After a nearly year long legal battle, Dr. John A. Catanzaro readies for his return to treating patients the way they want to be treated – naturopathically and emotionally speaking, and on an individual basis.

Back in January of 2014, the Department of Health suspended Catanzaro for failing to follow certain protocols during his cancer treatments, not keeping records, and performing inadequate patient examinations after allegations arose from a mainstream medical doctor.

Julie Totland, a patient of one of the doctors at the Health and Wellness Institute of Integrative Medicine and Cancer Research, is a patient at the clinic who also takes her daughter to see Catanzaro’s team to treat Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), a rare heart condition.

“Dr. John is the only one who really thinks outside the box, as far as her condition goes,” Totland said. “We have done all of the mainstream therapies that are out there without much success. We started seeing Dr. John because he was willing to try things that were a little more outside of the box for my daughter’s condition.”

Part of the appeal of naturopathy isn’t just that the treatments are not the same pills as every other person with the same issue, but that practitioners work with the patient toward a treatment plan that is personalized.

“It’s a huge relief to feel like I have choices,” Totland said. “In mainstream medicine there’s the list and here’s what we can do and they don’t really… want to try things that are different. When mainstream medicine isn’t working you’re kind of stuck.”

Many people head to naturopathy because they have received few answers within traditional treatments; they’ve gone through ‘the list’ of treatments and have come out the other end without getting better.

“Why is there a question at all when this is considered to be in the scope of my practice?” asks Catanzaro. “Why am I accused of being unprofessional and unethical when its in the scope of naturopathic medicine to design personalized treatment for patients? What’s different about personalized treatments if its institutionalized or in a wellness setting?”

According to Catanzaro, traditional and naturopathic medicine have been overshadowed by institutionalized medicinal practices and the ‘one size fits all’ approach to every disease under the sun, with personalized care under scrutiny for only some practitioners.

“It’s confusing, it’s confusing to patients, it’s confusing to doctors, and there are doctors who are currently under the gun because they are wanting to administer treatments for patients…,” Catanzaro said.

The doctor-patient relationship is a lot different at the Health and Wellness clinic that Catanzaro presides over. There’s a common ground where patient (or parent) research has an impact on the treatment plan that the doctors decide upon.

“It’s huge. As a parent, a lot of times when you have a sick child, you’re the one who’s doing the majority of the research to find something that will help your child,” Totland said. “Doctors oftentimes don’t have that kind of time to devote to your cause.”

According to Totland, having a personalized plan for her daughter’s health care was more than just a reason to seek Catanzaro’s clinic, it was the best reason.

“When you have a doctor who actually listens to what you’ve done, that’s huge,” Totland said. “Dr. John really does. He takes the time. A lot of times, he’ll sit with us when we’re getting treatment and talk about options, how its going, what we can try, what we’ve read recently.”

For Totland and her daughter, no other doctor would try giving her daughter weekly saline solutions for her disease. Since starting with Catanzaro, Totland has brought in other POTS patients to the clinic to get the same level of individualized care that she and her daughter receives.

“It’s like you have a partner working with you to solve the problem,” Totland said. “I don’t know what we would have done without him.”

While Catanzaro won’t be able to practice until at least February 2015 when he can reapply for his naturopathy license, his clinic Health and Wellness Institute of Integrative Medicine and Cancer Research has been in full operation – which is good news for patients. Catanzaro is currently working as president of the clinic.