I am so sad to hear this piece of news.

I have also read all the accounts posted in Chev's Facebook leading to the unfortunate event.

SB413 would mandate that insurance companies accept "ABC Codes," a new type of coding system that has more detail about alternative therapies. Using that system would make it easier for practitioners such as chiropractors, massage therapists and homeopathic doctors, said its supporters.

Using ABC codes could make it easier for massage therapists to get respect -- and money -- from insurance companies, said Billie Shea, head of Nevada's Board of Massage Therapy. But she worried that other aspects of Schneider's proposals could over-regulate some massage therapists.

Non-medical massage therapists don't make more than $40,000 or $50,000 annually, and already have to pay for multiple business and professional licenses, she said.

Larry Matheis, director of the Nevada State Medical Association, opposed all the bills. Schneider's approach wouldn't do anything to integrate alternative medicine into the existing health care system, which already is occurring, said Matheis. Rather, it would create a new state bureaucracy that could endanger patient safety, he said.

The existing medical boards offer sufficient regulation while Schneider's plan would allow unlicensed practitioners to get into the medical field, Matheis said.

"That is a dangerous step," said Matheis. "Your responsibility is patient safety, is public safety. If you're going to err, you have to err on that side."

Deborah Klein, representing the Nevada Dietetic Association, said proposed regulations for "medical nutritionists" in SB432 were vague and should be stricken. They would deceive the public into believing that nutritionists are qualified to do what dietitians do, said Klein.

"Basically, anyone can call themselves a nutritionist," said Klein. "However, they do not have the qualifications of a registered dietitian."

Some of the opposition to his bills came from traditional practitioners who "don't want to give anything up," said Schneider.

"The goal is to get more health care to more people are a more reasonable price," he said.

In a middle room, patients receiving intravenous treatments relax in leather recliners. In the lobby, "green-friendly" cleaning supplies and homeopathic remedies are displayed on tables surrounded by horse art prints on the walls and patient information printed simply on laserprinter paper.

"More and more, primary care is coming along my way because you see all the things about nutrition and concerns about prescription medications," Kule said. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if all the Vioxxes worked with no side effects? But they don't. That's not life. To have good health is work. It's a commitment."

Kule's education has taken him from his native Pennsylvania (where he studied biology at Pennsylvania State University) to Canada (where he explored the physical education and sports culture of Soviet Russia) to Bogota, Colombia (where he earned his medical doctorate from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana). He taught middle school science in Georgia and worked as a medical interpreter in Los Angeles before completing his residency at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. He was a partner in family medical clinics in Swansea for six years until he opened East Aiken Health Center in 2000.

His patients say Kule and his staff are willing to spend hours delving into their health histories and trying to find the root causes of their maladies. "He is known to spend two hours with a patient," wrote one client, named Linda, in a letter praising her physician. "His practice is an incredible alternative to conventional health, concentrating on the body, the mind and the soul working together to create a healthy, happy individual."

Kule says that he is bucking an unfortunate trend in modern medicine â?? health care driven largely by insurance and Medicare reimbursements.

"I think that most doctors in primary care would like to do something like what I'm doing except that the reimbursements from the insurance companies are terrible," Kule said. "I don't think it's satisfying to see 50 patients a day and have three offices on this side and three offices on this side and the nurses come in and do most of the history-taking and you just zip in and focus on one column, write a script and go on to the next patient and drink coffee and push, push,