Common bond

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.

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