behind the times

[Guest guest]

I guess I am little behind the times. It appears California passed

legislation 2 years ago exempting lay herbalists from the medical

practice act, which had made all unlicensed herbal practice illegal in

CA. See some details at:

 

http://www.medicinebuddha.com/ayurvedic_distance_education_berkeley/

legality_of_Ayur-Ved/ayurveda_medicine_california.htm

 

While this means it is NOW legal for lay herbalists to practice in CA,

it also means it was considered illegal under the old medical practice

act. If you read the act below, you will see that it clearly included

all forms of treatment, regardless of semantics.

 

SB 577 amends current state legislation that classifies the

administration of many alternative health care services (including

massage) as a technical violation of the California Medical Practice

Act. Specifically, the act states that:

 

" Any person who practices or attempts to practice, or who advertises or

holds himself or herself out as practicing, any system or mode of

treating the sick or afflicted in this state, or who diagnoses, treats,

operates for, or prescribes for any ailment, blemish, deformity,

disease, disfigurement, disorder, injury, or other physical or mental

condition of any person, without having at the time of so doing a

valid, unrevoked, or unsuspended certificate as provided in this

chapter, or without being authorized to perform such act pursuant to a

certificate obtained in accordance with some other provision of law, is

guilty of a misdemeanor. "

 

What follows is the amendment that allows one to practice herbology or

any other healing system as long as one does not do a-f below.

Ironically, this law appears to give greater therapeutic scope to lay

herbalists than we have as L.Ac's. We are not allowed to prescribe

herbs to treat illness, per se, but only to restore health. This

practice act exemption appears to allow lay herbalists to basically

practice medicine with no training or examination. It allows them to

make dx and prescribe herbs to treat " any ailment, blemish, deformity,

disease, disfigurement, disorder, injury, or other physical or mental

condition of any person " . I believe our act actually restricts us from

doing these things.

 

SB 577 makes an addition to the existing Business and Professions Code:

 

Section 2053.5 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person who

discloses to a client that he or she is not a licensed physician shall

not be in violation of Section 2051, 2052, or 2053 unless that person

does any of the following:

 

(a) Conducts surgery or any other procedure on another person that

punctures the skin or harmfully invades the body.

 

(b) Administers or prescribes x-ray radiation to another person.

 

© Prescribes or administers legend drugs or controlled substances to

another person.

 

(d) Recommends the discontinuance of legend drugs or controlled

substances prescribed by an appropriately licensed practitioner.

 

(e) Willfully diagnoses and treats a physical or mental condition of

any person under circumstances or conditions that cause or create great

bodily harm, serious physical or mental illness, or death.

 

(f) Holds out, states, indicates, advertises, or implies to a client or

prospective client that he or she is a physician, a surgeon, or a

physician and surgeon.

 

 

 

Chinese Herbs

 

 

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