While most health providers are legitimate, there are many fake doctors that are completely bogus. Unaccredited, unregulated ‘phony’ doctors, are criminal scammers for the most part, who cold-bloodedly exploit the credulity and desperation of the most vulnerable people in society: terminal patients.
Fake doctors are in vogue
Indeed, fake medical degrees are so prolific that have become an “urgent national problem.” If twenty-five years ago, a Congressional committee calculated that there were over 5,000 fake doctors in the United States, just imagine how many more there are now. People have died because of these mockups. Something must change.
Alleged chemist arrested in California
The latest incident was reported in California. Here, an alleged chemist who claimed he could treat cancer with alternative medicine scammed a mother out of thousands of dollars, police say. According to news reports, the victim identified as Fern was upset to witness somebody preying on cancer patients “who are desperate to live”.
The battle of a cancer patient
Fern has been battling breast cancer for seven years. Despite years of chemotherapy, the cancer spread. She decided to turn to natural treatments and in 2009 found a website promoting Vincent Gammill’s “Natural Oncology Institute”. It was her last resort, she thought. She believed the doctor had answers to her problems, but he didn’t. Gammill was no guru.
The first visit cost her $2,000. She was given various prescriptions that were all expired and had to listen to comments “that didn’t make any sense”.
After her visit, the mother of two contacted the police. “He robbed me of my money, of my time. It was three days driving up, I was away from my children and my family,” Fern told 6abc Action News.
It turned out that Gammill had no formal education beyond high school. In his home, investigators found laboratory equipment and bottles labeled corrosive and poison, along with over 25,000 prescription pills, including morphine, Ambien, steroids and Mexican and Russian drugs.
The Big Lie
The “Natural Oncology Institute” is still online. Here we read that Gammill became well known in international clinics “for the effectiveness of certain cancer vaccines he developed”. His aim was to create a non-profit where “cancer patients could get a honest answers from someone who knew both conventional and alternative medicine without sizing up their wallet”. Right.
Gammill, 69, who was arrested on July 9, is scheduled to appear in Ventura County Superior Court on Aug. 31.
Over the years, organisations such as the California medical board has investigated a mounting number of people pretending to be doctors and offering risky treatments, including a San Francisco man who performed liposuction while smoking a cigar and a San Diego woman who sickened a patient with lengthy IV infusion treatments.
Fake doctors and unlicensed physicians are everywhere in the US. Check out this page for more stories. Have you ever met a bunch of fake doctors? Share your experiences in the comments section below.
