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Protect Your Access to Natural and Alternative Health Care |
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Health Freedom Washington |
Welcome to HEALTH FREEDOM WASHINGTON! We are a grassroots organization dedicated to protecting your right to the natural, alternative and innovative health care practices that you choose; and to protect the practitioners who provide them to you. We hope you will join us! Washington State is widely considered a national leader in natural healing and complementary and alternative medicine. So people are often surprised to learn there is a problem accessing a full range of health care options in our state. Yet, in recent years many respected natural and holistic health practitioners have been forced out of practice WITHOUT ANY COMPLAINTS OF HARM. The State has been shutting down and prosecuting independent, unlicensed health care practitioners including herbalists, colon hydrotherapists, homeopaths, energy workers and practitioners who use electrodermal screening devices or neurofeedback machines. Licensed practitioners, such as holistic MDs and DDSs are also experiencing similar attacks for no reason other than offering “alternative therapies” to their patients. These investigations have NOT been due to consumer complaints of harm; however, the impact on both consumers and practitioners has been severe. Some very respected and valuable practitioners have been forced to leave the state, go out of business or face impossible legal fees. Many holistic and alternative health care practices are being systematically eliminated and thus unfairly limiting consumer choice. Some consumers are now traveling many hours, and at considerable cost, to neighboring states where their practitioners have been forced to relocate. The practitioners who remain in Washington are doing so under the threat of criminal investigations, not a healthy environment. We are not alone. The situation here in Washington is being played out across the country. Most states still have antiquated laws that do not take into account the many natural healing therapies that have evolved and expanded in the last few decades. These laws are being used by states, and many would argue special interests, to unfairly limit an individual’s choice of safe, natural health care options. Unlicensed healing practitioners can be charged criminally for practicing medicine without a license; they are legally vulnerable due to overly broad and outdated laws defining the practice of medicine. Licensed practitioners providing holistic, integrative, natural or alternative services can also be disciplined by their licensing boards if treatment is outside the accepted standard of conventional medical care.
But, the good news is there is a solution! We are part of a
national health freedom movement
that is changing these laws. Six
states have already been successful and at least fifteen others,
including us, are in the process! Consumers and practitioners
have come together to form HEALTH FREEDOM WASHINGTON. With your
help and participation we can preserve and even expand the
health care choices in our state. We hope you will learn more
about this important issue and join us! Your right to choose, and provide, alternative and natural health care practices is NOT a special privilege; it is your right and the very essence of health freedom. |
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