Woman jailed for practising alternative medicine without licence

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Woman jailed for practising alternative medicine without licence

By Alexia Saoulli

 

A 30-YEAR-old woman has been jailed for eight months after a Nicosia court found

her guilty of practicing medicine without a proper licence, police said

yesterday.

 

Katerina Demetriadou was convicted on 22 charges, including practising medicine

without being a registered doctor, carrying out laboratory tests without being a

chemist, the illegal operation of a clinical workshop, obtaining money under

false pretences and posing as a dietician without being registered on the

dietetics register.

 

The court heard the defendant holds a PhD in orthomolecular science and is a

member of the alternative medicine association, but failed to secure approval to

register on the Cyprus medical council.

 

Commenting on the sentence yesterday, Medical Association vice president, Dr

Nicholas Christodoulou told the Cyprus Mail: “The state has an obligation to

protect public health from people who are not doctors and pretend to be so,

which is why we have a law that protects citizens from such people.”

 

According to the Health Plus Web internet site: “The orthomolecular nutritional

science specialises in stimulating good health by providing the body cells that

are the fundamental building blocks of the organism, with optimal quantities of

all the vitamins, minerals and other vital nutrients.

 

“In orthomolecular medicine, vitamins, minerals and a variety of other

substances normally resident in the body, are applied in order to restore

pathological processes. By using safe intrinsic body substances, orthomolecular

medicine contrasts with other disciplines of medical science, where molecules

developed in the laboratory are used, which, because of their alien nature,

often cause unpleasant or even serious side effects.”

Christodoulou, however, insisted an orthomolecular scientist was not the same as

a medical doctor.

 

“There is a medical council in Cyprus,” he said. “People with medical

qualifications submit their qualifications to the council. If they are valid,

the person is then registered. This is so that patients know their doctor has

the necessary qualifications and can trust him or her. Anything else is not the

same. This woman knew she was not a doctor and she did not register with the

council. Yet she went ahead and practised medicine anyway.”

 

He said the Association had filed complaints against Demetriadou, but lengthy

judicial procedures had kept her from jail much longer.

 

“We are strongly opposed to charlatans. However, she is not the first person we

have filed complaints against,” he said. “There are others out there pretending

to be medical doctors.”

 

Christodoulou said the law prevented them from publishing a list of their names.

He said: “We have informed the Health Ministry and the police and procedures to

prosecute these people are under way. Nevertheless, the public can protect

themselves by asking their doctor to see a certificate of their registration

under the medical registration law. Or, if someone wants, they can contact the

Medical Association or their local medical association and find out of if a

certain doctor is registered or not.”

 

Sentencing, Judge Michalis Papamichael said: “The defendant knew full well what

is medicine, what constitutes medical practice or omissions, just as she knew

full well from her actions that orthomolecular science is not a branch of

medicine, and cannot even be called orthomolecular medicine or to have her pose

as a doctor. Despite this, for a substantial time she consciously and willingly

misleading her patients that she was a doctor and practiced medicine with the

intention of benefiting.”

 

He added: “The purpose of the sentence, over and above punishing the defendant,

is the protection of the social whole from the defendant’s antisocial behaviour

and to serve as an example to other people who might be thinking of committing

the same or similar offence.”

 

The court also fined Demetriadou £1,500. During sentencing it took into account

Demetriadou’s request to have the money returned to those patients who testified

against her.

 

 

Cyprus Mail 2004

 

 

 

 

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