Welcome to Washington CHOICE

Welcome to Washington CHOICE (Citizens for Health Options, Integrity, and Clinical Excellence). Our purpose is to make it possible for every adult citizen of Washington State to choose whatever type of health care he or she may personally want, as well as choosing for his or her own children.

Health care choice means being able to freely choose from a full range of healthcare options.

Some of us may want only health care techniques, practices, and treatments used by the "mainstream" majority of medical doctors. Some may want to choose "natural" treatments, but only from "licensed" medical or osteopathic doctors or naturopathic physicians. Others may wish to work with health care professionals presently "unlicensed" in Washington State, such as "lay homeopaths", "qi gong" practitioners, colon therapists, or "electrodermal screening" practitioners (to name only a few). Survey after survey indicates that the majority of us "mix and match" our health care from many or all of these sources, and often include Grandma's time-tested remedies, too!

Washington CHOICE supports your right to choose any (or none) of these options!

However, instead of a constantly increasing number of health care choices, which we would expect in Washington State, our Department of Health is vigorously attacking your health care choices. The Department is pursuing multiple investigations and prosecutions of both "licensed" and "unlicensed" practitioners who offer "alternative" therapies, but not for harming anyone. Instead, the investigations are for the "offenses" of offering or using the alternative therapies, or (in cases involving "unlicensed" practitioners) for "practicing medicine without a license".

In a paradox, a medical doctor's license was "suspended" for 5 years for demonstrating or using a body energy-testing ("electrodermal screening") device, while an unlicensed practitioner was convicted for "practicing medicine without a license" for using the same type of device! (see: The War on Holistic Medicine - Part 4) We can now better understand our new State slogan: "say WA?"

Elsewhere in this web site, you can read details about some of the investigations of both "licensed" alternative and holistic practitioners, as well as those of "unlicensed" practitioners. As you'll read, the evidence for actual patient harm is generally non-existent, and there have rarely been patient complaints of harm. However, that doesn't make any difference to the Department of Health: the investigations—and in some cases, "convictions"—continue.

The Department denies any bias against "alternative" or "holistic" practitioners. But the fact remains that the Department is actively investigating or prosecuting a disproportionately large percentage of the total number of "alternative" or "holistic" practitioners, practitioners who've done no harm, while neglecting to even do preliminary investigations of a substantial proportion of complaints of serious patient sexual abuse (as reported by the Seattle Times. See: License To Harm)

If the Department of Health can eliminate enough alternative practitioners, both licensed and unlicensed, any who remain will be severely intimidated, and your health care options will be greatly diminished.

If you value your ability to choose from the widest number of health care options possible, please join Washington CHOICE. Please telephone, e-mail, and write letters to the Governor, the Department of Health, and (particularly in this election season) to your State Representatives and State Representative candidates (all of whom are presently running for office) as well as your State Senator. (appropriate links to addresses, phone #s, etc. See Tahoma Clinic website) Also, while we appreciate all your efforts, letters and phone calls get the best response. And, if possible it is even better to write your own personal letter as it shows the strength of feeling you have about the issues. Relaying personal experiences about the issues to your elected representatives will help to illustrate the key points persuasively.

And if you can (we know it isn't possible for everyone) please consider a donation of any size to help make health care choice more possible, and (quite literally) to help your holistic health care practitioners remain in practice! If this isn't possible, thank you again for your telephone calls, e-mails, and letters!

Together, we can restore true choice in health care to all citizens of Washington State.