (often for fear of being labeled “difficult”), thereby creating risk and stress.
We need to be more open to different treatment models and develop reasonable and attainable scientific research and study that appropriately takes clinical data into account. Advances in our scientific understanding regarding that which we have not yet comprehended should be embraced, not summarily dismissed because it does not yet fit our perspective.
Again, I use homeopathy as an easy example. A model of medicine (yes, I will call it that, as worldwide a large portion of homeopaths are also MDs) that works with babies, animals, and even plants is routinely dismissed as “placebo.” Perhaps the scientific communities that are so dismissive need to figure out an appropriate way to apply the scientific method to homeopathy rather than trying to apply homeopathy to their limited application of scientific methodology. I would point you a very interesting article on the application of scientific studies and the effectiveness of Homeopathy from the University of Minnesota: https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/homeopathy/-there-good-scientific-evidence-homeopathy
There are many countries and healthcare systems around the world that are integrating alternative therapies to some extent into their publicly funded health care models. Some do it because they recognize that using alternative and complementary therapies in primary and preventative healthcare is intelligent and relieves stress on the system. Others do it because they are poor and are sometimes left no choice but to embrace the alternatives which use lower-cost inputs and where community health workers can be trained easily to work with a population that suffers from co-morbidities and malnutrition and cannot afford the allopathic model.
Isn’t it time allopathy and complementary therapies truly worked together for the good of the patient?
The negative bias against Integrative Medicine is blatant in the proposed Complimentary and Alternative Medicine policy document. The document implicitly states that Integrative Medicine is unscientific and exploitive. This policy ignores the fact that there is much scientific evidence supporting more natural, innovative and less harmful options to support optimal wellness in patients. It further ignores the fact that Integrative Medicine is a Discipline recognized by the American Board of Physician Specialties. The CPSO should represent the needs and values of patients. If the new CAM policy is approved by CPSO Council in June, most of the doctors who provide integrative healthcare will be forced to change their practice or leave the province. This is an example of regulation that does little to promote patient safety but hugely impacts our access to healthcare. This means that I will lose my doctor, my treatment, or both. I rely on integrative medicine and natural medicine, and value doctors who are informed of both conventional treatments as well as alternative medicine. Doctors need to be trained in how to offer and recognize both modalities, rather than being discouraged and disciplined for doing so. Please do not pass this policy. Please start over drafting a new policy with the guidance of medical professionals who practice integrative medicine sitting on the advisory committee.
Between 30 and 50 million North Americans have at least one autoimmune disease and the numbers are growing. In my case, my very knowledgeable rheumatologist told me to come back to see him when I need pain medication. That’s it. I am grateful to have conventional medicine to help me if I break a bone or need surgery but for every other situation I have an integrative medicine MD. It is by no means a quick fix. I am putting in enormous effort to heal myself under his guidance. We are getting to the root causes of my disease and put it into remission. There are scientific studies on most aspects of integrative medicine, for example, the benefits of meditation or the AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) which takes a global mind-body approach to rebalancing the gut microbiome and healing inflammation and autoimmunity. We should absolutely have the right to choose the kind of treatment that suits our medical condition.
How can you take the right to choose what we feel is best for our own bodies? Many who seek this type of care, including me, have been shuffled around undiagnosed for years until we found alternative therapies. This was a life saver for me and I, along with many others, would absolutely be torn apart if this right was taken away.
I am the mother of two daughters who, if not for the use of CAM by their physician, would each have a very difficult task of living their daily lives with a ‘normal’ level of health. Thanks to CAM their are both very happy and productive in their careers and their lives. My eldest daughter spent four days in our city’s hospital, had numerous tests done on her there, and still was discharged by the doctors despite their not having an answer to her extreme fatigue amongst other extreme symptoms. My younger daughter has separate health issues and her fatigue was so extreme that she ” felt that she did not have the strength to pick up a pen”. If not for CAM neither would live a normal life and the proposed revisions by The CPSO to the existing CAM policy must be stopped! Mainstream healthcare is limited and alternative healthcare is necessary for many. It saved my daughters!
I am writing to you today to reconsider approving the more restrictive draft of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) policy and to return to the existing policy.
I am a nurse and personally use Complementary and Alternative Medicine with life enhancing benefits to my health that conventional medicine did not always provide. In my professional nursing practice, I have witnessed the benefits that CAM has provided to patients and families that conventional medicine could not/would not address successfully. It would be negligent to take away the right of the healthcare consumer to be an active, decision making participant in their own health.
The values of patient autonomy and self-determination are at risk. All persons have the capacity and right to make living, learning and health choices that honour their mind-body-spirit unity. All persons’ perspective of their experiences and the meanings, patterns and quality of life are unique and respected.
These principles must be given the highest priority in your policy decisions so they do not create barriers to the health and well-being of healthcare consumers in Ontario and the physicians providing them with CAM.
The tone of the draft also discredits CAM and Integrative Medicine and their practitioners and may halt a forward motion in medical schools on integrating and exploring traditional medicine/ complementary therapy use in their training. This ultimately will affect the health consumer’s ability to access to a full spectrum of healthcare options
The draft of the new CAM policy seeks to undermine, with wilful ignorance, the practice of Alternative Medicine in Ontario.
It lacks transparency and inclusion. Who are members of the panel that wrote this draft, and to what degree was there the involvement
of pharmaceutical lobbying? Who seeks to profit if the draft is approved, …who seeks to profit if natural health practitioners are forced to limit their practice or to leave the province?
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this draft policy.
The draft policy is regressive, not progressive and will result in harm to patients by reducing the openness of doctors to incorporating complementary and/or alternative medicine (CAM) in their practices (or perhaps discouraging them from even learning more about these techniques so that they can properly guide their patients in their use). The policy is written in a way that assumes complementary and alternative practitioners exploit patients and utilize approaches that do not have an evidentiary basis. Conventional medicine is most useful in dealing with acute illness or injury. It is not as helpful for many chronic conditions or in promoting wellness. I have been greatly helped by complementary and alternative approaches — approaches I probably would not have tried if my doctor had not suggested their use. Please revisit this draft and when you do include your colleagues who practice integrative medicine or who incorporate CAM techniques in their practices. It wouldn’t hurt to listen to more patients either.
This is big pharma at work making sure we are not spending our money seeking alternative medicine. They have no right to deny me a choice. This proposed change is nothing but a money grab and shame on the college to do take away our choice seeking alternative treatment.
We definitely need to have access to functional and alternative medicine. At age 84, I would not today be in an excellent state of health if I had not had access to a dedicated physician offering nutritional and preventive medicine. I agree the College of Physician’s and Surgeons have not the right to deny patients access to doctors offering functional and integrative medicine, especially when the patient has the resources to pay extra for the service. In fact, my seriously low T3 (main thyroid hormone) was found by blood work ordered by a skilled doctor practicing functional and hormone therapy. A main stream doctor would test only for T4 thyroid hormone and insufficiency of T3 would not be detected.
I have not completed your survey or commented publicly but wish to add a few comments regarding the proposed changes to your Complementary and Alternative Medicine policy.
I would, above all, like to point out that most people who seek out complementary or alternative medicine do so because conventional doctors have been unable or unwilling to treat them successfully.
I contracted Lyme disease in the summer of 2019 and was shocked by the way I was treated by numerous conventional doctors on my journey.
I eventually ended up seeing a doctor practicing integrative medicine as the conventional doctors seemed to have little interest in treating me, despite positive serology for Lyme on the standard test available in Ontario. The Infectious Diseases specialist I saw knew almost nothing about Lyme or treating Lyme. There are thousands of us Lymies out there left to our own devices.
I would suggest that the College look at the types of diseases that bring patients to doctors practicing complementary and alternative / integrative medicine and try to fill those gaps in conventional practice so that we don’t have to pay out of pocket for treatment. Perhaps try to learn from integrative practitioners and work to get funding to assess the methods they use.
Until treatments for difficult diseases like Lyme have an effective standard treatment covered by OHIP, patients like me will choose to see doctors who are willing to treat us, even if it means we have to pay out of pocket. We should be able to see a medical doctor in Ontario for alternative treatments, and not have to travel or see practitioners who are not licenced physicians.
I would ask you to support your doctors offering treatment to sick people falling through the cracks of the conventional system.
My understanding is that there is much concern that the new policy could lead to doctors being disciplined for providing treatments not supported by “evidence and scientific reasoning.” Integrative practitioners are on the front lines of diseases there is no conventional cure for. They are trying to help patients for whom there is no conventional treatment, or where patients are not willing to deal with the side effects of conventional treatments. They are willing to experiment where conventional doctors are not.
We want doctors doing this work because of their training and licencing. Please don’t make their licence a bar to their ability to practice.
The proposed draft policy references Ontario’s Medicine Act, 1991 (or its regulations) on a number of occasions either in the text or the footnotes (seven times in total).
None of those seven times includes one of the most relevant references — to section 5.1 which states: Non-traditional practice
5.1 A member shall not be found guilty of professional misconduct or of incompetence under section 51 or 52 of the Health Professions Procedural Code solely on the basis that the member practises a therapy that is non-traditional or that departs from the prevailing medical practice unless there is evidence that proves that the therapy poses a greater risk to a patient’s health than the traditional or prevailing practice. 2000, c. 28, s. 1.”
Reference to this section is included in the current/existing policy and it should be retained.
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I am finding the policy confusing to read. The language of “Alternative” and Complementary is outdated. Patients have the right to seek help from any health care practitioner that aids healing an illness or leading to higher quality of life while living with chronic health issues. MD’s need to be willing to work with patients and encouraged to seek out other avenues of care that will help their patients especially when conventional practices are no longer working. The policy should be known as Integrative Health Care.Should the patient choose to also work with a Naturopath etc they should be allowed to do so. Self-regulated colleges were set up with several Integrative Health Care modalities to ensure that patients have an avenue to ensure they are working with a registered member of their college. Having worked in Health Care for 30 years I have seen where conventional medicine fails the patient regarding care and quality of living. The patient is the one to choose their Health Care Team and need to be reminded that they are responsible for any health care decisions made.Limiting MD’s participation on this team could lead to complications or worsening of health if the care plan is not discussed and shared among ALL practitioners. In my opinion ensuring communications between providers of health care will support the patients journey of well being and healing. Please do not place limits (other then conflict of interest)on our ability to create our health care teams as we see fit. Research is limited in several areas of Integrative health practices and far too many medical doctors are biased against modes of treatment that do not publish in conventional journals. The fallout of such action negativley impacts the patients to a high degree, especially when MD’s refuse to work with patients who also seek Integrative health modes in their life. Patients often do not tell their doctors that they are working with other practitioners because they are afraid of such action. Encourage doctors to support their patients choices by requesting reports from other practitioners so that treatment plans are understood and any concerns are addressed.
Sincerely, [redacted] RN,(non-practicing), BScN.
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I would appreciate your consideration of my thoughts I’d like to share as an Ontarian in maintaining the right to continue having the freedom to choose the type of health care I prefer.
I appreciate your help in bringing my thoughts on the changes forward to those making these decisions.
It is not that I am opposed to conventional treatment, I implement both conventional and alternative treatments as needed.
However, I am not in agreement with the proposed changes to the CAM policy, specifically the points noted in the formatted letters attached – the letter of which, I wholeheartedly agree.
I am puzzled as why our province wishes for us to go back in time in society.
Would it not serve province and our citizens to learn more about complementary and alternative options? Noting, that we do currently have these freedoms to pursue?
Rather than implementing restrictions and fear of retribution to the physicians who have been insightful, courageous and determined to move health care forward for us all.
It isn’t that the research cannot or could not have been done within this country, as they have been done in others around the world – could it be that as many are non-patentable, there is no benefit to the government to do so?
Rather than pursuing those brave enough to research, educate, receive proper training on other modalities to help our citizens in non-traditional ways, why would we wish to oppose forward thinkers? At one time or another most everything was considered alternative, but in time the value was found.
Restricting physicians from being able to provide certain services because they an unproven should be of no concern as most are paid personally, who is complaining – is it the patients? I have never
heard a complaint from anyone in many years, mostly what I hear is the gratitude they feel that they were able to find something that helped them regain their health. Not everyone reacts the same
to treatments physically or mentally.
I wish to be proud in knowing that our province serves all of us, and maintains our rights to choice, especially in matters of individual health care.
I look forward to being able to feel well, be well and that will happen with the ability to receive treatments for my very courageous alternative health care provider, which means leaving the policy as it is.
Just leave the CAM policy as it is currently, these proposed changes are detrimental to many people, please be wise and brave and help prevent these changes from passing.
Again, attached are formatted letter attached for each of you for your review.
Thank you for your consideration of my wishes as a citizen of Ontario, respectfully,
[redacted]
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Dear Dr. Whitmore, CPSO Executive Committee and Council
RE: CPSO — Draft Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Policy
Please return to the drawing board to update this policy and when doing so please include some CAM practitioners (and if possible more patients) in the working group. The proposal currently out for consultation does not, as intended, “strike the right balance between protecting patients and ensuring they are not being offered ineffective and potentially harmful treatments, and allowing for appropriate patient autonomy and innovation in medicine.”
What the draft proposal will do is the opposite. It will stifle innovation, remove patient choice and cast a chill on virtually any practitioner who wishes to offer an integrative approach to medicine (incorporating the best of conventional medicine and complementary approaches).
Many people, in Ontario and across the world (myself included), have benefitted greatly from so-called complementary or alternative approaches — including acupuncture, meditation, yoga. I have a quality of life that I would not have in their absence. I likely would not have sought out these treatments but for the advice of my trusted medical advisor. Bringing in overly restrictive or unreasonably burdensome policy changes (e.g., requiring treatments be ‘supported by’ as opposed to ‘informed by’ evidence or imposing unreasonable written documentation requirements) will mean that patients will have reduced access to medical practitioners willing to offer or recommend these therapies.
The draft policy itself is written in a negative, not neutral or collegial way, with a bias evident against CAM providers and treatments. This negative tone should be removed.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
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I was bitten by a tick in 2011 sitting in the grass after a hike on the Bruce Trail.
I found a tick in my belly button after the hike and thought nothing of it.
I was diagnosed with Lyme and Bartonella in 2015 by a physician in Platsburg NY, after 5 years of progressive hell.
It’s bad enough that chronic Lyme and associated parasites is considered ‘alternative medicine’ in this province.
It is repugnant and unacceptable that even this category of alternative medicine is under possible elimiination.
Why would treatment of Lyme and associated parasites by considered quackery?
[redacted]
Please consider my urgent request to amend or cancel the proposed revision of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) policy published by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. The proposed update of the CAM policy will make it more difficult for doctors to practice complementary and integrative medicine and for patients to have access to these vital and live-saving therapies. I am a patient who uses these therapies, and they have had a significant positive impact on my health and quality of life.
The proposed CAM policy states that physicians must only provide treatments that are “supported by evidence and scientific reasoning”. This language in the proposed CAM policy is excessively stringent and onerous and as such is not permitted under Ontario law. Regulatory bodies in Ontario are not permitted to discipline any healthcare provider for the sole reason that they prescribe non-traditional therapies or treatments that depart from the prevailing medical practice, unless there is “evidence that proves the therapy poses a greater risk to a patient’s health than the traditional or prevailing practice.” This protection is confirmed by section 5.1 of the Ontario Medicine Act (known as the Kwinter bill) and by a Supreme Court ruling on the Medicine Act (known as the Brett decision).
The proposed CAM policy presumes that integrative medicine physicians are guilty of malpractice ab initio and places the onus on them to prove that they have not engaged in wrongdoing, by means of “evidence and scientific reasoning.” The proposed policy attempts to reverse the “presumption of innocence” that should be applicable to medical practitioners, contrary to the onus set out in s. 5.1 of the Medicine Act, which requires proof that the complementary therapy poses a greater risk than the traditional or prevailing practice. The proposed policy also imposes extraordinarily stringent medical consent and documentation requirements on CAM practitioners that are not required of other physicians. Ultimately, these requirements will make it easier for the CPSO to discipline doctors for the sole reason that they are engaged in the practice of integrative medicine.
Specifically, the draft CAM policy includes redundant and repetitive consent and documentation requirements that are already addressed by the CPSO Consent to Treatment and Medical Records Documentation policies. The proposed policy imposes additional and more rigorous conflict of interest requirements and requirements to avoid charging excessive fees than are imposed on other physicians. These issues are already covered by other CPSO policies and regulations, including the policy on Uninsured Services, and the Physicians’ Relationship with Industry policies. These burdensome requirements are unnecessary and redundant and will have a prejudicial effect on both CAM practitioners and their patients. The proposed policy will ultimately have the effect of discouraging both practitioners and patients from using helpful complementary and alternative care therapies that should continue to be available to the public.
Many conventional doctors are not fans of alternative medicine, but that does not mean that alternative medicine should be presumed to be harmful or that patients should be automatically denied access to integrative healthcare. The CPSO should represent the needs and values of all patients. If the draft CAM policy is approved by CPSO Council in June, most doctors who provide integrative healthcare will be forced to change their practice or leave the province or the practice of medicine entirely. The proposed policy does little to promote patient safety but hugely impacts our access to healthcare. This means that I may lose my doctor, my treatment, or both.
Please protect my healthcare. Please intervene so that the proposed CAM policy, as it is currently drafted, is not approved. Please create a new working group tasked to draft more appropriate revisions, with members that include integrative MDs who are not biased against CAM physicians and their patients.
[**MESSAGE FROM ADMINISTRATOR: DURING THE CONSULTATION PERIOD, WE RECEIVED 2 RESPONSES FROM INDIVIDUAL RESPONDENTS CONTAINING THE CONTENT PUBLISHED ABOVE. ALTHOUGH THIS FEEDBACK HAS NOT BEEN PUBLISHED IN DUPLICATE, THE COLLEGE ACKNOWLEDGES RECEIPT OF THESE SUBMISSIONS.**]
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My teenage daughter has been extremely ill for 2 years. With inexplicable nausea, vomiting. We have consulted our pediatrician, a gastroenterologist, who ran ALL tests on her, we have been to [redacted hospital]. None have been able to identify the problem until we saw an Integrative Medical doctor, who identified the issue almost immediately and healed my daughter within ONE WEEK. After two years of feeling sick daily, unable to go to school, dance, see friends, etc. Where would we be without access to integrative medicine?
A person’s illness is not black and white, so why should our treatment options be this way? Having options provides us with hope that one day we may lead “normal” lives again. Don’t pigeon hole us – let us choose the path that we feel is best for our own healing. It is our right.
I feel I should have the right to choose the kind of treatment I require and that my doctor needs to be able to provide treatment without governmental interference.
This policy direction will discourage medical doctors from practising integrative medicine which is exactly the wrong direction for the medical profession to take. I trust my doctor, and if I don’t think they’re making “scientific sense” I’ll go to someone else. I do not need the Nanny State to sit in the room with me, thanks anyway. This is regulatory overreach that will cause more harm than good (in my opinion) and as such should be abandoned.
I am a patient who has experienced life-changing benefits from Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
It would be ideal if conventional medicine had answers for all ailments. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The new policy prevents a conscientious physician from trying his or her best to “problem solve” using all methods available.
If the new policy is adopted, physicians will be prevented from using natural and innovative treatments that have helped thousands of people like me. Irrespective of their safe and effective benefits to patients, natural treatments will always be considered “unproven” and therefore, disallowed. Physicians will inevitably be forced to prescribe only pharmaceutical drugs.
We should be encouraging (not prohibiting!) physicians to explore all safe and effective options for patients. If physicians are forbidden from thinking and acting ‘outside of the box’ for the benefit of their patients, this will silence innovation in the Ontario medical system.
Here is my experience and how alternative medicine helped me.(Long read)
For over 10 years I experienced challenging symptoms as a result of hypothyroidism/hashimoto’s auto-immune disease. I was constantly tired and not feeling well which brought me to my family doctor time and time again. I suffered from a variety of symptoms such as unexplained weight gain, cold intolerance, fatigue, irritability, severe anxiety, depression, hair falling out, memory laps, slower brain function etc. Over the years, my family doctor had recommended that I take various mind-altering pharmaceuticals such as anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications, none of which addressed or solved the route cause of my issues. However, I kept returning with the same concerns and then told that it is normal for a woman in her 20s with children to feel tired with a lot going on. This started to bother me as I should have been in my prime and enjoying my kids, not just counting the hours until I can go to sleep because every little ounce of effort was becoming overwhelming. I started to question why my doctor wasn’t taking me more seriously. I had suspected that I had thyroid disease for many years, as I was experiencing all of the common symptoms, as well as having a family history of the disease. However, I was always told that my blood lab results were always perfectly within range. It wasn’t until later on when my TSH reached 8.16 mIU/L given the reference range of 0.35 – 5 mIU/L and I was officially diagnosed with hypothyroidism. At this point, I had 3 kids and my symptoms were debilitating and I was barely able to function as a mother or simply a functioning person in society. I was falling asleep on the couch 2 hours after waking even though I slept for 9 hours the night before. I had no energy with my kids to play, cook, talk, and I was only able to tend to their very basic needs. My quality of life suffered intensely and I was very ill. My Doctor acknowledged that I had hypothyroidism and prescribed me Synthroid which is the most common pharmaceutical for hypothyroidism. But I didn’t get better, and I still questioned why, why had I suffered for so many years until my thyroid no longer functioned. That’s when I started doing research, and I found networks of millions of thyroid patients who suffered just like me and who were not taken seriously by conventional medicine doctors. What I found out was that the blood lab reference range for the thyroid panel my Doctor was referring too was actually outdated. Specifically, to be optimal a TSH result should be less than 3 mIU/L which is much lower than the existing range of 5mIU/L. What I soon realized was that prior to being diagnosed, my TSH was always above 3 mIU/L and so I suffered for over a decade because the Ontario health care system is archaic. In addition, my family doctor refused to try giving me T3 meds, and the endocrinologist told me that they only look at TSH levels and not T3 or T4. Again, none of these professionals were listening to me and what I found most surprising is they were giving me contradicting information from what was published in evidence based medical journals.
This is where my journey brought me to functional medicine. My thyroid medication was not working, my levels were not improving and my conventional medicine doctors were not interested in looking at different approaches.
Though my functional ND, I was diagnosed with hashimoto’s disease which is an autoimmune disease which your body attacks your thyroid. This disease can take upward of 10 years to develop and eventually destroy your thyroid. This is ultimately, what happened to me, and what angers me the most is that if conventional medicine had recognized this disease, then it could have prevented years and years of suffering.
I started on a path of healing which started with healing my gut and removing foods that triggered the autoimmune response. I introduced many vitamins , minerals, and other supplements to restore my damaged body. We started to investigate the root cause of my autoimmune disease. Shortly after, I found an integrative MD in another province who I believed would be able to help me get further in my health journey. I travelled to that MD and experienced life-changing benefits as a result. This MD understood everything I had read in the medical journals about the up to date information on thyroid disease. Over the course of 2 years, this MD worked with various thyroid medications to help me find the right one and dose for me to feel at my best (NOT synthroid). This MD encouraged me to complete various alternative medicine tests such as a stool test which tested for a host of different bacteria/parasites etc., which I tested positive for many and needed treatment. We even did testing through a genetics DNA analysis which confirmed that I had another very serious bacteria lingering in my body. All of these required prompt treatment with antibiotics which she prescribed. Conventional medicine doesn’t take into account that lingering bacteria/parasites could be a route cause to illness. This MD also was open to prescribing me with Low dose naltrexone (LDN) which is used to regulate the immune system. Unfortunately, most conventional medicine Doctors are also not familiar with this pharmaceutical for autoimmune disease.
Today, I am 2 years into my official diagnosis of thyroid disease, and although I still have some work to do, my quality of life has drastically improved. If I had stayed with the status quo with conventional medicine then I would have continued to suffer and my kids would have had a very sick mother. I advocated for myself, I researched, I found alternative medicine doctors.
To this day, I feel as though conventional medicine failed me and if the regulations surrounding alternative medicine are restricted then people like me would suffer greatly. If there is a lesson to learn from all of this, it is that alternative medicine should be more widespread and that it is time for conventional medicine to evolve.
No person should have to suffer, and what I have gone through could have been avoided if I had found alternative medicine earlier, or if conventional medicine evolves.
I should have the right to choose what medical care I feel is appropriate for me, and what Integrative Dr. I feel comfortable with. Integrative medicine, has literally saved my life . Conventional medicine missed so much in my diagnosis and subsequent healing journey thru Integrative medicine
I see the first comment is by a retired physician (Dec 10,2020) who is sceptical of the role of homeopathy, and wants to disregard the many scientific investigations (see https://www.hri-research.org), including those on plants and animals. Many doctors from many countries have found that homeopathy can help patients, and many of them have written of their experience, taught homeopathy in universities (e.g. Dr Michael Frass “Homeopathy in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine”). These open minded doctors recognise the importance of listening to the patient, and have generally contributed to patients’ lives and quality of life scores – isn’t that the point of being in medicine? To heal? My personal motto is “working together for the good of the patient” and that refers to both practitioner and patient; and also conventional and COMPLEMENTARY medicine. (The clue is in the name). Unless and until people cast off their blindfolds and prejudices (it can’t work, so it doesn’t work; look to research by Dr Iris Bell for an explanation of a possible mechanism) then conventional medicine will continue to be under the thrall of pharmaceutical therapies, which more often increase co-morbidities, rather than curing the patient.
I have been a family physican for over 35 years. i continue to practice in southern ontario. i am not and do not practice complimentary/alternative medicine. i plan to continue traditional Family Practice for at least another 5 yrs. Over the years, I have had many patients who have sought alternative health care as they were not able to find the answers/solutions in our traditional medicine. These are fine, bright people who were looking for alternative answers and solutions. i learned a long time ago that we do not have all the answers and solutions in our medicine. In light of this, I have encouraged such patients to seek alternate advice from qualified Integrative Medicine Physicians (who have been trained and have worked in our traditional system as well as have been trained and have experience in complimentary/alternative medicine) rather that less qualified individuals, including health food store clerks.
There are two such physicians in our community who i refer to without hesitation. i would rather my patients see health care providers with integrated “traditional” and “alternative” experience to provide, what i feel, is a better balance in such care.
From what i can see from this draft policy, it sets unattainable standards for any practicing physician and will discourage colleagues from exploring/practicing complimentary and alternative medicine in Ontario. Such practitioners are a valuable resource to our patients as well as physicians like myself . From what i can see, this policy will negatively impact my patients who will turn to less qualified practitioners and expose them to greater risks.
Additionally, as I read this policy, it applies to all physicians by mentioning the use of off label conventional approaches. i do not know of any physician who does not use off label meds and at times “off label approaches”. This draft policy puts an extra burden on all practicing medical physicians by the onerous consent and documentation guidelines being proposed. We are stressed, strained and stretched as it is in our industry.. Rather than helpful guidelines to improve our abilities to treat people, i see this as unreasonable and burdensome.
I think any such policy here should better reflect the reality and needs of our patients, our practitioners and our communities… in a way that we can all practice safely, effectively and efficiently for best outcomes and balanced health care.
It is extremely concerning that this policy seems to blatantly take the autonomy away from the patient. Patients should have the right to be provided with ALL options and their risks and benefits and make their own informed decision. There appears to be a different standard for those doctors providing integrative medicine versus those that do not. Pharmaceuticals can be prescribed to any and all individuals “off label” at the discretion of the physician yet there are no similar policies regulating that.
Using Acupuncture As Example
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Acupuncture has been used to medically treat people of various social status and cultural background, and even the head of state of respectable first world countries.
I know an acupuncturist whose treatment could give me the longest relief to my chronic pain, superior to any painkilling drugs, or treatments by other types of practitioners. My liver, if it could speak, would thank me for avoiding years of acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or drugs functionally similar prescribed for my functionality-quashing pain level. He claimed to be part of the surgical team in hospitals back in his birth country, yet he also claimed it was still healthy to skip out on eating greens for weeks up to months. His health knowledge and English-level both seemed broken to me. Should he be qualified for the title “Doctor” in Canada? I DON’T think so, but I don’t see anything scientifically wrong with acupuncture either.
For the same condition, I concurrently took the costly path of going from one specialist to another. One physiatrist was so convinced within 15 minute of the first visit that this one drug, an anti-depressant, would be the solution once and for all, despite by my history of traumatic accidents and only X-Ray imaging was done. He told me word for word impatiently that there was no need to see him again if I would not choose to take the drug. Terrible combination of such bedside manner and hasty diagnosis, I thought. I respected the physiatrist’s title, as I would towards all board certified physicians, but not his conventional treatment and diagnosis. (I was proved correct later by MRI showing a bulging disc and the nerve-blocking test indicating other facet issues). Personally speaking with all due respect, my acupuncturist was more medically valuable than that physiatrist.
Acupuncture has no lack of scientific backing. Research on acupuncture has taken place in many universities and research institutions around the world, increasing our understanding of how the human body works. Knowledge has been greatly increased especially in the areas of physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, kinesiology, neurology, and neuroanatomy. It is the pillar in medical treatments in many countries, mostly in the East and also in US and Germany as part of conventional medicine. In the US, many hospitals have acupuncturists on staff since the NIH acknowledged this modality’s usefulness in 1997.
(Acupuncture was gaining wide acceptance in the US conventional medicine. See NIH paper from 2013. “An Historical Review and Perspective on the Impact of Acupuncture on U.S. Medicine and Society” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3796320/)
To answer the question how acupuncture can improve issues from pain to fertility issue to anxiety, the way I understand it, the power all lies in the stimulations through needles along the special energy pathways associated with organs called meridians. It is not that hard to accept the concept of having meridians in the body, or the benefit of energy enhancing intervention. Theories never need to be visible to the eyes to be true. Quantum theory does not need visual witness of every particle to be upheld.
So if acupuncture is not unscientific and is widely accepted in more than one first world countries, what is the issue with expanding its use into conventional medicine in Canada? Does it hurt the ego of physicians who are solely invested in traditional conventional medicine? Or is it because it hurts the pocket of pharmaceutical companies? One thing I know for sure is that it takes an open mind to accept and also to innovate. This is where I believe the wisdom and foresight should lie in CPSO. By integrating Eastern and Western medicines, both disciplines can be complementary to each other for the benefit of patients. A tighter bridge needs to be forged as said by another reviewer on this forum.
My Medical Story
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I will continue further to share other insights in alternative/unconventional medicine.
Eventually, my costly hunt for cure for chronic pain/fatigue led me to integrative medicine, and a life changing experience. When all the past conventional treatments failed to explain the root cause or to cure, I needed a doctor who would look at the bigger picture of why my body would not heal from my injuries, rather than specialists who would just diagnose under his narrow scope of specialism. My current physician practiced just that, by applying both conventional and unconventional treatments which resulted in permanent health improvements. There were underlying conditions that I didn’t know was related, as well as specific physical issues that directly caused the pain (thanks to the nerve block test).
My illness was a illustration of how, in a body that works like a complicated machine, one system’s betterment can improve the other. The changes from having PRP was obvious and helpful, but the recovery was assisted by a mix of conventional/inconventional drugs and a healthier diet after discovery of an issue with the leaky gut.
Although there are still other remaining issues being worked on, my overall being is still being improved to a level where it would otherwise be impossible without his treatments. Moreover, I didn’t feel that the treatments were intrusive at all to which my organ health markers agreed. Integrative medicine is real — it can complement the benefits of allopathic and natural medicines for the treating conditions like mine. It truly deserves its place in Western medicine.
Unfortunately, it often takes someone to be in lingering/little understood medical conditions to recognize the value of medicine outside of the box set by traditional conventional medicine. I would ask CPSO to expand its horizon and consider the wider integration of medicinal knowledges for the sake of patients.
I believe that your position to suspend these optional forms of health care are short sighted.
Many of us search out these professionals because traditional medicine has proved to be insufficient and ineffective.
This would effectively close one of the few remaining possibilities for remedy and or recovery, and as such, should bear reconsideration.
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ALTERNATIVE treatments should be available as an option for patients seeking resolutions that their Family Doctor or Specialist have exhausted in their power to provide. It has helped with my chronic illnesses such as Lyme and vibrations/palpitations on my left upper body that even the 2 neurologists, ENT’s, Cardiologists have given up on.
ONLY after [redacted]’s treatments did my symptoms and conditions improved drastically and finally felt there’s light outside of the tunnel once again.
TAKING AWAY this form of treatments will leave many seeking individuals crippled to their FREEDOM & RIGHTS as citizens to live with a quality of LIFE, just like MYSELF.
Do not pass this bill, any attempt to
do so violates the rights and freedoms to achieve health and wellness ,
Politicians have no right to deprieve the public of their choices regarding their health options, we will not be silenced by corrupt politians doing big pfarmas games
This is quite a criminal intend , the public is not as stupid as you may think,
Any politician shall be held accountable for such attempt, the whole system is so corrupt, for our tax money they wanna decide against our rights to pursue health, I do not consent ,
Remove from office all so called representatives involved in this , bring them to international courts to answer ,
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I fully support this – we should have a right to choose the treatment we receive, especially when we are being treated for chronic illnesses that the allopathic medical system don’t support, research, or provide treatment plans. For example, there is a 2 year waiting list just to be seen at the environmental program at [redacted hospital] to be diagnosed with ME/CFS. In the meantime, these alternative doctors are making a difference in the lives of patients while they are waiting to be seen, and subsequently, not even offered any treatment plan after their diagnosis.
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My wife was having major health issues. She went through standard OHIP channels and testing and got no resolution to her problems and fatigue issues. After going through CAM-integrative treatment she is well on the road to recovery. The cost to us of living with her conditions was enormous. The financial cost was minimal. I am honestly aghast that you would consider this type of treatment outside the realm of licensed medicine. Choice is not something that you should have the right to take away from people. We aren’t talking about something like the opioid crisis (something licensed medicine created) or the over prescription and long term use of antidepressants here (another massive issue created by conventional medicine). We are talking about a choice to seek out treatment, is it prudent to drive health care seeking Canadians to the United States and other countries where the potential for abuses of medical privilege are greater?
[redacted], DMD
Hello, I have benefited greatly from alternative Medicine. I believe physicians should continue to be able to recommend treatments they feel will benefit their patients. I believe me should let the patients decide if they feel a treatment is right for them.
The fact is that “pharmacological” medicine is neither designed nor intended to “cure” a patient from their condition, whereas the general public would prefer nothing other than a “cure”. If that cure, or the promise of it, is to be had through natural or functional medicine, who should have the right to prohibit it? Each of us is born with one body over which we are (or should be) sovereign. That means that I, and ONLY I, have the right to decide what I want or will pursue to cure myself. If I need help in doing so, it should be MY RIGHT to choose whomever and whatever I want to help me. The measures being proposed through this new bill infringe even more upon our already severely eroded rights and must be scrapped once and for all.
I’m not pro or anti anything but I feel everyone should have the option to choose which treatments work best for them.
My understanding is that physicians take an oath to do no harm and to provide the best form of treatment to help their patients – so why would there be any opposition to offering alternatives if their patients are not improving with conventional medicine?
There is a time and a place for both conventional and “alternative” therapies. I have had positive experiences with both. If I had of been limited to one, I wouldn’t have been able to heal.
Much respect to everyone.
This is a disgrace! I do not agree with this policy – we should all have FREEDOM OF CHOICE when it comes to our medical decisions. Some people need both conventional and alternative medicine to heal, and that should always be up to them to decide.
I have experienced life-changing benefits from Complimentary and Alternative Medicine. As a patient I should have the right to chose the type of treatment I wish to receive!
This database (link below) summarizes scientific research in natural medicine, for oncologists. This is the direction the CPSO should be moving with their CAM policy, not prohibiting doctors from offering these natural treatments. Below is the link, and the description from the database website.
https://www.knowintegrativeoncology.org/
KNOW is a dynamic clinical, research, and educational tool that allows you to quickly access up-to-date research on natural agents in cancer care. It systematically summarizes human studies from Medline and EMBASE and makes the data searchable by Tumor Type, Natural Therapy, Conventional Treatment, and Side Effect. You can copy references or full summaries into referral letters, patient recommendations, handouts, presentations, and websites.
Here’s what we did:
We asked the question “What is the role of integrative therapies in the clinical management of people with cancer?”
We searched Pub Med and Embase to harvest worldwide data on integrative oncology with specific focus on nutraceuticals and diet.
We searched and parallel screened the relevant data.
Studies were tagged for tumor type, side effects, natural therapy and conventional therapy to make it highly searchable. If an open text is available, the link is provided.
We created an expanded PICO template (population, intervention, comparator, outcome) and extract the data to provide a summary. For studies not yet summarized, we provide the citation or a brief summary.
Search results are listed according to level of evidence with systematic reviews and meta-analysis listed first, then clinical trials, observational studies, and lastly case reports.
KNOW includes data on ALL tumor types, cancer-related conditions, and natural therapies for the years 2010-2020. For the topics of breast cancer, thoracic cancer, neuropathy, and curcumin, KNOW holds all published data up to 2020.
In comparison analysis by topic with PubMed, KNOW holds significantly more human data in integrative oncology. Find our poster presentation on KNOW’s quality assurance here.
Here’s why:
To provide clinicians, researchers, and students the ability to access human level integrative medicine data for best education, safety, and clinical decision-making.
To allow colleagues to collaborate on research and publication projects or to create patient resources.
Find examples of patient education resources created using KNOW’s data here
Our goals:
Improve knowledge of integrative oncology research by clinicians
Support evidence informed patient care
Inspire collaboration
An Integrated Medical physician offers the best of two worlds, Western medicine and alternative medicine. Please don’t take this option away.
Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health
Response in PDF Format
As citizens of this country, we all have the right to chose the treatments we should be receiving. A body such as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario does not have the right to dictate what we can and cannot do with our bodies. They are there to protect us and to ensure we have the freedoms to choose the types of treatments that will be beneficial to us and our families. When limiting our physicians from providing these treatments due to lack of evidence, you are taking away our freedom to choose.
Unfortunately the only evidence based treatments are the ones done by pharmaceutical companies as they have the financial backing. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about alternative medical treatments. The only evidence we have are the results we see from our loved ones.
We recently discovered that my 26 year old daughter suffers from anxiety and depression . She has a hard time functioning day to day. When taken to the family physician even before she listened to what we were trying to achieve with her care, even before she offered any options, she pulled her prescription pad out and started to write a script for anti-depressants.
These are the physicians that need to be stopped! These are the physicians that need to be controlled. This is where we need changes to our system.
Physicians who’s first action is to prescribe, opioids, antidepressants, and other drugs that simply mask the issues patients are having need to be stopped.
We did a great deal of investigation and found an alternative medicine physician. We went in for a very thorough consultation / history appointment where blood work was done and the doctor actually took the time to find out about other symptoms, other issues that to us might have been normal. He asked us hundreds of questions about the symptoms my daughter was having. A second consultation was scheduled after the results of the blood work came back and a treatment was discussed with options and alternatives.
After my daughter started the treatment the results were amazing. She became a different person, happy, her own self, smiling, actually wanting to live. The change from these treatments was life altering.
It is not only my daughter. Other people we spoke to at the clinic had similar stories to tell, similar life changing experiences. You see our evidence is in our loved ones, and the changes we see in them due to these alternative treatments we are receiving.
This policy is so bad that it is difficult to respond. It would take a book-length commentary. How is it possible that after all these years (twenty, to be precise, since the so-called Kwinter Bill( Section 5.1 of the Medicine Act) such horrendous ignorance about CAM is displayed by an authoritarian regulatory organization?! Have you learned nothing at all? Where are the dead bodies caused by CAM? Where are the dead bodies caused by using CAM and not using standard medicine? Where are the complaints from the public? Where is the literature review (it better be from PubMed!) on CAM to justify such a draconian policy? Where is even a shred of evidence to justify this unjustifiable policy?
This policy insinuates that CAM (not defined! in the text of the policy)is unscientific. What? Does anybody at the College read PubMed? And why the urgency and desire to make sure that it is as difficult as possible to practice along the lines of this (undefined) CAM? Are you aware that Australia (possibly the most benighted regulatory country when it comes to advances in medicine)dropped its attempt to wipe out CAM via regulatory hurdles? Have you ever thought of the public? What the public wants? They are increasing leaving standard practice in droves. Is the aim to have just that happen to possibly prevent OHIP from going bankrupt? Drop this and all previous CAM policies at once. NOW.
I would like to continue with the CAM treatments I am now receiving. I have been a patient for 7 months, I should have the right to access the care that I need and want. I have greatly benefited from the expertise of CAM treatments. My thyroid levels and sleep are now balanced as well as the IV therapies have been most beneficial. The CAM treatments has been a blessing in my life and I wish to continue with these treatments.
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To Dr. Nancy Whitmore
We call upon the CPSO to forgo the proposed revisions that will make it harder for Integrative Medicine physicians to use CAM treatments, including by:
- Removing the increased evidentiary requirements for CAM treatments, such that physicians will continue to be able to use CAM treatments that are ‘informed’ by evidence that includes clinical observations and patient outcomes, to allow more room for patient preferences and values in the medical therapy decision-making process.
- Removing derogatory language in the policy which suggests that physicians who offer CAM therapies are more likely to exploit patients.
- Permitting physicians to offer patients modalities of treatment that they have the knowledge, skill, and judgement to use and which are within their clinical scope of competence. Patients have the right to access information on or recommendations for any relevant health treatments, not just those limited to a physician’s “conventional scope of practice”.
- Removing language that imposes overly burdensome documentation requirements on physicians using CAM treatments so that physicians can spend more time talking to patients than documenting.
- Correcting statements in the policy which sensationalize the risks of harm from CAM therapies. Patients demand the right to a clear and unbiased discussion with their physician about the benefits and risks of both CAM and conventional medical therapies.
We call upon the CPSO to add concerned patients and integrative medicine physicians to its CAM policy working group to help create a more balanced policy.
[redacted]
H.B.Sc., B.Ed.
This policy proposal is Unlawful! The Medicine Amendment Act 2000 amended the Medicine Act of Ontario by creating Sectio 5.1: “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 non-traditional or departs from the prevailing medical practice, unless there is evidence that proves that the therapy poses a greater risk to a patients’ health than the traditional or prevailing practice.” This is THE LAW in Ontario!!
CPSO is an Ontario Agency, answering to the Minister of Health. As such, it must not do or propose any policies or procedures that are unlawful.
NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW IN CANADA! CPSO, Shame on you!!
In the name of “protecting the patient and making sure they aren’t being given ineffective treatment” this draft policy has the potential that it be enforced to the point that the alternative practitioner can no longer give the kind of alternate care needed by their patients. As a member of the public, I do not want this to happen. Revise the policy in support of alternative treatment; the Integrative Medicine is a Discipline recognized by the American Board of Physician Specialties and Ontario would do good for the public to follow suit.
The integrative medicine practitioner should have the freedom to provide treatments. I, as the patient, make the decision which treatment(s) I want.
CAM has its place in healing — do not regulate it as that will restrict alternative practice too much. Regulating will diminish the alternative health care options and this will be a serious blow to the public, especially those who do not get results from conventional medicine. The public needs both conventional and alternative treatment. I would like to see more in support of alternative treatment instead of this latest draft policy.
This is conventional for-profit conflicted Canadian health care trying once again to strip away the right of individuals to make their own health care decisions. Stop treating people like dumb cattle, something you can coral, control, slaughter, then walk away while washing your hands of it all in the name of evidence supported (according to you) “conventional” medicine.
I suffer from UC. I took the conventional approach which lead to taking 5 different medications, all of which made me worse to the point where I was hospitalized and almost lost my life. This lead to the use of steroids leaving long term hip pain. The next conventional approach was to place me on a costly old chemo treatment with side effects like loss of bone marrow and lymphoma. My alternative approach in 10 weeks was able to treat and heal all of my symptoms. I am now able to maintain my health with monthly treatments with no side effects however, there is no science to back this treatment nor do I believe there ever will be due to obvious reasons.
If the risk to patience’s is so important then I strongly feel conventional and alternative doctors should be working hand in hand to truly weight the risks and benefits and look for treatments with the least amount of risks and side effects. Conventional doctors should be more open to alternative approaches rather than dismissing them and medicating with harsh pharmaceuticals that lead to further alignments. I will forever be grateful to my G.I who suggested a naturopath as from his experience when his patience worked hand in hand they saw the most benefits.
This is what I have found in my personal experience: Conventional medicine is excellent for emergencies and acute health problems, and it can save your life, but when it comes to chronic diseases/conditions, it fails miserably.
After about two years of living with horrible, widespread chronic nerve pain, going from doctor to doctor with no help, I did my homework and diagnosed myself with mercury poisoning from my dental amalgam fillings. Toxicity was always overlooked, so I asked the doctors I was seeing at the time to test me for mercury levels, but they only did the standard mercury blood test which yields misleading results. I finally found an environmental physician who knew what he was doing, and by doing the appropriate testing and chelation therapy I was able to improve and live again.
While conventional medicine can address some medical issues, it cannot solve ALL problems, and so it is not surprising that individuals seek out alternative resources to responsibly manage their health.
I have benefited from of working with an integrative doctor who has the knowledge and experience to go beyond conventional medical diagnosis and treatment and use other approaches that work.
I believe that I should maintain the ability to make my own decisions over issues that will impact my health.
The proposed changes, need to be scrapped. They would impact the quality of life for thousands of people. By taking away access to integrative treatments which patients pay for themselves, this will inevitability increase conventional health-care costs – something the already strapped system really doesn’t need!
It should be up to the doctor and the patient on what course of treatment to take. It would be better that a doctor should determine which alternative methods to use in conjunction with allopathic medicine/ treatment. The government should not have the right to take away our choice or the doctor’s choice in these matters. For our family personally we suffer from mold and lyme that no one under OHIP will help us with. With our health spiraling out of control – we have to at least understand and agree that not all conditions can be helped with allopathic treatment alone. Further, would the government prefer us going on social system and stop becoming tax contributing citizens?
The intelligent, open dialogue towards good health between a physician and patient is absolutely sacred.
Well intentioned, broadly applied, generic, public focused administrative policy must not weaken this bond.
Current science based medicine (“proven effective”) in no way guarantees good health today for all and often repeatedly fails for many people. This change in policy turns its back on those people, removes respect for the medical profession that cannot fully treat illness and breeds distrust of overseeing bodies mandated to provide good healthcare.
Limiting treatment options only weakens physician effectiveness and prolongs the suffering of and removes the hope for the patient.
The best way to control the application of all treatment options is to keep them under the wise judgement of the qualified physician with proper oversight.
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Shocking, that the CPSO would propose freedom of choice in health care. Put patients first is an integral part of our healthcare system. Integrative and Complementary Medicine is necessary to save patients lives.
I personally have come from a background as a Public Health Nurse, graduating from [redacted] in Public Health in 1963. Over the years I have moved from the medical model, for health reasons. The medical model did not serve my health issues.
Beginning with digestive health issues in the early 1990s I decided to to move from my Family Doctor ( not my current Medical Doctor) who was not helping my health issues to a Naturopath. [redacted], a naturopath listened to me and through testing discovered that I was gluten intolerant. My diet changed from a wheat based diet to a gluten free diet that I still practice today.
Next I suffered from many allergies and contacted [redacted], who has since passed. He helped me with managing my allergies and other health related issues. He was a medical doctor that the CPSO haunted for years as he used complementary medical practices as well as the medical model. [redacted] put the Patient first and recommended the use of complementary medicine for my health issues. What an amazing man and Doctor. Thanks to his treatments I can manage my allergies today. I cannot thank [redacted] enough for giving my health back.
In the past few years I discovered the wonderful healing of Homeopathy. I was referred to a Homeopathic Doctor, whose name I will not mention as he is still practicing and I know how punitive the CPSO is. Homeopathy has been a miracle for me and I use it daily to heal my symptoms, my gut issues, my allergies/sensitivities.
The body truly heals itself if stimulated to do so and that is what Homeopathy does.
The medical model has healed many, many patients and I do have great respect for it. However,
it is time for the medical model to appreciate complementary medicine as a healing modality and integrate it into the practice of medicine for the benefit of all Patients.
Health professionals must assess the treatment that is best for the Patient.
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For years I have been going to my family doctor with complaints of tiredness, dull headaches, brain fog and digestion issues. In addition to feeling sluggish, I would always need an afternoon nap. My doctor repeatedly told me it was due to stress. I had blood tests done and nothing showed up as a cause for my symptoms so I had no choice but to carry on with life. Someone highly recommended [redacted] to me and I have been seeing him for well over a year now. My life has changed dramatically. I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue. I have been on IV therapy for over a year. I no longer feel sluggish and get dull headaches. I no longer need naps during the day. I’m afraid that if IV therapy is no longer available to me that my health will begin to deteriorate again and I will revert to how I was feeling before. He has also helped me with my digestion and other issues. I have been to three other naturopaths in the past but did not get the same results as I got from treatment with [redacted]. I’m so thankful that I was referred to him and I tell anyone that I meet who has health issues about him.
The illusion of evidence-based medicine: an argument for clinical judgment and patients’ autonomy
This academic paper clearly reflects the strong argument that evidence based medicine is in fact not a suitable basis upon which to practice medicine. Regulating physician practice using EBM as the standard of care will have the effect or eroding patient care, autonomy and quality of care. ANY treatments including conventional, alternative, functional, traditional, indigenous or otherwise must be subject to peer review to ensure patient autonomy, clinical experience and science are examined and meet the standard of care patients expect from licensed physicians. Excluding an entire category of treatment for special review is misplaced and probably in violation of the Health Act.
Please read this excellent academic paper:
https://www.academia.edu/30926274/The_illusion_of_evidence_based_medicine_an_argument_for_clinical_judgment_and_patients_autonomy
Here is the abstract:
RCTs exploit stable capacity theory and Mill’s difference method to claim that results on test patients are generalizable to a different set of target patients. Does efficacy necessarily imply effectiveness? I argue that RCTs are more descriptive and less predictive than EBM wants them to be. Internal validity does not logically entail external validity (Cartwright, 2011). What cannot be generalized in clinical practice? Mine is not an ethical objection to RCTs whereas a purely philosophical one. If we accept the definition of health lato sensu as physical, social and psychical well-being, the highest degree of effectiveness of clinical practice is achieved by considering patients individually in their specificity (Hampton, 2002). I argue that patients’ autonomy and self-determination are undermined by EBM’s decision to apply RCTs’ results indiscriminately. Instead of receiving the treatment that is best on paper, patients should be granted the right to a role in medical decisions. This, not for moral principles but for better medical outcomes
Hundreds of thousands of people have had similar experiences as I have: ALTERNATIVE medicine SAVED my LIFE (made me functional). We MUST have CHOICE. I was diagnosed with Lyme in 2017. I was getting sicker and sicker. I was admitted to the hospital for labile heart issues. The cardiologist said there are no ways to help except by getting a pacemaker, but I was relatively young to have this, and it seemed premature (his words). For Lyme, I have ONLY been helped by ALTERNATIVE and COMPLEMENTARY medicine…energy medicine (Seqex medical device) and by naturopathic and homeopathic medicines. These medicines are affordable and easy to access and I am thankful to NOT have had an INVASIVE device implanted in my body. In addition, the Borrelia Burgdorferi (or co:infections)have made me hypersensitive to electro-magnetic fields and radio frequencies, so an implant would be a terrible idea for me. I NEED COMPLEMENTARY and ALTERNATIVE MEDICINES, and I need them to be EASY to access and affordable – as they (mostly) are today. I did a full round of the appropriate antibiotics for the correct amount of time when diagnosed with Lyme, but in the long run, this was not fruitful. Again, I have needed COMPLEMENTARY and ALTERNATIVE medicine to help me live a reasonably normal life. Hundreds of thousands of people need to have these complementary and alternative CHOICES to maintain our health.
I strongly feel that Doctors should be allowed to promote Naturopathic medicines to us, their patients. To me it’s an affront to our constitutional rights and freedoms to not allow this. Naturopathic cures may not be evidence based, but have been used anecdotally for thousands for years.
We as the Canadian public, have a right to choose that and receive advice about it. This is the only way to have true, fair and open health care in our great country.Please don’t deny us this right by denying doctors the right to unbiased treatments.
Thank you for giving us a forum to share our feelings.
I have suffered from debilitating fatigue and a general feeling of being unwell for over 20 years. I have gone from doctor to doctor to doctor in search of answers. Thankfully my persistence paid off. After years of trying conventional medical routes, I found the answers to the mystery of my health through alternative medicine. I had Lyme disease, and Epstein Barr Virus, and discovered I am severely impacted by electromagnetic fields. After a few years of treatment through a variety of alternative medical practitioners, and a complement of natural supplements, I have energy and focus again. I feel I have my life back. Had it not been for alternative and complementary medicine, I would still be feeling unwell and may have given up on life by now. It was depressing and very debilitating. I wasn’t a good wife, mother, daughter or friend, nor was I good for myself. I now have joy in my life again. It has been life changing!!
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I am writing to you regarding the proposed changes that the CPSO is planning to make on Complementary and Alternative Medicine being offered by physicians.
In a democratic society, people should be free to choose the type of therapy they are most comfortable with, whether allopathic or complementary.
On the same note, physicians should be free to implement whatever therapy they feel would best benefit their patient, even though some of the therapies may not be ones they have studied in medical school to become a medical doctor.
There are many paths leading to the top of the mountain, just as there are many paths leading to wellness. Unfortunately, the allopathic system, which has not been in place that long, does not benefit everyone, and it sometimes has undesirable side effects from the drugs being prescribed.
Drugs work against the body whereas herbs, for example, work with the body. I refer here to herbs in their natural whole state, not standardized herbs, which have been altered by man, nor the herbs used to manufacture some of the drugs, which also have been greatly altered and no longer carry the energy of the original plant.
Yes, energy! This is something that the allopathic sysem does not understand. They want science-backed proof of efficacy while natural forms of healing work on effective-backed proof. Any treatment’s success should be measured by its ability to improve a patient’s health, not by its need to be tested by scientific methods costing enormous amounts of money, something which the complementary therapies cannot do for they do not have the backing of large corporations to do so.
Herbs have been used for thousands of years and they are still being used successfully by people worldwide. Drugs, on the other hand, for the short time they have been around, are getting to the point where more and more people are needing to explore more natural avenues that do not affect the body negatively with their numerous side effects.
Homeopathy is another example of a therapy that works on an energetic level, something which the allopathic system is unable to understand, and so they say it cannot be measured and therefore does not exist. If homeopathy is good enough for the Queen of England, how can it not be good enough for Ontarians?
In Australia, on February 16, 2021, the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) formally announced it has abandoned its plans to create new restrictive guidelines for medical practitioners providing complementary and unconventional treatments. I urge Ontario to also abandon the restrictive changes. Homeopathy is widely used in many countries and doctors in India use homeopathy with great success for their patients. [redacted]
The time is ripe for changes.
People want changes.
Our current system is not working.
If it were working successfully, doctors would not be looking outside the box in order to help their patients who are not helped allopathically. In India, the allopathic and CAM systems work together. Everyone is free to choose whichever is preferred.
How about creating another college, eg- the Ontario College of Complementary and Alternative Medicine {OCCAM} to which all practitioners of effective-backed therapies as well as CPSO members can belong with no fear or repercussions for using therapies outside the box?
The interest in CAM is growing. Why? Simply because one size does not fit all. SImply because there are too many side effects, even death, from prescription drugs. In the USA , prescription drugs are the 4th leading cause of death, killing more Americans than breast cancer, prostate cancer, homicide and suicide combined. Similar statistics probably exist here in Ontario.
Thomas A. Edison said: “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”
Quoting parts of the Hippocratic Oath:
“I will remember that there is an art to medicine as well as science……”
“I will not be ashamed to say: ‘I do not know’………..”
“I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure……….”
If the CPSO’s top priority is for the well being of patients, surely it must welcome with open arms other systems that have passed the test fo time. If the CPSO cannot welcome other points of view, we must ask ourselves why???
Quoting from James Green’s book, The Herbal Medicine Maker’s Handbook:
“The medical profession’s favourite word, “quack”, wantonly used to demean the perspectives and practitioners of (most) other health care modalities, is derived from the term quacksilver. Quacksilver is the archaic name for quicksilver (mercury), which is the highly toxic allopathic medicine used historically by university-trained medical doctors (M.D.’s) to treat syphilis and other infections. Therefore, to be etymologically precise, today’s practicing allopathic physician (the M.D.) is, by his and her professional heritage, the original and authentic quack, but the proponents of other modalities do not feel required to refer to them as such.”
[redacted]
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
Respectfully, [redacted]
In 1998 I experienced the sudden onset of totally disabling inflammatory arthritis. I was referred to an MD Rheumatologist who said that my case was so sudden and severe that I would be definitely confined to a wheelchair within 5 years. He prescribed a variety of immune-suppressing drugs, all of which worsened my condition. Then I was extremely fortunate to find an MD who determined that my immune system had totally collapsed due to environmental sensitivities brought on by lead and mercury poisoning. After 5 years of intensive complementary therapies, including intravenous amino acid chelation and hydrogen peroxide therapies, I recovered enough to resume many of my former normal activities. I have since continued with these alternative therapies, and now 23 years later in my 80th year I am alive, active and definitely not confined to a wheelchair. But were it not for these alternative therapies administered by Ontario MDs I most certainly would have been long dead by now!
The established medical system doesn’t have the interest to recognize other “forms of healing” for obvious reasons.
People are raised to believe that only allopathic medicine is working. Indeed, it’s working beautifully in cases like Emergency. But the moment people are failed by it through chronic diseases, side effects etc, they start looking into alternative medicine. Sadly so, the alternative medicine practitioners get the hardest, most advanced cases because the affected people ask for help late, just “to try one more thing, what is to lose anymore?”. And guess what: a huge number of them get the help they need and majority of patients get better and they become believers (this blog is just a tiny proof)! Taking this alternative away from people is just forcing them to apply “no natural treatments, only chemicals allowed”.
Evidence? Plenty! Just search the right engines/information (tip: don’t stop after the first 10 Google results). People can educate themselves only if they want to. Don’t just accept such a comment, check for yourself! And then… it’s your right to choose for YOUrself.
Science and medicine are not perfect. They are performed by fallible humans within the confines of current paradigms and technology. Lack of scientific evidence does not mean no evidence exists. Recall the ardent medical proponents that insisted miasma caused chloera outbreaks in London in the 1800s. It would be folly to laugh at these old backwards ideas and assume we are beyond such errors because we are so advanced now. Ulcers were always caused by stress until it was discovered they weren’t. MS was hysterical paralysis until the MRI showed it was a neurological condition. I am a patient who has explored all traditional treatment options, why shouldn’t I be allowed to explore non convention options under the guidance of an MD? The reality is if I can’t have an MD offer, guide and supervise options I will merely be forced to find other providers who are laughably under qualified. I appreciate the concern that MDs could be peddling nonsense to vulnerable patients. But there are few options for the chronically ill and disabled when GPs and specialists only have 10 minutes to address complex health concerns. My GP and specialists are my first port of call but they are not my last. I also imagine the objection that “well GPs and specialists should have more time to devote to complex cases”. Agreed. But let’s not live in a fantasy world. The medical system may change, and mainstream doctors magically have more time and resources to devote to patient care and research, but until then, I and many others like me, still want to explore our options to improve our quality of life and function.
What has been established as effective treatment is a reflection of many factors, certainly the greatest of which is what has been given funding to research. If you have an under researched condition, and/or if the research in that area is at best, incomplete, most of what you’ll be trying is considered technically ineffective or off label. Surely such patients should be given the option of exhausting the wider range of options? And surely subjects selected for research purposes are the ones with the most clear cut cases with the least number of confounding co-factors? This makes sense for making broad based medical recommendations yet it ignores the complex medical realities of patients. Until we reach a halcyon age in medicine where personalized treatment options based on extensive genetic, microbiome, environmental and who knows what other factors, we must all operate in the messy now.
Look at longcovid. This is a very messy now indeed. Medium and long term post viral reduced function and disability is most certainly not new (merely neglected and downplayed) and yet some doctors who are in the midst of personally experiencing longcovid, who previously laughed at and derided unconventional options are now finding some improvement with unconventional options. Patients should have options. And the new onslaught of longcovid patients will be telling you this too.
As a citizen from this amazing country, i cannot conceive not to have the HUMAN RIGHT to decide which treatment I want to take. The right of FREEDOM must ALWAYS prevail.
Alternative medicine should be considered as “Conventional Medicine” and Conventional Medicine should be considered as “Alternative Medicine” (ALL THE WAY AROUND).
Main Disadvantage Conventional Medicine has:
a) could cause potential side effects,
b) most medications are highly expensive (not everyone is insured in these days).
Alternative Medicine does NOT cause severe side effects, and, many times, it has been demonstrated it works much better than the Conventional Medicine. All the info has been released; unfortunately it has been highly censured everywhere.
What it is called today as “Alternative Medicine” (Natural Medicine) MUST NOT be retired. It helps to cure people in a fast and efficient manner when the Conventional Medicine is UNABLE to help; our Medical System is VERY SLOW in giving appointments with the specialists.
In my case, my fibroids were painful and were growing. I had to wait 6 MONTHS to get an appointment with the Specialist from the Conventional Medicine. Since 6 months was LONG TIME to wait for an appointment with the Specialist, I opted to address my issue through the Alternative Treatment which natural medicine REALLY help me out to decrease the size of the fibroids.
When I met the Specialist from the Conventional Medicine (AFTER 6 MOMTHS WAITING) my problem had been SATISFACTORILY SOLVED by the Alternative Treatment, the ultrasounds taken demonstrated the fibroid sizes were not a thread.
Through my example, we have a valid reason to keep the Alternative Treatments in place to help people to recover their health in a faster and efficient manner when the Conventional Medicine asks us to wait for 6 months or longer. TIME IS CRITICAL in addressing health concerns.
The draft talks about risk analysis for complementary therapies. Most complementary therapies are non-invasive and extremely low risk. For example reflexology and craniosacral therapy. Whereas conventional medicine is fraught with side-effects of medication that the physicians downplay and often seem to unaware of. We want more collaboration with physicians and complementary practitioners, not less. This draft seems as if it’s in the patient’s best interest, but it’s obviously trying to reduce access to complementary health care, and discouraging physicians from joining the growing ranks of more open-minded physicians who realize the current system is ineffective in helping to achieve optimal health in their clients.
I have always used alternative, integrative and energy medicine.
For myself and I am in my 70′s always with stable, good health.
For my father who lived to be 101.
And my daughter in her 30′s who has had a lifetime of chronic illness: IBD, endometriosis, Lyme Disease.
We have all used homeopathy,acupuncture, shiatsu, herbal remedies/vitamin supplementation, IV therapies, far infrared therapies, cranial sacral therapy, meditation/yoga…amongst many other ‘alternative’ modalities.
Have found allopathic specialties contradictory amongst themselves and usually wanting to send off to psychiatry.
Avoided antibiotics (for the most part) and prescription medications.
We are both currently totally drug free, which is amazing especially for my daughter who has been to hell and back.
1. The proposed changes are presented in an enviable tradition that seeks to balance cost, freedom of choice, and protections Are the proposed changes needed? Do they maintain and bolster that ethical tradition? I don’t feel we have been provided the full context. My comment is negative on the proposal but points out the need for another change.
2. Is the CPSO proposing to fix something “that ain’t broke” ? Inventing a problem? Materials provided for public review and discussion do not present any evidence that we have a real problem to solve. The draft refers to such evidence and apparently it has been summarized elsewhere. The draft refers to harms to health or to patient finances caused by non-institutionally dominant health therapies, but there is no comparative documentation. If there is evidence of such damage occurring at a higher rate than it occurs inside of approved practices, that evidence is not on the table for public review, suggesting either that the problems are a speculation, not an evidenced fact, or that what evidence the CPSO obtained has not passed critical scrutiny. If you are claiming to heal a wrong we can’t see, you are bullying.
3. It is not entirely clear to me what the final effect of these regulation changes would be, but the draft is certainly discouraging, suggesting a further restriction on “family doctors” and a further encumbrance on physicians who elect a non-majority or non-consensual direction of therapy.
4. The CPSO speaks for a cadre of highly educated and experienced professional practitioners. It is valuable to all of us to know their professional preferences and practices, but it is damaging to all of us if a majority opinion, however well informed, is called a consensus or “best practice” when it is, in fact, a majority (expert) opinion. To feel confident in the CPSO’s direction, we need to feel confident that expert minority opinions can also be expressed and circulated without inhibition. Exaggerated language can easily sound demagogic or manipulative.
5. The draft seems to be endorsing attitudes which may already be causing considerable harm, attitudes which I am inclined to blame (in part) for widespread and probably exaggerated fear of vaccination. The CPSO invites skepticism by adopting a manner of expression that claims a special and privileged authority to say what is and what is not good science. Experts do disagree about that. Professional controversy is a vital sign of living science. No one owns science, and the interpretation of generally accepted facts needs judgment and does not reduce to fact. Any practicing professional in a living science knows things are not so pat. Some would object that the demographic who could articulate the problem in my terms is minuscule, but lots and lots of people who don’t have advanced education are capable in their own way of catching the scent of a bullying bureaucracy. The draft speaks of “evidence and scientific reasoning” as if there were no controversies about the implications of such terminology.
6. Adding it up, your invitation to consult or advise, doesn’t look sincere or serious, and on the basis of what it reveals, there is no justification for change. We have to wonder whether there are budget issues you have neglected to put on the table. We have to wonder whether you want physicians who actually read and think about publications in their fields or who just obey committee pronouncements. The fact that the existing legislation is ten years old is a good reason to review it but not in itself a reason to change it.
7. Still, there is a change we need in the regulation of alternative therapies. We need results tracked somehow. That is how we can learn of opportunities to provide viable and sometimes economically valuable changes in therapy. I am a person who, though not wealthy, has been able to prioritize what some would call “boutique” therapies in my own life. I consider it very wasteful that I my experience is not contributing to data banks that might eventually help to better Ontario medicine. What I pay out of pocket feels like a stretch; yet, if an additional 5% were collected and used to support solid research on results, that stretch would be a bit less stressful and feel bit less self-indulgent. It would be difficult research to structure, but at worst, one could start with patient satisfaction and a critical compilation of anecdotes (remembering as we all should that one person’s anecdote is another’s “case study” – depending on where it’s published).
I have benefited from various forms of alternative medicine like naturopathy, homeopathy, osteopathy. These should not be discontinued. People should be able to chose the type of treatment they want to receive.
Please do not hinder the complementary and alternative medical services.
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I am a family physician practising in [redacted] for over 40 years.
I was born and raised in Hong Kong and came to Canada when I was 19 about 53 years ago. I personally experienced Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture and benefitted from these branches of medicine in significant manners.
I admire my colleagues who have a foundation of western medicine but they also are bonafide practitioners of other alternative medicine. They are unique in being able to combine the best of both worlds to offer the best treatments for their patients. I wish I have the talents and knowledge to know more than just western conventional medicine.
We know it is practically impossible to practise alternative medicine with an evidence-based approach like the western conventional medicine. This approach will deny access to many patients who can benefit from our colleagues who practise both conventional and alternative medicine together.
Thank you for your attention.
I believe in alternative medicine and I have proof that it helped my mother so much after a stroke. She was paralizar on one side. They told me she will never walk or talk again. Well alternative medicine helped her and witching months she regained her mobility and she talked again. I use alternative medicine and I am in good health. I should be able to use alternative medicine. Is my body and I have a choice.
I use alternative medicine. I don’t have to take pills for pain. I have freedom of choice to use for my self.
Response in PDF format
Response in PDF format
The government should not be removing patient or Dr. choice when it comes to determining appropriate treatments when looking at the patient as a whole. “Alternative” medicine absolutely plays a roll in health and should remain a choice for all. The government would have me undergo a traditional mammogram for breast cancer detection and potentially suffer an injury that has been proven could become malignant due to the makeup of my breast tissue. Thermography is considered “alternative” by most. I need to be able to choose the best options for my body and the government should not get to decide which options I can choose from.
I am a patient who has experienced life-changing benefits from Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). I have recently learned that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) has proposed revisions to its existing CAM policy which will make it extremely difficult for Integrative Medicine physicians to practice without the fear of being unjustly disciplined by the CPSO. The changes will rob patients of their right to obtain the care that they need and want. It will also stifle innovation in the Ontario healthcare system.
It should be up to the patient where he or she wants to get help from, not anyone else. If people see results in their health with complementary and alternative medicine, then they should have a choice and an option they can rely on.
Alternative Medicine is an option for patients who should have a choice
This effort to cut off natural remedies seems like a hatchet job by big Pharma…….they cant patent natural products.Why is the College of Physicians and surgeons getting involved at all? Even my own, non alternative Dr ,suggests natural products to assist in healing.
I am shocked and stunned that the medical authorities are being so dogmatic and dictatorial. There is no question that many natural products have been more helpful than products from BIG PHARMA.Just think about Vit C alone ,over the centuries. It has worked miracles. The list is endless. Big Pharma produced oxycontin and look where that ended up, in the hands of Drs. and the CPSO.
This document and the intent behind it, is a blatant attempt to restrict the use of highly successful and well documented treatments that benefit tens of thousands of people. Integrative protocols are the last resort for many who have tried mainstream medicine and are told no more can be done for them. This document further assumes that the public are both ignorant and incapable of deciding for themselves if they should seek and pay for treatments that give them relief. The public deserves the opportunity to make their own decisions on healthcare providers and that includes non pharmaceutical drugs and treatments, which are often hugely beneficial. Nobody continues paying for treatments that aren’t improving their quality of life. People don’t need protection from practitioners if everyone does their research and ensures their chosen practitioner has been carefully vetted and belongs to the relevant institutions of excellence. If a person chooses to privately seek alternative procedures in functional medicine, which are patently not dangerous and have been proven to be efficacious and safe, what right does any authority have, in a democratic society, to remove that option from the public in general?
I completed the survey but am left with a bit of an adversarial feeling from it. Like the public are to be protected from alternative therapies.
I thank the CPSO for this draft policy though, and hope that it is a step along the road to turning our healthcare system into a comprehensive, supportive system that allows for all manner of health creation and treatment, not just that adjudicated through peer-reviewed journals. There is a vast body of knowledge out there that I would greatly appreciate my physician having access to and support in using.
Before I became chronically ill, mainstream medicine served me well. I saw many talented and compassionate GPs for straightforward issues. I had a couple of minor surgeries. As far as I was concerned, the medical system was a pretty well oiled machine and I was incredibly grateful for it.
But then I became chronically ill. I saw many MDs over a period of two years. I had many tests. I was triumphantly informed everything was normal. But I couldn’t function. I became so ill that I would close my office door and lay under my desk at lunch. I took many sick days. I literally cried myself to sleep for years because of my pain, exhaustion and despair. I had to turn down a promotion because I knew I was getting worse. Finally I had to stop working entirely. Then I had to leave my home and move in with my elderly parents because I could barely be upright for any period of time.
Mainstream medicine had nothing to offer. I was afraid I was dying. Eventually I was afraid I wasn’t.
After months of being mostly bed bound, I saw an integrative doctor. I was very skeptical of alternate medicine. If it was any good, surely it would be mainstream? How, in a nation such as Canada could private medicine be necessary? The notion was offensive. But I tried the alternate methods as well as traditional drugs that the MD recommended. Some things worked, some things didn’t. But I regained some function and decreased my pain. After plateauing and spending a lot of time and money on physiotherapy, I tried another integrative doctor who had more experience. This one was game changing. After barely being able to leave the house for years, I could now manage short outings. Six years after moving to a new city in order to live with family because I was too ill to live alone, I could leave the house enough to make friends.
I have been ill and significantly disabled for over 10 years. I will never have children. The career I loved is over. I may never be well enough to return to work. I have suffered immensely. There are days when I still suffer. But integrative medical practitioners have made my life worth living. It is a smaller life than I want but it is better than the alternative. I would say that I would have killed myself without the help of integrative doctors but the truth is, without them, I would have not had the energy or cognitive function to even do that.
And I am not special. My story is the story of many many other Canadian patients.
If I lose access to the full range of treatment options integrative doctors provide, or if such treatments become exorbitantly expensive or difficult to access in a timely manner due to unreasonable paperwork/documentation requirements, I and so many other patients will be left in desperate and hopeless situations. This is a cruelty that can be avoided. Reject these suggested policy changes.
I agree 100% with the comment that someone made below:
“Patients should have the right to choose to be treated with alternative medicine. CPSO and government should not take away our options or our freedom to choose. People turn to alternative medicine when conventional medicine has not worked. There won’t be any less business for CPSO or pharmaceutical companies.
Medicine is not a one size fits all or exact science. It is a process of elimination, and ruling out things.”
As visible minority, I believe it is important to highlight how this policy could have a negative impact on equity, diversity and inclusion in the current medical system. With respect to equity and diversity in medicine, the Canadian Medical Association notes on their website that equity is achieved when “every person has the opportunity, with their own identity, culture, and characteristics, to create and sustain a career as, or receive care from, a medical professional without discrimination or any other cultural or characteristic related negative bias or barrier”. The policy seems to have overlooked this perspective and does not recognize or encourage this. There are so many intangible factors involved in helping a patient feel better, to reduce their care to a singular conventional approach would not be in the patient’s best interest. The wording of the policy as it stands does just that.
As a patient I have often felt conflicted by what my culture has known to be true for thousands of years before it becomes accepted in the West (a great example is the health benefits of tumeric). Having a physician who is properly trained in conventional and integrative methods would bridge a gap for many Canadian patients of diverse backgrounds ultimately leading to better outcomes for patients.
Keeping the medical profession from knowing or practicing alternative medicine is like keeping a car mechanic from knowing how a bicycle works.
agree. Alternative treatments can be lower risk than conventional and can be effective, alone or in conjunction with conventional treatment more effective
Anyone looking to inhibit a patient’s right to choose their own medical treatments should look ONLY to the safety of treatment … efficacy is between the patient and his/her doctor as so many factors come into play. No treatment, even those accepted by “mainstream” medicine are 100% effective for 100% of people. A patient must have the option to choose. As an example, if I can freely choose to buy a car for 500,000$+, simply because I perceive there to be a value, then I surely must be able to choose how to spend my own money on my own body. As another example, the chemical industry is allowed to operate under GRAS principles for many of its products, the same should be recognized for health treatments.
There is no question in my mind that complementary medicine has greatly improved my health following a serious diagnosis 6 years ago. “Mainstream” medicine saved my life but complementary treatments have saved/restored my health. It is also vitally important that MDs (who choose) be closely involved in the healing process.
Others who oppose complementary medicine are surely entitled to their own view … for their own body. They have NO right to inhibit what I do as long as a treatment meets the GRAS principles.
I am a patient of an MD who also offers integrative health services. I would be very disappointed if the government no longer allowed her to offer such services to me. She has been instrumental is helping me with several issues related to hormone replacement therapy – both during my pregnancies, post pregnancies, and now several years later with regards to alternative low dose thyroid replacement therapy (T3 only which is not typically offered). I would like to be informed about the concerns the medical association has of course but as the same time would like to then be able to opt in if I so chose.
Response in PDF format
Western medicine and tests provide analysis based on the extremes. There is no effective measure for the middle ground. For example being diagnosed with celiac disease as opposed to having an intolerance to gluten or wheat. A person can still experience issues that Western medicine will not treat because someone is not serious enough or can not get diagnosed by conventional tests. Having an intolerance as opposed to an allergy is one example but equally as serious. I am a breast cancer survivor and was not a candidate for radiation or chemo therapy. I used alternative medicine to support my immune health and healing. My daughter was diagnosed with severe candida, undetected by all Western medical tests. Alternative medical treatments helped her overcome the digestive issues. I want the ability to chose which option or treatment course I want to pursue. It is highly personal.
Tighter regulations on alternative medicine choices are an infringement on my right to choose what is best for me. While the tobacco industry is able to sell addictive harmful substances I would challenge anyone to close down That industry before going after a mostly helpful alternative medicine industry. Yes I do see a need to oversee products efficacy and appreciate the need for transparency. Please keep the availability of free choice open for all people and stand up to self interest groups like the dairy, agriculture (Monsanto) and lastly your own self interest group the CPSO. Kind regards S.
As a new immigrant to Canada and a minority I belive and welcome a diversity of alternative treatments with the inclussion of Traditional therapies that have been practiced for thousands of years in our home countries like Ayurveda, TCM and so many others. The evidence of these treatments is based on medical observacions through centuries. They are also a vital part of our cultures and Identity. Restricting these practices will not only be detrimental for patients’health but also an opressive accion toward us, ethnic minorities. I don’t want to ofend anyone I just want to express the dispair I feel at the thought of those measures restricting alternative/traditional treatments that are so important for us.
These treatments have helped me so much. I believe these treatments should be discussed between a physician and the patient. If a patient can tolerate it and sees a benefit from these treatments, then there shouldn’t be a problem.
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This new policy will put barriers up for patients seeking alternative forms of treatment. When my GP refused to recognize my low thyroid and hormonal levels, [redacted] was able, through extensive blood work, determine the issues and set me on a course of treatment that would improve my life significantly. The policy will be detrimental for doctors, such as [redacted], who have a broader range of skills and experience to implement alternative health treatment plans without excessive roadblocks and risk of penalty. As a patient, I am not in favour of the new policy.
It is such a shame that this is going on, I have always used alternative and holistic therapies my whole life,they are absolutely safe and non invasive. Being a holistic practitioner and consulting nutritional practitioner in this field for many years to have althernative therapies removed is a violation of my rights and others.
The government has no right to take away my choice of treatment or therapy that I wish to proceed with. I see a functional medicine doctor and the treatments she has suggested and that I have implemented have helped me tremenously. I have healed many health issues with going this route. I truly hope that our choice of healthcare is not taken away. We should always have a choice otherwise we put the control into the hands of the goverments and the big pharmaceutical companies.
For over 10 years have found great relief from symptoms related to early menopause through treatment with complementary and alternative medicine that is not available through my general practitioner. Bio identical hormones are not available though my GP, I feel strongly this is a woman’s right issue for me, the right to choose how I am able to access medical care I require.
I do not need the college of physicians and surgeons as part of my decision making that I may decide for my health. Let us have the freedom to decide what modality is best suited for ourselves.
I think the policy is biased against alternative / complementary medicine. One of the main problems here is that clinical trials and scientific evidence will NEVER be gathered to the extent they are gathered for pharmaceuticals. So given a natural treatment lacking clinical trials / scientific publications, but we know that it works from experience, under this policy doctors will be deterred from recommending it to their patients thus depriving them of a viable alternative. The policy requirements basically places the bar to an unattainable height due the inability to obtain the evidence required. This is not fair.
This needs to change, I think people in general would like to see more research being done on alternative and natural therapies. But they are just not being done to a sufficient extent which is sad.
I also think that this whole division of medicine into conventional and alternative is silly. I think that all the doctors who are practicing integrative medicine and combine these together are on the right track and our entire medical system would be better off practicing in this manner. We should be focusing on treating the patient regardless of what label you attach to the treatment, as long as it works and doesn’t cause harm thats all that matters.
Most importantly the patient should have a choice if there are different treatments available. For example under this policy a doctor recommending alternative treatment has to inform the patient of conventional treatment available. However it doesn’t seem like the reverse is true, the doctor who is prescribing conventional treatment is not required to inform the patient of alternative treatments that may be available! I think they should be required and the policy should work BOTH WAYS.
Furthermore if you want to protect patients, both types of medicine need to conform to the same level of rigour. Conventional western medicine isn’t infallible. I just learned of the thousands of mistakes being made on surgeries, and the patients on the news recently who lost their vision for being prescribed a pain killer Elmiron, and then there’s the continuation of prescribing harmful statin drugs as they are being discredited in scientific publications, and I can go on and on. So please don’t claim that alternative medicine is more risky and harmful when conventional medicine can also be risky and harmful to patients.
This drive to control and regulate CAS by the CPSO appears to be a witch hunt – likely spurred on by the Pharmaceutical Co’s, to which both the CPSO and Health Canada seem to be strongly linked. At the least, Pharmaceutical Co’s inordinately influence both organizations. We the public find this to be a conflict which does not serve our best interests. Strong drugs which do serious damage or cause death have very often been pulled from the market after having done widespread harm. This is the recommended “standard of care” which is promoted to us as opposed to treatments and remedies which have never killed anyone. Most often studies exist to support the efficacy of certain natural treatments, but are ignored in favour of drugs. My position is that drugs, radiation and surgery are the most drastic treatments that should be the last choice of treatment after all other harmless options – diet, supplements, acupuncture, etc. etc. have been tried first.
I suffer from arteriosclerosis. I underwent triple heart by-pass surgery in 1998 at the age of 41.From 1998 to 2006 i had also had 4 stents put into the arteries around my hear along with medicine to thin my blood, control my blood pressure and regulate my heart beat, all prescribed by my cardiologist. In 2006 I was introduced to chelation therapy along with specific supplements as a complimentary treatment in combination with the prescriptions aformentioned. As a result, I was able to avoid stents until 2019 after a very stressful business relationship breakup at which time I received a 5th stent.
I attribute the integration of conventional and non-conventional approach as critical to slowing down the arteriosclerosis and being able to have as normal a life as possible and, in my experience has extended my life. I have a very active lifestyle which involves extensive walking daily, playing golf, snowshoeing etc. Furthermore, my team of doctors (family doctor MD, Chelation clinics run by an MD and cardiologist MD) is the answer to my specific medical treatment requirements. I pay privately for my prescriptions and chelation treatments. It is my choice!
In my view, the medical system in general has migrated away from natural medicines and non-conventional treatments into Big Pharma patented drugs as what appears to be the mainstream of medicine. The current medical system treats only symptoms but not causes. This is a big pharma agenda with no complete consideration for the choices of the patient(customer). Mandating further restrictions and penalizing doctors that invest in their knowledge above and beyond their conventional medical training to help their patients is senseless and quite frankly tyrannical.
I know what is best for me!
So you are saying that Integrative Medicine is unscientific and exploitive and that all non-pharmaceutical and non-conventional approaches will be considered as below the acceptable standards of care.
Well, there is a plague of chronic disease going on that you cannot cure and whose symptoms you’re treating indefinitely with toxic drugs from a corrupt pharmaceutical industry that will do anything to increase financial benefits and that blatantly uses citizens as resources to be exploited for profit.
Your policy should represent the needs and values of patients not your own needs and the needs of Big Pharma for power and control.
Enough of medical technocracy telling us what we can and cannot do. We demand health freedom!
there are not enough medical doctors who practice ‘functional medicine’ which seeks to address underlying cause of disease in the least harmful way for the entire body rather than just trying to manage symptoms using drugs that usually have negative side-effects. I’m concerned this policy will only discourage this preferred approach to medicine.
regarding line 7…treatments that have been proven ineffective…
What is the required level of ‘proof’? Who determines this?
It would be best to actually list the treatments that are currently considered ineffective so its clear what is meant here.
(btw, a lot of conventional treatments could be argued to be largely ineffective eg use of aspirin for heart condition or use of statins)
I can see that in some cases this policy could be helpful to prevent some potentially harmful treatment by maybe some unethical doctors. However, my concern is that its much too broad in its scope and will cause undue hardship to the majority of integrative practitioners who have the best interest of their patients in mind.
As such, I would advocate that the particular alternative treatments which are considered dangerous or ‘proven ineffective’ which are in question would be listed so they can be debated on their own merits.
‘Conventional’ doctors should be required to tell their patients of potential alternative therapies that could address their problem with potential for less side-effects from the conventional drugs…
Patients and doctors should have the right to chose what treatment is best. Many extremely successful treatments referred to as non-conventional in Canada are thousands of years old, have well documented scientific data for safety and efficacy and are main stream proactive in many other countries. Limiting non-conventional medicine holds Canadian health care back and limits advancement in medicine. It’s also doesn’t help the people who need it most, the patient. If the health care community really wanted to serve their patients to the best of their ability they would look at all healing modalities rather than limiting healing modalities to a narrow few that fall under the scope of conventional medicine. Most people seek alternative health care because they’ve tried conventional methods and it’s failed them. They should have a right to choose and so should the doctors.
Everyone should have the right to choose! Sometimes people need a mix of different treatments to see results, that option should not be taken away from them.
The content of the draft is full of incorrect statements related to the scope of practice and the possible benefits for the patient when using CAM exclusively or together with conventional treatments.
Line 226- is COMPLETELY WRONG ! And surprisingly lines 229 to 231 are ACCURATE.
It is obvious that the draft was elaborated by different persons and not all of them are up to date with what and where CAM is in our days.etc…etc…
I would agree with many of the posts below. As a patient who has benefited from treatment by an Integrative Medical Doctor I see no reason to change current policies. My doctor is highly trained and professional in all her methods. She has been willing to stick with me and help me resolve health issues which my family doctor has not been able to resolve. It is paramount that patients and doctors be able to work as a team when determining which treatments might be best.If some of these treatments use alternative methods then so be it. I have found that my Integrative Medical Doctor has been able to give me the best of both worlds. To change things in the manner that is proposed would do a great disservice to myself and the thousands of patients who have found relief and healing as a result of such medical practice.
The ability to truly achieve lasting long term health and wellness for the people of Ontario, is for individuals to take responsibility for their own health and wellness. The CPSO and the government should not limit an individual’s ability to seek alternative and complementary forms of analysis and treatment for their health. Their are still many outstanding issues that can not be solved with a classic western approach to medicine. Also the side effects of these approaches can be quite harmful too. It has been my experience that functional medicine doctors are more vested in their client’s health than most family doctors. I personally have have significant improvements to my quality of life due to CAM modalities and methods. I have struggled with many issues for the past 20 years that classic western medicine has been unable and often unwilling to address. I do not want my options limited by an organization of physicians that have not branched out beyond traditional approaches, that receives much of its scientific data from pharmaceutical companies (whose sole goal is financial performance) as I continue my health journey.
I have a PhD in chemistry, so I understand the desire for a “quantitative result” that can be easily measured, but many classic western doctors devalue studies that contain ample anecdotal evidence obtained from the participants in a trial regarding their improved quality of life, because the results are not quantifiable by other means. Simply because a test has not been developed yet to properly observe the improvements in a body, it does not mean an improvement in health and wellness has not occurred.
The future of medicine is the combination of western medicine and alternative approaches with the client taking responsibility for her/his health and wellness.
I am concerned that the CPSO is considering a policy change that would limit or even eliminate my access to a Doctor that practices Integrative Medicine. I would like access to doctors that are able to consider all treatment options. My wife has greatly benefited from a doctor who has used both conventional medicine and nutritional supplements. I can not understand why you would want to limit these options. Please reconsider this policy change.
Allopathic medical treatments are only one option . The public should have right to get access to complementary and alternative therapy (CAM) .DR who wants to use CAM to augment with allopathic treatments should be allowed to do so for the benefits of the patient.
I am a pharmacist and a Holistic nutritionist , I think there are many different modalities to improve health . So called evidences based medicine may not applied to most of the traditional and natural therapy . For example , traditional Chinese medicine has been practiced for a few thousands , which definitely have enough evidence , yet may not be considered main stream .
It should be the doctor and patient who decide the course of treatment they can take and tolerate. There is no reason that a doctor can’t determine that alternative methods of healing will help in conjunction with traditional methods. Appropriate consideration should be given to use less-invasive and less-harmful interventions, while addressing the whole person. The government should not have the right to take away our choice or the doctor’s choice in these matters.
In that:
physicians have long prescribed non-pharmacologic remedies, which may or may not have been studied and trialed, such as a seaside stay (therapeutic benefits since substantiated by science), chicken soup, plenty of fluids, the BRAT diet, black tea with a little sugar, sunlight for hyperbilirubinemia, etc.;
physicians can only be true doctors if they take such an interest in their work that they will use every available therapeutic option;
physicians are men and women who, in many cases, chose their profession in order to help humanity;
physicians whose purpose it is to aid their fellow man would find the greatest satisfaction in fulfilling that vocation; and that
physicians and their families are also patients,
it follows that:
physicians must be allowed to practice medicine to the best of their knowledge and expertise, including that termed “alternative”;
physicians of an integrative perspective must be duly respected and commended by their own, and that
physicians thus practicing must not be encumbered with any additional documenting requirements.
Maybe if the conventional route didn’t fail me over and over and over again I like others would not have had to seek out alternative medical help. I would not have made it to my milestone birthday if it wasn’t for the alternative and integrative approach and care undertaken by my doctors. Why can’t we work on a plan where conventional and non-conventional medicine work collaboratively in a hybrid format to help heal all the people from acute and / or chronic conditions. Everyone deserves the right to choose how they manage their health. If given the choice to live and thrive versus just survive, surely most would choose the former. If you need scientific proof, we are the scientific proof. Integrative and alternative medicine works especially for chronic conditions.
Please let us continue to have choices in our health and wellness decisions without restricting how alternative or integrative doctors are treating their patients as outlined in the policy amendments. Dear CPSO I respectfully leave you with one question. If one of your family members needed the one treatment that you are proposing to make inaccessible or not permissible in Ontario, what would you do?
As someone who has received treatment for my thyroid conditions from a traditional endocrinologist who only followed the CPSO policies for my treatment plan, I always felt half-human and unwell.
After I went to a functional medicine doctor, I received a better treatment plan, and I DO NOT wish to lose the ability to choose what type of practitioner I would like to go to.
Thyroid care in our country is very antiquated and doesn’t consider how to improve the thyroid patient’s quality of life. Testing has been restricted with Choosing Wisely’s cost-cutting measures and recommendations to our healthcare system in Canada, leaving many of us with sub-optimal diagnosis and care options.
My husband’s experience as a beneficiary of “complementary and alternative medicine” demonstrates that there is a need for non-traditional treatments in the health care continuum.
Following recovery from a heart attack 30 years ago, he was treated for gall stones that required surgery to remove them. Due to complications, he ended up having his gall bladder, spleen and pancreas removed, which rendered him insulin dependent. Despite following conventional medical treatments for diabetes and his heart condition, he was experiencing chest pains, exhaustion and the occasional black-out. He heard about EDTA chelation therapy and read what he could find on it as a treatment for heart disease. We were fortunate to locate a licensed Ontario physician in a nearby city who practised chelation therapy. Within nine months of treatments, my husband’s health dramatically improved, and he was able to return to work. Although this treatment is considered controversial among cardiologists, the specialists and family physicians who have treated my husband over the years have acknowledged that chelation therapy has yielded excellent results for him. We strongly believe that chelation therapy has prolonged my husband’s life and are concerned that this new policy will remove our ability as well as that of other Ontario citizens to access chelation therapy and other non-traditional treatments.
The changes to the CAM policy will make it extremely difficult for physicians who practise non-traditional treatments and approaches that depart from conventional medicine due to:
1) the requirement for physicians to only provide treatments “supported” by scientific evidence that is specifically biased towards randomized control trials — something that natural substances and other non-patentable approaches can rarely obtain funding to conduct;
2) the requirement for physicians to document evidence-based rationale and risk-benefit analysis for each treatment provided — something that conventional physicians are not required to do;
3) the removal of section 5.1 of the Ontario Medicine Act that currently protects physicians who provide treatments outside conventional medical practice.
The policy, if adopted, creates an antagonistic environment where physicians who use “complementary and alternative medicine” cannot practise for fear of being unjustly disciplined by the CPSO. My husband and I experienced this situation almost 30 years ago during his initial chelation therapy treatments. We had to drive to the U.S. as the physician who treated him had to shut down his Ontario office and relocate across the border. Fortunately, we only had to do this for a year as that doctor was permitted to reopen his practice in Ontario later. We hope that by voicing our concerns, this experience will not be repeated.
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Hello,
I am writing as a concerned citizen regarding a proposed policy change of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in regards to Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Our concern is that this policy is too broad. Whereas there could be cases where it would protect the public from potentially dangerous therapies by unethical or unscrupulous doctors we’re concerned it will penalize and discourage the integrative medical community as a whole, of whom the vast majority only have the best interests of their patients in mind.
It would be better in our mind to specifically list what are considered the potentially dangerous and/or ineffective therapies so it is clear to all which therapies are in question so they can be the focus.
Personally, my wife and I have pursued many of what would be considered ‘alternative’ therapies over the years due to her on-going digestive issues only because we didn’t find solutions in the conventional realm. We kind of lost our faith in the conventional medical system. Whereas it seems very good for trauma care it appears largely incapable of helping people like us with ‘chronic’ conditions.
In our view the medical treatment paradigm needs to change from one that focuses on managing symptoms using drugs which often have negative side-effects to one that seeks to find the underlying causes of disease and recognizes the importance of diet and lifestyle. I think this approach is often referred to as ‘functional’ medicine. As a more preventative approach it would also help to address the ballooning healthcare costs.
In the meantime we would be very upset if our alternative treatment options were taken away because those few doctors who are brave enough to offer them were threatened of being sanctioned due to this new policy.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Response in PDF format
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To the Honorable. Christine Elliott, MPP and Minister of Health:
I am sending you, with copies also to Mr Rakocevic, my MPP, Mr Michael Bryant of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and Dr. Nancy Whitmore MD of the CPSO, a copy of my submission to the public consultation discussion page for the CPSO draft of their proposal to amend Ontario’s CAM policy.
Though you will see right away that there is much in theit release that makes me skeptical of both the draft itself and the consultation process, I hope will also see that my conclusion is constructive and envisions a positive role for the CPSO in its overview of complementary and alternative medical practices offered by registered MDs.
Respectfully, [redacted]
My response to Draft as “Member of the public”:
1. The proposed changes are presented in an enviable tradition that seeks to balance cost, freedom of choice, and protections Are the proposed changes needed? Do they maintain and bolster that ethical tradition? I don’t feel we have been provided the full context. My comment is negative on the proposal but points out the need for another change.
2. Is the CPSO proposing to fix something “that ain’t broke” ? Inventing a problem? Materials provided for public review and discussion do not present any evidence that we have a real problem to solve. The draft refers to such evidence and apparently it has been summarized elsewhere. The draft refers to harms to health or to patient finances caused by non-institutionally dominant health therapies, but there is no comparative documentation. If there is evidence of such damage occurring at a higher rate than it occurs inside of approved practices, that evidence is not on the table for public review, suggesting either that the problems are a speculation, not an evidenced fact, or that what evidence the CPSO obtained has not passed critical scrutiny. If you are claiming to heal a wrong we can’t see, you are bullying.
3. It is not entirely clear to me what the final effect of these regulation changes would be, but the draft is certainly discouraging, suggesting a further restriction on “family doctors” and a further encumbrance on physicians who elect a non-majority or non-consensual direction of therapy.
4. The CPSO speaks for a cadre of highly educated and experienced professional practitioners. It is valuable to all of us to know their professional preferences and practices, but it is damaging to all of us if a majority opinion, however well informed, is called a consensus or “best practice” when it is, in fact, a majority (expert) opinion. To feel confident in the CPSO’s direction, we need to feel confident that expert minority opinions can also be expressed and circulated without inhibition. Exaggerated language can easily sound demagogic or manipulative.
5. The draft seems to be endorsing attitudes which may already be causing considerable harm, attitudes which I am inclined to blame (in part) for widespread and probably exaggerated fear of vaccination. The CPSO invites skepticism by adopting a manner of expression that claims a special and privileged authority to say what is and what is not good science. Experts do disagree about that. Professional controversy is a vital sign of living science. No one owns science, and the interpretation of generally accepted facts needs judgment and does not reduce to fact. Any practicing professional in a living science knows things are not so pat. Some would object that the demographic who could articulate the problem in my terms is minuscule, but lots and lots of people who don’t have advanced education are capable in their own way of catching the scent of a bullying bureaucracy. The draft speaks of “evidence and scientific reasoning” as if there were no controversies about the implications of such terminology.
6. Adding it up, your invitation to consult or advise, doesn’t look sincere or serious, and on the basis of what it reveals, there is no justification for change. We have to wonder whether there are budget issues you have neglected to put on the table. We have to wonder whether you want physicians who actually read and think about publications in their fields or who just obey committee pronouncements. The fact that the existing legislation is ten years old is a good reason to review it but not in itself a reason to change it.
7. Still, there is a change we need in the regulation of alternative therapies. We need results tracked somehow. That is how we can learn of opportunities to provide viable and sometimes economically valuable changes in therapy. I am a person who, though not wealthy, has been able to prioritize what some would call “boutique” therapies in my own life. I consider it very wasteful that I my experience is not contributing to data banks that might eventually help to better Ontario medicine. What I pay out of pocket feels like a stretch; yet, if an additional 5% were collected and used to support solid research on results, that stretch would be a bit less stressful and feel bit less self-indulgent. It would be difficult research to structure, but at worst, one could start with patient satisfaction and a critical compilation of anecdotes (remembering as we all should that one person’s anecdote is another’s “case study” – depending on where it’s published).
([redacted], Ontario)
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Dear CPSO
The issue of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s proposed changes to the Complementary and Alternative practices is concerning me. I want to share my honest views and opinions about this issue.
These are my concerns with the proposed changes by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario:
The policy was drafted by a committee of physicians who do not practice Complementary and Alternative Medicine. I feel this is unfair.
Why is College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario implementing stricter language that is different than other provinces in Canada? Did they consult with other Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons in our country before drafting this new policy?
Restricting natural substances and therapies is an archaic way of thinking and punitive to patients who are medically challenged, Lyme patients being at the top of that list.
This new revision and proposed changes to Complementary and Alternative Medicine are punitive, discriminatory and unfair to doctors who choose to use Complementary and Alternative Medicine. These doctors will be forced to document rationales and analyses that conventional physicians are not obligated to do, and if they don’t, they can face disciplinary action by the College.
How unfair and biased to remove Section 5 of the Ontario Medicine Act only for doctors who practice Complementary and Alternative Medicine but not for Conventional Medicine doctors. Complementary and Alternative Medicine doctors can be found guilty of professional misconduct and incompetence but not Conventional Medicine doctors, for the simple reason that they choose a practice that is non-traditional and natural when conventional medicine has failed. This is unfair, prejudiced, biased and nothing short of a ‘gut-punch’ for patients who suffer from chronic illnesses and require this type of intervention and medicine.
If the College of Physician and Surgeons of Ontario has concerns regarding Complementary and Alternative Medicine because issues have been brought forward, they certainly have the obligation to investigate and regulate the practice of medicine in order to protect and properly serve the public. Why are they not having an open and transparent discussion about this? Why are they not including physician who practice Complementary and Alternative Medicine? Aren’t they the first ones who should be consulted? They care about their profession, practice and patients just as much as Conventional Medicine doctors do, they do not want ‘below-board’ or dangerous practice happening. Why is one group of doctors allowed to dictate how the other group can practice medicine in Ontario without consulting with this group? This is a very undemocratic way of regulating medicine in Ontario and honestly disappointing. These proposed changes give doctors another reason to leave our province and practice elsewhere. It is not hard to see that Conventional Medicine along with a cabinet filled with pills does not always work. Complementary and Alternative Medicine is the natural next step when Conventional Medicine no longer benefits the patient.
Please allow more time, talks and deliberations on this very important issue. Physicians who practice Complementary and Alternative Medicine should be included on the committee, after all, it’s about them and the work they do.
What are the motives and reasons for the College of Physician and Surgeons of Ontario wanting to implement these changes? If concerns are brought forward, Complementary and Alternative Medicine physicians should be included in these talks and given the opportunity to be part of the solution. This is what doctors, surgeons, the government and patients should all agree upon. A safe and inclusive approach to medicine in Ontario for the benefit of all patients.
I suffered tremendously from Lyme disease, I saw nine Ontario Conventional Medicine doctors when I was sick for several years. None of one of them were able to help me. I had to seek the assistance of doctors who practice Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Naturopathic medicine. They diagnosed me by going beyond the Conventional Medicine practices. My bloodwork was sent to a laboratory in California. I had to leave Ontario and seek treatment from a doctor who practices Conventional and Complementary Alternative Medicine simultaneously in the state of New York. I spent over $30, 000 in medical fees outside of Ontario because Conventional Medicine doctors were not able to diagnose and treat me. I am in full remission today and experience optimal health because Complementary Alternative Medicine and Naturopathic medicine are part of my treatment plan. It was crucial to my recovery. I am followed by an Ontario Complementary and Alternative Medicine doctor who is a significant and extremely important aspect of my care and prevention of disease reoccurrence. You can certainly understand why these changes proposed by the College are nothing short of alarming and disconcerting to me and many other Ontarians. OHIP remunerates Conventional Medicine doctors 10 minutes per appointment, how can you properly diagnose a patient who suffers from chronic illness with that amount of time? If my Complimentary and Alternative Medicine doctor charges me a fee to spend the extra time needed to diagnose me properly, I am in total agreement to pay this fee! If the College of Physicians and Surgeons Ontario implements these new changes, this border-crossing ‘treatment-seeking’ will continue and the College will be encouraging this unnecessary practice by patients.
We have to encourage and support our doctors in order for our province to stay concurrent with the rest of the world. Too many Ontarians seek and receive medical treatments in Germany, United States, Mexico and many others countries because the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is resisting change, oppressing the development of new medicine approaches and discourages going beyond the traditional and conventional ways of medicine.
At the end of the day, Conventional Medicine and Complementary and Alternative Medicine should co-exist with one another. The College of Physician and Surgeon has the duty to oversee both types of medicine in a respectful and responsible manner. Prohibiting and forbidding the practice of one specific group of doctors is not acting first and foremost in the best interest of the public. Other Canadian provinces and countries around the world have implemented this concept a long time ago. Why is the CPSO choosing an antiquated approach in this instance?
Please work with all stakeholders in this matter and prevent these changes from occurring.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
I very much agree with this. Doctors and physicians who practice alternative medicine should be included in this. Alternative medicine saved my life from a chronic illness most be people do not heal from. A saw many conventional doctors who said they could not help me and left me on my own. Please work with patients who benefit from alternative treatments as well as their physicians who understand alternative medicine. Many of these physicians have done extensive research on these treatments, truly understand them and see their direct benefit within their practice, it is vital that they be included in these discussions with the College and be included in ALL committees regarding this. Kindly.
I always had bad experiences with traditional doctors. One of the latest examples of this was seeing a doctor about long time stomach problems. He kept saying “oh it’s your diet” and even after I followed his diet, I didn’t see any improvement. He kept accusing me of not following it. Finally, I had enough and went to see a private doctor out of town. The private doctor offered a food allergy test that wasn’t a skin test, but a blood test. The blood test showed a ton of food allergies I wasn’t aware of. The family doctor I had only used a skin test result from the late 80s, something very out of date and inaccurate. The traditional family doctor didn’t even give me the option of seeing a certified nutritionist within the town who could provide a blood test. I guess it was an ego thing for him.
The private doctor even said I should tell my family doctor about this and work together. It’s part of a written agreement to keep the family doctors up to date with other treatments? Guess what? The family doctor flipped and accused the private doctor of stealing income from him, when that wasn’t the case. The family doctor even gave me, as the English say, a good bollocking about it. On other health issues, he even said the private doctor was giving me test results that were inaccurate, compared to his own and the hospital’s, even though the family doctor did their 2 hour test at a time when I wasn’t affected by a particular health issue, or did the test in a time where my readings would be normal. Compare this to the private doctor who did a 12 hour test and had more data available.
I also had other bad experiences with this family practice, due to their treatment of me, and even the receptionists being insulting in general. But guess what? I can’t find any other doctors to change to at the moment, because every other traditional doctors were full and couldn’t see more patients. This is the other reason why I paid to see a private doctor who does both traditional and alternative medicine.
If this new policy passes, my health would definitely take a turn for a worse. This new policy will give the CSPO power to determine what they believe is “scientifically proven”, even if alternative treatments (like blood tests or hyperbaric oxygen therapy), are scientifically proven and effective, the CSPO can still ban them, due to the vague nature of the wording of this policy.
Please do not let this new policy go through. A patient should be able to choose treatments they believe are effective for them and see private doctors if they wish, especially if they believe they’re not getting help from traditional doctors. This is just more of big government saying “we know what’s best for you” when they don’t have a clue.
Our family has had numerous successes with Integrative Medicine when conventional procedures failed. Treating patients with the spectrum of both traditional and integrative medicine using the best knowledge available seems not only sensible but in the best interests of the patient. Why does the policy document negatively discriminate against alternative methods (especially those that have a demonstrated positive efficacy). We have and will continue to seek out physicians offering an integrated approach.
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My family and I have received tremendous benefit from CAM treatments over many decades. We have even worked with top US healthcare institutions like [redacted], where CAM is an integrated and important part of the offering. I believe it is important for individual citizens to be able to work with their choice of healthcare practitioners to determine how to utilize CAM approaches. The proposed changes to the policy would be a major step back from our perspective – both as it relates to individual choice, health outcomes and as it relates to putting us behind the healthcare offered in many other countries.
Response in PDF format
Response in PDF format
Alternative medicine can be based on scientific evidence. It depends on what practice you use to qualify alternative medicine. It also depends on the doctor, and their understanding of the practice in question, if they have properly read the research behind it, have extensive use of it or not, and if they have seen evidence of it benefiting their patients or not. It should be up to the doctor and the patient to make the decision on what is appropriate for the patient and their illness. Alternative medicine can truly do wonders for people, myself included.
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As stated by Dr. Durhane Wong-Reiger in one of her talks on Fighting Rare Diseases
“….with rare diseases the challenge is that you need to have a system, you need to have a comprehensive system. In Canada, we do not. In Canada, we always say that if you have a common condition you will do exceptionally well in the healthcare system; if you have a rare disease you will actually be far behind than the others…..”
Dear Minister,
Your current Medical System failed me. For fifteen years, I went from Gastroenterologist (G.I.) to G.I. Always telling me the same thing….reflux, IBS, stay away from acidic foods, foot of bed raised, etc. The medications they prescribed were always causing more problems. I went from one to another, to another. Then I was given Domperidone and I felt like I was given a second chance for a good life. After, a short time I become aware of heart palpitations and I started realizing that I was menstruating much sooner than normal. Then came the Health Canada Warning about Domperidone. My doctor at that time who was [redacted], immediately made me stop taking them. He offered me another drug that just ended up causing me to be too dizzy to the point where I couldn’t pick-up my young son from daily dismissal. At the next appointment, even he was perplexed and didn’t know how to proceed. He mistakenly was about to prescribe a drug from a veterinarian site (my husband was present at this apt. and can attest to this.) He referred me to a fellow colleague at [redacted].
My experiences there just got worse. I have this horrible memory of one particular appointment where I waited for over one hour and twenty-five mins to have a ten minute face time with the specialist. The student doctor didn’t even recognise how underweight I was (91 lbs). “I” actually asked to be measured out of my own concern.
Suffering immensely (including malnutrition, typically a third world country disease) my husband got me to [redacted]. The very first diagnostic imaging revealed the contents being swallowed, going down the esophagus, not entering the stomach but coming right back up. Here in [redacted] they kept saying that the image from my Barium Test revealed “mild reflux”. Could this be because the machines and technology are so outdated? Chronic Movement of the Esophagus, they provided me with a proper diagnosis in three days that changed my life. I had to discover this on my own dime!!! And, trust me it was more than a dime.
Another example of your failing current Western System is the following. I kept asking the specialist to test me for Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth, over and over. Upon return from [redacted], I found [redacted] who recommended (without even knowing I had asked for this from the doctor at [redacted]) that I conduct the test. It was Positive!!! Again this was on my own dime! He prescribed medication, and with care he walked me through everything, even the diet I needed to follow. A FODmap Diet developed by [redacted] that has become very recognized and significant for many in recent years.
It was also [redacted] who explained to me how the nerves involved in the function of digestion in my body was not quite like Scleroderma sufferers, but between them and those with Multiple Sclerosis.
I have many other examples that I could share with you to prove this current Medical System is lacking terribly. Even something as simple as having to wait on average three months before you can get in front of a specialist after getting a referral from a family/general physician.
None of your medical doctors ever caught on to my verbal complaints. At [redacted] “I’m feeling vibration sensations up into my nose and this nausea is enough to pull my hair out!!!…” Doctors at [redacted] didn’t clue in to and ignored all the vitiligo all over my “face” and body (autoimmune illnesses travel in pairs.) Doctors at [redacted], when I couldn’t complete my swallowing test or questions to them “…why do I have trouble swallowing yogurt or anything that is cold?” None of these doctors ever received any repercussions due to the poor and lack of care that I experienced.
I think it is the doctors who practice Integrative Medicine who are the leaders of the future of a good healthcare system. I remember coming across an article at Mayo Clinic. It referenced the importance of American Students of Medicine taking courses where they have imparted to them the knowledge that other doctors (not solely) medical, but also alternative (integrative). Even Acupuncture!
Changing the CAM Policy will directly affect a person like me. Someone who has definite autoimmune issues. Finally, I’ve found doctors who are really listening and are providing me with true care, care that I deserve. And you want to take them away!
Sincerely,
[redacted]
P. S. My wish for our healthcare system is to have Doctors who are not closed-minded and non-receptive but to have those who are constantly open, share information and are constantly learning.
Integrative medicine saved my life. After 5 years of getting no results and no diagnosis with doctors and high-paid, taxpayer-funded endocrinologists, I finally got a diagnosis and proper treatment at an integrative medicine clinic.
The alternative practitioners, their treatments, and natural health products that you want to get rid of are the ones that are helping patients that conventional medicine cannot help.
It really looks like you would rather have us die of your incompetence than healed by an alternative doctor!
I am completely and totally against this new policy that takes away my right to the treatment I choose for my health. I was almost on disability in my 40′s with no regular doctor helping me with their standard care and if it weren’t for the alternative medicine treatment I would be on disability just like my sister who did not seek out alternative medicine and is on for over 20 years.
It is causing me such disstress to think I won’t be able to work, have a healthy sex life, enjoy good exercise and take care of my aging parents as well because this change will take all that away from me and never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have to fight for my right to choose how I want to be healthy.
Stop the Attack on complementary medicine. This is very obvious that the CPSO seeks to destroy public choice while promoting drugs that are the ones that TRULY wind up putting more people in hospitals or killing them.
One hundred percent opposed to the withdrawal of the patient’s right to choose how he should be treated in various diseases. Current medicine can only control the disease but never cure it. Chemical drugs bring huge profits to the farm, unlike natural drugs. A lot of people choose holistic medicine for various reasons, most often because it helps them and it doesn’t have so many side effects. Incredible that they even want to take that away from us. NO NO NO !!!
I have benefitted from the fact that your current policy has allowed my family doctor, and several skilled surgeons to save my life over the past 3 years, using allopathic procedures in combination with the use of resources from the complementary and alternative medicine communities. The fact that our doctors can practice integrative medicine has been an extremely positive and fair policy, leading to— in my case and in countless others— a wholistic healing outcome. I urge your committee to maintain the status quo and honour the Health Care Act regulating our medical care and freedom of choice for medical practitioners and their patients.
My mom, as the cancer patient, benefited greatly from the alternative IV therapy guided by the MD. Strongly believe in alternative medicine. The integrative medicine is the best practice of medicine. I am the scientist working for the government and strongly support the integrative approach simply because MDs, by the very nature of their training, rely entirely on pharmaceutical drugs. If those drugs don’t work, they very often have no alternatives. We turned to alternative therapy after conventional medicine has failed and has produced horrendous side effects to my mom’s health.
I implore you to hear our stories and walk in our shoes
To whom it may concern,
I’ve been seeing an Alternative Medicine doctor in Toronto for a number of years. I was suffering debilitating symptoms following an exposure to an environmental toxin. Had it not been for my doctor, I never would have discovered what was causing my symptoms and such suffering. I was completely debilitated for a year and a half at age 35. Could not work. Saw many MDs and all of them accused me of having “psychological” symptoms. I was certain this was not the case, and it wasn’t until I finally got in to see my alternative medicine doctor and I honestly believe he saved my life. He was able first to discover what had caused the symptoms in the first place that had shown up out of the blue. I never would have figured it out on my own. And then he was able to help me get away from the exposure and undergo a treatment protocol required to detox my body and get my immune system working properly again. I am truly grateful for my doctor and owe him my life. Hindering this type of medicine is a huge mistake. They are very advance and their treatment is based on proven research as with all medical doctors. It would be a massive loss to our health care system to not have this option available to so many people suffering with ailments and sickness that regular MD’s simply do not treat. I hope this note is heard by the right people and that those people make the right decision.
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As we have seen how inept our medical leaders have handle the covid [redacted], the same holds true for the regulators towards Alternative medicine or methods. I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis which was completely wrong and were prescribing many different dangerous drugs that nearly killed me and causes liver damage. Thats how these doctors make money so they stay in our country money incentives from drug companies. I went to [redacted] after a one year waitlist was treated with his methods and now over a year later i can exercise go to work and have a life. Unfortunately our government which is at a 3rd world level as proven wants to maintain its boarder line communist hold over us Canadians.
Integrative Medicine helps a lot of patients and as such people should have the right to choose the treatment that works for them.
I think the entire response to Complementary and Alternative Medicine by the CPSO, is overly restrictive, and weighted in favour of deep pocketed pharmaceutical companies, that can afford the $1.5 Billion current cost of having a treatment endorsed by the conventional medical community. Not one of these endorsed treatments, by the way, are free of side effects, and risks.
Among physicians who have chosen to broaden the content of the treatment options they offer, to include complementary and alternative medicine, such as acupuncture, dietary recommendations, the use of well recognized vitamins and supplements, and physical exercise; close attention is paid to the response of patients to these alternative treatment options. These first hand experiences should be used to verify those complementary and alternative treatment options which are showing the most frequent desired effects in each patient.
Any good physician, who is truly interested in putting their patients best interests first in the delivery of medical services, would keep an open mind to any and all treatment options that have shown any success in dealing with their patients specific complaints.
Based on the fact that the fourth highest cause of death in Canada is now recognized to be improperly prescribed or administered pharmaceuticals; I would think that this would represent a much higher consideration for the College in ensuring the protection of the public.
I for one, have never received the type of personal attention to my physical complaints and concerns from a conventional physician, that I have received from my physician who provides the alternative treatment options which have brought me unprecedented relief. Perhaps the College needs to do more to educate those physicians who choose to bury their heads in the sand, when it comes to looking more broadly for relief for their patients. This is after all, hopefully, what brought them into the medical profession.
After 8 years of conventional allotropic medicine and its reliance of heavy duty pain-killer drugs, the best it could offer me was for a life time dependency on morphine sulfate for a chronic neuropathic pain disorder. Then, a doctor of integrative medicine in the split second that it took for him to read my entries under allergies found my cure. I had entered “Wheat causes foul, excessive gas and bloating”. It was all he need to see. Gluten sensitivity was his diagnosis. Removing kamut and spelt from my diet resulted in exactly what he projected that in 3 months I would start to see improvements. Actually, not exactly as he projected, since in 2 1/2 months I was able to throw the morphine sulfate in the garbage. Now, over 10 years later, I have not looked back, except to marvel at his exceptional knowledge and diagnostic skill. If integrative medicine was not available to me at the time, then I might not be here today, what with the prospect of 10 more years of a powerful, addictive drug in my system. Today, at 69 years young, I still cross-country skate ski for 2 hours non-stop at a hard, demanding pace, which would have been impossible even with a massive uptick in my previous pain killer regime.
This is not a proper public consultation at all! Trying to sneak this through during COVID-19 with very little coverage is an affront to the public you claim to protect. It’s very transparent as CPSO trampling the right of Canadian’s to choose and have access to health care that is most effective for them. Not everyone’s situation is simple or easy to diagnose and solve or manage with lower-risk, lower-side effect and affordable options. Complementary and alternative medicine has had significant positive impacts on my health and quality of life that fully allopathic solutions alone were not able to provide. If anything CPSO should be supportive of the work of these cutting edge health care providers, not handing over full control of our health care to the conventional drug cartel.
Pretty underhanded of the College of Physicians to try to push this policy change through during our Covid crisis, knowing very well it is a very tough time for the public to rally together and protest their changes.
The last thing we need right now is losing the support of our Integrative/Alternative doctors who help us with our daily struggles.
I have a chronic, complex illness that conventional medicine based doctors lack the ability to assess, diagnose and treat in a holistic, functional manner. I consulted close to 25 doctors without any assistance. What a waste of time, my limited energy and our precious health care dollars! My condition changed only after consulting an integrative medicine doctor. If the goal of the college is to lead for successful, cost effective patient care, restricting integrative medicine practices is NOT in anyone’s best interest. It would only serve the conventional medicine doctors who are intimidated or threatened by the expertise and effectiveness of integrative medicine. In addition, traditionally prescribed medications are not scientifically proven to work on ME, on my illness And my body chemistry specifically so how is it any different for a professional to advise a supplement? Also, in terms of doctors having to declare any financial interests, I have yet to hear a traditional dr inform me of their relationship/financial interests in pharmaceutical companies, or their investment in physio clinics they refer patients to.
I find the document quite contradictory. Paragraph 3 talks about respecting the patient’s treatment decisions, but Paragraph 1 says treatment must be supported by evidence. I don’t think conventional medicine’s standards of evidence would be met by many of the things that complementary and alternative medicine offers, and that’s part of the value of this field for those of us who live with chronic conditions that conventional medicine cannot currently treat. This lack of ability to treat some chronic conditions is due to a lack of evidence-supported solutions and a lack of research. There isn’t money or time to research it all! As well, the issues at play often may be multifactorial and very difficult to trace to the kind of singular causes that easily yield evidence when treated. I’m not sure if I’m expressing that clearly – but imagine long COVID as an example. There could be multiple systemic impacts from the infection that are causing a variety of symptoms and potentially chain reactions in the body that are difficult to track and trace. People might want to experiment with unproven treatments to see if they can function normally again, earn a living, etc., but those treatments may not be evidence-supported to treat long COVID or its symptoms. How will you handle that? Will doctors be in trouble for supporting their patients in trying things? More emphasis needs to be placed on respect for the client, the individual whose body is the terrain for this whole discussion, and you could balance that through more rigorous informed consent if you’re concerned.
In your survey you ask if it’s clear what activities the policy applies to. The answer is no. A definition has evolved here (of complementary and alternative / integrative) which seems to be, essentially, “conventional medicine does not fully embrace it” and then you’ve set up all kinds of requirements for it to meet the same evidentiary standards as the treatments that are embraced by conventional medicine. So, are you saying a physician can recommend vitamin C for general health per conventional medicine, but not to enhance immunity against viral infection as that is not evidence-supported – in spite of the fact that being in good general health probably does help our immune system? Do you see now what “integrative” means to those of us in the “complementary and alternative” health care community? I think it means something different to CPSO – you seem to be defining it as “everything that is not conventional.”
I’m very, very concerned. I think (benefit of the doubt) that you are trying to make things safer for clients/individuals who seek alternative medical care, so that we’re not taken advantage of or harmed. What will end up happening with this policy is that it will no longer be safe or practical for physicians to offer alternatives that are not sufficiently evidence-supported for them to feel protected, and we will lose the option of seeking these treatments from MDs. The outcome will be that people will go to the other professions instead and we will no longer have the benefit of a truly complementary approach with a practitioner who has full access to (and training from) the conventional medical system. We’ll have to fragment our care and we won’t have the same expertise.
Frankly, I rarely consult my GP at this point because he is not integrative and he has stated that he can’t help me. This puts me MORE at risk for missing important symptoms and signals because of how little I talk to him about what’s going on with me. Please don’t take Ontario backward because of the current obsession with “evidence-based.” I’m sure an academic search of “problems with evidence-based care” would yield more thoughtful and comprehensive critique than I can offer here (a simple google search and I see there’s a BMJ article on this). This policy essentially takes away our access to MDs who are also literate in complementary care alternatives. It will prove to have been the wrong direction.
Response in PDF format
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Response in PDF format
After visiting 20 Specialists in many different fields, for a severe pain in my head, all they could offer where pain medications. Nothing at all to deal with the source of the problem. I had dealt with this for five years, with no solution in site. I turned to an alternative doctor. He used Ozone therapy and now, after a year, I am cured. Only because of alternative medicine. How can anybody consider stopping this??
Ontario Medical Association (OMA) Section on Addiction
Dear CPSO,
Our section recently learned that the CPSO is drafting a new policy on complementary and alternative medicines. We were very surprised to discover that “[the CPSO] draft policy has updated the definition of ‘Complementary and alternative medicine’ to include… “conventional treatments, practices, and products being used in non-conventional ways”. The example the CPSO cites is “the contraceptive pill being used to treat acne was once considered using a conventional product in a nonconventional way”. Addiction medicine often uses prescription medications in ways that are off label, but nonetheless well established and evidence based. A few common examples include:
• Suboxone micro-dosing
• The use of Gabapentin for the treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder cravings and withdrawal
• The use of clonidine for opioid induced diaphoresis
The draft policy asks for a much higher level of evidence, consent and documentation than is required for any other aspect of practice. But when it comes to the off label use of medications, the draft requirements are overly burdensome and difficult to attain. This draft policy exposes whoever uses off label meds to an undue risk of discipline by the CPSO. Our concern is not only about not being able to practice safely in Ontario, but the resulting barriers for our patients to access these therapies if this draft policy is enforced.”
Our suggestion is that the college should be developing two policies. The first policy should address complementary and alternative medicines which are distinct from conventional medicine. The second policy should be developed for the off label use of established medication and therapies.
Many thanks!!
[**MESSAGE FROM ADMINISTRATOR: THE CONTENT PUBLISHED ABOVE IS AN UPDATED RESPONSE PROVIDED BY THE ORGANIZATION ON MARCH 26, 2021.]
This proposed policy change, if implemented, is going in exactly the wrong direction – indeed, it is regressive. The removal of expertise-guided treatment by integrative doctors unnecessarily narrows the treatment possibilities for chronic disease sufferers – primarily females – with no alternatives.
I exhort you to trust in the few MDs who actually practice integrative medicine to use their highly trained expertise to permit off-label and integrative medicine, including complementary medicine.
If you are female and have a chronic immune-related disease – with almost zero research funding dedicated to it – you will have even less healthcare than you do now if this policy change occurs. These diseases do not have the research funding to do RCTs to provide evidence for treatment efficacy. And so, off-label medicine is essential for these patients.
Furthermore, standard tests do not always reveal abnormalities in these disease groups, which are orphaned from mainstream medicine. Integrative doctors have the expertise to look beyond the standard tests available in 2 ways: (1) sometimes the standard tests are not sensitive to specific chronic diseases and must be done differently to capture abnormalities in the results, which could then require off-label treatment; (2) sometimes the reference range for normal fails to include what is optimal – and if you have a severely disabling, chronic disease with no effective treatment, it is insufficient to be in the normal range; you must be in the optimal range. Integrative doctors can identify this and provide appropriate treatment, which may be off-label.
Chronic disease patients must, by necessity, look for every improvement they can possibly get, no matter how small. A small improvement makes a huge difference in quality of life for this patient group.
A note about in-hospital COVID treatments – physicians have turned to integrative medicine where traditional medicine is not enough – they have been treating with Vitamin D, Vitamin C and Melatonin. This is a clear demonstration of how important it is for a healthcare system to be flexible.
A final comment on the wording in this proposal — it is most unclear.
I have protested against the CPSO’s interference in unfetered access to alternative and complementary health services, and have pointed out the veiled hypocrisy of a hostile competitor’s attempt to govern standards and practices of another discipline, which they are simply not qualified to do. If this attempt to bridle access to natural healing succeeds, the fox will be the legal guardian of the chicken coop.
In a letter to Christibe Elliott, Ontario Minister of Health, I pointd out my personal negative experiences with allopathic medicine( misdiagnoses, iatragenics, and recommendations for needless surgeries0 and pointed out the cost effectiveness, safetty and efficacy of care under my doctors of naturopathy, and asked her to oppose the CPSO’s bid to interfere in the affairs of ND’s, citing the latters’ greater scope of knowledge and higher level of education in the healing arts, and how much I rely upon the unhindered practice of their profession. I mentioned that if standards and oversight in their area is needed, it should be the sole right of natural practitioners to be the agents of such actions.
Dear Minister Elliot & Dr. Whitmore:
Thank you for all your efforts on behalf of the health needs of Ontario residents.
I am writing to express my concern that the CPSO is intending to restrict access to Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
While I fully understand and appreciate the need for evidence-based treatments and strategies, yet I fear that an inflexibly strategy will indeed be counter productive.
My wife and I spend considerable time each year in the USA (i.e.: as “Snowbirds”) , as we are today and have been since November 2020, (notwithstanding Government recommendations). Our experience and exposure to the US medical system makes us think that one is not necessarily “better” than the other….. but they are arguably different. The positives of what we fine here are indeed impressive.
Back to why I am writing:
I believe that restricting physicians in Ontario from providing certain CAM treatments is inappropriate. The times I have sought CAM, the physician has always clearly stated the position of CAM as expressed by the CPSO and I have been always fully informed.
Thus, why CPSO would put physicians in a position to fear unjust discipline is not acceptable to me. I must have the right to access the care I need and want – whether it is a conventional treatment or an integrative / CAM treatment. The proposed new policy will deny me this autonomy.
I understand the general need for “evidence-based” therapies. But where they do not exist, judgement is a valued additional resource. Good physicians are continually depending on judgement. A simple example… Vitamin D. We all know that the recommended level is 1,200 IU/day. And there will likely NEVER be randomized controlled trials and case-control studies. Thus no evidence. After all, why bother when Vitamin D in bulk is so cheap and inexpensive? Who can ever get a patent on that? And to what end? Quietly (and “unofficially”) you likely can guess that many physicians will suggest (and themselves ingest) levels beyond 1.200IU/Day. Should they be sanctioned? Or worse?
CPSO is right to monitor the environment for CAM physicians. But please, please…….. be reasonable!!!
I particularly object the CPSO’s proposed removal of the current policy’s reference to section 5.1 of the Ontario Medicine Act, which protects physicians who provide treatments outside of conventional medicine.
My respectful request is to ….do NOT take action to cut off CAM treatments.
I agree! The proposed new guidelines are very good. They make it clear there is no tolerance for physicians who lie and scam with fake treatments. Some CAM kills people, like fake cancer treatments that replace real medicine. Or fake treatments for disabilities that make people sicker. People on here who say CAM is harmless are lying. Stay strong and protect patients from scams
Homeopaths practice a specialized type of CAM, for which they have studied a minimum of 3
years, taken numerous tests and exams, and passed a rigorous process of qualifying for the
College of Homeopaths of Ontario (CHO), the governing body charged under the Ministry of
Health and Long-term Care, and whose mandate is to protect the public. Physicians who wish to
add this type of medicine to their repertoire of care must also qualify under the CHO’s
requirements and be registered with that governing College – this also protects the public.
Scientific has become a weak response and now is diluted in interpretation through overuse.
A healthy science changes everyday, what is needed is a science that is open to the creative scientific process, not locked down of educational platitudes.
Response in PDF format
We should have the freedom to choose. Those trying to force limited and biased policies against CAM may have never faced down fear with a potentially life threatening illness where as an individual, you want every type of medicine at your disposal. I needed the surgery and genetics counseling from my conventional doctors, but I also needed the alternative therapies from my natural health practitioners that addressed lifestyle, diet, genetics (as well), nutrients and an overall body-mind-spirit approach to determine potential root causes and prevention. I wish for the divide to stop – for conventional medicine to take an inclusive approach and embrace other forms of medicine and to admit that sometimes you need the conventional medicine and sometimes you need the alternative medicine. That’s what the future of medicine should be. Many health issues can be solved with gentler interventions. Please protect our health freedoms of choice. Thank you.
Note: Some content has been edited in accordance with our posting guidelines.
I’m an 8th generation Canadian, I’m presently taking a blood pressure medicine for which I have sensitives to as I am allergic to the others. I just found out that there is a herbal remedy that could resolve my condition. As a person living in a free society, I should have the right to choose what best works to heal my body. Obviously the conventional medication isn’t working for me,I’ve incorrectly informed that high blood pressure is the cause of my loss of kidney function when in truth the loss of kidney function is the cause of the blood pressure problem. The herbal remedy I’m taking can clear up both issues, while the conventional one can supposedly only control it. Please don’t deny us of the right to choose our method treatment. You would be taking away our right to life and health. [redacted]
Response in PDF format
I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2009 and I have received help from both conventional and alternative medical doctors. What precipitated my diagnosis was that I had lost sight in my right eye and to correct this I had and MRI and treatment of IV Steroids through conventional medicine. Needless to say, I was very thankful for that treatment. After that, I used alternative medicine to determine what I can do in terms of diet, supplements and overall lifestyle to prevent further occurrence. Since then, my GP has stated that I do not have any concern for significant disease activity. Apart from minor tremors, I do not present any disease. One of my heroes in the health field in terms of MS is Terry Wahl’s. Please look her up, as she is very inspirational. She herself being a conventional medical doctor could not find a long-term way to heal her body through her own discipline. In seeking alternatives, she overhauled her lifestyle and has found success through her healing journey. There’s a place for all kinds of medical approaches and it’s a must to have them. As you can see, I am only one of a magnitude of people using alternative medicine in their overall health care. We have a right to do so; please protect our freedom for transparency, information and choice.
Unfortunately, an allopathic system of diagnostic, treatment and follow-up model of health care becomes unreliable. I can hardly call it health care, it scares and frustrates me. I found great relief in homeopathy and nutrition for my health. I have not seen a GP for many years. We should believe not medical science, but Science of plants, nature. I truly believe homeopathy is the best option for me, and I would prefer to keep this option regardless of what medical science says.
It should be up to the patient to choose a method of treatment, integrative medicine saved a d continue to save lives in a daily basis. It is less invasive, no side effects if administered by the doctor of natural medicine, Accupunturist, homeopath, Physiotherapist, etc..
It can be done times done in conjunction with allopathic medicine, which unfortunately has dangerous side effects – it cures 1 thing and destroys a few other things/organs in a course of treatment. It does not prevent illnesses, it only suppresses Symptoms most of the time.
Integration medicine prevents sickness, Integration medicine finds the route cause of the illness and eliminates it. THANK YOY naturopaths, homeopaths and other doctors of natural integrative medicine. I would be here if not for your help.
Living in a multi-cultural society, we must allow individual patients the right to choose alternative medicine in accordance with the charter of rights and freedom. We can not allow doctors to make choices for their patients.
Note: Some content has been edited in accordance with our posting guidelines.
you’re attempting to make it impossible for practitioners to offer alternatives -your conditions are ridiculous and you’re attempting to operate a sphere of control that is not possible to achieve.
Let’s be clear – your defence of doing things that isn’t harmful is absurd
Weren’t you the same body of professionals that suggested masking people is a good approach to supporting spread of COVID?
[redacted] your line 13 is particularly comical
“present a serious risk of harm and/or exploitation, in light of the nature of the treatment and lack of evidence and/or scientific reasoning to support its use”
[redacted] I can only surmise you want to use the “science” and “reasoning” when it follows conventional choices and your political agenda.
Who is funding your organization? Big Pharma?
Response in PDF format
- Attachment 1
- Attachment 2
- Attachment 3
I think it is important to consider a new cohort of patients – those with long covid. Our health care system is not prepared to handle this influx. It has not been designed to manage complex chronic conditions. Our GPs are already over burdened and the wait times for specialists is months to years. And this patient group will not accept being fobbed off to psychiatry or gaslit or dismissed. They are organized and informed, unlike post viral patients in the past. Some long covid patients will qualify for treatment clinics and find success with the treatments or rehabilitation that is offered. But others will not qualify or not find success. It will take time for evidence based treatments to be widely offered. And the medical world is slow to adopt new practices – it takes time for information to reach all corners. Patients will suffer in the meantime. They should be allowed to seek treatment from integrative MDs. Integrative MDs have significant experience with post viral patients as mainstream medicine has historically had very little to offer this group.
CPSO can be pragmatic now and reject the unnecessary policy changes under consideration or they can face the wrath of patients who want to explore all their options under the guidance of a medical doctor. While this policy revision is not in the news now, I am quite sure that it will be if the policy is passed. There will be interviews with tearful and desperate patients, impressive examples of integrative medicine success and questions about the logic or motivations or influences behind the new policy. Then the CPSO will have to decide whether to dig in and defend its position or reverse the changes which surely will be embarrassing and raise questions regarding the credibility the CPSO.
While considering these policy changes, I encourage every MD to familiarize themselves with what long covid patients are facing and what their peers who are familiar with post viral conditions are saying:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/unlocking-the-mysteries-of-long-covid/618076/
https://www.vox.com/22298751/long-term-side-effects-covid-19-hauler-symptoms
https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjpywp/the-medical-system-should-have-been-prepared-for-long-haul-covid-patients-symptoms
Stop treating patients like they are stupid with no ability to research their own treatments and leave alternative medicine alone. Most complementary medicine is not patentable and there is no way to fund the large million dollar studies that are required to meet pharmaceutical guidelines. That doesn’t make a treatment ineffective. If a patient wishes to spend money on a treatment, that is our choice. I had a stealth infection that 50 conventional doctors were unable to treat effectively and a complementary practitioner was able to kill the infection.
Many immigrants to Canada are shocked at how useless the family doctors in Canada are because all they know how to do are give out drugs and mask symptoms and not solve the root cause of chronic problems. If you force out complementary doctors, most smart skilled immigrants will go to other countries where they have a better range of health services.
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My email to Minister Elliott:
I got sick and was quickly diagnosed with HIV in [redacted]. Our health care system saved my life. This led me down the patient advocacy path.
When my health recovered, I worked with an international medical NGO [redacted] in Malawi to build community based health care and bring the same HIV medications that keep me alive to Malawians living with HIV/AIDS.
Then in [redacted], 10 days before I was to compete in [a] triathlon, I got very sick. It would take 5 long years to get a diagnosis of ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis).
My experiences between HIV health care and ME health care could not be more stark. The former saved my life, the latter has harmed my life. This led me down the patient safety advocacy path [redacted]
The irony is not lost on me that I went from advocating globally for access to health care in one of the poorest countries in the world, to advocating for access to health care in Canada.
I also [redacted] provide a platform for patients to share their medical error stories and to prevent further medical harm and increase patient safety. [redacted] — but it was not until drafting this letter that I realized that all my guests were harmed by ‘conventional’ medicine — I have not had any patients contacting me about medical error from integrative medicine.
There are literally hundreds of potential actions that could be taken to decrease medical error and harm — yet for decades medical error remains the 3rd leading cause of death and the vast majority of those are from conventional medicine, not integrative. It seems logical that any patient safety efforts should begin with preventing the high number of deaths caused by conventional medicine.
As you are aware from the 2018 Care Now report and from every Statistics Canada Canadian Community Health Survey, ME patients are medically marginalized, have the highest unmet medical needs, and lowest quality of life. Near zero research funding, zero medical education, zero treatments.
This all contributes to the physical suffering that causes high suicide rates in ME patients (ask any politician about their ME constituents seeking MAID).
Since ME is medically neglected, obtaining appropriate health care in our current system is nearly impossible. Fortunately, there are a handful of physicians who know about ME and how to treat symptoms.
Unfortunately, the CPSO’s draft policy will effectively eliminate those physicians from providing appropriate ME care. This will drive down the already very low quality of life for ME patients, and drive up suicides to escape increased suffering.
Let me be perfectly clear on this point: the only reason I am able to work part time (from home) and do some patient safety advocacy is because of access to off-label medications from my doctor.
Under CPSO’s draft policy, I will not have access to those medications and my already delicate health will assuredly deteriorate. I will not be able to work or do patient safety advocacy.
I will be forced onto provincial disability and its starvation income support. I will not have enough money for supplements my body needs from poor absorption.
[redacted]
I feel that everyone has the right to choose what type of treatment they wish to pursue. The government has no right to interfere.
Dear committee members,
As a health care provider, i read this draft policy with concern for its impact on my patients and their access to culturally relevant and complementary and alternative care. The document appears to suggest that all forms of healing that are not conventional, ie Western, have limited or no evidence. This is simply not true and suggests to me that the draft committee members are not informed or aware of the vast literature and research evidence supporting many different complementary and alternative treatment methods.
For example, categorizing meditation as CAM is problematic given that there are a) many types of meditation and b) extensive research supporting some types of meditation.
I would highly suggest the committee include members who are familiar with the subject matter so that the policy is reflective of what the current state of research and evidence are.
Secondly, the draft policy does not consider the inherent bias in evidence-based practice that excludes treatments that are not profitable to research such as the traditional healing practices that might effectively support Indigenous health development or the health of other marginalized communities.
Cultural context needs to be taken into consideration.
Yes..agreed!
I have found on several occasions that alternative medicine solved health issues that had not responded to more conventional methods.
I agree.
American Board of Integrative Medicine
Response in PDF format
This is very dictatorial. We live in a free country. The patient must be free to choose their own care, given that they are capable of doing their own research and deciding what feels best to them. The government has no right to take away that freedom. Under the same rules, I would like to see conventional doctors tell their patients what their prescribed medications can do to them.
Do you know what side effects a simple pain reliever like Advil has? Let’s see: “ may cause an increased risk of serious cardiovascular thrombotic events, myocardial infarction, and stroke, which can be fatal. This risk may be increased in patients with cardiovascular disease or risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Ibuprofen is contraindicated for the treatment of peri-operative pain in the setting of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. NSAIDs can also cause an increased risk of serious gastrointestinal adverse events especially in the elderly, including bleeding, ulceration, and perforation of the stomach or intestines, which can be fatal. More common:
Abdominal pain
acid or sour stomach
belching
bloating
cloudy urine
decrease in amount of urine
decrease in urine output or decrease in urine-concentrating ability
diarrhea
difficulty having a bowel movement (stool)
excess air or gas in stomach or intestines
full feeling
heartburn
indigestion
itching skin
pain or discomfort in chest, upper stomach, or throat
pale skin
passing gas
nausea
noisy, rattling breathing
rash with flat lesions or small raised lesions on the skin
shortness of breath
swelling of face, fingers, hands, feet, lower legs, or ankles
troubled breathing at rest
troubled breathing with exertion
unusual bleeding or bruising
unusual tiredness or weakness
vomiting
weight gain
Less common
Abdominal cramps
stomach soreness or discomfort
Rare
Agitation
back, leg, or stomach pains
bleeding gums
blistering, peeling, loosening of skin
blood in urine or stools
bloody, black, or tarry stools
blurred vision
burning feeling in chest or stomach
change in vision
chest pain
chills
clay-colored stools
coma
confusion
constipation
cough or hoarseness
dark urine
decreased urine output
depression
difficulty breathing
difficulty swallowing
dilated neck veins
dizziness
dry mouth
extreme fatigue
fast, irregular, pounding, or racing heartbeat or pulse
fever with or without chills
frequent urination
general body swelling
general feeling of tiredness or weakness
hair loss, thinning of hair
headache
hives or welts
hostility
impaired vision
increased blood pressure
increased volume of pale, dilute urine
irregular breathing
irritability
itching
joint or muscle pain
lab results that show problems with liver
lethargy
light-colored stools
loss of appetite
lower back or side pain
muscle twitching
nosebleeds
painful or difficult urination
pains in stomach, side, or abdomen, possibly radiating to the back
pinpoint red spots on skin
puffiness or swelling of the eyelids or around the eyes, face, lips, or tongue
rash
red skin lesions, often with a purple center
red, irritated eyes
redness of skin
seizures
severe abdominal pain, cramping, burning
severe and continuing nausea
sore throat
sores, ulcers, or white spots in mouth or on lips
stiff neck or back
stomach upset
stupor
swollen or painful glands
tenderness in stomach area
thirst
tightness in chest
unpleasant breath odor
upper right abdominal pain
vomiting of blood
vomiting of material that looks like coffee grounds
wheezing
yellow eyes and skin.
And this is just for Advil! Imagine if a conventional doctor had to tell their patients what side effects Lipitor has, or most antibiotics, or heart medication. But they don’t tell you. Because they are not obligated to, or it is not enforced, and because we have been conditioned to accept the side effects of conventional drugs and turn a blind eye to it, and because our government pretends that drug companies have people’s best interests at heart. It is all about money and profit.
Leave the choice in the hands of the patient. Be fair. We are not under a fascist regime so don’t treat us as if we are.
I strongly protest the decision by CPSO to limit the availability of complimentary and alternative medicine. There is plethora of evidence suggesting that a holistic approach is key to proper healing. in 2014 I was diagnosed with moderate pan colitis. My Gastroentrologist at the time encouraged me not to take any natural supplements and expected to put me on remicade, a $20,000/yr treatment. I took various natural supplements along with a prescribed lower gastrointestinal anti-inflammatory and this meant I did NOT need to go on remicade. My current regimen of natural supplements and my prescribed medication costs $4000. That’s a savings of $16,000 for the government because they cover the costs of my drugs. Furthermore, I was diagnosed with severe depression in 2017. My inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is strongly triggered by stress and anxiety. I was diagnosed with severe depression in 2017, and this aggravated my IBD more, which worsened my depression, so I ended up on ODSP. In 2018 I started a mindfulness and meditation series that has significantly reduced my depression and anxiety and led to me being healthy, working full-time and not needing support from ODSP. MY GE, GP and Psychiatrist will all attest to this. So not only has a holistic approach to treatment helped me go back to a normal life after suffering from debilitating illness, but it has also saved the government a significant amount of money. This decision by CPSO to restrict CAM is myopic and does not put the interests and welfare of patients first.
The new CAM policy is negatively biased against Functional and / or Integrative Medicine Physicians and will make it easier for the CPSO to discipline doctors who practice Integrative Medicine. I have worked with traditional doctors for my health and it continued to decline. After seeing a Functional Medical Physician, my life turned around for the better. I was headed down a path for permanent disability and now I am vibrant, healthy, full of energy and feel healthy. From seeing a Functional / Integrative Medical Physician I am living a healthy, pain free life and I am so grateful. I am now able to function as a healthy member of society. This is something that was slowly diminishing with traditional medicine.
Your proposed policy will rob me of my right to obtain the care that I need and want. It will also discourage innovation in the Ontario healthcare system. Please allow me the ability to be the most healthy person I can be.
I work as a regulated CAM practitioner in integrative supportive care for cancer patients. Already, cancer patients in Ontario feel so confused, frustrated and torn because they can see themselves in numerous studies that CAM has so much to offer them, from symptom relief to quality of care to — yes, if you look at the evidence — often survival benefits, and yet they are often discouraged from doing anything other than their conventional treatments, due to fear. Ontario is one of the most conservative places in the world for cancer treatment. Patients deserve informed, integrative care.
I have used CAM for myself and family for over 40 years and have seen hundreds of practitioners, practicing a very large number of modalities. I have NEVER ONCE met a practitioner who was unethical and who wasn’t dedicated to the safest and best outcomes. As a Masters level RN, I can say that our system is broken in its lack of willingness to have a collaborative relationship with naturopathic doctors and other practitioners of non- conventional medicine. The research for less interventionist approaches exists! Look in the literature! The money is not there for massive studies but there are studies none the less. And really? Are we going to wait for numerous RCTs before recommending safe therapies? Why?
Science is about BEING OPEN TO POSSIBILITIES. We don’t know what we don’t know.
I agree. I should have the right to chose which kind of treatment I prefer to take. There is a place for conventional medicine and there is a place for functional medicine. The latter one being a lot less invasive. I strongly believe that the body should be treated as a whole. If I have a leak on a wall, I don’t just go and fix the area; I have to find out where the leak comes from and fix that first. So is the human body and it should be treated as a whole. I think that there is where conventional medicine fails. It’s time that conventional medicine advance with the ages.
Response in PDF format
It is my desire that the mission of the medical profession will be truly driven by seeing people become healthy or maintain their health. This should involve complementary and alternative medicine. Unfortunately, the political, medical, and media responses to this pandemic have not embraced this. What has been seen is a fear-based approach of masking, staying indoors, and waiting for a vaccine. At no point has there been a concerted effort from the medical community or the government to endorse the promotion of good health through exercise, diet, supplementation, sunshine, and vital social interactions.
It was an Alternative Health Practitioner who took a surprising medical history asking questions which included how is your sleep, what is your energy level, let’s look at your posture, provide me with a week’s food log so that I can understand your diet and nutrition, tell me about exercise, how much/what kind of water do you drink, how do you feel about your work, do your close relationships nourish you, and most of all – tell me about your bowel movements! I have a good family doctor but it is a complementary health care practitioner who sees me as a whole person, not a group of disconnected physiological bits and pieces. We are complex and dynamic beings. Healthcare is both art and science. Both disciplines are important. And much more research (not funded by any party which stands to profit) is needed.
I’d like to know how many doctors secretly feel that they really aren’t helping their patients the way they would like to. How many are recognizing that their patients are getting more and more knowledgeable on how to keep themselves healthy and are losing faith in conventional approaches? How many do not like the idea of prescribing drugs with such serious side effects and would love to have the freedom to explore other alternatives, including other modalities that address the UNDERLYING CAUSES of diseases they are seeing and not just try to get rid of the symptoms being presented? The biggest flaw that I can see in “modern medical science” is the glaring absence of the role of the psyche (thoughts and emotions) in the cause of disease. It’s as if such medicine sees the human body as little more than a convenient container for chemicals. Since conventional doctors receive absolutely no training that includes the mind and emotions, I, personally, choose not to see a regular doctor more than once every year or two, unless for something like a fracture, which is easy to diagnose correctly. Furthermore, I’ve learned how to keep my own body in balance, hence, in a state of good health (using alternative methods forbidden to my doctor). Proof: at the age of 78, I take absolutely no medications and see no reason to ever take them.
Patients should have the right to choose to be treated with alternative medicine. Our options or our freedom to choose should never be disregarded . People turn to alternative medicine when conventional medicine has not worked. I have had many experiences and seen many others with positive experience using non- conventional methods where mainstream medicine has either not offered an option, or where they were only offered an option that did not support the body, just over-ride the symptom.
Cleveland Clinic Canada
Response in PDF format
I would like to have the opportunity to choose what form of treatment would work best for me. I disagree with limiting my doctor’s ability to present alternate forms of treatment and think it limits their ability to provide the best and most personalized care for each individual.
The patient can be informed of all of the options available and make an informed decision based on that information.
I think we are capable of making those choices and the decision should be ours and not governed or restricted by the CPSO.
I am appalled at the proposal. I wonder how much big pharma and other interest groups have been involved as a pressure on proposal. How many older and even younger doctors have had the opportunity to be trained in an integrative aproach. not been trained in a more integrative approach they could be threatened or nieve. Different strokes for different folks. Inclusion not exclusion is called for. Let’s more towards unity and collaboration between healt care bodies.
I for one am healthy and strong and benefit from a more open approach to what works for me best.
100% agree that each individual should have the right to choose which treatment works best for them. Alternative treatments should not be dismissed by conventional medicine! They should be embraced and used in conjunction with conventional treatments if necessary. Before Rockefeller & Carnegie changed medical schools’ curriculum …natural/alternative medicine was very much a part of any medical doctor training! Only greediness led to throwing out the natural treatments (which are highly effective, much cheaper, and affordable for everybody). But…why now? Isn’t Big Pharma making enough money? Are we on route to tyranny and total control of the population? What is the agenda? IN GOD WE TRUST and yet, science didn’t prove God exists!
Please, do not take away or make it harder for the people to chose to be treated with a complementary or an alternative medicine. We, the people, should have that choice to choose the type of treatment we want so don’t take this right away from the physicians. If we don’t want any conventional treatment, then that is our choice to do so. Stop controlling our lives. Also, science has been proven to be wrong. We can’t trust your conventional scientific data anymore. I’ve come to realize that conventional treatment just doesn’t work and they only create more havoc on the system, resulting in more side effects.
Note: Some content has been edited in accordance with our posting guidelines.
[redacted]
Your attempt to block doctors from using alternative and functional medicine in their practice will eventually backfire as more and more people come to the realization that their doctor and your organization do not have their best interests at heart. Western medicine, with a few notable exceptions is a farce and hardly worth the money that is siphoned from the taxpayer every year. Alternative and functional medicine are the evil empires of allopathic medicine. Prevention and cure are “non grata” in your profession. How anyone can conclude that their doctor will be of help to them boggles the mind.
If I want real health care and real medicine I go to an alternative doctor. If need western style medicine that incorporates functional and integrative principles and it is not available in Ontario then I get on a plane and get the proper care in another country. Or, with modern technology I use telemedicine to get superior care. The only somewhat acceptable use for western medicine if you are in a car accident, burnt to a crisp in a fire or fall off a building.
Friends of mine, many with more than enough money to get medical treatment in Canada, opt to go to Turkey for hair transplants or Columbia for dental work. Superior care and expertise at a fraction of the cost. I can go on and on as how other countries and cultures are doing is better and cheaper, much better and much cheaper than Ontario.
[redacted]
As for me I ignore western medicine as my focus is on preventative health through natural methods. Many of my friends that chose to listen to their doctors are either sick, very sick or dead. The difference is glaring.
[redacted]
Why is it that as we learn more about the diversity in our species, the pharmaceutical industry is allowed to muscle CPSO into reducing diversity in health care? Are they not making enough profit? Are they feeling threatened by the success of alternative medicine in providing SAFE, APPROPRIATE treatment for citizens who have not been helped, and, in some cases, even hurt by the treatments that have been prescribed by the pharmaceutical industry? In my community, which goes beyond my immediate family, there are many people whose bodies are in need of alternative choices. We resent being told that one size is beneficial and safe for us, when our bodies are telling us otherwise. As well, we don’t want to experience the long list of side effects that we see disclosed on the packaging of pharmaceutical prescriptions, especially if we are allergic and sensitive to many things. We, as citizens of the planet, have basic rights that include safety and well-being and choice. Why is our government even considering ignoring these rights to pander to a one size fits all monopoly?
In closing, given the limited timeline on the research and feedback for the pharmaceutical industry’s distribution of vaccines for COVID they have a very weak argument re: questioning the validity/safety/science of alternative treatments many of us have been using for many years without side-effects and with success.
Ontario Lyme Alliance
Response in PDF format
Just because there is “scientific evidence” means nothing. Over the years I have been prescribed some of the worst products by doctors. When I complained about how horrible this brand of contraception pill was – I got no further help. In fact had surgery when my problem could have been cured with an iron supplement. It’s my body and it’s between me and my doctor what works best. Stop filling the drug company’s pockets. I no longer trust a doctor that doesn’t use alternative products.
Another freedom of choice taken away, this is insanity. The witch trials of the modern age. This cannot be happening. We need to stop this, how crazy is this all becoming. Sorry, but I have to say this, just because you spend 10+ years learning “medicine” (basically suggestions of filling precriptions until you may get something right) does not make you an expert on alternative medicines that have been around for thousands of years, prior to the conventional chemical medicine based practioners of last 150 years, they are basically trial and errors and people are more sick today than they have ever been. I have a right to choice. PERIOD!
I totally agree, it should be up to the doctor and patient to decide on the course of treatment.
In regards to your article on Integrative medicine. Read it with interest.
For years I considered myself fairly healthy. One annoying issue was nausea and spontaneous vomiting which couldn’t be resolved.
I just got “used to it” as a way of life. My family Dr. had met an integrative specialist and suggested I see her to see if we could get to the root of this nagging problem. After tests were done,it was discovered I was celiac. Remembered that my mother said I was celiac as a child and was on a very special diet for one year. I was told this problem is not something that disappears. After eliminating gluten I have not had my past problems and feel so healthy now at 80 years old.How that Dr.in my past knew that was my problem at 2 years old is astonishing.He was a well known pediatrician. I am also allergic to most drugs(maternal line) and the specialist is aware and very cautious about prescribing.
Over the years it was difficult to get across to Doctors what makes me ill until I met a Dr. who has the same reactions to drugs. I have stuck to natural solutions on my own. Have a Dr. of natural medicine and Homeopath who I can consult. I also do have a family Dr. who now does understand my issues.
Also recall my mother going to hospital several times and on oxygen and it was not determined what was wrong with her until one of their bridge partners who was also a respected doctor looked at her drugs–told her to dump them all. She got a lot healthier after that. Apparently her mother and sister had the same and after finding maternal cousins on ancestry it seems to be a recurring theme.
I do believe that traditional Drs. are becoming more open to alternate therapies. Long road ahead though.
Integrative Medicine can work wonders for some. I don’t understand the verbal abuse that these specialists get from “regular” doctors.
They should welcome any therapy that could help their patients. Do they fele threatened?
My daughter who lives out West has a family Dr.(male) who definitely will work in conjunction with alternate or integrative specialists.
How wonderful that is!
Besides being fragmented into specializations, conventional allopathic medicine addresses symptoms and disregards culturally diverse, sound treatment methods.
SUMMARY OF CAM POLICY: FIRST, IT HAS BEEN READ SEVERAL TIMES, REPRESENTING MY SELF I DO NOT GIVE MY CONSENT TO SUCH POLICY WHERE THEORETICAL PROBLEMS ARE CREATED AND THEN SOLUTIONS ARE MADE CALLED POLICY. THIS POLICY IS UNCLEAR, CONVOLUTED. EXAMPLES:IN YOUR FIRST PARAGRAPH POLICY UNDER PARAGRAPH “a” and “b” is true, under “C” and “D” interference with the terminology conventional treatment in unconventional way. Best to my knowledge and understanding the ALTERNATIVE INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE DEALS WITH WHOLESOME PERSON BEING, THUS SEEKS FINDS ITS BEST REMEDY TO SUCCEED IN PROMOTING TRUE HEALTH, SUPPORT AND PREVENTION FOR DISEASE, WHILE THE CONVENTIONAL SEGREGATES THE PATIENCE THUS MAKES MANY MISTAKES THAT ARE PROVEN IN HIGHER PERCENTAGE TO BE FATAL TO THE PATIENCE. THE POLICY AS MOST OF THEM IMPLIES HIEARCHY, THAT SOMETHING IS ABOVE THE NATURE ABOVE THE HIGHER WISDOM, YOU PEOPLE NEED TO WORK TOGETHER TO SAFE PEOPLE’S LIVES, NOT TO BE ABOVE EACH OTHER, SO NO THIS POLICY DOESN’T STRIKE ANY BALANCE, DOESN’T PROVIDE ANY USEFUL GUIDELINES, BUT WHAT IT DOES CONFUSES, DELAYES, AND INTERFERES HIGH TENDENCIES TOWARDS AS IF THE COMPLEMENTARY DOESN’T HAVE THE ABILITY FOR DISCERNMENT AND HIGH VOLUME OF TRUE INFORMATION AND EDUCATION ALREADY ESTABLISHED. DO NOT RECOMEND THIS IS PASSING. THANK YOU.
As an MD who been practising integrative medicine for over 40 years, may I offer a few comments:
1. I have learned much from US physicians practising their specialty with an integrative/functional medicine perspective: functional neurologists, functional gastroenterologist, functional pediatricians, functional endocrinologists, functional gynecologists… These physicians have been leaders of the pack, frequently working in a university setting, but years ahead of what would be considered conventional practice here at home. So how do we define what is standard of practice? What is being done here, or what is being done by leaders of the pack? Will the CPSO CAM policy curtail us from following the advice of these pioneers?
2. What do we do with what could be called ‘orphan’ medical conditions, i.e., those which no medical specialty is willing to take on in a serious way: such as: fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, biomedical treatment of autism, chronic food sensitivities and other functional G.I. problems… In such cases there are no adequate guidelines, and we have to look to the few US physicians who have extensive clinical experience in dealing with such conditions. Will the CPSO policy expect us to keep our sites within the borders of Ontario?
3. I practice in a part of Ontario where Lyme disease and its co-infections are endemic. The infectious disease specialists in our area do not recognize the existence of chronic Lyme, and do not yet recognize the co-infections common in our area. Many persons end up going to the United States to find effective treatment. What do we consider to be standard of care, when the local standard of care is to say that the person’s condition doesn’t exist?
4. Similarly, I ask what parents are to do when their child has clinically obvious PANDAS or PANS… All too often these parents encounter pediatricians who say that the condition does not exist, and that the underlying problem is just bad parenting. I have seen such parents reported to Children’s Aid because they sought medical treatment for their child. Meanwhile, there are functional pediatricians in the US who are very familiar with both conventional and CAM approaches to these conditions. What will the CPSO policy say about physicians who dare to take this problem on as medically treatable?
5. Complementary Medicine is quite a broad term, and some treatments included in this term bear little relationship to standard medical practice (homeopathy, acupuncture, bioenergetic therapy, various types of body work, hypnotherapy, etc.). If a physician were to practice in such an area, would it be sufficient for him/her to be very clear that they were NOT providing mainstream medical services, and if their patient had not already had an adequate medical workup, they should be seen by their primary care physician for this purpose. Consider the situation exists with psychiatrists, who will treat mood and behaviour disorders and leave the medical issues to the primary care physician…or an orthopedic surgeon, who will look at the bones, and leave everything else to primary care physician. Those of us doing functional/integrative medicine DO have to look very carefully at conventional medical diagnoses as a starting point to a systems analysis of a complex medical problems. But to expect all CAM physicians to adhere to this pattern might be overkill, particularly if they have chosen a particularly limited scope of practice.
6. I wonder how many physicians involved in drafting this policy were familiar with functional/integrative medicine… I think it would be appropriate to solicit input from a broad range of these physicians. For example, my colleague providing a response in December 10, 2020 defines alternative medicine as that which is NOT scientific. This is quite a reductionist view and does not take into account the value of clinical observation, the value to a patient being listened to and being shown compassion, and the power of the placebo effect. And then there is the vast scientific literature beyond the mainstream medical journals (Lancet, JAMA, New England Journal). Often support for some alternative medical procedures can be found in peer-reviewed papers in such journals.
7. Regarding the value of clinical observation: When I began using probiotics 45 years ago, my associates would have considered that unscientific, even though I observed clinically that they were quite useful in helping functional G.I. problems. 45 years later we have much greater understanding of the effect of the intestinal microbiome on overall health, and probiotics are becoming mainstream. Would the CPSO policy say I should have waited 45 years before starting to use probiotics?
7. In summary, I would warn that excessive bureaucracy stifles innovation and slows medical progress. (Remember the times when some physicians lost their licenses for treating duodenal ulcers with antibiotics.) Let the overwhelming principle be primum non nocere, and not go too far beyond that.
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Dear Dr. Nancy Whitmore,
I have chosen my medical doctor because she looks at the whole person and includes her wealth of knowledge in conventional medicine as well as alternative medicine when deciding which is the best approach to take to care for me and for my health issues. I have struggled and suffered in the past with doctors who have too quickly put me on antibiotics, for example I have had very good results when following the advice of my present doctor. She uses a holistic approach; so sometimes she puts me on conventional medicine and other times recommends more natural medications and supplements. I have complete faith in her advice and knowledge.
I think it would be a huge step backwards in the care of patients if doctors like mine were not able to provide a more holistic approach. I am confident that my doctor assesses all the approaches available that she is knowledgeable about in order to give me the best care. I would be very distressed if she would not be able to continue to do this in the future.
I truly hope that we can count on your support in allowing our integrative doctors to continue to provide the imperative and essential services to us as their patients.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
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I agree with many of the comments that were posted including the following:
The correct name for “conventional medicine” is “pharmacological medicine”. It is inferior in all cases in my experience for the treatment of chronic conditions. We need some leadership to learn functional medicine & natural medicine, and go away from pharmaceutical drug treatments. We need to wake up & see that the drug way is not correct for chronic illnesses in almost all cases. The public is becoming more & more aware of this & wanting it. Wellness clinics are flourishing. “Conventional Medicine” does extremely well with acute conditions, but is sadly getting further & further behind due to not learning functional & natural medicine for chronic conditions
It should be up to the doctor and the patient on what course of treatment they can take and tolerate. There is no reason that a doctor can’t determine that alternative methods of healing will help in conjunction with traditional methods. Appropriate consideration should be given to use less-invasive and less-harmful interventions, while addressing the whole person in addition to the disease. This is the basis of functional medicine. The government should not have the right to take away our choice or the doctor’s choice in these matters.
I agree that there must be proper policies to control CAM, but the inherent bias in the draft policy and survey is unacceptable.
It should be up to the doctor and the patient on what course of treatment they can take and tolerate. There is no reason that a doctor can’t determine that alternative methods of healing will help in conjunction with traditional methods. Appropriate consideration should be given to use less-invasive and less-harmful interventions, while addressing the whole person in addition to the disease. This is the basis of functional medicine. The government should not have the right to take away our choice or the doctor’s choice in these matters.
Pharma is a business. Making more and more money is the point. I believe they are attempting to manipulate CPSO into helping them do just that. I am very disappointed with CPSO in this matter.
The new CAM policy is negatively biased against Integrative Medicine Physicians and will make it easier for the CPSO to discipline doctors who practice Integrative Medicine. It is well known that many conventional doctors are not huge fans of alternative medicine, but that does not mean that patients should not have access to integrative healthcare. The CPSO should represent the needs and values of patients. If the new CAM policy is approved by CPSO Council in June, most of the doctors who provide integrative healthcare will be forced to change their practice or leave the province. This is an example of regulation that does little to promote patient safety but hugely impacts our access to healthcare. This means that I will lose my doctor, my treatment, or both.
Thank you,
[redacted]
Response in PDF format
Response in PDF format
Response in PDF format
Response in PDF format
Because of your update to your Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)policy it will make it harder for doctors to practice complementary and integrative medicine. I am a patient who uses these therapies and they have a significant positive impact on my health and quality of life. We, as a person should have the right to chose the therapy that we want!!! Please consider my request to stop this policy change!!
I have saved Ohip enormous sums of money only because I sought and was treated with complementary medicine when the medical field provided few options. If I had not travelled this path, my future health would have decreased and I would have eventually become a burden on the the medical system costing ohip in time and money, costing my employer in increasing sick days. Because of my actions, my responsibility to access alternative health care I was able to return to health at the time and maintain it for the future. Stop trying to hold onto your position, offer further courses to educate your doctors, the ability to refer to ND’s and complementary medicine when MD’s have no answers. Reward MD’s that have looked beyond the walls of conventional medicine and educated themselves, instead of punishing them. We need a 360 degree approach to illness and sickness complimenting each other. This is not an us or them. The analogy is the electric car. Eventually there will no longer be gas powered models. Do you want medicine in Ontario to stay stuck in the past, or are you willing to be part of the future? Didn’t MD’s create the opioid epidemic?
I am alive today because of complementary and alternative medicine. In 2006 when I was told by my Family Doctor that I had Mercury Poisoning and the Doctor could not help me. Once I made the decision that I wanted to live, I found help via the Alternative Medicine route. I would not be alive today if it weren’t for the alternative medicine path. I am grateful. The patient should have a choice and it is not right if that choice is taken away from us. It is not up to the government to decide what treatment option the patient chooses.
Thank you
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I appreciate the help and support of both complementary and conventional medical treatments. I am now in my 70’s, have raised 4 children with considerable health issues, cared for my parents and suffered health issues myself. We would never wish to go back to a time when conventional treatments were not available to us. I have at times however had to deal with health issues which have not been solved by conventional treatments.
At times conventional treatments have had adverse effects and we have been forced to look for alternative modes of treatments – often at great expense.
To assume the complementary treatments are automatically risky or lacking in effectiveness is to me quite wrong. There can also be risk and harm associated with conventional treatments.
Our family represents a variety of racial backgrounds and thus we have had exposures to a variety of treatment modalities. I appreciate the fact that we live in a country with one of the best health services available to us, but hope that our range of treatment options remain open.
It was a total relief to find a physician who is knowledgeable with both conventional and complementary medicine. I thought I had died and gone to heaven!! My doctor certainly does explain both treatment options, refers me to specialists when required and has guided me towards better health using both modalities. She and I know that improved health is a joint responsibility, and I sincerely hope that the treatment options that [redacted] can offer me continue to exist. My health depends on it.
With our global environment we are increasingly experiencing new cultures, understanding and ideas of healing that challenge our conventional and cultural perspectives. Like our global economy, we are experiencing growing pains. This is not a new debate, but is certainly becoming more important as the integration of cultures pushes our comfort zone boundaries.
Instead of limiting our perspective and supporting a fear based health system, should we not be looking ahead with enthusiasm toward embracing new paradigms rather than pigeon holing ourselves with fear and a lack of understanding.
Many practitioners coming from various countries bring with them a rich and new understandings and views of what “health” is and what it means to “be healthy”. Instead we relegate intelligent, educated, experienced individuals to menial jobs until they can prove compliance to our paradigm. My sense is that it is time we ditch the fear and wake up to the notion there are multitudes of approaches to every problem. We are not innate mechanical systems to be “treated” as such, being increasingly micro managed by “specialists”. Please don’t misinterpret, I am truly grateful there are “specialists” but not at the expense of rational consideration of the bigger picture. It is time to step back and embrace what it means to be whole, human, and healthy. What many “conventional” physicians lack, beyond humility, the “specialist” worldview, and a broad, well rounded education, is a truly appropriate amount of time to properly evaluate and follow through with a patient. It’s time we get back to reasonable expectations, that less can be more, that different is not a threat, that humans are both greedy and good and that evidence” is manipulable and not the holy grail of sanctity.
Environmental Sensitivities Coalition of Canada
Response in PDF format
- Attachment
The Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Assoc. of Ontario (MEAO)
MEAO is an organization that represents and supports the medical conditions of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Fibromyalgia (FM) and Environmental Sensitivities/Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (ES/MCS).
On behalf of the over 1 million people in Ontario who are living with these conditions, MEAO is responding to the proposed policy changes to “Complementary and Alternative Medicine”
In a separate submission, MEAO is also a signatory to a letter from an ad hoc group of advocates and organizations that focusses on the policy itself and the extent of research and practices around the world that support Integrative Medicine.
For this submission we are focusing on the impact of patients and their right to choose.
Currently there is no system of care for people with these conditions. A few patients are fortunate enough to find a physician that will support Complementary and Alternative Medicine or who are being cared for by an Integrative Medical physician. But these are few and far between – the practicing CAM or IM physicians are fully booked or people cannot afford the services as many of the treatments and services are currently not covered by OHIP, or only minimally covered on extended insurance coverage.
The policy as currently drafted threatens and puts at risk the patient’s ability and choice to access Integrative Medicine.
• The negative bias against Integrative Medicine is blatant. The policy implies that Integrative Medicine is unscientific and exploitative.
• It ignores the fact that there is much scientific evidence supporting more natural, innovative and less harmful options to support optimal wellness in patients. It further ignores the fact that Integrative Medicine is a Discipline recognized by the American Board of Physician Specialties.
• The requirement documentation of treatments are far beyond that which conventional physicians must do and are virtually impossible to follow. This opens up all Integrative Medical physicians to being disciplined and penalized by the College.
If this policy is put in place, the small number of physicians currently practicing integrative medicate will either be prohibited from providing this care or will leave Ontario.
The number of Integrative Medical physicians in Ontario are already very few with full patient rosters. And, as stated previously for many of us, the service is unaffordable.
As our members and several patients have said so clearly ……. ‘… It is our body. It is our right to choose. I have done the research. I am making informed decisions. It is my decision to proceed with treatments. It is not up to the Government or CPSO to take these choices away from me….’
We urge CPSO to withdraw the policy. To consult with leading Integrative Medical physicians around the world. Talk with other physician organizations around the world that not only recognize Integrative Medicine but who are promoting it and making it a requirement for physician education.
People living with these conditions feel that conventional medicine has failed them. That their conditions are often invisible, misunderstood, or treated as psychological.
• We need CPSO to have a policy that supports the Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Integrative Medicine – not add more barriers.
• We need more Integrative physicians, not less.
• We need more of these services covered under OHIP.
• We need appropriate research that builds on emerging practices
• We need to learn from other jurisdictions across the world.
We need CPSO to be a leader in this field – and withdraw this policy. Implementing this policy will set us back even further than we currently are. It will put lives at risk and certainly will impact the quality of life of many people in Ontario.
MEAO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
I have a science background & approach things skeptically. While there are lots of potions out there of no value, I attribute much of my good health today to a variety of modalities including traditional medicine and alternative approaches. Both are valid when used by open minded practitioners with a scientific approach, respect for facts & proof and the willingness to do the research. I have been able to control my allergies & other issues with accupuncture. I found that an old medication for thyroid issues worked better for me than the more current one in use. I believe in vaccinations. A pillar of our modern longevity. I sought out doctors who are open minded, are willing to present options & take the time with patients. Everyone should be held to a high standard but patients should not have their freedom to choose what has been proven to them to work. I would consider losing my freedom to choose my practitioners or to access treatments that I know have worked for me, a serious threat to my health.
Every man has an innate right of self-ownership, and no one has any inherent, a priori claim on anyone else.
In 1910, the Flexner Report was used to establish the biomedical pharmaceutical drug model as the gold standard of medical training, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, without regard for conditions of the host organism as the causal agent. When my body hosted stage 3 cancer an oncologist prescribed chemo and radiation. Instead, I chose alternative treatment that allowed my immunity to restore my biology.
I reject proposed revisions to CPSO’s existing CAM policy, and ask you to note:
1] AMR antimicrobial resistance http://www.icmra.info/drupal/sites/default/files/2019-11/ICMRA_Antimicrobial_Resistance.pdf
2] Clostridium difficile https://www.cdc.gov/cdiff/pdf/Cdiff-Factsheet-P.pdf
3] Vaccine injury https://informedconsentdefense.org
I ask CPSO to encourage ‘all’ physicians to collaborate and assess methods of treatment, to benefit patients in need. Thank you.
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Greetings and To Whom it May Concern:
I am writing to you with an urgent plea to reconsider the proposed changes to the CPSO’s policy on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM); and thereby protect my access to healthcare.
Ever since I moved to Toronto in 1980 & became a citizen; I found the most amazing doctors that have provided me with such improved healthcare from what I experienced growing up in the USA. I struggled with being Overweight, Thyroid problems and Bacterial Gastroenteritis and Diarrhea.
I have been blessed with doctors who sought alternative and complementary healthcare solutions that didn’t include drugs. This past 2020 Summer Physical that included approximately 50 various blood tests resulted in not one being outside the norm. The only drug I take is a small dose of Synthroid for my Thyroid and a few Supplements, like Wobenzym, to handle everything else.
I am now in my middle 70’s, active, [redacted] and healthy. Please, don’t take this care away from me!! I actually congratulated my main doctor, [redacted] for how well we’ve done together!
Respectfully,
[redacted]
After assessing more than 1,800 studies on homeopathy, Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council was only able to find 225 that were rigorous enough to analyze. And a systematic review of these studies revealed “no good quality evidence to support the claim that homeopathy is effective in treating health conditions.” [That says a lot about the “quality” of homeopathic “research”. In 225 years, the fantasy of homeopathy has produced zero scientific evidence].
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1800-studies-later-scientists-conclude-homeopathy-doesnt-work-180954534/
The NHMRC statement against homeopathy (and the full report) are available here:
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/resources/homeopathy#block-views-block-file-attachments-content-block-1
The NHS Clinical Commissioners in England came to the same conclusion in 2017 and strong recommended that homeopathic products not be prescribed (see page 14 of their report):
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Items-not-routinely-prescribed-in-primary-care.pdf
High Dilution Experiments a Delusion https://www.nature.com/articles/334287a0.pdf
CSPO needs to revise the classification of complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM). There should be three categories:
(1) Mainstream medical procedures, drugs and equipment that have been demonstrated to be effective by standard scientifically based research;
(2) Unconventional uses of existing scientifically/medically accepted conventional treatments, plus new treatments, practices and products based on conventional medical understanding and scientific reasoning; last (and of course least) are
(3) Unacceptable treatments, products and practices that have no scientific basis, and are based false assumptions, scientific illiteracy, ideology, astrology, imaginary energy fields, etc.
Items in category 3 include homeopathy, naturopathy, acupuncture, touch therapy, reiki, plus many others.
Recommendations:
(1) CSPO (and all such provincial medical associations) should have active committees that review medical practice in order to weed out and ban fraudulent, ineffective treatments in category 3. Practitioners of such bogus notions would of course be excluded from such committees,
(2) All medical schools should establish a mandatory class for students in which they are made familiar with the fatal flaws of category 3 CAM items, so they could dismiss these as treatments for patients.
Ideally, in the future, practitioners of bogus notions like homeopathy would be forced out of their fraudulent efforts, by legislation and by a properly informed public.
Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine, but which lacks biological plausibility and is untested, untestable or proven ineffective. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), integrated medicine or integrative medicine (IM), and holistic medicine are among many rebrandings of the same phenomenon. Alternative therapies share in common that they reside outside medical science, and rely on pseudoscience. Traditional practices become “alternative” when used outside their original settings without proper scientific explanation and evidence. Frequently used (appropriate) derogatory terms for the alternative are new-age or pseudo, with little distinction from quackery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
CAM co-opts useful procedures like diet and exercise into their fantasy world view in an effort to erroneously confirm their faulty beliefs. Patients should have some input for treatments they receive; however, patients choosing fraudulent treatments like homeopathy are grossly misinformed.
Homeopathy is THE poster child for scientific illiteracy and medical fraud. Homeopathy does not work due to the simple scientific fact that it CANNOT possibly work. The two main “principals” of homeopathy are that water has a memory, and the more dilute their “potions” are, the stronger they are. If these so-called “principals” were true, it would contradict everything we know about chemistry and physics; how likely is that?
There is absolutely NO scientific evidence that supports the efficacy of homeopathy. Every single properly conducted scientific study demonstrates that homeopathy does not work. And no, the so-called “research” by totally biased individuals such as Montagnier, Tiller, Manzalini, Mathie, etc. absolutely does not provide any scientific evidence for homeopathy.
For the credulous believers of homeopathy, read some real science and be enlightened:
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/category/homeopathy/
https://theness.com/neurologicablog/?s=homeopathy
“Homeopathy is nonsense and superstition diluted beyond all reason and given as a remedy to the grossly misinformed or scientifically illiterate.” Steven Novella, MD
“The “theories” behind homeopathy’s purported efficacy would, if true, overturn most of modern chemistry, physics and biology; and the first person to demonstrate in a scientifically valid and repeatable manner that homeopathy actually has any of the claimed effects and properties, will likely receive Nobel prizes for chemistry and medicine, plus the endless gratitude of humanity for coming up with effective remedies that are exceedingly cheap, childishly simple to produce, and guaranteed without side effects. (And yes, this already sounds too good to be true, even without getting into any details.)”
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Homeopathy
Homeopathy aside,there is much misinformation in the statements above. It is egregious to label the discipline of Integrative Medicine as rebranding of that “which lacks biological plausibility and is untested, untestable or proven ineffective.” Besides the plethora of scientific studies which would counter this contention, please explain why Harvard, Yale, Stanford, the Mayo Clinic, to name just a small few, have educational, research and clinical programs in Integrative Medicine.
My life was saved by an alternative treatment and I use supplements that have made my life far more enjoyable. The doctors I talked to could not help me so I am adamant that in a free country we should be able to choose what medical route we take. To limit people to traditional medicine only is a very biased viewpoint. Why not recognize the good in each profession, respect each other and let people have the best of both worlds.
I have literally spent hours reading, parsing and trying to understand CPSO’s revised CAM policy and the reasoning behind it. None of the proposed changes make any sense and I am left believing that there’s a Regulatory Wolf hiding in Integrative Medicine clothing. Why would CPSO limit physicians from offering treatment modalities that may help patients? This is baffling, and I know of what I speak.
I have a severe, chronic autoimmune illness. For 18 years I worked alongside traditional, dedicated, knowledgeable MDs to get better. Over this two-decade period, I was on many different medications and underwent many different procedures. These caused life-altering complications, my disease only remained static or worsened, but I endured.
Three years ago, I met another, equally dedicated, knowledgeable MD who also practices CAM. It is not hyperbole for me to say that this MD changed my life. Five months after she started acupuncture treatment and nutritional support, I was off all medication and returned to work for the first time in fourteen years. Five months! I continue to feel healthy and it’s clear that if it weren’t for CAM, I’d still be in and out of hospital, tinkering with various prescriptions, hoping for something more than just the ability to endure.
The idea of other patients being denied access to potentially helpful CAM treatments because CPSO is going to make it harder for physicians to offer them is, as I said, baffling. Please hear me: Integrative Medicine is critical to good patient care. I am living proof.
I am posting this because. for the second time, the survey kicked me out when I clicked in something in a word document where I was copying my answers to the questions. The survey said that one could leave and go back to it later, which I don’t think was true, because both times I was shut out. Permanently.
So…what to do? I’m very tired and yet I would like to have my voice heard or seen, at least. I’m sure you won’t read all my answers, so I will pick a few and send them to the Discussion page. If that page is taken down on the 31st or my posts never make it I will be very, very disappointed and frustrated.
Q: about risk/benefit:
A: Please keep in mind that virtually all of the people who come to me have been investigated and treated by mainstream doctors/surgeons. Many have had multiple surgeries. They have come to me because symptoms and/or dysfunctions remain and/or they wish to discontinue Rx medications that have serious side effects or addiction potential. I always take a full history and get the details of imaging reports, as appropriate.
It would be a huge waste of time for me to review all the possible conventional treatments. I am not functioning in a standard family physician practice. Most of the individuals I see have a family physician who looks after their routine health management but have not been effective in controlling or ridding them of pain or other symptoms. Some are referred by their FP or a specialist but many come on their own because they wish to try a different approach to improving their quality of life and they have heard that I am often able to do that.
Of course, one has to always weigh risk/benefit. When weighing the benefits and risks of acupuncture there is always near zero risk and benefits that may range from a low to a very high possibility of improvement but are always higher than the risk. With respect to nutrition, the benefits will always be higher than the risk, since the risk is minuscule.
The list above does not include personal choice of the patient. Many people come to me because they want to use treatments that are not drug-focused and their own learning has shown them that nutrition is important. I see other practitioners’ patients and can personally attest to the disturbing frequency of polypharmacy (e.g. 14-15 Rx’s). Universally, there appears to be no understanding by the prescribers of the consequences of the depletion of nutrients by medications. Worrisome examples are PPIs which deplete Mg, interfere with B12 production and interfere with digestion of protein; another is the lack of prescribing of CoQ10 when statins are prescribed. I have NEVER seen a person on these drugs who had been told by the prescriber to take supplements of these nutrients to offset the effect of the drugs. Mg is essential to every cell in the body and the consequences of low Mg in tissue can be fatal. Serum levels of both calcium and magnesium are controlled, so blood tests do not accurately indicate sufficiency. Most docs think that serum Mg in the “normal range” means the patient has enough, but symptoms of muscle cramps, constipation, poor sleep, depression, high BP, urinary frequency, exertion-induced asthma or heart palpitations can all be evidence of low tissue levels of Mg.
Trying to salvage my survey answers that the system chewed up:
Q about telling our patients the extent to which the complementary or alternative diagnosis reached (if applicable) is supported by the conventional medical community;
• the rationale for recommending the treatment;
A:
I cannot see how it would be possible for anyone to know accurately the answer to the question of the extent to which the complementary or alternative diagnosis reached (if applicable) is supported by the conventional medical community. Usually the answer would be near zero, since the conventional medical community has shown itself to be rigid regarding any treatment that is not a Rx or surgery.
The lack of funding of research for non-patentable treatments makes it very difficult to have large studies that support the practice of acupuncture, for example, and the same is true for nutrition. There are only about 5 conditions that have been assessed for the Cochrane review regarding their success with acupuncture treatment. This, in spite of a huge body of scientific knowledge regarding the neurophysiology of acupuncture as well as fMRI studies of changes in the brain in response to acupuncture.
What I tell patients is the truth. If there is good evidence for a particular treatment, I say so. The other thing I have to go by is my 47 years’ experience that allows me to say that the chances of improvement are high or it’s likely to help. Since the risk is so low, even if the chances of improvement aren’t very high it may be worth a try. I have been pleasantly surprised at times when someone does very well when I was not sure I could get a good result. Some individuals are very responsive to acupuncture and it is remarkable how often they can be helped with a wide range of problems. The fact that I try to optimize their nutrition helps to get better outcomes too.
The requirements of this section of the policy are draconian in that if they were implemented it would be the end of CAM. I hope that is not the intention of the CPSO.
Q: About risk/benefit: sorry, don’t have a copy of all the questions. I got bumped out of the survey by some kind of glitch so am posting here.
A: The reason I say ‘somewhat’ is because I struggle to see how I could describe the risk benefit analysis for acupuncture and nutrition. There have been studies on acupuncture involving 250,000 treatments where there were 2 cases of pneumothorax. There have been some in Canada that I have heard of but I have never had any serious side effect in 47 years’ practice apart from a man with a Morton’s neuroma whose pain got a little worse after treatment many years ago and one man with tinnitus who said the volume went up 5%. That could have been because I was asking him to grade the volume so he was paying more attention to it instead of trying to ignore it as he had before.
As for nutrition, vitamins do not kill people. They are called vitamins because if you are deprived of one of them for long enough you will die.
Since the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is accountable to the Ministry of Health, this letter is notice that I reject CPSO’s proposed revisions to existing Complementary and Alternative Medicine policy.
Every man has an innate right of self-ownership, and no one has any inherent, a priori claim on anyone else. This includes the innate right to alternative and natural health care treatment of individual choice. Significant issues follow regarding the new draft of the policy, eerily similar to the 1910 Flexner Report that re-sculpted the practice of medicine in America, limiting options of treatment and care.
Conventional medicine does not have answers for all ailments. The new policy prevents conscientious physicians from collaborating, assessing, and accessing all available methods of treatment to benefit patients in need.
The new policy, if adopted, would prevent physicians from using natural and innovative treatments that benefitted thousands of people. Irrespective of their safe and effective benefits to patients, natural treatments would be unjustly considered unproven and therefore, disallowed.
Section 5.1 of the Ontario Medicine Act states:
‘Physicians shall not be found guilty of professional misconduct or incompetence solely on the basis that they practice a therapy that is non-traditional or that departs from the prevailing medical practice.’ This Section is included in the current policy and entirely omitted from the new policy, setting a deeply concerning tone for the intent of the entire policy.
Conventional medicine does not have answers for all ailments. The new policy prevents conscientious physicians from collaborating, assessing, and accessing all available methods of treatment to benefit patients in need.
Minister Elliott, I ask that CPSO uphold existing Ontario law Section 5.1 of the Medicine Act. The CPSO’s proposed revision, which would discipline physicians who use treatments that depart from prevailing medicine, is a clear contravention of Section 5.1. I also ask that you present my concerns to the CPSO, urge reconsideration of the draft policy that denies man’s inherent right to choose natural treatments, remove increased evidentiary requirements, include Section 5.1 reference, and include a CAM physician in the policy revision committee.
Ontario Citizen’s innate right to choose alternative and natural treatments deserves to remain a rightful place in the evolution of our health care system. Thank you.
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Dear Dr. Nancy Whitmore;
My name is [redacted], and I am writing with great concern re the policy changes
proposed by the CPSO to CAM.
As a retired registered nurse I am aware of the benefits of our conventional medical system, particularly in emergency situations.
However in the case of chronic illness, conventional medicine does not have the tools to address the issues.
I have experienced unresolved health issues for 20 some years, without any answers from the conventional medicine system.
My journey from conventional medicine to alternative, has helped me tremendously. I can attest to life changing benefits I have received with the help of CAM.
I would appreciate if CPSO, would review the following questions and provide the answers:
1. Why is it that patients have to seek answers and treatment outside of Canada?
2. Why are test results which have to be obtained outside of Canada not considered valid here?
3. Why is there such a lack of communication between the CPSO and CAM?
Thank you for considering better and more choices for residents of Ontario.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the consultation regarding the Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) policy. My comments concern the informed consent provisions in the policy.
Informed Consent Provisions
Obviously, no physician should administer therapies that have zero clinical benefit for the patient. The policy rightly cautions against that. The more challenging situation is when the CAM therapy has some clinical benefit and conventional therapy also has some clinical benefit. This is a paradigm situation of preference sensitive medicine. The conventional therapy may have more effectiveness but also more side effects. The CAM therapy may have lower effectiveness but also lower side effects.
How should the benefits and risks in these options be balanced? This is a value-laden decision reserved for the patient. The Policy rightly focuses on assuring that the patient has complete and accurate information sufficient to make an informed decision between CAM and conventional therapy. But the current draft of the Policy misses an opportunity to help best assure this.
Patient Decision Aids
Specifically, in 13(f), the Policy requires that physicians communicate “a clear and impartial description of how the treatment compares to . . . conventional treatment that could be offered.” Given the special risk of inadequate informed consent in this context, the CPSO should strongly consider at least advising (even if not requiring) physicians to use a patient decision aid. U.S. regulators are increasingly mandating the use of PDAs for preference sensitive interventions particularly vulnerable to under-informed patient choice.
Patient decision aids are evidence-based educational “tools” that help patients do three things. First, PDAs help patients understand the various treatment options available to them, including the risks and benefits of each choice. Second, they help patients communicate their beliefs and preferences related to their treatment options. Third, PDAs help patients decide with their clinicians what treatments are best for them based on their treatment options, scientific evidence, circumstances, beliefs, and preferences. PDAs do not replace the physician-patient discussion. They supplement and facilitate that discussion.
PDAs take various forms. They include educational literature with graphics, photographs, and diagrams. They also take the form of decision grids, videos, and website-based interactive programs such as sequential questions with feedback. No matter what form they take, the best PDAs provide an appropriate presentation of the condition and treatment options, benefits, and harms. They have three key advantages over the traditional informed consent process. First, the information in the PDA is accurate, complete, and up to date. Second, the PDA presents the information in a balanced manner. Third, the PDA conveys the information in a way that helps patients understand and use it. PDAs are truly patient-centered.
CAM Decision Aids
While PDAs have not been developed for all CAM therapies, there are PDAs for CAM in general. One is validated and available open access in the Ottawa Health Research Institute inventory. More are being developed, tested, and certified.
PDAs can help assure that patients get complete and accurate information presented in a balanced and unbiased manner. Indeed, growing evidence shows that most patients want an objective source like PDAs to inform them about the pros and cons of CAM therapies. In short, PDAs can facilitate the goal of section 13(f), “clear and impartial description” of how CAM compares to conventional treatment.
Conclusion
Section 13 of the Policy lists six separate elements (enumerated a to f) that physicians must communicate before providing complementary or alternative medicine. Seriously consider adding the following language to the end of section 13: “Physicians are advised to communicate this information with an evidence-based decision tool or patient decision aid when possible.”
1. See, e.g., Anaya-Burgos v. Lasalvia-Prisco, 607 F.3d 269 (1st Cir. 2010).
2. Complementary Medicine: Should I Use Complementary Medicine? https://decisionaid.ohri.ca/AZsumm.php?ID=1566.
3. See, e.g., Miek C. Jong et al., Development of an Evidence-Based Decision Aid on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and Pain for Parents of Children with Cancer, 28 Supportive Care in Cancer 2415 (2020).
4. See. e.g., Trine Stub et al., Communication and Information Needs about Complementary and Alternative Medicine: A Qualitative Study of Parents of Children with Cancer, 21 BMC Complement Med Therapies 85 (2021).
Unless all MDs are required to do this Step of PDA, it is practically impossible to do so in a regular day-to day practice.
If I want to prescribe feverfew to prevent migraine, it will take me half an hour extra to prescribe because this requirement. I will be force to choose a beta blocker, I will be knowingly choosing a more harmful choice for the patient.
MD-should evaluate in the head the risks and benefits but not have go through this artificial time consuming steps.
All pharmaceutical have a lot more risk , there is more necessity for a conventional doctor to do so.
I agree with the statement that it is not practical for ANY physician in daily practice. Also conventional medicine has more of a likelihood of adverse effects and risks than most CAM therapies. The College’s policies that apply to conventional medicine should also be applied to physicians offering CAM. That should be sufficient to protect the public. A double standard is not necessary.
Ontario Chiropractic Association
Response in PDF format
Response in PDF format
Is asking about “Race” not “racist” ?
In addition to being a highly clinically trained physician in Primary Care ( looking at the whole patient and their circumstances, I was a basic scientist with University appointments in both fields, by merit of competition ( not by my handy practice location to a University Hospital ). There are numerous references to “science/scientific” by many people, physicians and general public who often have no idea of what “science” really is. Although deliberately trying to sound authoritative, the language throughout is sloppy.
The CPSO regulates the practice of medicine by registered medical practitioners, and has authority to report persons who seem to be practicing medicine by those who are not.
Labels are often pejorative and misleading, deliberate or not. Integrative medicine “integrates” two or more modalities of practice, one of which must be “medicine”. “Alternative” medicine is either medicine or it is not. The CPSO is already mandated to decide. “Complementary” medicine also implies more than one modality. As some respondents have stated ot implied, it is NOT an alternative TO medicine. All these “regulations’ and “policies” are therefore completely redundant. The CPSO should drop the subject and deal with the purely political ( Communist ) disastrous and illogical novel practice of locking up the healthy in an overly alarmist “pandemic”, justified by the “science” of collaborating “top doctors” (who said ? ).
Greta Thonberg, a disturbed teenager, scowled at the whole World from the expensive podium of the United Nations and stated that it was “the science” that adults had destroyed her childhood and her future with carbon dioxide, a clear colourless and odourless gas, vital to plants and therefore to all life on Earth as we know it. Al Gore in 2000 said we would be irrevocably damaged by 2003. He made illicit billions for himself and others stemming from this. Big Pharma is good, sometimes, but how often do we know.
Respectfully, think again, and stick to what you know.
Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors
Response in PDF format
Response in PDF format
The way this policy is written, it removes the ability of conventional doctors to treat patients with conditions that are poorly understood based on emerging science. For example, 10-20 years ago, fibromyalgia was not a recognized condition. Treating fibromyalgia according to the emerging science would have contravened this policy had it been in effect. Conventional doctors must also frequently use medications that are ‘off-label’ uses – when on-label options have either been exhausted, or do not seem to have as good risk/benefit ratio for the specific patient in front of them. For example, using medications like Atacand for migraine. Or trying a medication like indomethacin for migraines that might be close to, but not exactly close enough to fit a diagnosis of ‘indomethacin responsive headache syndromes’. This policy document also fails to recognize the hundreds of treatments that conventional doctors recommend and use as part of accepted norms of care that have developed over 100s of years of use – without having been tested in rigorous double-blind studies. One of 100s of such treatments would include suggesting using heat to mitigate the pain of menstrual cramps. A literature search reveals that studies were still being conducted in the 2000s, and that exhausted meta-analyses (which would not constitute acceptable evidence by this new policy guideline either)-were still be written as of 2018! This does not mean that heat therapy has not been used and recommended for centuries, nor that it is somehow unsafe or risky. However, under these new proposed guidelines, a doctor would be unable to recommend it without risk of reprimand from the College. This policy also prevents conventional doctors from applying their vast experience and knowledge to treating emerging conditions like COVID-19 and it’s after effects including long-haulers syndrome. To say that a doctor needs to wait for a double-blind study to try a treatment that appears to have efficacy and safety based on it’s use for similar conditions, symptoms or underlying issues – would preclude a doctor from recommending improving one’s vitamin D status with supplemental vitamin D as soon as it began to be apparent that those lower in Vitamin D were more susceptible to COVID-19 – or at greater risk of more severe disease. We cannot handcuff our physicians – whether conventional or integrative – by creating such absurd policy guidelines.
I agree with many of the comments above which point out that the draft CAM policy is deeply flawed and will do great harm if enacted. For example, I agree that the draft policy contains a negative bias against CAM modalities that is unwarranted (there is robust evidence for many CAM treatments and integrative medicine is recognized and board-certified through the American Board of integrative medicine, etc.), that the new draft policy is too far-reaching and sets the bar TOO high for MDs using CAM approaches or using pharmaceuticals in non-traditional ways (i.e. off label), and that the new draft policy is dangerous in many other ways.
I urge the CPSO to withdraw the draft CAM policy write a new version that is unbiassed and patient centered. I suggest that you consult patients who use IM and IM practitioners to write a policy that regulates the field in a way that ensures patient safety, access to the best possible medical care and does not stifle medical innovation.
If enacted, the draft CAM policy will increase inequality. The draft policy discriminates against people who 1) don’t have a lot of money (and therefore cannot afford to travel to other jurisdictions and pay for medical care) and 2) are members of a stigmatized minority (ie. the chronically ill). Furthermore, while I do not have statistics, I would imagine that a majority of CAM users are women. And denying women, minorities and people who are economically disadvantaged access to healthcare and the freedom to choose integrative health care treatments that are informed by evidence and scientifically sound is not a good look for the CPSO.
From personal experience, I can attest that after years of seeing doctors in Ontario and trying to get help through conventional medicine (I still 100% believe in the benefits of conventional medicine…I’m excited to get my covid vaccine), my health has finally improved thanks to an IM doctor in the United States who prescribed a combination of supplements and medications (both ‘off’ and ‘on’ label medications).
I struggle with anxiety and instead of medication or prolonged time in a stress responses (that has been proven to ca