Lots of people turn to acupuncture treatments in the world today. Acupuncture is part of national health systems of Eastern countries such as China, Japan or Korea. It begins to gain the trust of the medical profession in Western countries and in some of them can only be made by medical doctors.
Acupuncture has become an area of ??work for so many people in the West and due to the absence of regulation, began to be practiced by people without training to do so. Lack of training of many professionals makes many people, who can benefit from acupuncture, not resort to it.
In this article I give some advice on how to seek an acupuncturist professional and have security in the choice we have made. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by nuno lemos | Under ETHICS
Tuesday Aug 3, 2010
What is my practice on a daily basis?
After writing about the sale of herbal dietary supplements/Chinese herbal patent formulas/natural dietary supplements and corruption which can be generated around them, I think it would be intellectually dishonest, at least, not describe my clinical practice.
What I do, on this issue depends very much on where I make my clinical acupuncture consultations. In the Office of Health (Portuguese acupuncture clinic), I am very limited to a certain set of patent formulas/natural dietary supplements and I have no profit from the sale of this patent formulas/natural dietary supplements. The patent formulas/natural dietary supplements to use in that acupuncture clinic were determined by the direction of the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ESMTC). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by nuno lemos | Under ETHICS
Sunday Aug 1, 2010
Who can guarantee that the acupuncture practitioner does not prescribe only those patent formulas that gives him a higher percentage of profit?
One way of acupuncture professionals eliminate this problem is to eliminate the profit from sale of patent formulas of Chinese materia medica (herbal remedies). If you do not make money by selling the patent formula you do not need to focus on the companys that offer more money and can focus on those who really are the best in terms of heavy metals quality control, local production of plants or the ratio concentration of the plant (6 to 1, 10 to 1, etc …) for example.
Avoid profit would actually be the correct one. But that raises another problem probably higher. Although not regulated, alternative medicine began to develop market rules that would benefit all.
These rules are not absolute and nobody is obliged to follow them, but are generally followed. In this rules is stipulated that the retail price is X and the selling price for acupuncture professionals is X – Y. When an acupuncturist buying a patent formula/herbal remedy to any of the companies in Portugal (5 season’s, blue poppy, Giovanni Maciocia gamma, etc …) it is to buy it below the retail price and receive information on discounts they enjoyed and the price at which they will sell to the public. The public selling price (PSP). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by nuno lemos | Under ETHICS
Saturday Jul 31, 2010
Before you read this article you should be aware that the author opinion is formed on his experience in Portugal. The market practices might be slightly different were you live. If so I would appreciate some time of yours to explain the differences by placing comments to this article. As always I hope you can enjoy this article content.
Should an acupuncturist earn money by selling patent formulas of Chinese Materia Medica (herbal remedies)? Is it ethically correct? In general an acupuncturist (acupuncture professional) buys patent formulas (herbal remedies) at one price and sell them to the patient for that price plus an extra who pays shipping costs and a profit for the acupuncture professional.
A dishonest acupuncture practitioner worries primarily with profit, not necessarily with what is best for the patient. And it will not waste time with ethical considerations about the best practice from the sale of herbal remdies. A honest acupuncturist will have to raise the problem, and now and again, will have to confront it. I write these articles for the latter acupuncturist. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by nuno lemos | Under ETHICS
Monday May 17, 2010
Recently I received an email from an acupuncture patient who sought a second opinion for a treatment he was receiving.
“Good afternoon Dr. Nuno Lemos
Since November I’m a patient in acupuncture treatment, appeared to me some complications in my health related to compressed medula and lost of speech.
I’ve been everywhere and tried everything from the osteopath healers through acupuncture, I have tried everything even religion.
I feel frustrated because at the level of voice I do not yet speak, it is why I’ve been in treatment but have not had results. Sometimes certain things pass in my head nor do I want to think about it because I was always an individual (I am 49 years) of positive thinking, super playful, and always gave the other positive charges, but what is happening to me I never imagined. Whether at home or work I try to take refuge in my corner for not being able to talk with anyone.
The doctors say it is a system problem of muscle nerves (rare) and therefore they will not risk surgery at cervical spinal cord, I am desperate because I always thought it could have improvements in acupuncture, but ultimately nothing. “
Posted by nuno lemos | Under ETHICS
Monday May 3, 2010
Recently in a discussion at an international forum I ended up with a mark of greater ethical content than scientific.
Scientific studies say that acupuncture does not have much use to quit smoking. Rather they say that acupuncture treatment as a principal treatment is a complete nullity. Other studies say that acupuncture as a secondary treatment – to assist in a more comprehensive approach where the patient takes medication and counseling – may have some effect. Unfortunately there are conflicting studies and the studies that exist are made of very small samples, which does not allow to make any solid conclusions. And yes, the publicity of 90% success (something very common in Portugal), and two appointments in total that cure smoking addiction (also very common in Portugal), are just that… pure marketing.
Based on these studies and on several discussions I had over the years with my colleagues, I ended up not doing treatments to quit smoking, just because most of the information I see say otherwise. Colleagues who had stop to do treatments to quit smoking because they did not get any results. Others refer efficiencies of 50%, 30% or 40%. Unfortunately these are what I call amateurs percentages without objective data and are more dependent on the perception of my colleagues than on hard and reliable data. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by nuno lemos | Under ETHICS
Thursday Dec 17, 2009
3 days ago a friend called me to see if I was giving apointments at home in Cascais. I had to say, with regret, that in time, due to excessive work, I could not provide home consultation and much less in Cascais which is quite far from my usual places of work or from my residence.
According to my friend, an aunt appeal to a acupuncture free lance in Cascais. Having paid 200 euros in 3 consultations the patient had to hear a pathetic story about how she had the “energy desregulated” and how it was impossible to treat the complaint will not treating “the energy” first. To “regulate the energy” would need to invest a hundred euros more in fraudulent consultations without treating what efectevily, should be treated.
I told my friend that the person responsible for those statements did not understand anything of acupuncture (pardon me the frankness but it´s true). I explained to him that the speech of energy had nothing to do with Chinese medicine, which were translations of esoteric concepts and that the Chinese view of Chinese medicine has nothing to do with such nonsense spoken by this supposed professional.
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