Controversy sparked in Switzerland after doctor who used unproved, unlicensed therapy is cleared of non-treatment conviction

doi:10.1136/bmj.a3091

Published 6 January 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.a3091
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:a3091

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Controversy sparked in Switzerland after doctor who used unproved, unlicensed therapy is cleared of non-treatment conviction

Ned Stafford

¹ Hamburg

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

A decision by Switzerland’s highest court to overturna doctor’s conviction for failing to treat effectively"several patients" with cancer has been described as "a judicialscandal with disastrous ethical and medical implications" bya patients’ rights group.

However, the Swiss Medical Association’s top lawyer disagrees,saying that strict new laws will prevent similar cases in thefuture.

According to a judgment, issued 20 June 2008 by the Swiss FederalCourt, an oncologist practising in Basel, referred to as X,treated at least 186 patients for breast or other cancers in1998 and 1999 with lipoteichoic acid (LTA), which was manufacturedby his company, although it was not licensed for such treatment.The standard treatment for some of the patients was tamoxifen,but in some cases this was stopped by Dr X in favour of lipoteichoicacid.

One of the patients, known as Mrs Ad, was central to the case.. . . [Full text of this article]

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