The judge noted that the "health coach" was free to offer pro bono advice.
A federal court on Wednesday rejected claims by an unlicensed "health coach" that the unqualified health advice she provided to paying clients was protected speech under the First Amendment.
In rejecting her claim, the court affirmed that states do indeed have the right to require that anyone charging for health and medical services - in this case, dietetics and nutrition advice - be qualified and licensed. (State laws governing who can offer personalized nutrition services vary considerably, however.)
Heather Del Castillo, a "holistic health coach" based in Florida, brought the case in October of 2017 shortly after she was busted in an undercover investigation by the state health department. At the time, Del Castillo was running a health-coaching business called Constitution Nutrition, which offered a personalized, six-month health and dietary program. The program involved 13 in-home consulting sessions, 12 of which cost $95 each.
Under a Florida state law called the Dietetics and Nutrition Practice Act (DNPA), anyone offering such services needs to be qualified and licensed to protect against bogus advice that could cause significant harms. Those qualifications include having a bachelor's or graduate degree in a relevant field, such as nutrition, from an accredited institution; having at least 900 hours of education or experience approved by the state's Board of Medicine; and passing the state's licensing exam.
Del Castillo had completed none of those things. Her only credential for providing health services was a certificate from an unaccredited, for-profit online school called the Institution for Integrative Nutrition. Otherwise, she had a bachelor's degree in geography and a master's in education. [...]
(Score: 3, Touché) by aristarchus on Monday July 22 2019, @02:06AM (2 children)
But the question is, are you qualified to supply it? Credentials needed! (And none of this nonsense about how you went to AC college! Soylentils know that is not a real school!)
(Score: 5, Funny) by istartedi on Monday July 22 2019, @08:35AM (1 child)
AC college may not be real, but DC colleges are. [wikipedia.org]. As long as he keeps current in his field, we should respect him.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 22 2019, @12:09PM
You could say: he's so twisted the more current he keeps, the more magnetically attractive he is.
🌻🌻 [google.com]