Bill 50 Jeopardizes Public Safety and Patient Rights

To:  Health Minister, HPRAC, ON MPP's

We, the patients of Ontario, believe that the current Bill 50 (Traditional Chinese Medicine Act) will lead to a public health disaster. There are 3 main issues that are being ignored:
1) over 140,000 acupuncture-laymen are exempt from acupuncture regulation for no reason,
2) no safety requirements for fake acupuncture (anatomical acupuncture) which uses the public as guinea pigs,
3) the TCM-based acupuncture profession has been downgraded to a modality which eliminates the opportunity for the public to receive quality service.

Unreasonable Exemptions:
Bill 50 (TCM Act), which passed in Ontario on Dec 20, 2006, legalized over 140,000 acupuncture-laymen (such as chiropodists, massage therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, nurses, 2-day-course addiction treatment personnel, etc.) to perform fake acupuncture without any meridian training requirements, which is the foundation of real acupuncture.
They are performing “anatomical acupuncture” which is based on anatomy and nerves. It is needle therapy, NOT acupuncture, according to the Dec. 1996 HPRAC Report.

Patients are used as Guinea Pigs for Fake Acupuncture:
They do not have any idea of the side effects from meridian damage from fake acupuncture. This will lead to hundreds of ailments and symptoms which are hard to diagnose or treat with Western medical methods.

Patient Rights are Jeopardized by Downgrading Acupuncture Profession to a Modality:
In addition, Bill 50 (TCM Act) disqualified well-trained TCM-based acupuncture practitioners.
Many members of our group have been cured by real acupuncture from “incurable” conditions such as: Rheumatoid arthritis, eczema, allergies, migraines, diabetes, Lyme disease, infertility, disc herniation, cancers (such as breast cancer, rectal cancer, melanoma, lymphoma), etc, etc.
These results can NOT be obtained with needle therapy, and patients lose their chance for survival or a cure.

Needy patients in hospitals, medical clinics and nursing homes do not have access to real acupuncture. If any staff member performs anatomical acupuncture, well-trained TCM-based acupuncturists are not allowed to treat patients on the premises. Where are the rights of patients?

Patients deserve to be treated by qualified TCM-based acupuncturists instead of being treated by acupuncture-laymen.

Our Requests:

1. Remove Section 19 from Bill 50, TCM Act, 2006, which exempts other health care practitioners to perform acupuncture. It downgrades acupuncture to a modality (needle therapy) standards, which jeopardizes patients’ rights.

2. Create a new Controlled Act to regulate acupuncture as a profession, separate from the regulation of needle therapy (anatomical acupuncture). This will enable patients to identify who performs real acupuncture, and avoid being a guinea pig of fake acupuncture.

3. Amend Bill 50, TCM Act by providing definitions and a scope of practice for acupuncture and TCM, so that patients will understand the professions of acupuncture and TCM.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Bill 50 Jeopardizes Public Safety and Patient Rights Petition to Health Minister, HPRAC, ON MPP's was created by Patient Rights Coalition and written by Lawrence Huang (patientrightscoalition@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.