Cancer survivor hospitalized after acupuncturist promised to regrow thyroid if he stopped taking meds
CBC
Seventeen years after S.K. lost his thyroid gland to cancer, he was promised a miracle: acupuncture could regrow the vital organ.
Kyung Chun Oh, an acupuncturist based in the Toronto area, claimed he'd performed this wonder before, according to a recent decision from the College Of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of Ontario.
But Oh told his patient it would only work if S.K. stopped the thyroid medication he'd been on since his surgery in 2003.
Within just a few months of his first visit to Oh, S.K., whose identity is protected by a publication ban, was admitted to hospital with a life-threatening case of hypothyroidism, college documents show. His thyroid had not regenerated. According to the college, that would be impossible.
"It was fortunate that the patient did not die," a college panel wrote in a March 1 disciplinary decision, suspending Oh's licence for 12 months.
"Telling the patient that he should not take his thyroid medication was irresponsible and had disastrous repercussions."
The decision highlights how vulnerable cancer patients and survivors can be to false promises of miraculous results, according to one academic. It comes less than a year after an Ontario oncologist lost his licence for giving cancer patients an unproven "side effect-free chemotherapy" — a case that was cited as precedent during Oh's disciplinary hearing.
Bernie Garrett, a nursing professor at the University of B.C. who studies deception in health care, argues false claims like these are a particular problem in the world of alternative medicine.
"It is very common for these providers to make claims of unrealistic efficacy for their therapies, such as being able to 'heal cancer,' and their regulators often do nothing until it is too late," Garrett said.
"Cancer patients are also a common target, as they are often desperate to try anything, and many practitioners actually believe in the magical nature of their therapeutics."
He argues that patients deserve stronger action against misleading claims and false advertising in the medical world.
"We need easier and more effective ways for the public to raise concerns with health-care marketing and provision, and effective sanctions on rogue practitioners. Otherwise, we will see more of this," Garrett said.
Misleading claims aren't just a problem in the alternative health world.
In the decision to suspend Oh's licence, the acupuncture college referred to the case of Dr. Akbar Khan, whose registration as a doctor was revoked by the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal last July for misconduct and incompetence related to a series of offences. That included giving patients a scientifically unsupported treatment he called "SAFE chemotherapy," at a cost of $4,200 US per cycle.