Key takeaways
Georgia’s thriving alternative medicine industry is attracting patients from other states and even from outside the country. The draw: clinics that promote treatments with compelling tales of beating the odds.
But some of the doctors and other practitioners — including those who don’t have any kind of healthcare license — may be exposing patients to enormous debt and hidden risks, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found.
Most clinics say up front they accept cash only. Some patients also report being steered into buying pricey supplements.
Here’s what clinics don’t say: The credentials claimed by some of the practitioners are paper thin, gained after watching videos or attending a weekend seminar. And the treatments they sell are often unapproved, unproven or discredited by science.
