Well, I will start first with the legalities. I don't diagnose anyone, never had, never will. I am not qualified to do that. And while anyone can sue anyone for just about anything here in the states, if I did get sued, it is very unlikely it would go very far. It might even be, in fact a good chance it would be, thrown out of court, due to lack of merit.
I am not a lawyer, but I did take paralegal in college and I know a lot of lawyers from my days owning another business in NYC, and I have discussed this with them in detail. I also had to have insurance just in case...
To just sum up how a court here would generally view it; I am not held to the standard that doctors are, and I make no guarantees about about any dietary advice as being 100% fool proof. If you notice my statements are usually fairly general, as in a better diet will improve your health, or if you have cancer, doing a diet like this can improve your chances of survival, etc. No one could challenge that in a scientific medical manner that would allow them to prevail in a court. First, from a moral standpoint, I would never mislead anyone about what the possibility are for a recovery, and I never say that if they do this or that, they will definitely recover. Second, I never diagnose. I can't not only from a legal standpoint, and from a ethical standpoint it would also be a disservice to any clients of mine. If you told me you had constant headaches, and I said, oh, this is your problem, then you could take me to court in good standing. If you told me you had headaches and I said you need to get a medical diagnoses and then you came back to me with a diagnoses of lets say, not mold in your system, then I could move on without any legal entanglements.
Nothing is done in a vacuum. If someone is under a doctors care, I can't, and I won't even try to supersede what they are doing with their doctor. So you say if I told someone to do this or that and they had allergies here on this site, that is a statement which is a good example. If you has said that if I told someone to take supplements (like St. Johns Wort for instance, which has interactions and contradictions with a lot of drugs) and it caused them a problem, that would hold a little more water, but not even that much. Here is why. From a dietary standpoint, eating raw and vegan is fairly innocuous. If someone is allergic to oranges less say, and they know that, well obviously I don't need to tell them to stay away from oranges, they already know that. I don't think any court anywhere is going to hold me responsible for that. A court is just going to come to a natural assumption that I am not suggesting anyone eat anything contrary known to cause them adverse effects. Besides that, what I am suggesting in the way of diet actually improves ones chances of being allergy free, btw. As far as supplement, they are not meds, and are available without a prescription. If someone comes onto the health forum and says they can't sleep at night, what should they do, and I say try Valerian, and God forbid they go into anaphylactic shock and they die, even then the chance of them getting anything done in court are nil because of a lot of legal factors I have mentioned above and will below, and some that I have not. Of course the chances of that happening with the proper dosage of Valerian are close to zero, and I would not recommend anything that was dangerous...
If they are on meds, while I have a pretty good idea of what meds do what and what the interactions are, I will tell them consult with your doctor about taking so and so supplements. As far as getting a doctors okay with diet, in most cases, not all, one example of a dietary exception being someone who has had a transplant can't eat grapefruit, but in most cases, changing their diet is not going to interfere with their meds. What often does happen is that as they progress with biological healing, their blood work will show improvements. The client will often feel better. They will often ask me, do you think I can stop or decrease my meds? I won't touch that with a 10 foot pole. I tell them to do as there doctor says, that he is the one authorized to prescribe and manipulate the meds, not me. But frankly, many clients have been given the okay by their doctors to decrease or even go off their meds in some instances, because their blood work is so good, and they feel so good. Some clients have been told by their doctors don't go off, and they have anyway, going against their doctors advice. I tell them I don't think it is a great idea, I don't encourage them to disobey their doctors, but some just feel good enough that they just go off their meds and as long as they stay the course, they never need them again. I have had conversations with doctors that have asked me what did I have their patient do? Most are very skeptical or tell me it can't be, But some have adopted it in their practices, calling me sometimes for advice. They have told me it works wonders. One quit and became a ND in the way of treatment because of what she saw. I have known some fo them for many years because of their belief in diet and lifestyle,. I have witnessed all that I am telling you, either from my own experiences or with my friend I mentioned in the previous post.
When it comes to changing diet with people who are sick, the trick of it for me is to understand where the client is at with the endogenous materials in their bodies. This is not a diagnosis, because I am not determining what a medical issue is, but rather there general state of dietary being. In cancer, it is particularly crucial, because when they change their diet around, one has to be aware of the interaction with chemo and/or radiation, and maybe even more importantly the measuring of the detox due to a better, diet. Believe it or not, a person can actually die if to many toxins due to the detox are spilling into their blood to quickly. It is very unusual, but that can happen.
Also, where A LOT of people go wrong is that when they change their diets around, many times due to how intoxicated they are with so much junk and poison (and it is a poison to the body) from their lifestyle over the decades, they feel worse then before, sometimes for maybe weeks or even months. But what they don't realize is that the outward symptoms for biological healing are/can be the same as the symptoms as when they are ill. Same symptoms, but the body is going in reverse directions.
But I am digressing. Getting back to the legal stuff.
I have said for a long time western medicine is a God send for diagnosis. The tools for this are very sophisticated, and it has saved many lives. It has helped me in my helping clients. Western medicine is also fantastic for trauma. Meds have saved a lot of lives, and I believe that if ones life is in danger, take the meds. The goal is twofold here. To live and survive, and to have a quality of life. So meds to save life, yes. Meds as a way to live, not if one can avoid that. There are to many side effects for meds that dramatically decrease quality of life, and shorten life spans. I know some people can't of their mess. That is a sad fact. Those people that come to me, I lay it out. But even sometimes they can decrease the meds, and improve their overall health if they follow the guidelines I put forth. You can believe me or not, there are more people who can get off their meds with a proper diet then need to stay on. For chronic disease, and acute disease, and prevention, western medicine leaves a lot to be desired.
The other thing about doing this over the net for free is that again, the court holds my advice to a even lower standard. There was no monies transactions, and no representation of expectations. There is no verbal or written legal contract of services promised, performance, etc.
Anyway, I know that was a very long explanation that segwayed into other areas, but that is about the gist of the legalities of it.
So anyone here, please don't sue me !
It will almost definitely go nowhere. Any lawyers here can probably attest to that. You'll just be wasting your time and money, and mine to.
As to your friend, there is the example of someone not qualified doing the diagnosing. They assumed she was low on potassium, and they advised her to take supplements. She should have had blood work done first, And it sounds like she took to much also.
Certain supplements can be dangerous in higher levels. People need to be aware of what they are doing. They either need to ask a doctor, or some other qualified health care person, and/or do their own homework.
About your dairy. The guidelines for diet that I put out there are general. Of course for specific needs it is tailored to suit. But even then, the fundamentals always remain the same. If you told me your medical issues, I would ask about any dietray restrictions, in many cases, I would know about them, but I would ask anyway. If you knew you needed dairy, and assuming I did not realize that, and you did not mention it, well...
As far as being dangerous, I hope you don't mind if I say your on shaky ground with that statement. Prescription meds are FAR more dangerous then food. In the US about, I forget the exact numbers, but about 100,000 people die a year due to prescription meds usage. This is verified. And in most cases it is people using them as prescribed. So what is more dangerous, eating a diet that will improve your health, or meds?
To be blunt, I don't know of one person that has died because they improves their diet, do you?
This is where I think sometimes it is a stretch and is based more on emotional then logical arguments. I am not saying you, I don't know either way, but I have seen it time and again, and discussed it with clients many times. Many people, maybe most people, know deep down that they usually have nothing to lose and all to gain by improving their diets. Most people can see the cause and effect with food just with simple weight gain and loss. Just because when they eat something they realize that made me tired, like turkey can, or that stimulated me, like coffee. But in reality, many people can't do the dietary guidelines that induces biological healing. So they resist in their minds, making up reasons why it won't work. Making rational that they know deep down may be shaky, but it takes away the responsibility factor of ownership of their own health. It is a lot easier for them, mentally and emotionally to to do that. If they admit that diet can play a major role in disease, and then don't do anything about it, they have to deal with the emotions of guilt, and lack of responsibility.
Anyway, supplements have their place, but it is not the focus of what I do. I have seen many people heal without taking a single supplement. Conversely, some people need other modalities like Oxygen therapy, herbs, essential oils, flowers, infra red, and so on.
Well, I hope this helps clarify some things.
