DOC BLOWS STONE TRUMPET
Woman wins action against self-proclaimed ‘Einstein of natural health’
AN “Einstein of natural health” has been ordered to repay $1800 to a Gold Coast woman who said his “magical stones” and healing theories did not work.
A court found Sydneybased Donovan More was taking advantage of the vulnerable when he charged Paula Kaye Ford $3600.
Ms Kaye, suffering from migraines and neck pain, sent the stones back and refused to pay what she owed because she said the treatment did not work.
A SELF-STYLED “Einstein of natural health” has been ordered to pay back more than $1800 to a Tamborine woman who attended his seminars on “magical stones” and healing.
A court found Sydneybased Donovan Rock More was taking advantage of the vulnerable when he charged Paula Kaye Ford $3600 to attend three of his seminars.
A Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) judgment details how Ms Ford spent more than 12 months trying to cure her mi- graines, back, neck and shoulder pain, chronic fatigue, exhaustion and depression as instructed and promised by Dr More, who operates Complete Family Healing and has an online PhD in religious studies.
When she saw no results Ms Ford returned all the stones and leaflets to Dr More and re- fused to pay the $1800 she still owed. Dr More took Ms Ford to QCAT for the unpaid fees but his claim backfired when she counterclaimed for the failure of his “magical stones” to heal her as promised.
“I find that Ms Ford was so misled and deceived, that the goods ie. the stones in combination with the leaflets and education, and the services, did not match the implied guarantees,” the QCAT judgment by Adjudicator Alan Walsh reads.
The judgment details how Ms Ford, who was recovering from the breakdown of her 34year marriage, attended four seminars by Dr More who claimed he was able to heal using stones and affirmation.
Desperate to relieve her pain, Ms Ford signed up, but 12 months later had no results.
“I’ve tried everything, I’ve done all these different affirmations and nothing has actually worked,” she told the QCAT hearing. “And it took me, because of where I was at the time, a period of time to settle into an understanding, if you will. That’s the only way I can explain it.”
In the judgment, Ms Ford says she thought Dr More was a qualified medical doctor.
“Ms Ford says that Dr More preys on the vulnerable people who are ill, in pain or dying, taking large sums of money for miraculous remedies that have no medically proven healing properties or established benefits,” it read.
Dr More said Ms Ford was lying and she had not followed his instructions, which is why the healing did not work.
“They’re not natural stones ... and are made by Terry Downey in New Zealand from sources around the world ... but it depends where they zap them, and many of them are zapped all in one place,” Dr More said about the stones during the QCAT hearing.
The stones are only available when someone attended a seminar. On his website, Dr More describes himself as the “Einstein of natural health and healing”.
“At the age of 59 he was bitten by a small, brown snake,” the website says. “He breathed himself better without the need for anticoagulant drugs but the venom affected his heart and other organs as well as his balance mechanism.”
He also claims he was told he would be wheelchair-bound by 40 but at 63 continues to run up sand dunes.
He has been ordered to pay $1860 back to Ms Ford as well as $112.50 for her court costs.