And

that was a big, big national project.

So we learned a lot then, and then we've always kept an eye on this stuff.

But I think...

We saw a big shift after the pandemic and a very diverse group of Americans who started distrusting traditional medicine, you know, lost confidence in the safety of vaccines.

They lost trust in just medicine.

what their doctors were telling them or just traditional medicine in general.

So what are the kind of key takeaways that people should be wary of? What are the red flags? What should patients do to inform themselves to do their homework before they go to one of these clinics or therapy sessions or you name it?

WABE's Christopher Alston spoke with investigative reporter Carrie Teagarden about what her reporting uncovered and the questions it raises about patient protection in Georgia.

The Georgia Composite Medical Board is the part of the government that is set up to protect the public when it comes to physicians.

So we found that the Georgia Medical Board is relatively weak compared to other states.

And that is combined with a really explosive growth in the population.

An industry that describes itself as alternative or functional or wellness that has grown dramatically.

Those two things happening at the same time, right, created an issue of oversight that maybe wasn't there, but also wasn't really expecting to deal with like this whole new part of medicine that has sprung up that might need special attention.

Can you describe kind of what the process was?

What we did is we really kind of electronically fanned out across the state for different clinics that were offering these products.