Grey Power September 2019

24
NZ GREYPOWER MAGAZINE » SEPTEMBER 2019
Watch out
for quacks
OPINION
While most seniors are now aware
of the many scammers and cheats
on social media who attempt to rob
us with an increasingly sophisticated
range of confidence tricks, some of
the oldest tricks are still around.
BY TOM O'CONNOR
Of the many professional
groups in
society, there are a
small number we have, by
tradition at least, learned
to unreservedly trust.
Among them are lawyers,
police, school teachers
and medical professionals.
That trust is not universal
but, when we look for
someone to draw a raffle,
witness a signature, give
advice or take the lead in
Safe mobile
lifestyle
community matters, most
of us tend to look to these
people first.
Such is their importance
to society that there
are disciplinary bodies to
intervene when that trust
is betrayed. Two such
bodies are the Health
Practitioners Disciplinary
Tribunal and the Medical
Council and we have
equally high expectations
of them also.
“When people become frightened,
by terminal illness or some other
traumatic development, they
are particularly vulnerable to
exploitation by self- proclaimed
miracle workers or those claiming
to have special abilities not
recognised by mainstream medical
professionals.”
Recently the tribunal
imposed one if its most
severe penalties on a medical
professional when
American Dr Mitchell
Dean Feller was formally
censured, struck off the
register of New Zealand
General Practitioners,
fined $5000, and ordered
to pay $56,100 in costs.
His offence was peddling
an untested concoction his
company PureCure called
Te Kiri Gold, with claims
it could kill cancer cells.
He was apparently back
in US and did not attend
the hearing. Bottles of the
stuff, which turned out to
be little more than chlorinated
water, were sold to
cancer sufferers for $50 a
litre.
It was not the first time
Dr Feller found himself
in trouble with medical
authorities. He was publicly
reprimanded in 2005
by authorities in US after
misusing prescription
drugs and ordered to pay
$US10, 000 plus costs and
restrictions were added to
his medical licence. That
should have set alarm bells
clanging when he applied
to practice in New Zealand
but he seemed to have
slipped under the radar…
but not for long.
His medical registration
was revoked in August
2014 by the Medical Council
of New Zealand when
he was working at the
Opunake Medical Centre
and lost his job there but it
was renewed two months
later when he started work
at the Mountainview Medical
Centre but the South
Taranaki practice suddenly
in April last year in a
dispute with Immigration
New Zealand.
Preying on the vulnerable
Te Kiri Gold appears to be
just one more in a long list
of quack concoctions cleverly
designed to relieve
desperately ill people of
their anxiety and money.
Many of these so called
remedies or therapies are
designed to target vulnerable
people with all manner
of real or imagined
maladies. Many of the
makers and sellers of these
products are little more
than cheats, charlatans or
so called snake oil merchants.
When people become
frightened, by terminal
illness or some other
traumatic development,
they are particularly vulnerable
to exploitation by
self- proclaimed miracle
workers or those claiming
to have special abilities not
recognised by mainstream
medical professionals.
Some of these people are
genuine in their beliefs
and have no other motive
than to help distressed
people. Even the placebo
effect can be better than
nothing for those who face
imminent death and can
find help nowhere else.
Others, however, are sinister
liars who seek only
to relieve people of their
money or gain power and
control over others to
satisfy their ego. And it
is very difficult to tell the
genuine believers from the
hoaxers.
But there are a number
of clear signs, for
those who choose to look
for them, that some of
these so-called therapies
should be treated
with caution. The first
is if they are presented
as natural, pure, organic
or under the mantle of
some form of church or
religious group. The tactic
has been with us for a
very long time from the
days when holy water was
sprinkled on anything
and anyone to deal with
almost every imaginable
misadventure. The second
sign is if they come
without the endorsement
of the medical profession
or even evidence of the
efficacy of the product,
but the endorsement of a
well-known celebrity.
That is what we have
the Health Practitioners
Disciplinary Tribunal
and Medical Council of
New Zealand for. Which
begs the question why
did it take so long to deal
with this latest betrayal
of trust and why was
Dr Feller ever allowed to
practice in New Zealand
to start with? The public
and all the other honest
and dedicated medical
professionals have a right
to expect swifter and
more decisive action from
authorities than this.
AFI S3 WITH
WIDE WHEELS
Afi S wins
2011 European
Life Science
and Medicine
products design
award!
202059AA
From $8500.00
AFI S4 DUAL SEAT WITH CANOPY
From $8500.00
SE SPORTSTER
From $8500.00
AFI C4
From $6000.00
Safe | Smooth | Functional | Comfortable
& Stylish | Features | Lockable Storage
Phone: 0800 354 837 www.elitescooters.co.nz
NZ Importer and Distributor of Afikim Electric Vehicles
THE STAIRLIFT PEOPLE
STANNAH STAIRLIFTS
Working in partnership with leading
manufacturer Stannah Stairlifts, Independence
2011 have been changing peoples lives
in New Zealand, giving them back their
independence to go up and down their stairs
and stay living in the home they love.
• For Curved and Straight stairs
• Indoor and outdoor models
• Recondition units
• Free no obligation quote
Freephone
0800 92 66 77
www.independence.co.nz
D5590J