Health freedom
in Louisiana December 2005
Louisiana’s naturopaths and homeopaths gained legal protection
in August when the state legislature passed a health-freedom law
protecting their right to counsel clients.
The new law specifies that vendors
of food, dietary supplements and homeopathic remedies who collect
a consulting fee will not be charged with practicing medicine
without a license, as long as they disclose to their clients that
they are not licensed health-care professionals. The law will
not affect massage therapists, who have been licensed in the state
since 1992.
Louisiana is the sixth state to
pass a freedom-of-access law. Minnesota, Rhode Island, California,
Idaho and Oklahoma have passed similar laws.
— Kelle Walsh