The article by Dr Genuis1 in the June issue of Canadian Family Physician is the most complete article that describes my feelings of being torn between my allopathic origins and my naturopathic experiences.
As a former emergency physician and then a community doctor, my mind (a parachute) started opening when my daughter attended Bastyr University in Seattle, Wash, to become a naturopath. I was impressed with the university’s curriculum and attended several courses over the years that my daughter spent there. I then incorporated new ideas in my patient encounters and treatment plans. I realized that all things medicine were not only black and white but also gray, with many other solutions than those I had learned to be the only correct ones.
But what was the most surprising was the reaction I got from my colleagues when I discussed my new ideas with them and their reaction when I told them my daughter was a naturopath. My new ideas were quackery and my daughter, the quack. As a younger physician, I was intimidated by the response of my colleagues; and now, as a senior physician, I am trying to open others’ parachutes. All of us in health care should contribute to working together to formulate what is best for the health of our patients.
Footnotes
-
Competing interests
None declared
- Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada