I have always thought of myself first and foremost as a botanist. My interest in plants drew me into the study of chemistry and pharmacology and then medicine. Over the course of the thirty plus years that I’ve been practicing, I’ve now come full circle. I reject the temptation to suppress the patient’s symptoms with synthetic pharmaceuticals as the first line of treatment. I seek to improve the underlying balance with naturally occurring substances and nutrition whenever practical and through supporting life-style change.
As a physician, there is something deeply unsatisfying about having to rush from one patient to the next. Twelve minutes is about the fastest you can say hello, find out where it hurts, take a look, write a diagnostic note, give the prescriptions and bill, say bye and go to the next one. In contrast, an hour is enough time to have an extended conversation, listen to the patient, lay the foundation of a health partnership and make a good plan together. The minimum new patient visit is one hour and return visits are a half hour; but you can ask for more.
My practice is based upon a teaching model. It is inherently inefficient. I’m limited to working with about twelve people a day one-on-one. Therefore, you should think of using me as a physician consultant and not as your primary care physician. In general, I am more effective in working on patterns of chronic disease than in providing treatment for acute events. I am dedicated to the education of my patients. The more they know, the more self-reliant they become; and the better they are able to participate in making decisions for themselves and their families.
Each of these four adjectives has value in describing an aspect of my practice:
Holistic- An individual’s health can only be realized by achieving the integration of body, mind and spirit.
Alternative- Synthetic patented pharmaceutical drugs and surgery are the least desirable treatment options. Every conceivable safe alternative should be sought. Assess and define risk when possible. Medicine is not ‘monolithic’. There are often many good alternatives. In fact, this is historically how most medical treatment innovation occurs.
Complementary- Conventional medicine is the current stage to which we have evolved. Unfortunately, too much of its resources are aimed at symptom treatment late in the development of the disease relatively late in an individual’s life. It also vastly underutilizes nutrition as a tool for intervention. There is no need to condemn or react to the current health care system. Let us work along side it, improving upon it, utilizing its best ideas and finally supplanting the need to rely so heavily on its treatment methods.
Functional- Show me a person who eats a good diet, can digest their food, assimilate, eliminate well, has a good sleep pattern, exercises and has flexibility and joint mobility, maintains a positive attitude, expresses gratitude; and I’ll show you a healthy person. When you cannot do these things well, expect disease. They are worth the doctor’s attention.
Fees and policy
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