SPD health expert Lauterbach is heavily criticizing the naturopathic industry
SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach has demanded after the three deaths among patients of an alternative cancer center better protection against non-medical practitioners. He even said that the prohibition of the profession was "a possibility". A non-medical practitioner association called on colleagues to work in accordance with the law.
Possibility of a ban on the naturopathic profession
After the three fatal cancer therapies of patients of the alternative cancer center Brüggen (Lower Rhine), the naturopathic profession has fallen into the criticism. Now demands SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach even better protection against alternative practitioners. In an interview, he said that it was "a possibility" to prohibit the naturopathic profession altogether.
Three cancer patients died after questionable treatment
At the end of July, after questionable treatment, three patients had died in an alternative cancer center in the Lower Rhine village of Brüggen-Bracht. They had been treated with the preparation "3-bromopyruvate". The use of the remedy is not inadmissible, but controversial. It is not yet clear if the death of cancer patients was caused by the drug.
After the incidents, the criticism of non-medical practitioners in general accumulated. For example, NRW Health Minister Barbara Steffens (Greens) criticized that anyone without any training could register for the exam. The law of 1939 had to be reformed.
"A huge black box"
Karl Lauterbach goes further with his criticism. As the news agency dts reported, said the SPD health expert in an interview with the "mirror": "We have a huge legal vacuum."
He said: "The over 40,000 non-medical practitioners in Germany may use anything that has not been proven to be harmful. We know nothing about the medical knowledge of these people, nothing about their methods, nothing about the complications of their therapies. It's all a huge black box. "
Document naturopathic treatments
The expert considers "nothing" of the idea of the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Health Steffens, that non-medical practitioners should graduate in the future: "I warn even before the pseudo-revaluation of this profession," Lauterbach told the news magazine.
"Why reward a subject with a university degree that does not follow the rules of science? I am also against a master in astrology or alchemy. "Instead, he called for the introduction of registers documenting alternative medicine treatments:" That would be a first step in bringing light to the dark. "
For Lauterbach it is even "a possibility" to prohibit the practice of naturopathic practice altogether. However, he does not believe that such a ban would be legally enforceable. "And you would make the naturopaths to martyrs, alleged victims of the pharmaceutical industry."
Very responsible work
Lauterbach apparently did not register that non-medical practitioners also criticized the methods of the so-called alternative cancer center. The German Medical Practitioners Association (BDH) wrote in a statement: "We non-medical practitioners should always understand our efforts as complementary, never as a treatment for cancer or as an 'alternative cancer therapy' or communicate with our patients. There is currently no secure alternative to conventional medicine and it would be unlawful to advertise otherwise. "
The deaths after the treatment in Brüggen-Bracht are "not only tragic, but a great suffering for the relatives, which can not be repaired". However, if the allegations prove correct, it would be an isolated case, "as alternative practitioners are as responsible as other health care professionals, perhaps even a little more cautious." This is demonstrated by "extremely low rates of loss in professional liability insurance", which are well below the rate of other occupations.
Nonetheless, the association called on colleagues: "Continue to work in compliance with the law, maintain quality standards and, in everything you do, remember that you exercise your due diligence." (Ad)