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Monday, October 05, 2009

Oriental Medicine Under Attack

By Larry Horton
Doctor of Oriental Medicine
          As a prominently quoted source for Colleen Heild's front-page coverage of oriental medicine's expanded practice in New Mexico, I wish to point out that this portrayal of recent events is typical of what doctors of oriental medicine practicing the expanded scope of their medicine have endured for the past nine years — that being continual innuendo and distortion of the truth regarding such practice.
        Intentional deceit is a curious behavior for someone charged with serving the public. Very often it has a tendency to blow up in one's face. But I won't, at this time, give my attention to John Pieper's persistent misrepresentation of fact. As dean of UNM's school of pharmacology, Pieper's unethical fiefdom on the board of acupuncture and oriental medicine will be revealed for what it is.
        I do, however, take exception to the most prominent examples of innuendo in this article. After all, innuendo is what drives public opinion and sells newspapers, isn't it?
        1. Your subtitle to Ms. Heild's article, "State Clamps Down on Amped-Up Drug Dispensing" is worthy of the National Enquirer, and suggests that we promote the use of drugs, when in fact we are utterly devoted to getting our clients off pharmaceutical drugs — permanently. Little wonder that we have powerful opponents.
        2. Next is the implied suggestion that expanded-practice DOMs are the bad boys and girls of oriental medicine, and that their renegade escapades warrant the heavy hand of bureaucrats to "save the public." Expanded practice DOMs have, for nearly a decade, responsibly and legally practiced some of the most advanced health care options available in the world today — without harm to patients, without incident. If an accurate representation of the truth is genuinely sought, one need go no further than speaking with our clients — the "public."
        3. I further take issue with the characterization of my practice as a freewheeling, country club playground where anything goes in the wild and zany quest for a quick high. Yes, we have a nice office in Albuquerque's Uptown area. Yes, many of our clients enjoy relative affluence. And we also serve individuals of such modest means that they can barely afford gas it to make their appointments — people who have suffered extensive abuse at the hands of both conventional medicine and "health" insurance. They are in our office because here they have found a source of true health care which not only provides desirable outcomes to their problems, but which is financially feasible.
        Dr. Sue Swanback and I devote the entirety of our professional lives to providing the most evolved health care on the planet to individuals at all levels of the financial spectrum. And we are rewarded with clientele who accept their own responsibility in achieving a high degree of health.
        Ms. Heild's representation that Myer's cocktails are "billed as a nutritional alternative to alcohol, providing clients a 'wonderful setup for a rejuvenating, invigorating weekend,'" provides a catchy lead to her story, but anyone who reads our Web site can easily discern that our "happy hour" (one more provision to make our services more affordable) is what is being described, not the Myer's cocktail. The Myer's cocktail is a remarkably effective means of facilitating metabolic changes that are simply unachievable by other means. It's one of many important tools, responsibly prescribed to individuals who are in need of this form of treatment, not a money-making scheme to entertain the rich, the famous, or those who consciously make indiscriminate health choices. Discrimination is held in high esteem in our office.
        I commend Ms. Heild for her interest in covering a subject which continues to be fraught with distortions of the truth. Powerful forces are at play in this thinly veiled attempt to advance their agenda and discredit our medicine. Hopefully Ms. Heild's courage and intelligence will prevail in future attempts to understand and accurately document this conflict to its conclusion. The struggle is approaching truly newsworthy status.