If you’re not sure how our Quack Scale works, click here for a detailed explanation

Qualification: Wakefield studied medicine at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School (now Imperial College School of Medicine), fully qualifying in 1981. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1985.

Current Licensing Status: In 2010 Wakefield was permanently stripped of his right to practice medicine in the United Kingdom by the British General Medical Council

Resident: USA

Existing Complaints: None. Wakefield fortunately no longer practices medicine and is not licensed in the US

Website: None

Corruption and deceit exposed

Andrew Wakefield is the disgraced British doctor who fabricated evidence, published in the respected medical journal The Lancet in 1998, to make a link between the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine and autism in young children, triggering a worldwide panic about the safety of vaccination. To explain this in more depth, I’ll reference large sections of an article written by Decca Aitkenhead of the Weekend Australian. You can access the full article here and it is an excellent read, providing insight into Wakefield’s personality and motivations.

The falsified paper

Wakefield claimed that, by an uncanny coincidence, 12 unrelated sets of parents from all over the country had independently brought their child to see him. According to the paper, parent after parent had told him a ­chillingly similar story: within 14 days — and in some cases within hours — of receiving the MMR vaccine, their hitherto developmentally normal child was displaying symptoms of severe autism. The truth of what actually transpired was vastly different from Wakefield’s initial claims.

What Wakefield had concealed from his ­colleagues, including co-authors of the paper, was that these parents had been referred to him by a personal injury lawyer with whom he was secretly working. Wakefield was essentially running a ­litigation factory at the Royal Free, fabricating ­evidence for a class-action suit against the MMR vaccine. He was receiving a fortune in funding for his “research” from the lawyer, thanks to the Legal Aid Board. And he stood to profit from his research’s conclusion that separate jabs for measles, mumps, and rubella were a safer alternative to the combined MMR, since he was busy patenting his own single-shot measles vaccine.

Most of this information would have remained hidden and Wakefield may very well have escaped detection had it not been for a journalist, Brian Deer, who smelled a rat and pursued Wakefield remorselessly. Wakefield then made a strategic blunder deciding to sue Deer unsuccessfully, for libel. In the end, this action proved his undoing. The court case gave Deer access to the confidential records of the patients involved and it was easily determined that some of the children had indeed displayed symptoms long before they were vaccinated and in some cases, months after.

The Charismatic Conman

To understand how Wakefield could survive the consequences of public embarrassment and humiliation and thrive in the face of his self-inflicted adversity, it’s worthwhile understanding the man himself. He is as charismatic as he is deceptive and his charms have stood him in good stead, allowing him to call on the support of women in various roles throughout his life. His game plan of painting himself as the victim of institutional crucifixion has paid handsome dividends, enabling him to mislead one person after another.

Among the supportive donors who encouraged Wakefield’s US revival after his flight from the UK, Chicago lawyer ­Elizabeth Birt, who raised the money for him to start a new life and sponsored his US visa, wealthy horsewoman Troylyn Ball, and Jane Johnson of the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical family; Ball and Johnson set him up in a $280,000-a-year job created just for him. In November 2017, at an anti-vaccine event in Florida, Wakefield was introduced to Elle Macpherson. The rest, as they say, is history.

Wakefield has turned himself into vaccine medicine’s self-styled martyr claiming he was silenced by the British establishment for exposing the “truth”. Its been a massively successful strategy. The 63-year-old conman is now feted by conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers alike. He was a guest at ­Donald Trump’s inauguration ball and enjoys close relationships with Robert F Kennedy Jnr, Del Bigtree, and the autism anti-vaxxer, Polly Tommey, one of his first ‘disciples’.

For a far more detailed analysis of Wakefield’s life, click here

Why Wakefield lost his medical license

After a painfully thorough three-year investigation, the British General Medical Council (GMC) uncovered shocking aspects of Wakefield’s abuse of his medical credentials and position that left them in no doubt as to their course of action. Wakefield was stripped of his right to practice medicine in the United Kingdom.

Charges leveled at Wakefiled suggested he;

• Was being paid to conduct the study by solicitors representing parents who believed their children had been harmed by MMR
• Ordered investigations “without the requisite pediatric qualifications” including colonoscopies, colon biopsies and lumbar punctures (“spinal taps”) on his research subjects without the approval of his department’s ethics board and contrary to the children’s clinical interests, when these diagnostic tests were not indicated by the children’s symptoms or medical history.
• Act[ed] dishonestly and irresponsibly in failing to disclose … how patients were recruited for the study
• Conduct[ed] the study on a basis not approved by the hospital’s ethics committee.
• Purchased blood samples — for £5 each — from children present at his son’s birthday party, which Wakefield joked about in a later presentation.
• Showed callous disregard for any distress or pain the children might suffer

On 28 January 2010, the GMC ruled against Wakefield on all issues, stating that he had “failed in his duties as a responsible consultant”, acted against the interests of his patients, and “dishonestly and irresponsibly” in his controversial research. On 24 May 2010, he was struck off the United Kingdom medical register. It was the harshest sanction that the GMC could impose, and effectively ended his career as a doctor. In announcing the ruling, the GMC said that Wakefield had;

 “brought the medical profession into disrepute,” and no sanction short of erasing his name from the register was appropriate for the “serious and wide-ranging findings” of misconduct

On the money front

• In December 2006, Deer released records obtained from the Legal Services Commission, showing that it had paid £435,643 in undisclosed fees to Wakefield for the purpose of building a case against the MMR vaccine. Those payments, The Sunday Times reported, had begun two years before the publication of Wakefield’s fraudulent paper inThe Lancet. Wakefield had failed to disclose these payments.
• Wakefield applied for a patent on a single-jab measles vaccine before his campaign against the MMR vaccine, raising questions about his motives. Deer discovered this application, despite assurances from Wakefield’s attorneys that no such application was lodged.
• Wakefield also, according to court documents, improperly or dishonestly lent his reputation to the International Child DevelopmentResource Centre, which promoted to very vulnerable parents expensive products for whose efficacy (as he knew or should have known) there was no scientific evidence. No mention is made of money here, but it was clearly a quid pro quo arrangement.

Experimenting on vulnerable children

This is perhaps the most repulsive part of Wakefield’s past and points to an individual with complete disregard for human life, someone woefully unsuited to a career in medicine or in any field relating to public health.

• An extension of his project caused life-threatening complications in one child, who received substantial compensation in an out-of-court settlement. You can read the full article here, written by Rachel Ellis Ellis and published 10 December 2007. “£500,000 for boy left fighting for life after being used as MMR guinea pig”
• As mentioned, evidence he himself validated emerged that he had “bought blood” at £5 a turn from children attending his son’s birthday party.
• Other instances exist of unsanctioned procedures he performed, these can readily be googled.

Dishonest or deluded?

Without a doubt, calculatingly dishonest. The level of manipulation and fraud involved with Wakefield’s fictitious paper are a clear indicator he was under no illusions induced by poor research but wilfully intended to support his own preconceived narrative for personal gain. A few of the lies identified in the paper included the following.

• Three of nine children reported with regressive autism did not have autism diagnosed at all. Only one child clearly had regressive autism; 
• Despite the paper claiming that all 12 children were “previously normal”, five had documented preexisting developmental concerns; 
• Some children were reported to have experienced first behavioral symptoms within days of MMR, but the records documented these as starting some months after vaccination; 
• In nine cases, unremarkable colonic histopathology results — noting no or minimal fluctuations in inflammatory cell populations — were changed after a medical school “research review” to “non-specific colitis”; 
• The parents of eight children were reported as blaming MMR, but 11 families made this allegation at the hospital. The exclusion of three allegations — all giving times to onset of problems in months — helped to create the appearance of a 14-day temporal link; 
• Patients were recruited through anti-MMR campaigners, and the study was commissioned and funded for planned litigation.

In a statement from British Medical Journal (BMJ) editors, this conclusion;

A great deal of thought and effort must have gone into drafting the paper to achieve the results he wanted: the discrepancies all led in one direction; misreporting was gross. Moreover, although the scale of the GMC’s 217 day hearing precluded additional charges focused directly on the fraud, the panel found him guilty of dishonesty concerning the study’s admissions criteria, its funding by the Legal Aid Board, and his statements about it afterwards.

Deer also further reported, based on documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, that Wakefield — in partnership with the father of one of the boys in the study — had planned to launch a venture on the back of an MMR vaccination scare that would profit from new medical tests and “litigation driven testing”.

Wakefield predicted he “could make more than $43 million a year from diagnostic kits” for the new condition, autistic enterocolitis, he was set upon creating. According to Deer’s report in BMJ, the ventures, Immunospecifics Biotechnologies Ltd and Carmel Healthcare Ltd — named after Wakefield’s wife — failed after Wakefield’s superiors at University College London’s medical school gave him a two-page letter stating the following;

We remain concerned about a possible serious conflict of interest between your academic employment by UCL, and your involvement with Carmel … This concern arose originally because the company’s business plan appears to depend on premature, scientifically unjustified publication of results, which do not conform to the rigorous academic and scientific standards that are generally expected

It is impossible to come away from all this damning evidence without forming the following opinion. Far from being a victim of ‘establishment ire’ as Wakefield would have you believe, it is clear that he is in fact exactly the opposite.

Andrew Wakefield is a cold, calculating con artist with a medical degree. He willfully misled the public, has endangered thousands of children’s lives by casting doubt on vaccines, and has manipulated his environment and everyone in his immediate sphere of influence for his own personal, financial gain. As unpleasant a person as one could hope to cross paths with and we owe Brian Deer a great deal of gratitude for the copious time and effort he has invested in exposing the real Andrew Wakefield.

To those who choose to associate with Wakefield, I would urge caution. The truth has a nasty habit of turning on those who choose to ignore it and if you’re sitting around the pool sipping martini’s with Mr. Wakefield, you’ve chosen to ignore it or you are simply no better than he.

Vaxxed, or ‘How to profit from deception’

Assert something over and over in public and it must be true, even if it is glaringly apparent it isn’t. It’s a page right out of Donald Trump’s playbook and a tactic Wakefield has combined with his charismatic personality. Had he been born in America, Wakefield could very well have ended up on the next Republican ticket, such is the extent of his ability to deflect, obfuscate and manipulate the truth for his own personal and financial gain.

Vaxxed, released in 2016 was Wakefield’s first attempt to take things up a notch, having built a circle of relative protection around himself in his adopted homeland. He turned to Polly Tommey, one of his most devout disciples and fervent supporters, to appear in the video. She had followed closely on Wakefield’s heels, abandoning the UK for American soil and by no small coincidence, was also located in Texas. Tommey was ably supported in the movie by fellow anti-vaxxers, a complete list is shown below.

Vaxxed is a pseudoscience propaganda documentary film alleging a cover-up by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of a purported link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The film was supposed to debut at the Tribeca Film festival but was withdrawn by the festival organizers. Indiewire said in a review of the film at the time;

“Wakefield doesn’t just have a dog in this fight; he is the dog”

The film was produced by Autism Media Channel, of which Wakefield is a director. Unsurprisingly, Del Bigtree was listed as a producer. After the film was dropped from the Tribeca Film Festival, it was picked up for distribution by Cinema Libre. The film premiered at the Angelika Film Center in New York City on April 1, 2016 to an audience of “a few dozen. There are multiple reliable online resources that discredit the movie, highlighting the obvious deception and bare-faced lies it offers by way of storyline. You can read more on that here and here.

Perhaps the best reason not to watch this propaganda rubbish is best encapsulated by this fantastic ani-flyer produced by Dawn Pederson and shown below. You can download this as a PDF here. Vaxxed should be seen for exactly what it is. A pathetic attempt by Wakefield to revive his failing fortunes and his stooges and lackeys that assist him so willingly will live to regret it. Ask his previous research assistants.

Acknowledgments

We are indebted to Brian Deer for his tireless efforts to ensure the truth about Andrew Wakefield was revealed. He has released a book on the sordid case entitled ‘The Doctor who fooled the world’. Brian’s website can be found here

Andrew Wakefield’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.

The post Andrew Wakefield, the ultimate medical con on Medika’s Quack Scale appeared first on Medika Life.

If you’re not sure how our Quack Scale works, click here for a detailed explanation

Qualification: Medical, Osteopathic, or Podiatric School, University Of Colorado Health Sciences Center School Of Medicine – Denver CO. Graduated: 2002. Internal Medicine,MD – Charlottesville, VA USA, Residency Completed: 2005. Bush is currently certified in only one discipline, that of Internal Medicine: Hospice & Palliative Medicine.

Current Licensing Status: Licenced to practice in Virginia by the Virginia Medical Board, License# 0101239018. You can check his current status here

Resident: Charlottesville , VA

Existing Complaints: None listed in a professional capacity.

Website: zachbushmd.com, intrinsichealthseries.com, farmersfootprint.us, ionbiome.com, themclinic.com

What happens when you cross alt-Health, traditional medicine, Deepak, and Yoda? You end up with someone like Zach Bush, MD. He is the poster boy for Predatory Health and with a string of medical qualifications behind him and a very carefully managed public profile,

Bush appears at first glance to be squeaky clean, a real medical messiah, but looks can, as we all know, be deceptive. Dig a little deeper and the real picture behind a slick, well oiled, and carefully orchestrated marketing machine emerges. One designed with a singular purpose. To enrich Zach Bush.

His website offers little gems of new-age “Deepak Chopra like nonsense-statements”, pseudoscience mixed in with traditional medicine, and his range of natural (of course) products and alternate therapies. The lines below are taken directly from his site on a page where he discusses Covid’s impact on the world.

May this respiratory virus that now shares space and time with us teach us of the grave mistakes we have made in disconnecting from our nature and warring against the foundation of the microbiome. If we choose to learn from, rather than fear, this virus, it can reveal the source of our chronic disease epidemics that are the real threat to our species.

The page also just happens to feature a range of cleverly identified products designed to boost your immune system. The insinuation is clear. Covid is a virus-like influenza and these products will help you combat it. Here is how he phrases the sales pitch.

 I’ve included below a series of Lifestyle Cornerstones to integrate into your everyday practices, particularly during respiratory risk seasons, as well as the regimen that I recommend for those feeling the need for more health resources during this time.

Bush has become prominent in Autism circles, touting his theories of gut health as the root cause of autism and offering his products as a treatment. Although the idea of the gut’s involvement in autism is under serious investigation there is, as yet no hard scientific evidence to validate his claims. Bush possesses none or he would most definitely be sharing it. At the Autism One conference in Chicago in 2016, Bush made this statement;

Bush explained, using slides of the gut viewed through a microscope as visual aids, how his plant-derived mineral supplement, RESTORE ($49.95 for a one-month supply), strengthens cell membranes in the gut to keep toxins from leaking out. Bush told the parents in the audience that he was “excited to just be a piece of your puzzle” in the parents’ quest to “rebirth that child into a state of health.” 

Bush isn’t the only doctor that’s cashing in on the gullibility of the public and their desire for new-age hocus pocus, but he is by far the slickest. It’s what makes him so appealing, so believable and so dangerous. He is well aware of where the line is, drawn by the FDA in shifting sand, and he ensures he doesn’t step over it. He now regularly shares platforms with proponents of Covid conspiracies and his views on the coronavirus are dangerous.

Bush’s video interviews on Covid, featured on LondonReal, are accompanied by trailers of the movie Plandemic, a falsified load of pseudoscience and nonsense that is now banned from numerous platforms. These associations confirm his position as quackery’s new poster boy. If you’ve got the money, Zach Bush has the answers. Look deep into his eyes and suspend belief.

Let’s examine the claims published on his website about autism. The following quote is lifted directly from his site’s page on the topic.

Autism spectrum disorder has risen in prevalence from 1 in 5000 children in 1975 to 1 in 36 children in 2016, and the rate has been doubling every 3-4 years in the last decade in the US.

And the rate has been doubling every 3-4 years in the last decade in the US. We are on target to experience 1 in 3 children with Autism by 2035, just 16 years away

Complete and utter lies and fabrication, designed to instill fear in you and make you want the solutions and products he sells. It’s textbook deception, practiced by quacks and charlatans across the globe. I hereby issue a direct challenge to Bush to produce statistical data to verify this claim. He cannot.

The only reason there has been an increase in autism diagnosis over the last few years (and Bush is well aware of this) is that guidelines for diagnosing the condition were relaxed. Resultantly, many more people were reclassified as having autism. Deception, misdirection, and lies. Which cup is the ball in! Here’s a screenshot, just in case the page is whitewashed.

Zach Bush uses a mix of science, pseudoscience, and untruths (lies) couched in new age terminology to fool his victims into purchasing his products and seminars. He is a health predator, no matter how you dress him up, and he is an embarrassment to traditional medicine and the healthcare profession in general.

If you have a serious medical condition or are feeling unwell, you need to seek advice from reputable and established practitioners of evidence-based medicine. There is no harm in seeking alternate treatments to supplement a medical regime of treatments if this is done in careful conjunction, and with the knowledge of, your healthcare provider. In and of their own, alternate treatments aren’t going to cure you, and believing they will, can cost you your life.

Supporting Articles

Articles critical of Bush are hard to come by, buried below his domination of Google searches on the topic of, well, Zach Bush. His newly employed marketing agents (2019) have done him proud. It is also a clear indication of how alt-Health now dominates Google’s pages and how simple it is to manipulate appearances. You simply flood the market with new articles.

Publication – C-Ville: Author Melissa Angell, on June 28, 2016. Missing doctors: Patient seeks records after clinic closes Verdict: The caption on the photo gives an indication of how long Bush has been at his game, and how he has refined his earlier techniques.

Dr. Zachary Bush, right, opened alternative clinic Revolution Health Center in Scottsville. Dr. Martin Katz was a partner there, and both told their patients: “You have the power to heal yourself.”

John Robinson

Publication – Provocative Change Works: Author Nick Kemp, July 29, 2020. Open letter to Michael Hall by Richard Bolstad. Verdict: Bush is a quack, uttering pseudoscientific nonsense.

this stuff by Zach Bush is just wacky.“Bush ruined what could have been an interesting talk when he said that microRNA can be transmitted by breathing. He claimed that you can literally go to the gym, do nothing except breathe in the microRNA that others exhale, and benefit because your cells think they worked out. And, in case that wasn’t enough of a stretch, he described how consuming microRNA from “bored” corn grown in a field with “tens of thousands of corn plants” makes us afraid of diversity and directly contributes to racism and mass shootings.”

Publication – Chad Hayes MD: Author Chad Hayes on March 4, 2017. Citations Needed: The curious “science” of integrative medicine. Verdict: A clinical dissection of the rubbish Bush spews by a medical doctor who practices pediatrics. An excellent article well worth reading and many of the other charlatans we highlight are included in this breakdown of a Conference Hayes attended called, “Get Your Life Back NOW!” held in Orlando, FL in 2017, at which Bush spoke.

In addition to poorly executed science, there were a lot of “facts” tossed out at the conference that left me wondering if the speakers were being intentionally dishonest, or if they were just really, really wrong. Chief among these offenders was Zach Bush, MD, who runs the M Clinic and “Intrinsic Health” center in Charlottesville, VA and sells the RESTORE line of supplements.

Bush, who seems to have some difficulty understanding basic concepts of genetics and mathematics, informed the audience that “genetically speaking, humans are pathetically simple.” His rationale for this was that humans have 20,000 genes, while fungi have 2 trillion. I’ll admit my initial ignorance; although 2 trillion seemed high, I didn’t really know how many genes fungi have. But it wasn’t hard to look up. Gene sequencing reveals that fungal genomes are similar in size to our own, at around 10,000-25,000 genes. But what are eight orders of magnitude among friends? Actual numbers aside, Bush further argued that “if microorganisms were the enemy, we’d be dead.” Which of course, many of our species are, having been unable to overcome infections from a dazzling array of microorganisms.

He then told us how amazing it is that the DNA repair enzyme “travels near the speed of light.” Unfortunately, this is even less true. DNA polymerases responsible for DNA repair travel along DNA strands at approximately 10-20 nucleotides per second, each of which is approximately 0.6 nanometers in length. Being as generous as I can, that comes out to 12 nanometers/second. And in that same second, a photon of light travels 300 million meters, or 25,000,000,000,000,000 times farther than the DNA repair enzyme.

Further revealing his ignorance about genetics, Bush informed us that while “scientists call 99% of DNA ‘junk,’” that simply can’t be correct because “there’s no waste in nature.” Bush asserts that what geneticists refer to as “junk DNA” actually codes for microRNA, small strands of RNA that regulate how our genes are expressed. While microRNA does actually exist, and the roles it plays are fascinating, it makes up a relatively small percentage of our genetic code, about 1-5%.

But then, Bush ruined what could have been an interesting talk when he said that microRNA can be transmitted by breathing. He claimed that you can literally go to the gym, do nothing except breathe in the microRNA that others exhale, and benefit because your cells think they worked out. And, in case that wasn’t enough of a stretch, he described how consuming microRNA from “bored” corn grown in a field with “tens of thousands of corn plants” makes us afraid of diversity and directly contributes to racism and mass shootings.

Publication – Fueled by Science: Author Chana Davis, PhD, 2019. Dear Scientific American. Vegetables are Not Toxic. Down with Fake News. Verdict: A damning condemnation of yet more pseudoscience Bush managed to get published in Scientific American. Bush was asked to redraft the article after this complaint. The original still stands and you can compare the misleading statements Bush presents as fact.

Rather than sticking to legitimate scientific sources (e.g. peer-reviewed scientific publications and meta-analyses by national organizations) the authors turn to a food author, a health product pushing salesman (Dr. Zach Bush) and pseudoscience haven Planetary Health (check it out if you want a smoothie that can cure Ebola!).

Zach Bush, MD, 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.

The post Zach Bush, MD on Medika’s Quack Scale appeared first on Medika Life.

If you’re not sure how our Quack Scale works, click here for a detailed explanation

Qualification:  Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, 1993

Current Licensing Status: Humphries is licensed to practice in the state of Maine. She is ABMS Board Member certified in Internal Medicine. Her license is valid.
MD15655, and expires 05/31/2022

Resident: Bangor, Maine (as per licence)

Existing Complaints: None noted as public record

Website: None listed

Another doctor who has abandoned the world of science-based medicine for lala land. Humphries is a prominent figure in anti-vaccine circles and her 2013 book entitled ‘Dissolving Illusions’ may as well have been entitled ‘Ignoring Science’. It is a case study in the manipulation of existing scientific doctrine to support the author’s fraudulent and misleading claims regarding vaccination. She is dangerous and her deranged and unsubstantiated opinions have no place in modern medicine. Her opinions, writings, and advice, both medical and otherwise should be avoided.

Humphries enjoys strong ties to the disgraced doctor, Andrew Wakefield, and has drifted away from her formal medical training to embrace the world of homeopathy, vitalism and pseudo-science, much of which she supports with an active disinformation campaign of distorted science. She is very vocal on platforms like Youtube and enjoys large support within fringe health circles. She is also involved with the Medical Council on Vaccination, a front group for vaccine hysteria.

Like all the quacks and con-artists we list, Humphreys is able to use her limited and specific medical knowledge to confuse and mislead the public. Her views and support of anti-vaccine groups make her particularly dangerous. To form a clear opinion of just how misguided and lost Dr. Humphries has become, we recommend reading the accompanying articles below.

Supporting Articles

Publication – RationalWiki: Author: by Publication on Dec 20, 2019. Suzanne Humphries Verdict: She has also attempted to combine anti-vax sentiment with poorly-thought-out religious gobbledygook (i.e., lies purportedly based on scripture) in an effort to convince somebody that the Bible and Koran are opposed to vaccination. Pull the other leg, please.

She promotes mystical powers of Vitamin C, calling it “the basis of life,”^[10] and asserts it magically “neutralizes any toxins in the blood.”^[10] Additionally, she woefully misunderstands or willfully misrepresents research to support her ideas. In an article on whooping cough, she states that lethargy in chronically ill people is commonly due to Vitamin C deficiency, citing a paper on the antioxidative properties of Vitamin C in the mitochondria as her only evidence. In the same article, she asserts Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is caused by Vitamin C deficiency, yet her sole evidence is a paper which found carnitine supplementation prevented mitochondrial abnormalities in rats with Vitamin C deficiency

Publication – Science Blogs: Author oracknows on February 16, 2011 – Dr. Suzanne Humphries and the International Medical Council on Vaccination: Antivaccine to the core Verdict: A real anti-vaxxer and as you can see from the date on the article, she’s been at it for a while. A wonderful rebuttal of Humphries’ claims to be speaking from a position of authority and knowledge.

So let me get this straight. Vaccines have never been tested for long term complications? What about all those studies the looked for and failed to find links between vaccines and autism, asthma, sudden infant death syndrome, and many other conditions? Oh, wait. Dr. Humphries put the word “truly” in there. So she’s conceding that vaccines are safe based on the science thus far. She just thinks they aren’t “truly” safe, whatever that means. (Note also how she’s simply using a variant of the word “truth”; she’s clearly all about The Truth–big T–than she is about science.) Actually, I rather suspect the word “truly” means whatever Humphries wants to mean, the better to shift goalposts as more studies verifying the safety of vaccines roll in.

Publication – Medium: Author Isabella B., Dec 22, 2014. Why Dr. Suzanne Humphries, an anti-vaccine activist, is lying to you about measles. Verdict: Vaccinate or don’t vaccinate. But please don’t base your decision on the writings of this extremist.

The post Dr. Suzanne Humphries on Medika’s Quack Scale appeared first on Medika Life.

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]

.

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.

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If you’re not sure how our Quack Scale works, click here for a detailed explanation

Qualification: A Diploma issued by Trinity School of Natural Health

Current Licensing Status: Sherrill Sellman is not board certified by any recognized certification board. Furthermore, while she takes great pains not to disclose her address anywhere on her website, she is reportedly in Tulsa, OK. Sellman is not licensed to practice any form of medicine by the Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision. Sellman is a graduate of the Trinity School of Natural Health which offers online programs. The school is not accredited by any accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. She is a fraud and con artist.

Resident: Burlington, MA (According to FDA complaint)

Existing Complaints: FDA Warning issued. June 1, 2020. New York Attorney Generals Office Cease and Desist Notice, March 11, 2020. Pulaski Circuit Court, Arkansas, Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, June 2020

Website: drsherrillsellman..com

The popup on the bottom of this quack’s website pretty much sums it up in a sentence. “Dr. Sherrill is constantly giving discounts on products. A good idea is to check and Share the Love with your friends and family.” Not only will Sherril Sellman discount her snake oil and fake products, but she would also like you to spread the poison around, particularly to trusting friends and family. Nothing like a little quackery networking.

Sellman has been formally warned by the FDA to remove her Covid quackery from her website. She has been encouraging gullible members of the public to purchase Colloidal Silver and “nano-silver” as a cure-all for Covid. FACT: Collodial Silver does not cure or offer protection against Covid-19. Sherrill Sellman is lying to you so she can sell you her products which she hypes up with false and misleading claims. It’s that simple. Her website is also listed on our Rotten Retailers List

Avoid her advice and avoid any of her products. She is motivated by profit and does not enjoy the necessary medical expertise to make the claims and statements she makes relating to health. A quack of the highest order.

Supporting Articles

Publication – Truth in Advertising: Author: by Publication on June 20. Dr Sherrill Sellman Verdict: Caught dead to rights, Sellman had no choice other than to remove all her misleading claims

On March 11, the New York Attorney General’s office ordered Sellman to “immediately cease and desist from making misleading claims” following a guest appearance on the Jim Bakker Show in which she affirmed that the host’s Silver Solution supplement could potentially “eliminate” the coronavirus “within 12 hours.” (Eight days earlier, Bakker received his own cease-and-desist letter from the attorney general. Six weeks after the segment aired on Feb. 12, Bakker announced in a video that he was suspending sales of Silver Solution.)

Publication – Center for Science in the Public Interest: Letter dispatched by Dr. Peter Lurie, Executive Director on Feb 20, 2020, to FTC and FDA, Verdict: Given the nature of the public health threat posed by the coronavirus and the attendant public concern, we urge immediate action by both agencies to halt this fraud on the public.

One example of such an exchange referring to Silver Solution occurred in a 2/12/2020 episode entitled “A Close Look at What’s Not Being Said About the Coronavirus (Day 1)” (at 41:50), following a long discussion of the risks of the coronavirus.3 The conversation occurred between Bakker and contributor Sherrill Sellman, while an advertisement and 1-800 number for buying the product was displayed across the bottom of the screen:

Publication – The Washington Post: Author Meagan Flynn on March 11, 2020. A disgraced televangelist promoted an alleged cure to coronavirus. Missouri is now suing him Verdict: Sellman conspired with televangelist Jim Bakker to mislead the public

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If you’re not sure how our Quack Scale works, click here for a detailed explanation

Qualification: Stella Immanuel graduated in 1990 from the University of Calabar in Nigeria and completed a residency at a Bronx, N.Y., hospital. She currently practices Emergency Medicine in Katy, Texas.

Current Licensing Status: Licensed

Resident: Houston, Texas

Existing Complaints: None listed publically, malpractice suit in Louisiana.

Website: drstella.org

Stella Immanuel was catapulted to fame earlier this year by her claims about hydroxychloroquine as a cure for Covid-19. Almost immediately after a video of her making the claims went viral, the Texas Medical Board issued an open warning letter to medical professionals not to offer treatments as a cure for Covid-19. To be clear, NO CURE EXISTS.

Immanuel is also active as a pastor and claims have emerged where she links diesease to demonic possesion. Having sex with a demon can lead to cysts and endometriosis, according to Immanuel. Whilst she isnt the only person who believes this nonsense, Medika would suggest that a doctor who readily mixes esoteric fairy tales and medicine should stick to the pulpit and steer well clear of actual patients with diseases rooted in the real world. Immanuel also believes masks offer no protection against the spread of Covid-19, contrary to all the scientific evidence supporting their use.

Her dialogue and message is a mix of religious fantasy, aliens, spiritualism, pseudo-science, and conspiracy theories. She is dangerous and in our opinion not fit to dispense reliable or trustworthy medical advice. We recommend seeking medical advice from an alternate provider. She is a founder member of a group called America’s Frontline Doctors and our advice relating to her would by association extend to her colleagues in this group.

Read the articles below and if you’re still in any doubt that Immanuel is a few sandwiches short of a picnic, here’s a page from her website with instructions for a prayer to counter witchcraft. Perhaps the most telling indictment against her is the menu on the left of her homepage, where homosexuals and sexual deviants are happily bundled together. Homophobic, misguided, and clearly not rooted in the real world. Avoid if you are serious about your health.

Our favorite quote from the articles below?

If the Ghostbusters are busy, your best choice is Dr. Stella Immanuel, the demonologist who discovered the cause of the COVID-19 Virus, demon sperm.

Supporting Articles

Publication – Houston Chronicle: Authors Nicole Hensley and Brooke A. Lewis on July 29, 2020. Houston doctor behind hydroxychloroquine drug video was sued in Louisiana woman’s death Verdict: A doctor of questionable character

Court filings reviewed by the Houston Chronicle also reveal she was recently sued in Louisiana for medical malpractice in a case involving a woman who died after being treated in Immanuel’s care.

Publication – The Daily Beast: Author Will Sommer, July 28, 2020, Trump’s New Favorite COVID Doctor Believes in Alien DNA, Demon Sperm, and Hydroxychloroquine . Verdict: Immanuel’s bizarre medical ideas don’t stop with demon sex in dreams. In a 2015 sermon that laid out a supposed Illuminati plan hatched by “a witch” to destroy the world using abortion, gay marriage, and children’s toys, among other things, Immanuel claimed that DNA from space aliens is currently being used in medicine. 

Immanuel, a pediatrician and a religious minister, has a history of making bizarre claims about medical topics and other issues. She has often claimed that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are in fact caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches. 

She alleges alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments, and that scientists are cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious. And, despite appearing in Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress on Monday, she has said that the government is run in part not by humans but by “reptilians” and other aliens.

Publication – BBC: Author Dickens Olewe on July 29, 2020. Stella Immanuel – the doctor behind unproven coronavirus cure claim Verdict: Olewe highlights the connection between Immanuel and America’s Frontline Doctors, political motivation, and Trumps supporters

Some of her other claims include blaming medical conditions on witches and demons – a common enough belief among some evangelical Christians – though she says they have sex with people in a dream world.

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Roby Mitchell, MD a.k.a Dr.Fitt scores 5/5 on our Quack Scale. He represents a very real danger to the general public, and we encourage members of the public to seek alternate medical or health advice and products from reliable, trustworthy sources. Do not follow recommendations from this individual relating to your personal health or the health of others and avoid purchasing any products he sells, irrespective of the benefits he may claim for these.

If you’re not sure how our Quack Scale works, click here for a detailed explanation. This individual is also listed on Medika’s Rotten Retailers List.

Qualification: Cardiology, ER Physician

Current Licensing Status: Mitchell was stripped of his medical license in 2005 by the Texas Medical Board for not following a previous probationary order. He was ordered again in 2012 to stop impersonating a doctor after a bizarre incident where he told a terminal cancer patient she could be “treated” by injecting her blood into the udder of a pregnant cow, then drinking the milk.

Resident: Amarillo, Texas

Existing Complaints: Aside from his medical misdemeanors, Roby Mitchell was found guilty in 2017 by a Randall County Jury on a Class B misdemeanor charge of making a terroristic threat. Previous FDA complaint from 2018,

Website: drfitt.com

Roby Mitchell is best buds with Kerri Rivera, another one of the quacks and charlatans we list and they make excellent bedfellows. She actively sells and recommends Mitchell’s Dr. Fitt snake oil concoctions on her closed Telegram groups as cures for Autism. Mitchell himself has a long history of making questionable medical claims, particularly around autism: he boasted this spring of using untested ketamine treatments on a six-year-old child to “cure” their autism. He has also studied Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy with Gynecologist, Christiane Northrup, M.D, another doctor making our Quack List.

Mitchell is an outspoken anti-establishment quack with his own unique and completely unscientific interpretation of existing medical concepts and knowledge. Over the past few months, he has been offering advice on his products as potential treatments for Covid and the list of diseases he claims his products can cure is mind-boggling. He is in our opinion, one of the most dangerous fringe health conmen out there. He poses a very real and present danger to children and people with autism, and every effort should be made to de-platform him.

Like Rivera, Mitchell uses the same playbook, intentionally exploiting very vulnerable members of the community, people who are desperate to help their children and to escape the diseases they are afflicted with, no matter the cost. His actions are despicable and Medika will actively promote any materials seeking to discredit him.

It should be noted that Mitchell’s medical qualification does not extend to the fields he routinely makes claims about. He is forced now to associate with other unscrupulous medical practitioners to circumvent his inability to practice. Avoid, boycott and de-platform

Supporting Articles

Publication – Vice: Author Anna Merlan, on Sept 4, 2020. A Disgraced Ex-Doctor Says He’s Behind the Use of Ketamine to ‘Cure’ a Child with Autism. Verdict: Mitchell seems unlikely to stop making medical claims any time soon.

More disturbingly, though, Mitchell is also touting the success his methods have supposedly had on curing real people of other conditions. That includes children: With the help of a local pain-management doctor in Amarillo, Mitchell says, he has been directing the treatment of a six-year-old who’s been given at least three ketamine IV drips. Mitchell has claimed that ketamine and other speculative methods will “cure” the child of their non-verbal autism.

Publication – Amarillo News: Author Jacob Mayer  Jan 5, 2017. Former Amarillo doctor ordered to stop practicing medicine Verdict: A short article recording the details of Mitchell being sanctioned.

In April 2011, Mitchell evaluated and treated a patient for metastatic melanoma after presenting himself as a cancer doctor, according to the board. Mitchell prescribed a course of what he described as “colostrum bovine treatment,” the board said.

“This treatment involved drawing blood from the patient and injecting that blood into the udder of a pregnant cow,” according to the board’s order. “The patient was then to drink the milk.”

Publication – Fierce Autie: Published on Jan 16, 2020. Autistic History: Roby Mitchell Verdict: A scheming profiteer who thrives off the misery and misfortune of others

He has active websites and social media pages promoting quackery and putting lives at risk. He is very dangerous. There is a reason he had his medical licenses revoked.. Today he is concentrating on promoting Kerri Rivera’s quackery. His supplements are part of the CD Protocol. He was issued a warning from the FDA.

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Publication – Patch: Author Fernando Alfonso, Oct 9, 2018 Anti-Vax Doctor In North Texas Draws Controversy With Billboard.

The billboard went up in September and serves a dual purpose; to draw attention to Mitchell’s website and to promote the controversial stance that vaccinations for diseases like rubella, measles, and mumps can cause autism. The anti-vaccine movement continues to capture headlines around the world despite studies showing no connection between vaccines and autism.

Roby Mitchell 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.

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If you’re not sure how our Quack Scale works, click here for a detailed explanation

Qualification: Osteopathy

Current Licensing Status: Refer to THIS ARTICLE on the controversy surrounding Mercola’s certification

Resident: Florida

Existing Complaints: None listed in a professional capacity.

Website: mercola.com

Mercola’s most important qualification isn’t any of the medical qualifications he lays clim to on his site. His true calling is marketing and more specifically, online marketing. His clear and firm grasp of the power and reach of the internet early into his career has arguably allowed him to create one of the most dangerous and influential digital health disinformation platforms in the world. Mercola.com is big business, generating millions of dollars every month.

Again, according to his website, mercola.com is now routinely among the top 10 natural health websites on the internet, boasting over a million newsletter subscribers, and garnering more than 10 million page views per month. That’s a lot of potential customers, which is exactly what drives Dr Mercola. His primary concern is financial and has nothing to do with your actual health. A clear indicator of the sales pitch based health practitioner is their pursuit and endorsement of conspiracy theories.

Like it or not, conspiratorialists are seen as gullible and easily led astray. They are, in essence, the perfect customer for unscrupulous salesmen like Mercola. Conspiracy theories and alternate health make excellent bedfellows, a fact not lost on either party. Mercola is the master of manipulation and the average member of the public stands no chance against his refined sales pitch. Create fear and then offer your customer a solution, one you manufacture.

His Covid disinformation campaign has been solely motivated by selling his customer’s fake cures, creating a sense of false safety in the clients he sells to and endangering their lives. In our opinion, his business model, advice, and products are incredibly damaging and dangerous to the health of the general public. Many of his claims are bogus and the benefits claimed for his products, non-existent. Don’t buy into the lies or his products. Again, Mercola has no interest in your long term health, you are merely a potential sale he needs to close!

His anti-vaccination views and support of businesses and organizations that campaign against vaccines should be sufficient to scare off all but the most conspiracy-driven individuals. Disrupting established vaccine programs does nothing more than allowing nearly eradicated diseases the opportunity to gain new footholds and threaten our communities. A resurgence of measles and mumps can be directly attributed to these anti-vaccination groups Mercola is the ultimate digital Quack cum snake oil salesman.

Supporting Articles

Publication – Quackwatch: Author Stephen Barrett, M.D. on July 27, 2020. Dr. Joseph Mercola Ordered to Stop Illegal Claims. Verdict: Guilty of spreading misinformation, misrepresenting the benefits of his products and endangering public health by spreading Covid misinformation.

Mercola Group has been capitalizing on the coronavirus pandemic by advising consumers to purchase vitamins, supplements, and other products sold on its website to prevent or treat the virus. Mercola Group’s website contains many misleading articles, such as “Nutrition and Natural Strategies Offer Hope Against COVID-19,” and a “Coronavirus Resource Guide” compiling various unsubstantiated claims about the COVID-fighting properties of various supplements. It also offers “medical” advice, including the extraordinarily dangerous and unsubstantiated recommendation that individuals actually try to contract COVID-19 after using the supplements it sells to ameliorate the symptoms.

Publication – The Ringer: Author Kate Knibbs,  Jan 5, 2017. The Most Honest Man in Medicine?. Verdict: A definitive NO.

“Joseph Mercola is among the top misinformation vectors of our time when it comes to health, medicine, food, parenting, and more. He promotes chemophobia and spreads fear of chemicals, GMOs, and vaccines, all while peddling alternatives to line his pockets,” pro-biotechnology activist and writer Kavin Senapathy told me. Senapathy has written for Forbes about Mercola’s habit of calling substances dangerous and then selling products containing those substances. “His promotion of pseudoscience helps fuel a culture that turns its nose up at beneficial technologies and medical treatments.”

Publication – Scienceblogs.com: Author oracknows on July 30, 2012. Joe Mercola attacks vaccinations again. Film at 11. Verdict: Mercola’s a slick propagandist. He knows how to come up with the big lie and repeat it relentlessly until it seems like the truth, at least to those who don’t know any better.

Mike Adams has got nothing on Joe Mercola when Joe decides he wants to go on an antivaccine tear, which he did yesterday in a full-throated, lame-brained, full-frontal assault on the pertussis vaccine, entitled Mounting Evidence Shows Many Vaccines are Ineffective and Contribute to Rise of Outbreaks Caused by Mutated Viruses. The article is a black hole of antivaccine misinformation, innumeracy, and pure pseudoscience, all rolled up into a vile little package designed to “go viral” on antivaccine websites, blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter feeds everywhere. Basically, against all evidence, Mercola tries to blame outbreaks of pertussis on the acellular pertussis vaccine itself. I kid you not.

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Publication – Center for Science in the Public Interest: Author publication, July 21, 2020. FDA and FTC Urged to Bring Enforcement Proceedings Against Joseph Mercola for False COVID-19 Health Claims. Verdict: The FDA and the FTC are long overdue to protect consumers from this kind of elaborate con job.

“None of the products Mercola Group sells are FDA-approved medical treatments for COVID-19,” wrote CSPI, Justice Catalyst Law, and People’s Parity Project to the FDA and FTC. “Thus, Dr. Mercola’s self-serving and unsupported theory is extremely dangerous to consumers, as well as an illegal disease treatment claim.”

Dr Joseph Mercola.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.

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If you’re not sure how our Quack Scale works, click here for a detailed explanation

Qualification: Brogan graduated Cornell University Medical College in Psychiatry, and has a B.S. in Systems Neuroscience from MIT. Practices as a “Holistic Psychiatrist”

Current Licensing Status: Not Licensed (click link to view licensing board details)

Resident: Florida

Existing Complaints: None listed publically. You can form your own opinion of her patient’s damning opinions by viewing comments on her Rate MD’s page.

Latest update 20 Dec, 2020: It’s just come to our attention via Peter Heimlich and his brilliant site Medfraud, that Brogan is being investigated by the New York State Medical Agency.

Website: kellybroganmd.com

The loudest and most damning voices condemning this fraud and charlatan emanate from her own patients. She openly questions the current public narrative on Covid-19, vaccines, and polio, amongst her other claims to fame and her callous interactions with her patients reveal a person with little compassion, driven by personal greed for both wealth and power. The fact she preys on those who are mentally vulnerable makes her actions, in our opinion, even more reprehensible. Despite numerous articles (some of which are listed below) warning the general public of her actions and intent, she continues to practice.

Her claims are easily debunked and show a clear misunderstanding or intentional abuse of science to mislead the public, all with the intent of peddling them her wares.

Your most effective tool to combat her reach and influence over other very vulnerable members of the community is to deplatform her on social media. We recommend unfollowing her and reporting any accounts for harmful content.

Supporting Articles

Publication – Science-Based Medicine: Author Steven Novella on Sep 19, 2018. The Pseudoscience of Kelly Brogan. Verdict: Brogan is a complete fraudster, offering all sorts of nice-sounding nonsense for profit.

Brogan applies a similar approach to depression and all mental illness. She argues that psychiatric symptoms are mostly due to our diet and modern lifestyle and that mainstream doctors and scientists have it all wrong (because she is the guru with magical insight). And of course, she will sell you supplements and detoxifiers to cure all the real causes that she is smart enough to see.

Publication – Gen on Medium: Author Methew Remski on Sep 10, 2020. Inside Kelly Brogan’s Covid-Denying, Vax-Resistant Conspiracy Machine. Verdict: An abusive, manipulative professional with no concern for her patient’s mental health and wellbeing.

On June 5, 2019, Jillian and her husband scheduled an emergency call with Brogan. “I was asking for some kind of medication,” Jillian said in an interview. “I knew I needed to be stabilized, and she refused to prescribe me anything.”

On the call Brogan terminated Jillian’s care, according to Jillian and her husband, citing her unwillingness to prescribe, and explaining that the issue was Jillian’s belief that her case was far worse than others. Jillian recalls Brogan saying that because she was such a powerful “manifestor” her beliefs were causing her symptoms to appear to worsen. She also recalls Brogan speculating that Jillian was not old or mature enough to do the necessary work. In an interview, Jillian described the call as “the most terrifying and hopeless experience to have at that stage.”

By the middle of June 2019, Jillian had been Brogan’s patient for 14 months and had paid her $13,355 in fees. At the end of June, Jillian’s akathisia was so severe that she couldn’t eat or sleep or take care of herself. She was hospitalized for 10 days.

Publication – NewsGaurdTech.com: Author Anicka Slachta, Sept 2020. Kellybroganmd.com Trust Review (PDF) Verdict: Proceed with caution: This
website severely violates basic journalistic standards.

KellyBroganMD.com has repeatedly published false health claims, including about the COVID-19 pandemic.
For example, an undated article titled “Why We Stay Asleep When Covid-19 Is Trying to Wake Us Up,” made several false and unsubstantiated claims about the
virus, including that the pandemic was planned in advance.

Publication – Bad Science Debunked: Published on 15 Feb 2018. Kelly Brogan, MD: A-Salt With A “Deadly” Weapon (Part Two) Verdict: An expose of how Brogan criticizes ingredients, only then to sell her patients products that contain the same ingredients.

In part one of this series, it was revealed that Kelly Brogan, M.D., sells an aluminum-laden health supplement while simultaneously (falsely) linking small amounts of aluminum to myriad serious health problems, and fear-mongering the population at large into avoiding safe, effective vaccines.  Here, in part two, we’ll look at a second “toxic” ingredient found in the same Brogan supplement.  It’s particularly important to point out Brogan’s hypocrisy and questionable medical practices at this time, as she’s been named to the advisory board of the popular SXSW Conference, taking place March 9-17, 2018,  in Austin, TX

Kelly Brogan, M.D. 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.

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If you’re not sure how our Quack Scale works, click here for a detailed explanation

Qualification: Christiane Northrup is a board-certified OB/GYN physician, Dr. Northrup graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and completed her residency at Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston. She was also an assistant clinical professor of OB/GYN at Maine Medical Center for 20 years.

Current Licensing Status: WITHDRAWN/TERMINATED BY LICENSEE

Resident: Yarmouth, Maine

Existing Complaints: None listed publically.

Website: drnorthrup.com

Once enjoying the fame and glow of the spotlight as Oprah Winfrey’s in-house medical expert on all matters relating to women’s health, the fall of Dr. Northrup has been nothing short of spectacular. Once respected in medical circles, she is now widely shunned as she espouses her radical medical and health views to her online followers, a group numbering in excess of 500 000 and loosely referred to as the Warriors of the Radical Light. At 71, many question Northrup’s mental faculties as her views have become ever more extreme and much of the advice she offers to her followers now borders on extremely dangerous, to both their health and the health of others.

Her claims and advice now focus on conspiracy theories, support of QAnon and blatant denial of established scientific and medical facts. She encourages people not to wear masks in response to Covid, wades into vaccines, 5G cell networks, and a host of other conspiracy based theories, all of which are woven together to form a platform of medical disinformation. Her current acceptance by women rests heavily on her earlier successes and she trades on her medical credentials to lend authenticity to her warped views. She is hugely enabled by social media and her loyal following, who blindly and unthinkingly accept her statements as fact.

Possibly the most damning evidence to emerge against Northrup is a video shown recently of her, a portion of which you can watch on the link, where she makes wild claims about microchips in the Covid vaccine, DNA modification, heavy metals used to track you via 5g and Luciferous, a chemical substance, so named because it shines. The rantings of a deluded and clearly disturbed individual who has slipped into the bottomless conspiracy rabbit hole. You can watch a portion of the video on Boom and read how they completely discredit both her and her ideas.

Your most effective tool to combat her reach and influence is to de-platform her on social media. We recommend unfollowing her and reporting any accounts for harmful or misleading content. Dr Northrup, once a champion of women’s health, no longer has her female audience’s best interests at heart. Thoughtful consideration of the articles listed below will assist you in reaching the same conclusion.

Supporting Articles

Publication – Mainernews.com: Authors Nathan Bernard and Andy O’Brien, Nov 9, 2020. The deadly grift of women’s health guru Christiane Northrup. Verdict: Northrup poses a real danger to her followers and the health of the public.

It’s also hard to measure the damage to public health this doctor’s deadly advice has wrought. How many Warriors of the Radical Light have been infected with the coronavirus, and have then infected others, because they’ve taken Northrup’s quack advice that social distancing and masks are harmful? If or when a COVID-19 vaccine is developed and distributed, the refusal of anti-vaxxers like Northrup and her followers to get the shot could significantly prolong the plague. Recent polls indicate about half of Americans would refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine were one available.

In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Northrup’s rhetoric became increasingly militant. She’s called on county sheriffs to refuse to enforce state lockdowns and mask mandates. Invoking the language of the white supremacist group Posse Comitatus and the far-right Sovereign Citizen movement, Northrup believes sheriffs, by virtue of being elected, are the highest law-enforcement officers in the land, with the power to invoke the 10th Amendment against any measures they deem unconstitutional.

Publication – MotherJones.com: Author Kiera Butler, September 23, 2020. The Terrifying Story of How QAnon Infiltrated Moms’ Groups. Verdict: Northrup is both influential and dangerous as she exploits the trust she has earned from women over the years to spread falsehoods and endanger lives

Derek Beres, a freelance journalist who hosts the podcast Conspirituality, about conspiracy thinking in the new-age community, recently devoted an episode to Northrup. “She’s been very influential—women, mothers, have really appreciated her advocacy around the idea that you know best for your own kid, that doctors are just trying to make money off you and your family,” he told me. He explained how this fits with Northrup’s recent slide into the QAnon trope of rampant child sex trafficking. “You imagine your child being stolen or molested,” he said, “and that’s just hitting the same fear button.” Indeed, my colleague Ali Breland noted this in his 2019 piece “Why Are Right-Wing Conspiracies so Obsessed With Pedophilia?” He wrote, “Conspiracies centering on the vulnerability of children are neither new nor distinctly American.” This is just the latest iteration.

Publication – NewsGaurd.com: Authors Kendrick McDonald, John Gregory, Sophia Tewa, Virginia Padovese, and Marie Richter, 2020. COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation Super-spreaders Verdict: With over 480 000 Facebook likes, Northrup has contributed as superspreader of Covid misinformation.

The Facebook page of a Maine gynecologist who was regularly featured as a health expert on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and has promoted false claims about the vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV). The page is verified by Facebook, which the company says “means that Facebook confirmed that this is the authentic Page or profile for this public figure, media company or brand.”

Publication – The New York Times: Authors Sheera Frenkel, Ben Decker and Davey Alba on 20 May 2020. How the ‘Plandemic’ Movie and Its Falsehoods Spread Widely Online. Verdict: Northrup’s reputation lent massive credibility to Plandemic movie, spreading Covid misinformation.

On the afternoon of May 5, Dr. Christiane Northrup, a women’s health physician, shared “Plandemic” with her nearly half a million Facebook followers. Dr. Northrup, who had developed a following from her appearances as a medical expert on “Oprah,” had previously expressed misgivings about vaccines.

Her status as a celebrity doctor made her endorsement of “Plandemic” powerful. After Dr. Northrup shared the video, more than 1,000 people also shared it, many of them to groups that oppose mandatory vaccinations, according to an analysis by The Times. She did not respond to a request for comment.

Dr Christiane Northrup 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.

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