DETROIT, MICHIGAN — The Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA), in a press release late last week, announced that it had filed a lawsuit against the International Hearing Society (IHS) regarding the Tinnitus Care Provider Certificate. The lawsuit was filed in Detroit, near IHS headquarters in Livonia, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
As previously reported at Hearing News Watch, IHS plans to issue Tinnitus Care Provider Certificates to participants that successfully complete a two-day workshop being held in Orlando, Florida on December 2-3, 2016. The program is said to be open to hearing instrument specialists, audiologists, otolaryngologists and other physicians that have at least two years of licensed clinical experience.
According to the complaint filed by ADA, issuing a Tinnitus Care Provider Certificate to Hearing Instrument Specialists would be considered false or misleading advertising in violation of the federal Lanham Act and similar Michigan law. Outside of North Carolina, where Hearing Instrument Specialists are legally permitted to perform tinnitus services, ADA contends that the Tinnitus Care Provider Certificates issued by IHS will “falsely communicate to the public that the dealer holding it is legally allowed to provide tinnitus care”.
“The treatment of tinnitus is complex, evolving and potentially risky to patients. Only medical doctors and audiologists have the knowledge, training and experience to treat tinnitus properly.” —ADA Statement, October 28, 2016
Readers interested in learning more about the suit can read the complaint in full here.
*title image courtesy CBS
Potentially risky to clients? How? They might get some relief or they might not? If not, turn the feature off or return the hearing aids for a refund. This is a ridiculous turf war, and the ADA should be focusing on how the PCAST is trying to make hearing aids OTC, which IS risky to clients!