Atwood Kimball C
Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Newton, Massachusetts, USA.
MedGenMed. 2003 Dec 30;5(4):39.
"Naturopathic medicine" is a recent manifestation of the field of naturopathy, a 19th-century health movement espousing "the healing power of nature." "Naturopathic physicians" now claim to be primary care physicians proficient in the practice of both "conventional" and "natural" medicine. Their training, however, amounts to a small fraction of that of medical doctors who practice primary care. An examination of their literature, moreover, reveals that it is replete with pseudoscientific, ineffective, unethical, and potentially dangerous practices. Despite this, naturopaths have achieved legal and political recognition, including licensure in 13 states and appointments to the US Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee. This dichotomy can be explained in part by erroneous representations of naturopathy offered by academic medical centers and popular medical Web sites.
“自然疗法医学”是自然疗法领域的最新表现形式，自然疗法是一场19世纪的健康运动，倡导“自然的治愈力”。“自然疗法医生”现在声称自己是精通“传统”和“自然”医学实践的初级保健医生。然而，他们的培训量仅占从事初级保健的医生培训量的一小部分。此外，对他们的文献进行审查后发现，其中充斥着伪科学、无效、不道德且可能危险的做法。尽管如此，自然疗法从业者已获得法律和政治认可，包括在13个州获得执照，并被任命进入美国医疗保险覆盖范围咨询委员会。这种二分法部分可以通过学术医学中心和流行医学网站对自然疗法的错误表述来解释。
