Faux Ph.D. Kay Larson Misleading Gullible Consumers

Please remove my name from at this time.

 

Please remove my name at this time. Dr. Alicia C. Omana

 

Hi Alicia - I'm really sure I don't know what you're talking about. Care to explain?

 

In the interest of accurate information, I need to clarify a few things here:

Actually, this is not true. I wish it were, but the fraudulent Clayton College of Natural Health spent a bunch of money lobbying and successfully weakened the California naturopathic statute so much as to make the law virtually worthless when it was passed a few years ago. Fake naturopaths (i.e., ones that have not graduated from one of the four properly accredited naturopathic colleges), including ones, such as Clayton or Westbrook grads that did their degrees entirely online with no actual clinical training, are free to practice their craft on California residents. If I remember correctly, it is only the "ND" designation that is restricted to graduates of properly accredited schools.

There are in fact a number of states that license naturopathic physicians, and in all of those states, only legitimate naturopaths (i.e, ones that graduated from one of the four accredited naturopathic schools in the US, all of which are residential programs) are eligible for licensure. California was going that route before the shady Clayton people derailed licensure, as it would have made thousands of Clayton grads with bogus degrees ineligible to practice (which would have been a good thing.)

This isn't really true either. California, in addition to the naturopathic act, is also one of the few states with a "Freedom of Choice in Medical Treatment" law
that basically allows anyone with a pulse to offer alternative medical treatment for just about any condition. It does require a certain level of disclosure as to the level of training, experience, and education of the practitioner, but someone would be free to represent themselves as a naturopath in spite of having a bogus degree. So in this regard, again, Larson is likely operating within the scope of California law.

Yes, and this is common among practitioners with bogus or otherwise unwonderful credentials.

Unethical as hell, yes. Shady as fuck, yes. Illegal, unfortunately, no. Again, there's no requirement that a "certification board" be licensed or approved by anyone, which is why there are a ton of bogus "life coaching" programs that will qualify anyone with a pulse to be a "board certified life coach" in one weekend of training. There are hundreds of fake accreditors, fake board certifications, and other such bogus entities, and, unfortunately, with very few exceptions, what they do is legal but certainly not ethical.

As far as Kay Larson goes, as I've said from the outset, my problems with her have never been that I've felt what she's doing is illegal. On the contrary, as far as I know, she's operating within the bounds of the two California laws that provide for freedom of choice in medical treatment. My issue is in the honesty with which she represents her credentials.

When someone chooses a physician or other professional for medical care, an MD, ND, or Ph.D ought to indicate a level of knowledge and accomplishment. And, if earned from a properly accredited school, it generally does. But most people don't realize that, for example, Clayton College had no credible faculty that was actively involved in actually teaching students, that their student to teacher ratio was something like 2500:1 or worse, and that the quality of the education sucked. And so, representing oneself as holding a Ph.D when the Ph.D is essentially meaningless is (at least in California) legal but highly deceptive.

Now... it is quite possible that Ms. Larson is a capable practitioner. I know of a homeopathic practitioner with no formal degree who did wonders for her clients and had a long history of working with people over many years. The difference is... she didn't claim a bogus Ph.D, didn't overstate her qualifications, and simply described who she was, how she learned her craft, and let her clients make the choice. That is what the California law was intended to do... to allow people to make a choice to seek out a practitioner that might not have formal credentials.

If and when Ms. Larson stops mentioning her Clayton Ph.D and her other unwonderful credentials, or at least represents the degrees honestly for what they are, then I'd have no problem with what she does. But marketing herself the way she currently does is definitely not fully and accurately disclosing her credentials to her clients, and in order to make an informed decision, they should be hearing the uninflated truth.

 

Yes, and I did say "naturopathic medicine" specifically not naturopathy per se or any complementary and/or alternative health practice. Naturopathic medicine is a legitimate branch of medical science and reserved for people who have been properly trained and licensed to practice within that branch of medical science. It is clear from Section 1.c of California Senate Bill SB577 that:

"The Legislature intends, by enactment of this act, to allow access by California residents to complementary and alternative health care practitioners who are not providing services that require medical training and credentials. The Legislature further finds that these nonmedical complementary and alternative services do not pose a known risk to the health and safety of California residents, and that restricting access to those services due to technical violations of the Medical Practice Act is not warranted."

Chip, California is definitely one of the states that license naturopathic physicians: http://www.naturopathic.ca.gov/laws/index.shtml

Life coaching, yes, because it is not really a profession that requires licensure. But Kay Larson's ACHM accredits distance learning ND programs like the one offered by Kingdom College of Natural Health. The Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine or ND designation, as you have correctly stated, can only be used legally by a licensed practitioner. And, in order to be licensed, the graduate of a CNME accredited naturopathic school needs to pass the NPLEX or its equivalent:

"An applicant for licensure shall pass the Naturopathic Physicians Licensing Examination (NPLEX) or an equivalent approved by the North American Board of Naturopathic Examiners. In the absence of an examination approved by the North American Board of Naturopathic Examiners, the committee may administer a substantially equivalent examination" (State of California Naturopathic Doctors Act, Business and Professions Code, Section 3631).

Only CNME can legally accredit Naturopathic medical schools in the US and Canada. By claiming to accredit distance learning naturopathic medical schools like Kingdom who grant bogus ND degrees, Kay's ACHM is usurping the authority of CNME.

 

Kay Larson has removed her name completely from her ACHM site. Alicia Omana has also vowed out owing, I speculate, on the appearance of her name on this most popular forum. A new bunch of officers are now listed there, including a chiropractor and one with a suspicious "PhD in Natural Health." The site's registrant remains to be the same though.

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How does somebody with credentials attributed to Ms Larson get professional indemnity insurance? If there is no professional indemnity insurance, does that have to be disclosed to clients? I am not sure that, as a client, I would attend a clinic that was not covered by professional indemnity insurance.

I don't know if this lady is insured or not, but I would think that this would be a good question to ask. Presumably, the insurance company would do due diligence before insuring and clients could inquire with it perhaps as to the coverage.

 

There are companies that provide insurance to alternative health providers, but generally there is a huge list of exclusions. My guess is she has coverage, but is likely exceeding the scope of what most alternative health coverage providers would permit.

 

Unless the law has changed since it was enacted (early 2000s), I was in touch with the California group that was basically the association of legitimate naturopathic doctors, and they were very upset that the alternative health law allowed the fraudulent naturopaths to still call themselves "naturopaths" or "naturopathic doctors." I do stand corrected on the licensure issue; I didn't realize that along with the freedom-of-choice act came licensure of legit naturopaths. That probably happened later in the lobbying process, and is a good thing. However, the language in the freedom of choice act is sufficiently broad to allow bogus naturopaths to operate, unfortunately.

Well, I wish this were true, but it isn't. Just as there are plenty of fraudulent accreditors for colleges and universities which operate with no interference from anyone, there are also fraudulent naturopathic accreditors as well. What her bogus accreditor is doing is shady as hell, but it isn't illegal, unfortunately.

 

If at first you don't succeed . . .

 

The fact that you mention The Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics makes me cringe. They are and always have been funded by big food corporations and they were one of the largest opponents to GMO labeling. I would NOT trust any practitioner who is a member of this corrupt organization. A simple google of this organization might enlighten many on this post. They changed their name in 2012 , to include the term “Academy “... interesting, right? I wish that you be your own advocates of your health & educate yourselves. It is certainly not in your best interest to blindly trust government affiliated agencies when it comes to YOUR health and wellness.

 

Sorry, it's not especially interesting to me. What does it mean to you?

 

It means an attempt at Rebranding. Similar to the changing & misleading food labeling of unhealthy products.
After nearly 100 years as the American Dietetic Association, the organization officially changed its name to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2012. No matter their name, still associated with McDonalds, Monsanto, Dairy industry, etc..

 

the evil dairy industry?