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Saturday, 30 October 2010
Dr Andre's "miracle" "cancer" treatment
The Vision of Hope Clinic in Brighton offers a novel cancer treatment which consists of injecting their hapless patients with high doses of vitamins.
The Clinic's flyer (available here and here) makes some interesting claims about other conditions, besides cancer, which their therapies can treat:
"...depression... chronic and degenerative conditons... other metabolic disorders..."
I believe the flyer's claims are highly misleading and probably illegal. I wonder what Dr. Andre Young-Snell will have to say in his defence?
Unusually for a quack, Dr Andre is actually a real doctor licensed to practise by the General Medical Council.
Nevertheless - another ASA complaint follows!
"I write to complain about a leaflet picked up at the CamExpo exhibition in London on 24th October this year.
The leaflet, for the "Vision of Hope Clinic", promotes an intravenous treatment for "depression", "cancer" and other unspecified "metabolic disorders".
1. (i) The leaflet is titled:
"Vision of Hope Clinic - Complementary metabolic therapies for cancers, depression, chronic and degenerative conditions"
(ii) The leaflet describes the clinic thus:
"The Vision of Hope Clinic is a metabolic therapy and nutritional clinic situated in the beautiful seaside city of Brighton. We specialise in metabolic therapy, a nutritional approach to the treatment of metabolic disorders..."
2. The leaflet describes the "treatment":
"...the latest integrative approach to treat patients with metabolic disorders, primarily cancer...The aim is to boost the patient's immune system to its maximum potential to allow the body to detoxify and repair itself..."
3. (i) A "consultation" at the clinic begins with an assessment from "Dr. Young-Snell", a doctor registered with the General Medical Council (GMC).
(ii) The second hour of the "consultation" is devoted to "...our nutritionist [who] provides a detoxification regime and diet tailored specifically to the patient..."
(iii) The leaflet assures us that "Natural nutrition therapy works" because it:
"...support[s] the whole body by addressing the biochemistry of each cell, while clearing and energising the body's routes of elimination so toxicity can be properly released."
4. Two "treatment regimes" are promoted. The "Intravenous Regime", for patients who are able to stay in the vicinity the clinic for "3 weeks", consists of a high-dose vitamin regime applied to the patient intravenously:
"The Intravenous regime has the advantage of a much higher vitamin and nutrient dosage [than the "Oral Regime"] over the three weeks using at the cornerstone, daily high dose [sic] Vitamin C intravenous infusions..."
5. Under Section 12.1, I challenge whether the advertisers can substantiate any of the following claims:
(i) The clinic's therapies, including "a high-dose vitamin regime applied to the patient intravenously", are able to "treat patients with metabolic disorders, primarily cancer" and "boost the patient's immune system to its maximum potential to allow the body to detoxify and repair itself"
(ii) The clinic's therapies are likewise able to treat "...depression, chronic or degenerative conditions"
(iii) The clinic's dietary regime, prepared after a consultation with the in-house nutritionist, is able to detoxify the body
(iv) "Natural nutrition therapy works" because it "[clears] and [energises] the body's routes of elimination so toxicity can be properly released"
(v) Courses of high-dose vitamins, whether taken orally or intravenously, are capable of treating any disease
6. The leaflet contains two testimonials. The second reads:
(i) "...After much family deliberation and consultations with Dr. Young-Snell it was decided to go ahead with the treatment, which centered [sic] around a series of daily intravenous injections over three weeks, plus a dietary regime. Since completion I am virtually back to normal - no more pain, walking unaided and feeling generally good. My doctors tell me - from the scans - that everything is looking good - the word miracle was even mentioned..."
(ii) I submit that the words "doctors", "scans" and "miracle" in this testimonial may be trying to imply that the clinic's treatment offers a cure for the disorder "primarily" treated by the clinic, namely "cancer".
7. Regarding this testimonial,
(i) Under Section 3.45 I challenge whether the advertisers hold documentary evidence that it is genuine
(ii) Under Section 3.47, I challenge whether it is likely to mislead consumers
8. Under Section 12.2, I challenge whether the leaflet fails to "encourage consumers to take independent medical advice before committing themselves to significant treatments, including those that are physically invasive".
9. Under Section 12.6, I challenge whether the advertisers have falsely claimed that their treatments are able to cure illness and dysfunction.
10. Under Section 12.10, I challenge whether the phrase "Natural nutrition works to support the whole body by addressing the biochemistry of each cell, while clearing and energising the body's routes of elimination so toxicity can be properly released" suggests the treatments are safe because they are "natural".
11. Under Section 15.6.2, I challenge whether the leaflet's promoted nutrition regimes "state or imply a food prevents, treats or cures human disease".
12. Under Section 3.1, I challenge whether the leaflet is misleading.
13. Under Section 1.3, I challenge whether the leaflet is irresponsible.
14. I confirm I have no connections with the advertiser. I confirm I am not involved in legal proceedings with the advertiser."
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All treatment with analgesics may be effective if the doctor determines this, but as they say in the Findrxonline hydrocodone painkillers such that control chronic pain should be properly prescribed and that can cause nervous system problems if taken without medical prescription.
ReplyDeleteThere is no miracle here, the mans a life saver. I'm sure this will be removed, but it's so easy to add it as often as it's removed.
ReplyDeleteIt's so easy to misquote leaflets, isn't it? "It works to support the whole body" is not the same as "It works because it supports the whole body". Your challenge smacks of desperation on many levels.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what you're getting at. My word "because" appears outside of the quoted text, which makes it clear that it doesn't appear in the advert. Have I actually misquoted anything? I would be grateful if you could point it out to me, if so.
Have you read the stats on chemo? or watched anyone on chemo?
ReplyDeletePerhaps one day if you have a loved one and they are told the NHS with its antiquated cut/poison/burn 'treatment' can do no more you might reconsider your position. The body is deigned to heal, we have been sold a myth of incurable disease and are compliant because of the resulting huge amount of fear. We are learning fast that the planet cannot take much more of our toxic abuse and technofix mentality, and the same goes for the body. Clinics all over the world are employing the techniques employed by the Vision of Hope Clinic. Check your facts and do some homework.I am speaking rom personal experience. A three hour consultation looking at my specific situation versus a GP who in 5 minutes flat said it was nothing, and a sugeon who firstly said that clinically speaking I could go home and forget it fo a year, who when I requested further tests went on to tell me that in fact if I didn't have surgery, yesterday preferably, I would die. Allopathic medicine treats symptoms only, with no exploration into causes - cancers cut out come back in most cases. Chemo is the snake oil of our times, as will be revealed, but no thanks to the like of you. In the meantime people will continue to be disfigured, poisoned and terrified, in many cases to death while the NHS fails to give informed choice and pharmaceutical companies persist in telling us that with just a bit more money they can find a cure for cancer. There are many cures for cancer, but for the most part they cannot be patented. Dr Andre Young Snell is a courageous man, and those who stand up to the medical profession are also courageous. But right. I'm sorry that the information you have received on this matter is wrong. I would check yur sources more carefully.
Hi
ReplyDeleteThanks for making this complaint. My family are about to invest their life savings in this treatment and it's nice to know somebody is making these challenges. I
im telling you all now!! i know first hand what Dr young can do and does., and in the field of medicine on the stupid orthodox side, ,it IS a miracle what he does!!!... becasue they cannot acheive the results he acheives at his clinic,, i have spoken to one old lady from his hospital who had cancer of the lung and it was also in her liver,, her doctors told her she was too ill to have chemo. this was of course much better news for her as if she had taken this useless procedure,, she would have certainly died! her husband found Dr young and took her to be treated.. she is stull alive and this was over 7 years ago, ,when her own doctors told her to go home and sort out her affairs,,, to them it is a miracle, ,but its just common sense and proper doctoring we should all get on the NHS, ,but there is no profit in using cheap Vitamins sp they are brushed aside.... dont listen to anyone who claims he is bad or crap,, im telling you he is fantastic!! call me, .. 01592716252 ile tell you !! janey kirk
ReplyDeleteI do hope that you succeed in getting justice against this charlatan. The clinic and others like it take huge sums (sometimes 10s of thousands of pounds) from desperate people who are dying. If the treatment was so successful, why does he not publish his results? Anonymous anecdotes about people whom they have allegedly helped could be completely untrue.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea about the doctor involved but I did try nutrition and removal of mercury from my mouth by a specialised dentist (medical trials say there is no proof to successfully rid myself of arthritis. Recently a friend asked me how I did it as she had a very severe form of rheumatoid arthritis called Stills Disease and she was bedridden and in chronic pain unable to move for months on end even though she was under a doctor's treatment and stayed at the hospital for weeks. It worked on her too and a couple of months later she is back to work part time and able to walk unaided. Even though her physio says she is getting stronger by the minute and her joints and muscles are gaining strength her doctor is insisting she has multiple operations on her knees and hips which she finds very upsetting. There is a tendency for doctors not to believe in any therapies to heal the body without medication and operations which is humbug! If we all waited for evidence based medicine human race would have been extinct long ago. We all operate on anecdotes. The ones that work stay on, the ones that don't do not see the light of the day. It is our evolutionary heritage. That is why you are reading this right now instead of a peer reviewed clinical study. They are considered the "gold standard" ideologically but can be very selective and difficult to control of all the variables in reality. It may take a century or more to find the complete facts as studies tend to be based on the previous one and go on and on and on. On a more practical note, let's face it, we are all ill nowadays because of stress, poor diets, lack of exercise, pollution, etc, what they call "the diseases of civilisation" rather than pathogens thanks to advances in medicine (give credit where it is due) And sometimes reversing these by alternative therapies and decent diets and lifestyle changes and removal of pollutants works better, more effectively and permanently. Medicine is great if we need an op or a condition that has gone out of control needs to be stabilised initially but for the long term, we need to take responsibility for our health and open our eyes to what is making us ill and do something about it. And that includes medics! My own GP threatened me that I'd get some incurable disease if I did not abide by this or that but a decade later he has died of a degenerative illness himself and I am completely arthritis free and can walk for miles and never been healthier.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteCan you help me out? I'm having trouble following your argument. Would this be a fair summary?
(1) Humanity survived for aeons without clinical trials
(2) Therefore we should probably continue relying on anecdotes forever
Or would this be better?
(1) I lived longer than my doctor
(2) Therefore people probably don't need doctors
Your powers of deduction are amazing! I argued neither. In fact, I have not argued at all but gave the point of view of a patient with experience of both CAM and EBM. I know we are all non intellectual barbarians compared to clinicians, but hey, you did not specify that only scientists from Cambridge could write on your blog..
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, much of your contribution was a sharing of experiences.
Would it be fair to say, though, that it also contained a number of factual claims?
(1) You cured your arthritis using (mostly) nutrition
(2) You friend cured herself of arthritis after following your medical advice
(3) Doctors tend to ignore therapies that don't rely on surgery and medication
(4) Pre-scientific medicine did more good than harm
(5) Anecdotal evidence is reliable because it tends to eliminate false conclusions over time
(6) Peer-reviewed clinical studies are only considered a gold standard for ideological reasons
(7) Clinical research offer benefits only on the timescale of centuries
(8) Alternative therapies can remove pollutants (in combination with lifestyle changes)
(9) Medicine is effective for conditions requiring invasive procedures or in the early stages of serious diseases, but ineffective otherwise
(10) Your record of curing arthritis is better than that of your doctor
(1) I fed my body the nutrients it needed in the form it could utilise to function properly.
ReplyDelete(2) Ditto.
(3) Doctors are trained in medicine and have little CAM experience but increasingly some are incorporating it in their treatments.
(4)Prescientific medicine produced all the life on earth including 6 plus billion people. (Being more philosophical here)
(5) Anecdotal evidence is what most people go by in their everday lives. This is an observation and not a judgement of what they should or should not do.
(6) Peer reviewed studies are the ideal but the reality is there are many constraints on them, ie. bias, time, cultural and geographical differences, inability to control all the variables, press interference, political leanings and pressures to name a few.
(7) Clinical studies by definition are very precise and detailed and takes lots of time and effort and money and one study is usually not enough. You need lots of them and to have meta analysis. Even then, we are having scientific discoveries all the time with better equipment which sometimes negates our previous conclusions or takes it in a different direction. It is a slow process as there seems to be no bounds to our learning and advancing our knowledge base which is fascinating.
(8) A specifically trained dentist did remove the mercury in my mouth by taking many precautionary measures.
(9) Medicine saves lives everyday and we are the luckiest nation on Earth to have a free system at our beck and call but for "diseases of the civilisation" or "Western diseases" due to hurried take-aways, stresses of a declining economy and jobs, driving everywhere and not taking exercise, etc, we need to reverse the malaise we find ourself in even if helped by medication initially.
(10) In my case, I was able to reverse the arthritis by changing my eating habits (as recommended by the government agencies) and incorporating more healthy food as my doctor told me that there was nothing he could do for it.
I'm not sure what's going on here. It seems that there's a complaint. I'm actually too lazy to read everything. So what's the deal does it work or not? I support any type of (scientific) alternative cancer treatments as it helped a friend get live her life the way she wants even with a disease, BUT I detest bogus promoters and Doctors who's just in it for the trend.
ReplyDelete