Dear Minnesotan,
HF1724 ,supported by the naturopathic doctors in Minnesota, has successfully passed the House on May 7, 2008 and is ready for its third reading on the Senate floor.
The measure is very moderate and would allow qualified naturopathic doctors to perform simple physical exams and order medical lab tests, and to protect titles 'Doctor of Naturopathy' ,'Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine', and their abbreviations, 'N.D.' and 'N.M.D.', just as Minnesota Statute 147.081 reserves titles 'medical doctor', and 'M.D' for the individuals who met certain educational and testing requirements.
The May 13 amendment ,introduced in the Senate finance committee, removes 'N.D.' from the protected titles.
This is equivalent to reserving title 'medical doctor' to the graduates of the University of Minnesota Medical School, but allowing anybody to identify themselves as John Doe, M.D., without any restrictions whatsoever.
This 'N.D.' amendment is in the interests of a special interest group, the unaccredited diploma mills and the individuals who scam the public with fake credentials.
The U.S. Senate had examined "Bogus Degrees" at the hearings before the committee on governmental affairs on May 11 and 12, 2004.
Unscrupulous individuals do use bogus naturopathic medical degrees to gain public trust. This does result in tragedy.
Recent Seattle Times special report looks at such occurrences, and the shadowy bogus credentials industry.
Naturopathic doctors supporting HF1724 are all graduates of 4-year post-graduate naturopathic medical schools. All of their schools are accredited by CNME, the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education, the sole body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the accrediting agency for professional programs leading to Naturopathic Doctor and Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degrees, the N.D. and N.M.D., just as the U.S. Department of Education recognizes LCME, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, as the sole agency accrediting programs leading to M.D. degree.
On the other hand, the bogus schools producing fake credentials are recognized as fakes by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation . Various states, Michigan in this example, use the CHEA diploma mill list for the purpose of
"...a listing of colleges and universities which are not currently accredited by an accrediting
body of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (www.chea.org). Degrees from these
institutions will not be accepted by the Civil Service Commission as satisfying any educational
requirements indicated on job specifications. Please note that this list is not all inclusive;
unaccredited schools will be added as we become aware of them.", to verify one's educational credentials.
On this list, you will find CCNH of Birmingham, Alabama, "the Clayton College of Natural Health – Alabama, page 5, Revised 4/23/2008".
Stephen Barrett, M.D. details CCNH's rich history under rubric "Clayton College of Natural Health: Be Wary of the School and Its Graduates" .
You will NOT find CCNH on the list of the accredited colleges in Alabama, published by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.
CCNH refers to its school of naturopathy as "NOn-Traditionally accredited" and claims to have granted over 10,000 naturopathy degrees and certificates.
There are over 100 unaccredited diploma mills of this sort in the United States, according to the Seattle Times report.
Compare this with accredited naturopathic medical schools that have to provide classrooms, instructors, labs, libraries, etc.... All of them combined only graduate several hundred naturopathic doctors each year.
The diploma mill interests are behind the efforts to deny naturopathic doctors the opportunity to practice their profession and the fair use of the credentials they earned the old fashioned way -- through hard work.
Please support legitimate naturopathic doctors, the real N.D.s.
C.C.
HF1724 ,supported by the naturopathic doctors in Minnesota, has successfully passed the House on May 7, 2008 and is ready for its third reading on the Senate floor.
The measure is very moderate and would allow qualified naturopathic doctors to perform simple physical exams and order medical lab tests, and to protect titles 'Doctor of Naturopathy' ,'Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine', and their abbreviations, 'N.D.' and 'N.M.D.', just as Minnesota Statute 147.081 reserves titles 'medical doctor', and 'M.D' for the individuals who met certain educational and testing requirements.
The May 13 amendment ,introduced in the Senate finance committee, removes 'N.D.' from the protected titles.
This is equivalent to reserving title 'medical doctor' to the graduates of the University of Minnesota Medical School, but allowing anybody to identify themselves as John Doe, M.D., without any restrictions whatsoever.
This 'N.D.' amendment is in the interests of a special interest group, the unaccredited diploma mills and the individuals who scam the public with fake credentials.
The U.S. Senate had examined "Bogus Degrees" at the hearings before the committee on governmental affairs on May 11 and 12, 2004.
Unscrupulous individuals do use bogus naturopathic medical degrees to gain public trust. This does result in tragedy.
Recent Seattle Times special report looks at such occurrences, and the shadowy bogus credentials industry.
Naturopathic doctors supporting HF1724 are all graduates of 4-year post-graduate naturopathic medical schools. All of their schools are accredited by CNME, the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education, the sole body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the accrediting agency for professional programs leading to Naturopathic Doctor and Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degrees, the N.D. and N.M.D., just as the U.S. Department of Education recognizes LCME, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, as the sole agency accrediting programs leading to M.D. degree.
On the other hand, the bogus schools producing fake credentials are recognized as fakes by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation . Various states, Michigan in this example, use the CHEA diploma mill list for the purpose of
"...a listing of colleges and universities which are not currently accredited by an accrediting
body of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (www.chea.org). Degrees from these
institutions will not be accepted by the Civil Service Commission as satisfying any educational
requirements indicated on job specifications. Please note that this list is not all inclusive;
unaccredited schools will be added as we become aware of them.", to verify one's educational credentials.
On this list, you will find CCNH of Birmingham, Alabama, "the Clayton College of Natural Health – Alabama, page 5, Revised 4/23/2008".
Stephen Barrett, M.D. details CCNH's rich history under rubric "Clayton College of Natural Health: Be Wary of the School and Its Graduates" .
You will NOT find CCNH on the list of the accredited colleges in Alabama, published by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.
CCNH refers to its school of naturopathy as "NOn-Traditionally accredited" and claims to have granted over 10,000 naturopathy degrees and certificates.
There are over 100 unaccredited diploma mills of this sort in the United States, according to the Seattle Times report.
Compare this with accredited naturopathic medical schools that have to provide classrooms, instructors, labs, libraries, etc.... All of them combined only graduate several hundred naturopathic doctors each year.
The diploma mill interests are behind the efforts to deny naturopathic doctors the opportunity to practice their profession and the fair use of the credentials they earned the old fashioned way -- through hard work.
Please support legitimate naturopathic doctors, the real N.D.s.
C.C.
3 comments:
Lloyd Clayton of CCNH also runs Chadwick University in Birmingham, AL, featured in February 11, 2007,
article "State’s diploma mills draw academic ire" by Adam Jones in Tuscaloosa News.
From the article "Its founder, Lloyd Clayton, could not be reached for comment. An office suite address listed for Chadwick in a four-story building on Birmingham’s Southside was labeled instead as the location of Magnolia Corporate Services. A call to a phone number listed for Chadwick went to voicemail for Magnolia Corporate Services, where Clayton’s name is listed first in its phone directory."
Wonderful letter. I hope it finds readers.
Well said.
I am forwarding this message to my
state's medical society.
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