Dr. Edgar Suter scores 4/5 on our Quack Scale. Although we do not feel he poses a high risk to patients’ health, we would advise potential patients to carefully examine any and all of the treatments offered by Dr. Suter, his website, and the associated practice. We would strongly encourage patients to seek independent, reliable second, and third opinions. It is our opinion that Dr. Suter seeks to benefit financially from misselling unproven and unlicensed products and treatments to his patients.
If you’re not sure how our Quack Scale works, click here for a detailed explanation
Qualification: Emergency Medicine
Current Licensing Status: Dr. Edgar Suter is licensed to practice by the state board in Arizona (28552). If not Renewed, the License expires 08/13/2022.
Resident: San Tan Valley, Arizona, his practice address is registered as Vibrant Health, 4900 N Scottsdale Rd, Ste 2400, Scottsdale AZ 85251
Existing Complaints: FDA Letter dated 18 Nov 2020. FTC Letter dated 18 Nov 2020. 2016 action by California’s Medical Board which led to Suter surrendering his medical license in California. Follow the link for the details.
Website: vibranthealthcare.org
Dr. Edgar Suter is an interesting case. He is well educated and can therefore not offer any defense against the claims lodged by the FDA and FTC in relation to unproven treatments he sells and the claims he makes relating to these products and treatments. He would know full well that he has stepped over a line, repeatedly and there can only one motivator for his actions. He is seeking to benefit financially from the sale of unsafe, unproven, and unlicensed products he portrays as medicines and treatments. By doing so, his practice, his business, and his reputation are forfeit and he is now firmly established as a quack.
As this is a new complaint, we will deal specifically with the complaints filed against him rather than seeking out other web resources. The accusations are serious and potentially crippling to his practice and credibility. If you are currently engaged in treatment or considering treatment from this practitioner or practice, we strongly urge you to seek a reliable, honest second opinion.
Although Suter has been engaged for years in selling these questionable treatments, his latest claims relating to their efficacy against Covid-19 prompted the FDA to act against him. In a letter dated 18 Nov 2020, various complaints were issued against Suter, his website, and the social media channels his practice uses to advertise its quackery. The subject of the complaint: Unapproved and Misbranded Products Related to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
This isnt Suter’s first brush with authorities. He has a history of misleading the public and using illegal shortcuts to profit. In 2016 he had to surrender his medical license in California as part of a legal case brought against him. You can read the details of the action brought against him by the California Medical Board here and verify his license status in California here. His business, called 420 Wellness Today, was selling medical marijuana.
Current FDA Complaint
The following extracts are lifted directly from the FDA Complaint. They offer a damning picture of the doctor and his methods.
The FDA has observed that you offer an umbilical cord derived cellular product in the United States to mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose, or cure COVID-19[1] in people.
Your umbilical cord derived cellular product is an unapproved new drug under section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), 21 U.S.C. § 355. Furthermore, this product is a misbranded drug under section 502 of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. § 352. It is a prohibited act under section 301(k) of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. § 331(k) to do any act with respect to a drug, if such act is done while the drug is held for sale after shipment in interstate commerce and results in the drug being misbranded.
As described below, you offer a product for sale that is intended to mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose, or cure COVID-19 in people. We request that you take immediate action to cease the marketing or sale of any such unlicensed, unapproved, and unauthorized products for the mitigation, prevention, treatment, diagnosis, or cure of COVID-19.
Not only was the doctor offering an illegal, unlicensed product or “medicine”, he was also making outrageous and unsubstantiated claims about the products, all in the name of boosting sales. See the following example from his Facebook page.
“How can we improve our odds of staying healthy and fighting off Coronavirus? Shelley Blanzy of Vibrant Health Care speaks with Dr. Edgar Suter regarding prevention and treatment options that are now available….Please call…to schedule a consultation with Dr. Suter.” A video accompanies this post in which Dr. Suter states, “We saw that mesenchymal stem cells, stem cells, can be helpful in even bringing people back from the brink of death . . . as far gone as on the respirator very near death who have had infusions intravenously of stem cells and have come back without lung damage, without organ system damage…I’m of the belief that…stem cell infusions intravenously…can help fortify us so that we’re less likely to get and less likely to succumb to this COVID-19 pandemic.” [www.facebook.com/vibranthealthcare]
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and this post, off his website.
“According to Edgar Suter, MD who has performed hundreds of successful stem cell therapy treatments, the anti-inflammatory and healing properties of stem cells can help patients form a formidable barrier against the virus. This is especially true for patients who are less equipped to fight off infections due to a weaker immune system, other illnesses or aging. Per Dr. Suter, fortifying the lungs’’ [sic] with umbilical cord tissue that contains millions of potent stem cells is a great way for patients to boost their ability to fight off virus and other related illnesses.” [www.vibranthealthcare.org/blog/can-stemcell-therapy-help-patients-with-coronavirus]
Not satisfied with trying to con the victims of Covid-19, his wild and outlandish claims also stretch to a whole host of other diseases, such as diabetes, ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, lupus, inflammatory bile disease, and asthma. His exploitation of these vulnerable groups through the unsubstantiated claims he makes, is in our opinion, unforgivable and not befitting the conduct of a reputable doctor.
On your website, you have a page dedicated to autoimmune diseases (including lupus, Crohn’s disease, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease), and you claim:
Your Vibrant Health Care specialist injects flowable allograft containing stem cells from donated umbilical cord tissue into the affected areas of the body. At Vibrant Health Care, we see our patients show great improvements in their symptoms after the treatment.”
These are statements from a con-artist and charlatan, trying to sell you his expensive brand of snake oil. The only thing that’s going to be rejuvenated after your interaction with Dr. Suter is his bank account. Avoid and seek honest, alternate medical advice.
Dr. Edgar Suter’s images are all used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, and increase public health knowledge.
