BMJ  2008;336:853 (19 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.39549.636586.DB

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Two doctors in Holland are to be prosecuted over use of complementary therapy

¹ Utrecht

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

A Dutch appeal court has ordered the prosecution of two doctors and a faith healer, known simply as Jomanda, over their treatment of Sylvia Millecam, an actor and comedian, who died from breast cancer in 2001 (BMJ 2007;335:13; doi: 10.1136/bmj.39262.561134.DB).

The public prosecution service originally dismissed the case against the three, accepting that Ms Millecam made a conscious choice for alternative care. But the Amsterdam court believes that questions remain over how Millecam’s decision was made.

The court said that she had placed trust in the doctors’ and Jomanda’s statements that her disorder was not breast cancer but a bacterial infection. It said that the three "cannot deny their own responsibility in referring to the choices made by a patient, if this patient has not been correctly or fully informed by them."

The appeal was brought by two organisations, the Dutch Association against Quackery and the Society of . . . [Full text of this article]

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