HCR441 final paper

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Arizona State University *

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441

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Medicine

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Apr 3, 2024

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1 Final Paper Jenna Nguyen Arizona State University HCR 441: Legal and Ethical Issues Impacting Integrative Health Care Dr. Dawn Augusta DNP, MBA, RN, AHN, HWNC-BC 24 February 2024

2 Naturopathic medicine has been practiced worldwide for almost two centuries, but its concepts and practices have been used since the ancient times of Hippocrates. Naturopathy is the concept of self-healing practices that utilize non-invasive and natural remedies such as Ayurvedic medicine to heal the body. For example, instead of using pharmaceuticals, naturopathy focuses on concepts of healing through control over diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes. The legal, cultural, future, and ethical issues regarding naturopathy will be discussed. Licensing and credentials Since naturopathy has been more relevant to modern-day healthcare, the road to becoming a licensed naturopath is quite simple. There are only less than ten accredited naturopathic schools in the United States. To apply to one of the schools, an undergraduate degree is required along with taking the science prerequisites like chemistry, biochemistry, and organic chemistry. After getting enrolled into naturopath school, it's a four-year program in which the first two years are learning holistic methods and the last two years are the clinical and hands-on portion of the school. In the state of Arizona, there is an accredited naturopathic school in Tempe. An issue that can arise is that there are only “six accredited naturopathic medical programs” (AANMC, 2020). With only six accredited schools in North America, it can be harder for those who want to apply if there is not one in their state making it limiting to those who are considering the naturopathic route. Legal issues After discussing how naturopaths get certified and licensed, there are some issues that they have to face being a naturopath such as the legal side of it. It is predicted that by 2025, licensing laws will be in every state and not just primarily the West Coast states (Kreidler, 2021). Some of the bills created for naturopaths differ from state to state. Some bills are passed that

3 allow naturopaths to be primary care physicians and some bills in some states have naturopaths limited exceptions. Another legal issue that can arise for naturopaths is that it is one of the most expensive types of healthcare nowadays. This could lead to patients using naturopaths if their expensive remedies do not work or if it has caused them more pain. Ethical issues There are also ethical issues after discussing the legal issues regarding naturopathic medicine. The relationship providers have with their patients is fairly important since providers want to make the patient feel safe and heard. An ethical issue that can arise from this is if a mother and daughter were both seeing the same naturopath. This is an issue because the naturopath has to treat both patients with client dignity and the level of secrecy has to be kept for both mother and daughter. Another ethical issue is that when a naturopath has different religious and personal beliefs from the patient. This could create a certain bias when providing care to the patient and respecting the patient's personal and religious beliefs. It becomes an ethical issue because then it would not go by one of the principles naturopaths have to make an oath to which is the principle of “ treat the whole person” (AANMC,2020). Treating the whole person includes their mental, physical, emotional, religious, and spiritual beliefs. After considering some of the ethical issues regarding naturopathy, there are also cultural issues as well. Cultural issues Naturopathy became more popular in North America about 50 years ago due to the popularity of freedom of choice (Ooi et.al, 20198). More individuals were taking care of their bodies and were curious about healing their bodies naturally. This became a cultural change in our society since Naturopathy is more popular in other countries such as Asia or Australia. Due to the cultural change, many people like to come to North America for the American dream.

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4 With people coming from different countries, this could bring a cultural issue to naturopathy because of the language barrier. The language barrier can lead to miscommunication, misunderstandings, and misinterpretation. This is very important because this could lead to misdiagnosis, wrong treatments, and do more harm than good to the patient. Future issues Lastly, some of the future issues that may arise for naturopaths are the “public misconception of the role of naturopathic doctor” (Wardle et.al, 2013). To the public, many question the legitimacy of naturopathic medicine and how there is not enough evidence to prove the teachings of naturopathic medicine. Patients feel that some of the remedies naturopaths use are not scientific enough. This is a future issue because many will believe and trust a remedy when there is enough scientific evidence behind it. Complementary and alternative medicine has been around for thousands of years, and people can be skeptical of it. Another future issue that can arise for natural medicine is the amount of schooling and training needed to become certified. Other medical schools require almost ten years of education while naturopath schools only require four years to complete and residency requirements if necessary. Conclusion Like any other healthcare field, there will always be legal, cultural, ethical, and future issues that arise. There might not ever be an easy solution for all of the issues for naturopaths, but it has gained more popularity in recent years. This is because more people are becoming aware of what they do and put in their bodies. Naturopaths are quite different than most healthcare physicians because they don't focus on pharmaceuticals or temporary fixes for the patient, but rather the long-term and permanent solutions. Not all naturopaths will be perfect but not every other doctors are perfect either. What is different about naturopaths is the type of

5 patients who see them. Those are more aware of how and what they put in their bodies and are willing to learn how to heal in a noninvasive and harmful way. Naturopaths in the near future will be more relevant and will gain more popularity when more people go to them and see all the good things they can do.

6 References Aanmc. (2023, June 5). How to become a licensed naturopathic doctor . AANMC. https://aanmc.org/naturopathic-news/become-licensed-naturopathic-doctor/#:~:text=In %20order%20to%20become%20a%20licensed%20naturopathic%20doctor%2C,and %20pass%20the%20Naturopathic%20Physicians%20Licensing%20Exam %20%28NPLEX%29 . Kreidler, M. (2021, February 19). Opposing naturopathy: Medical privileges should be for medical doctors . Center for Inquiry. https://centerforinquiry.org/advocacy/opposing- naturopathy/ Ooi, S. L., Romeyke, T., Fleming, S., Shrivastava, S. R., Baer, H. A., Evans, S., O’Callaghan, F. V., Adams, J., Shorofi, S. A., Field, K. M., Kremser, T., Dunning, T., Spinks, J., Leach, M. J., … Correa-Valez, I. (2018, July 29). Naturopathy in Australia: Where are we now? where are we heading? . Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1744388118304389? casa_token=k4h0sZFldi4AAAAA %3AFQfHymM5cwPxWwvAqBueuGf6MbMBa9UMwfmnHfWAg_FF83aQYzIzlUVH EjfV9CqaGXwfL9YdmQqZ Wardle, J. L., Adams, J., Lui, C. W., & Steel, A. E. (2013). Current challenges and future directions for naturopathic medicine in Australia: a qualitative examination of perceptions and experiences from grassroots practice. BMC complementary and alternative medicine , 13 , 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-13-15

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