Alternative Health Act Scaled Back After Nurses Sound Alarm

PORTLAND, Maine - A Maine bill designed to guarantee the right to practice alternative medicine has been amended after a nurses' group raised concerns it could create a class of unlicensed health care workers with broad practice rights.The proposal's called the "Right To Practice Complementary and Alternative Health Care Act'' and it's awaiting votes before the Legislature. The original version stated a person can provide alternative health services as long as they don't do things such as perform surgery or prescribe drugs.
 
The Maine Nurse Practitioners Association testified the bill "provides no recourse or protection to the public and undermines the basic idea of why licenses are required.''
 
An amendment makes clear the provider would only be able to deliver complementary services, and wouldn't have the practice scope of a licensed professional.