Pastoral Medicine Credentials Raise Questions In Texas

[doggie]

 

never heard of this but sounds idk a new thing.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/25/475165193/pastoral-medicine-credentials-raise-questions-in-texas?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link

Quote

You've probably heard of the credentials M.D. and R.N., and maybe N.P. The people using those letters are doctors, registered nurses and nurse practitioners. But what about PSC.D or D.PSc? Those letters refer to someone who practices pastoral medicine — or "Bible-based" health care.

It's a relatively new title being used by some alternative health practitioners. The Texas-based Pastoral Medical Association gives out "pastoral provider licenses" in all 50 states and 30 countries. Some providers call themselves doctors of pastoral medicine. But these licenses are not medical degrees. That has watchdog organizations concerned that some patients may not understand what this certification really means.

That includes patients like 60-year-old Mark Sarchioto, who lives just outside Dallas. Sarchioto has crippling neuropathy and has been searching for a treatment for decades. One leg is numb, and as he shifts from his walker to the couch, he holds out his left hand.

"It feels like somebody is puncturing it with needles," he says. "Right now it's cold and I can't keep it warm."

In 2013, he and his wife, Joan Sarchioto, heard an ad for a breakthrough therapy for neuropathy at HealthCore Center in Richardson, Texas. They jumped at the chance for a free evaluation. But it didn't take long to realize the free evaluation was going to cost them.

 

[Alicja]

Wait, what? Is this a fancy word for faith healing? Does Leviticus forbid people from using antibiotics? Proton-pump inhibitors? I feel like trying to justify/forbid a treatment using scripture would be a shoulder-dislocating reach. What in the Hell...

[chaotic life]

Oh dear lordy....another shaman con job to be aware of when trying to work with patients.

[doggie]

seems a mix of faith healing and homeopathy and scam.

[docmom]

I went to a meeting this morning with a bunch of doctors from a bunch of different specialties to talk about a very complicated patient with multiple problems in multiple different areas.  It took all our combined knowledge to diagnose and treat this person, but we did it and he's going to be OK.  I think of all the research, education and training that went into getting us all to this point then I hear about this crap and I just want to cry.

[louisa05]

2 minutes ago, docmom said:

I went to a meeting this morning with a bunch of doctors from a bunch of different specialties to talk about a very complicated patient with multiple problems in multiple different areas.  It took all our combined knowledge to diagnose and treat this person, but we did it and he's going to be OK.  I think of all the research, education and training that went into getting us all to this point then I hear about this crap and I just want to cry.

I hate to add to your tears, but here it is...

My sister-in-law, the not quite certified yoga teacher, markets herself as a medical professional and frequently uses the phrase "in my medical opinion". She also talks about her "team" in regard to their "medical opinions". They are a reiki master, another yoga teacher, and herself. She even told her parents that yoga teacher training is "a lot like medical school" (which my mother-in-law, a sweet but gullible woman, completely believes). She considers the two hour anatomy workshop at yoga teacher training to have given her skills equal to a physical therapist and markets individual yoga instruction from her as an alternative to PT for injuries and other muscle or skeletal issues. 

My father-in-law let her instruct him for a minor shoulder issue instead of doing the PT his doctor recommended. He ended up having surgery later that forced him to retire early. 

[pook]

1 hour ago, louisa05 said:

I hate to add to your tears, but here it is...

My sister-in-law, the not quite certified yoga teacher, markets herself as a medical professional and frequently uses the phrase "in my medical opinion". She also talks about her "team" in regard to their "medical opinions". They are a reiki master, another yoga teacher, and herself. She even told her parents that yoga teacher training is "a lot like medical school" (which my mother-in-law, a sweet but gullible woman, completely believes). She considers the two hour anatomy workshop at yoga teacher training to have given her skills equal to a physical therapist and markets individual yoga instruction from her as an alternative to PT for injuries and other muscle or skeletal issues. 

My father-in-law let her instruct him for a minor shoulder issue instead of doing the PT his doctor recommended. He ended up having surgery later that forced him to retire early. 

^this!  Real medical professionals do not walk around blabbing "in my medical opinion", in fact it makes us very uncomfortable when people solicit medical advice out of the blue without a proper assessment in a proper clinical setting.

and *high-fives* @docmom

[chaotic life]

I guess it could be worse, half the time I cannot even reproduce whatever Dr. Google has told someone so I can even remotely try to convince them that Dr. Google has not conferred them with adequate training and skills to diagnose on their own.