Dr. Quinn (aka Jane Seymour) speaks out

I came across this article which I wish to share with you...

On February 24, 1999, actress Jane Seymour, who plays Dr. Quinn in the TV series, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, presented the following testimony before the House Committee on Government Reform Hearing on Alternative Medicine. It is a beautiful statement and worth reading!

—JW

My first experience with alternative medicine involved my father, John Frankenberg, a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in England. He specialized in infertility and prided himself in being a good doctor, with extraordinary results in his field, greatly due to the time he would spend listening to his patients. When he himself was diagnosed with lung and bone cancer and treated with radiation, his oncologist told him that was it, he had "no more options." Distressed, and desperate to find an answer, I found the Virginia Livingston Clinic in San Diego—a complementary medicine program which was heavily criticized by mainstream medicine. I offered this option to my father not believing that he would accept. However, after reading their brochure, he did.

On his arrival in California, he was frail, gray, and lifeless. Not the father I had always known, but rather, a man who appeared nearly dead both physically as well as spiritually. After one week there, undergoing complementary medicine therapies and antibiotics, he regained his strength and spirit. He decided to visit Sea World. He walked out of his wheelchair to look more closely at the exhibit. He was healthy looking and happy, and we were all, including his oncologist, dumbfounded. Many months later, he died of heart problems, but he had a much longer life than predicted, and without question, a higher quality of life. He visited the opera two days before his death. He was happy and comfortable until the end. Before he died, I spoke with him asking if he had any regrets in his life. He said his strongest regret was his not knowing more about alternative medicine, as he felt he could have been a better doctor with that knowledge to complement his own.

Since then, my sister Anne has trained as a Homeopath in England. I have seen her help many people. One was a woman with fibroid tumors, declared unable to conceive and told she needed surgery. Anne treated her homeopathically, and she has just delivered a healthy child and the doctors found no fibroid present in her body! When alternative medicine arrives, how many surgeries like this will be prevented? My nephew, with chronic eczema has found relief at last with homeopathy instead of steroids. My sister Sally had a brain aneurysm and after surgery was given Arnica for the swelling, with the permission of her brain surgeon. He was then astounded, as were all the nurses who determined her swelling to be one-third that of the other patients who had received the identical surgery that day.

In my own life, I have used high-quality herbs, vitamins, and homeopathy. During my 16 hours a day, five days a week job on Dr. Quinn, I rarely got sick. Indeed, even pregnant with twins at 45, I was able to support my immune system with this regime and not miss a single day of work.

I have recommended remedies to friends, for headaches and flu symptoms with amazing success, even to the non-believers. My children, both teens and babies, routinely use alternative medicine first. More often than not, it has solved their problem. My pediatrician suggested homeopathy to avoid the excessive use of antibiotics. One of my twins did so well with this that he was antibiotic-free for over six months, when all around him were suffering from flu. Recently, both twins with ear infections received antibiotics due to the severity of the case, but also took a series of other therapies like herbal medicines to support their immune systems. They sailed through this as if they were never sick and needed far less antibiotic rounds. It was amazing. Another friend with chronic migraines would vomit uncontrollably and lie in a fetal position crying for help. Medicine prescribed for her did little. Only Codeine gave some pain relief and sleep. The following day she consulted a naturopathic medicine practioner who after the session gave her a single remedy. She felt better within half an hour and has remained pain and headache free ever since.

About nine years ago, I almost died of anaphylactic shock from an injection of Cephalosporin prescribed for bronchitis. Needless to say, since that close call, I've been more inclined to ask questions and seek options in my medical health. Do we all need a severe wake-up call? I have managed to avoid antibiotics on many occasions by catching early warning symptoms of viral infections using proven herbs such as echinacea, vitamins, and homeopathy. Two years ago, I was very ill with Leptospirosis, contracted while filming in a swamp. I was eternally grateful to have Tetracycline which absolutely saved my life. I am also positive that by my abstaining in the past from antibiotics whenever possible and using complementary medicines, the antibiotics worked more effectively in that crisis.

The world of alternative medicine has become a major spark in my life, and I am here to suggest the integration of Western and alternative medicine within our medical establishments. It would be an injustice to deny America the information about and access to alternative medicine, particularly as it has now been proven through laboratory and clinical research and has been shown to be cost effective with 100 to 500 years of reproducible clinical results.

I am not standing here as a scientist but as a concerned member of the public who has had the privilege to try these options which are supported by scientific evidence.

A recent article in JAMA estimated that there were 110,000 deaths annually from the use of medical drugs. It's the fourth cause of death in America. That is not to say that miracles have not been achieved with the use of prescription drugs. I am not here to vilify western medicine.

I am looking for inclusion, not exclusion.

I propose every hospital in America include a complementary medicine department, consisting of two or three licensed practitioners who direct the complement to (otherwise) unassisted treatments such as chemotherapy side effects and chronic but not life-threatening diseases. I propose the NIH stop withholding its billions of dollars in research funds from the implementation of natural medicines and protocols.

When I get sick, my children or my friends, I want to know that all has been done to protect their health. Everything! I don't want to feel that I have to choose one medical system over the other. Each of us can benefit from a portfolio of medical choices. I want all medical options available to me, to my family and to you. There must be room for all remedies that bring health to the patient. Isn't this hearing about healing? Alternative no longer needs to mean one or the other. There should be no alternative other than the best health care known to man.

Article from NCH July/August 1999