On The Front Lines Of Alternative Medicine

More and more respected mainstream physicians are blending traditional and alternative medicine—even when it means risking their reputations and security.

By Jill Neimark, published on January 01, 1997 - last reviewed on July 06, 2006

Kenneth Pelletier, M.D., a clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine's Center for Research in Disease Prevention, reports that researchers and insurance companies have collaborated to talk about the kind of data that's needed to create standards in the field of alternative medicine. Companies that attended the meeting included Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Prudential Insurance Company of America, the National Institutes of Health, and the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. According to Dr. Pelletier, they discussed the most credible therapies and their cost efficiency.

Still Slaying Dragons

There's no doubt that we're in the midst of a health care revolution that may eventually stitch mainstream and alternative approaches into one integrated medicine. As of today, however, battles are still erupting, and many doctors continue to be afraid to embrace the unorthodox. "As the movement for a new medicine gains momentum, powerful, critical voices are being raised," notes psychiatrist James Gordon, MD., director of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C., and author of Manifesto for a New Medicine. Dr. Gordon, who refuses to prescribe any drugs, except as an "absolute last resort," says he helps wean many of his patients from their prescriptions—even those with serious psychiatric disorders such as manic-depression—through a blend of talk therapy, acupuncture, osteopathy, herbal therapies, meditation, physical exercise, and nutrition. He says he views psychiatric disorders as "human experiences to be learned from."

Dr. Gordon's impeccable credentials—he attended Harvard Medical School, was a chief resident at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and was a researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health—may have protected him from attack by colleagues and medical boards. But other alternative doctors have not been so fortunate. On May 6, 1992, armed agents representing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raided the Tacoma, Washington, office of Jonathan Wright, M.D., taking his office equipment, patient files, bank records, and supplements—in front of his astonished patients. No charges were ever brought against the doctor, although over $100,000 was spent in his defense, for grand jury, hearings and court petitions, and the government still has not returned all of his medical equipment. According to FDA Hotline, a newsletter published by journalist Dennis Blank, Dr. Wright is one of over 30 physicians who've been similarly attacked during the past five years. In October 1994, John Gambee, M.D., had his license revoked by the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners, who questioned some of his diagnoses and treatments. "I'd been in practice for 25 years," says Dr. Gambee, "and never had a malpractice case. The board has received hundreds of letters of support. But I still had to shut down my practice."

Another crossover physician, John Laird, M.D., who practices nutritional and energy medicine in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was brought up on charges of fraud by North Carolina's Medical Board when he practiced there. From 1984 to 1994, Dr. Laird fought the charges while, he says, the board nearly crushed alternative medicine out of existence in the state. "In 1990, the state Supreme Court said the medical board could revoke the licenses of physicians using therapies that were not 'usual and customary,'" he says. "I founded an organization of 6,000 citizens called Carolinians for Health Care Access. We lobbied, and in 1994 won the right to have doctors practice alternative therapies. It was a very intense and scary time for me."

Another physician, Eric Braverman, M.D., of Skillman, New Jersey, had his license suspended in 1996. Dr. Braverman diagnoses mental disorders by mapping brain activity with PET scans and practices "orthomolecular nutrition," which includes a combination of high-potency supplements, nutrients, and natural hormones.

Last fall, Grace Ziem, M.D., a Baltimore, Maryland doctor specializing in occupational medicine, accused ABC News reporter John Stossel of illegally tape-recording her without her permission for a news special. ABC denies any illegal taping. Dr. Ziem is a Harvard and Johns Hopkins University-educated doctor who often treats patients diagnosed with multiple chemical sensitivity, an illness that can occur after exposure to toxic chemicals. She says Stossel sent two young women claiming to have symptoms of the disorder to see her.

"It felt like an attempt at professional assassination," says Dr. Ziem. Though she says she's very much a mainstream doctor, "science marches on. Medicine has always advanced because of physicians' observations. I perform extensive lab tests before developing individualized treatment programs for my patients."

Stories of harassment, tarnished reputations, and suspended licenses have sent ripples of fear throughout the entire alternative medicine community. Even those doctors whose trailblazing efforts have been met with acceptance and warmth worry about revealing the full extent of their holistic approach. "I'd been on staff at Maine Medical Center since 1979," says Dr. Northrup, "but I never said the things that I wrote about in my 1994 book, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom. I'd led the kind of double life many alternative doctors lead. I finally decided to take a chance and bring both worlds together." Dr. Northrup wrote about women's health, but she also covered near-death experiences, chakras, and energy medicine. She says that after the book was published she was afraid she'd be marginalized and never able to practice in a conventional setting again. To her surprise and relief, her colleagues didn't mention the book, and hospitals began inviting her to speak at their women's centers.