Holistic therapy passes hurdle. Bill now goes to Queen's Park committee.

By Jane Armstrong, Queen's Park Bureau

Patients who swear by physicians like Dr. Fred Hui were all smiles in the Legislature when a bill giving doctors more freedom to use alternative methods passed a second hurdle. And Hui himself was ecstatic, saying Ontario is on its way to recognizing that herbs and acupuncture are just as valid in the medical lixicon as drugs and surgery. For 16 years, Hui has been practising both methods at his family practice on Bloor and Sherbourne Sts. The bill to amend the Medicine Act unanimously passed second reading yesterday. It will now be debated at a committee before it comes back to the Legislature for third and final reading. "This will give patients more choice and give doctors more choice," Hui said after the vote. Hui and other advocates of alternative medicine say Ontario lags behind other jurisdictions when it comes to recognizing alternative treatments, such as acupuncture, massage, herbs and vitamin supplements. Hui and other doctors who practise non-traditional care complain they have been harassed by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, which opposes the bill. Liberal MPP Monte Kwinter (Wilson Heights), who introduced the private memeber's bill, said many physicians are afraid to suggest alternative methods for fear their lcence will be yanked by the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Recently, the college charged Dr. Jozef Krop with four counts of misconduct and one of incompetence although no patients complained about treatment. The college alleged Krop prescribed vitamins and "inappropriately" advised that a patient required an air purifier. Kwinter said his bill would end this "harassment", adding that he wants to end the notion that people who pracitse alternative treatments are quacks. Private members' bills rarely become law. And Health Minister Jim Wilson told reporters he didn't think a new law is really necessary. "The law today doesn't prohibit anyone from practising alternative therapy." Dr. Geoffrey Bong, president of the college, said the college has concerns about the wording of the bill, saying it skews the ability of the college to prove a case of negligence. Because there is so little data on alternative medicine, it would be very difficult to prove that a prescribed treatement was harmful.

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