BMJ  2007;335:13 (7 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.39262.561134.DB

News

Dutch doctor struck off for alternative care of actor dying of cancer

Tony Sheldon

Utrecht

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A doctor who gave alternative care to a Dutch actor and comedian, Sylvia Millecam, who was dying of cancer has seen his punishment increased from suspension from the medical register for six months to removal from the register for life.

The judgment is seen as a clear warning to doctors that when practising alternative care they must still adhere to their professional standards.

The unnamed doctor is both a member of the Dutch Association of Internists and a practitioner of alternative medicine. He treated Ms Millecam, who died of breast cancer at 45 years of age, in 2001.

The doctor was originally suspended from the medical register for six months by the Amsterdam regional medical tribunal (BMJ 2006;332:929 doi: 10.1136/bmj.332.7547.929-a). He appealed, but the central tribunal took a harsher view, saying that his treatment was "a serious threat for public health," and removed him from the register for . . . [Full text of this article]


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