Kasra Pournadeali, a Marysville naturopath who heads the Washington Association of Naturopathic Physicians, points out that naturopathic students are required to have more clinical exposure than nurse practitioners, who can also practice primary care. At Bastyr, naturopathic students get 1,200 hours of clinical experience during their four-year program, most of it at the Bastyr Center for Natural Health in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood. Upon graduation, some naturopaths create residencies of their own.
But Bastyr spokesperson Kathleen Warren concedes that the lack of a formal residency program "is an issue. That's our next hope." She says Basytr would like to develop a range of postgraduate options, working with naturopaths and perhaps even MDs.
Annie Marie Musselman
Su and Arnold Wilson of Kenmore, with a photo of their deceased daughter, Megan.
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While naturopaths don't have the training that MDs have, MDs obviously don't have the training that naturopaths do. Naturopaths bring their own skills and treatments to the table, and in some cases that might be preferable. Warren speaks of a medical doctor who recently went through Bastyr's naturopathy training. His "come to Jesus moment," as she describes it, happened while operating on a 300-pound woman and realizing he was never going to be able to help her unless she did something about her obesity. That would be part of a naturopathic approach, which searches for underlying causes to illnesses.
Even some naturopaths, however, are skeptical of assorted practices in their field. "Many naturopathic interventions are poorly supported by science," acknowledges Bellevue naturopath Bruce Klein, who wants his field to move toward an "evidence-based approach." A former Boeing engineer who wanted a second career helping people, Klein heard about this field of natural medicine from a community college counselor and trained at Bastyr. He was wary of some of things he saw there, including alternative remedies for asthma that he felt were based more on faith than science.
In Megan Wilson's case, the naturopathic remedies Messer used seem dubious.The Textbook of Natural Medicine, co-written by former Bastyr President Joseph Pizzorno, names vitamin B-12 as a potential asthma treatment. "I can't even begin to think why it would be useful for asthma," says the UW's McGough. The textbook's evidence? It is cited in a footnote. For one, a "personal communication" with Jonathan Wright, a controversial Seattle-area medical doctor who uses alternative methods. Secondly, the textbook cites a 1951 study in the Journal of Allergy. Looking at the now hard-to-get-hold-of study, however, reveals that although participants in a clinical trial subjectively felt an improvement in their asthma and related ailments, the objective data led the author to conclude that vitamin B-12 "is probably of no value in the treatment of chronic bronchial asthma."
The textbook also mentions mahuang.Judging by her chart notes, that was one of several herbs used in Messer's tincture. Mahuang is thought to help clear the airways, but it is not considered as effective as more modern drugs and contains ephedrine, which has since been banned by the federal Food and Drug Administration for its dangerous side effects.
Su and Arnold Wilson are critical of the treatments used in Megan's case. Yet her death has not put them off natural medicine. Far from it. Most members of the family still see a naturopath as their primary care doctor: Messer's ex-husband, in fact. Su, who says she still cries every day about losing her daughter, has learned some things, though. "After seeing Megan die, I start questioning everyone and everything," she says. And she knows a lot more about asthma, from which other Wilson children also suffer. Her advice to them should they experience an attack: "Go to the ER."
nshapiro@seattleweekly.com
