Florida spa gets second order to stop medical practice
Centre that treated Ontario aboriginal girls told to end naturopathic treatments
For the second time in less than a month, a Florida health spa where two Ontario aboriginal girls with leukemia travelled after rejecting chemotherapy in favour of natural treatment has been slapped with a ceaseand-desist order by the state’s Department of Health.
The department issued the order against Hippocrates Health Institute co-director Anna Maria Clement on Feb. 25 to immediately stop practising naturopathic medicine without a licence.
The move follows the state’s Feb. 10 order against her co-director and husband, Brian Clement, who was told to stop practising medicine without a licence and was fined just over $3,700.
According to documents obtained by the Star, the Department of Health’s investigation into Anna Maria Clement was sparked by a complaint from a former Hippocrates employee, registered nurse Steven Pugh.
He alleged that Clement “is presenting herself as a doctor, prescribes treatments, cancelled other practitioner’s orders and interprets lab reports.”
Pugh is one of several former staff members and a doctor who are suing Hippocrates over allegations they were fired when they raised concerns about the Clements practising medicine without licences.
No criminal charges have been filed against the Clements. Hippocrates executive vice-president Michael Allen said the Clements and the health institute had no comment. Clement’s lawyer, Tama Beth Kudman, and spokeswoman, Vicki Johnson, did not return requests for comment.
In a previous statement to the Star, Johnson said Brian Clement denied the allegations against him. He has requested a hearing before an ad- ministrative law judge to contest the allegations, according to a Feb. 25 document filed with the Department of Health.
The institute has come under increased public scrutiny after the two aboriginal girls abandoned their chemotherapy treatments in favour of indigenous medicine and other alternative therapies.
Both travelled to Hippocrates. One of the two, 11-year-old Makayla Sault, died in January of a stroke, which her parents blamed on 12 weeks of chemotherapy she’d had nearly a year earlier.
The second girl, known only as J.J. due to a court-ordered publication ban, was taken off chemotherapy last summer. An Ontario Court judge ruled in November that it is her mother’s right as an aboriginal to seek indigenous treatment for her daughter, a decision that may be appealed by the province.
As detailed in a Star investigation, people have gone to Hippocrates in hopes the raw vegan diet taught there would “reverse” their cancer. Medical and nutritional experts interviewed by the Star have said there is no scientific evidence the diet Clement advocates can reverse the disease.
Asearch of the Florida Department of Health’s database revealed that Anna Maria Clement is a licensed nutritional counsellor but not a licensed naturopathic physician, according to department documents.
Nevertheless, the investigator wrote that at the time of checking the Hippocrates website on Nov.13, 2014, Clement was using the title NMD (Naturopathic Medical Doctor), which has since been removed from the site.
An undercover investigation into her husband began last November, when a Florida resident, Jann Bellamy, filed a complaint after a Canadian friend forwarded her news reports about the two girls’ travels to Hippocrates, according to department documents.
Bellamy “alleges that two Canadian girls with leukemia previously treated by or are currently being treated by Clement with unproven and dangerous therapies. Bellamy alleges that Clement claims that he can reverse Stage 4 cancer,” according to health department documents.
The department then sent an undercover investigator in early February, which ultimately led to the cease-and-desist order. With files from Tim Alamenciak