medical acupuncture as practiced by M.D's in the U.S

[Guest guest]

Pesonally, I am not opposed to anyone with a proper medical license to practice

acupuncture, as long as they are required to designate which specific style(s)

which they are practicing in any advertisements to their patients or through any

other public communication. It would also be a good idea to require

practitioners to include the number of hours of training in their respective

styles either directly beside or below the practitioner's title in any form of

public advertising. Let's face it, how many m.d.s, d.o.s, or d.c.s are going to

be able to legally advertise that they have had 2700 hrs. or more of T.C.M.

training?....and I doubt if they would want to spend the time out from more

profitable modalities in their own Western practices to gain the 2700 hrs. above

the 100 to 300 hours that they presently should have. When a patient comes to

you whose treatments have been unsuccessfull from Western acupuncture, you could

easily point them to the 300 or so hours of training which should be required to

appear on their practitioner's brochures and business cards. I am very much in

favor of laws or regulations enacting the above, so that the public may make

their own free choice as to which style that they may prefer. In my opinion,

this would yield more positive results than urging legislators to keep certain

professionals from needling. It just makes us appear, it seems, that we are

afraid of competition.

 

If the wolf huffs and puffs at your door and you do not let him in, he will come

in eventually, through a rusted lock, weathered hinges, dry rotted frame,

etc....if you allow him to come in and destroy him with efficient weaponry, he

will not return.

 

I am aware there are some who believe that doctors, d.o.s, and chiros. should

not be allowed to perform acupuncture. To me, that's simply " running scared " .

It's simply saying, " I don't want you to compete with me in a tight market. "

It's like saying, " I've got a Chevy and you appear to have a Ford, but

everyone's going to think that because of your degree or title that your model

is made with Rolls Royce parts. If our own particular styles bear the right

armaments, we have no need to put a lock on the door to keep the wolves out.

 

Each acupuncture style should be able to stand upon the strength of it's own

merits, or perish, just as any other services or products marketable in our free

society will perish if they cannot compete.

 

Just as there are many styles of acupuncture allowable to be practiced among

LAc.s, (T.C.M., Five Element, Dr. Tan's, Dr. Tong's, etc.), who are those to

disallow anyone else their own particular style of acupuncture, as long as they

are properly licensed healthcare professionals and are legally required to

state emphatically to their patients and in all forms of public communication,

which particular style and maybe even how many hours of training that they have

had in each style.

 

By legally being required to disseminate which style(s) of acupuncture that each

practitioner uses, it would at least educate the public that there are different

styles available. At present, I'm afraid that a goodly portion of the public

think that all acupuncture is the same.

 

Those who are envious of or against doctors practicing acupuncture would seem to

serve themselves and their organizations in a more positive sense by organizing

and urging their legislators to enact laws requiring all practitioner's to " show

their cards " so to speak, in their advertising to enlighten the public that

their own style(s) might just be much more comprehensive and viable than, as

compared to say, Westernized forms of acupuncture.

 

Mike Eidson

 

 

 

-

Dr. W. W. Waldrope DOM AP

Tuesday, May 22, 2007 11:47 AM

[sPAM] Re: Hello from Rothenburg o.d.Tauber

 

 

Attilio,

 

What do you think of " medical acupuncture " as practiced by M.D's in the U.S.?

 

dr.w

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I like to designate fully trained acupuncture professionals as " Professional

Acupuncturist " , versus the MD/DO " Medical acupuncture " . It is up to our

professional organizations to educate the public as to the difference, I would

think.

David Molony

 

 

**************************************

See what's free at

http://www.aol.com.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I did a little digging around in my state, Arizona, to see what agency licenses

chiropractic acupuncturists. It is the state board of chiropractors. I haven't

checked on osteopaths and md's, but I imagine it is also their respective boards

which licenses them to practice " medical " acupuncture. It seems to me that

anyone practicing acupuncture, no matter what other professional licenses they

have, should be licensed by the acupuncture board. Does everyone agree?

Obviously, if I wanted to be licensed as a chiropractor, I'd have to be licensed

by the chiropractic board.

 

To drive this point home, I met a chiropractor Friday at a health forum. His

wife is also a chiropractor, and in addition, practices acupuncture. I tried to

get clarity from him about his wife's training, and he assured me she is a

" fully trained acupuncturist " . She is not listed with our state acupuncture

board, only the chiropractic board, with an additional acupuncture

certification. I think this is not only misleading, but should be illegal as

false representation.

 

Perhaps a starting point in this discussion is to work to ensure that

acupuncture boards oversee all licenses and certifications for acupuncture

practice. I don't think any other board has the expertise and qualifications.

Anyone have other thoughts on this?

 

 

 

acuman1 wrote: I like to designate

fully trained acupuncture professionals as " Professional

Acupuncturist " , versus the MD/DO " Medical acupuncture " . It is up to our

professional organizations to educate the public as to the difference, I would

think.

David Molony

 

**************************************

See what's free at

http://www.aol.com.

 

[Guest guest]

About 2 yrs ago there was a chiro college out of Dallas offering a 300 hr

acupuncture program in Ga to chiro's. The program stated they would be able to

pratice acupuncture after completion. It is not legal for chiros to practice

acupuncture in GA.

 

GA acupuncturist are licenced under the State composite medical board and we had

the composite board contact the college about the legality of the program. The

college dropped the program.

 

The interesting part of the exercise was the 2 instructors teaching were both

nccaom acupuncturist. We filed a complaint w/ nccaom against the 2

acupuncturist, however nccaom declined to file discipliner actions, stating that

it is not a breach of our code of ethics to teach courses because it was not

stated that nccaom would provide acupuncture recognition.

 

I found nccaom's logic difficult to follow around this issue.

 

 

Warren L. Cargal

 

 

 

>

> <

> 2007/05/27 Sun AM 09:55:34 EDT

>

> Re: Re: " medical acupuncture " as practiced by M.D's in the U.S "

>

> I did a little digging around in my state, Arizona, to see what agency

licenses chiropractic acupuncturists. It is the state board of chiropractors.

I haven't checked on osteopaths and md's, but I imagine it is also their

respective boards which licenses them to practice " medical " acupuncture. It

seems to me that anyone practicing acupuncture, no matter what other

professional licenses they have, should be licensed by the acupuncture board.

Does everyone agree? Obviously, if I wanted to be licensed as a chiropractor,

I'd have to be licensed by the chiropractic board.

>

> To drive this point home, I met a chiropractor Friday at a health forum. His

wife is also a chiropractor, and in addition, practices acupuncture. I tried to

get clarity from him about his wife's training, and he assured me she is a

" fully trained acupuncturist " . She is not listed with our state acupuncture

board, only the chiropractic board, with an additional acupuncture

certification. I think this is not only misleading, but should be illegal as

false representation.

>

> Perhaps a starting point in this discussion is to work to ensure that

acupuncture boards oversee all licenses and certifications for acupuncture

practice. I don't think any other board has the expertise and qualifications.

Anyone have other thoughts on this?

>

>

>

> acuman1 wrote: I like to designate

fully trained acupuncture professionals as " Professional

> Acupuncturist " , versus the MD/DO " Medical acupuncture " . It is up to our

> professional organizations to educate the public as to the difference, I

would

> think.

> David Molony

>

> **************************************

> See what's free at

> http://www.aol.com.

>

>