Pharmacist Fined One Million by Tennessee Medical Board for Advising Juices and Natural Supplements

October 4, 2007

Pharmacist Fined One Million by Tennessee Medical Board for Advising Juices and Natural Supplements http://educate-yourself.org/cn/pharmacistfinedonemillion14jun07.shtml

[Editor's Note: This is an old and familiar theme of abuse of power and suppression of choice by the pharma-based medical industry in America. In this case, we have a man, Larry Rawdon, who has a pharmacist licence in Tennessee, but runs a health food store.

Rawdon discovered what I and so many, many other people have discovered - drugs don't work, but Nature based "medicine" does.

He tells people who seek his advice that taking freshly made vegetable/fruit juices, along with supplements and coffee enemas, for example, will often bring beneficial results in terms of increased energy and recovery from disease debilitation

(in essence, the Gerson Therapy which has been successfully applied for 80 years since formulated by Dr. Max Gerson in the 1920s).

A man by the name of David Ashley, who had fourth stage pancreatic cancer-the most deadly form of cancer possible-

comes to him for advice and finds that juicing had indeed increased his energy level and perhaps gave him hope-for a time-

of recovery from his cancer. This was not an unreasonable expectation because a certain percentage of people with fourth stage pancreatic cancer have recovered using the Gerson model of "therapy."

(look up the work of Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez in New York City. He's been using the Gerson therapy for years to treat pancreatic cancer patients).

But David Ashley didn't recover. He died and his widow now needed someone to blame for his death, so she focused her bitterness on Larry Rawdon.

I'm sure it never occurred to Mrs. Ashley to complain to the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners about the hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted on David's oncologists, the ones who treated him with chemotherapy and perhaps radiation, and failed miserably to save his life. No, no, no, the allopathic medical establishment is never responsible for a lost patient in the eyes of a state medical board, because the guidelines and rules for the "safe" treatment of cancer - to which every state medical board ascribes-has been written by the very same pharma-based allopathic medical industry.

No sir, only those Nature inspired "quacks" who have turned to natural medicine get their medical office raided by flak-jacketed thugs with drawn guns and the words "Police" or "FBI" printed across the back of their jackets. In Rawdon's case, there was no medical office to raid, so he got slapped with a one million dollar fine in May for the "crime" of advising people who come to his health food store -now transformed into "patients" by the Tennessee Medical board- about Nature based solutions.

The only way to stop this sort of abuse is to get state lawmakers to pass legislation which allow citizens to seek whatever type of treatment that wish to have and to get advice from anyone they wish to council without fear of punitive retribution by pharmaceutical enforcement agents masquerading as state medical boards. Until then, a strong response of indignation from the public directed at the Tennessee Department of Health and the State Medical Examiners board can only have a "purgative" effect to let those people know that the public is on to their pro- pharma restrictive ploys and their attempts to control Tennesseans choices in life are not appreciated.

If this assault on health freedom is not vigorously aborted and reversed in Tennessee, then expect similar situations to occur in other states, where state medical boards will be further emboldened to assign egregious and outrageous fines upon licensed physicians or pharmacists who advocate the use of natural therapies as innocuous as vegetable juice and supplements. Folks, it's time to act. ...Ken]

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/pharmacistfinedonemillion14jun07.shtml

June 14, 2007

Forward courtesy of Christ Gupta < chrisgupta (AT) alumni (DOT) uwaterloo.ca>

Please e-mail tn.health (AT) state (DOT) tn.us and/or phone the state Commissioner of the Department of Health, Susan Cooper at 615-741-3111 or the Board of Medical Examiners at 615-532-3202. to vent your opinion.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2007/09/14/pharmacist_fined_for_natural_therapies/7396/

Pharmacist fined for natural therapies

Published: September 14, 2007

NASHVILLE, 14 (UPI) -- A Tennessee pharmacist has received a $1 million fine for treating customers at his health-food store with juices and dietary supplements.

The Tennessee Boa rd of Medical Examiners ruled in May that Larry Rawdon’s practice of treating ailments such as cancer with alternative therapies is harmful, The Nashville Tennessean reported Thursday.

The $1 million fine is the largest the board has ever handed out, the newspaper said.

A former patient [Debbie Landers] of the Hohenwald, Tennessee pharmacist has created the group MyHealthMyChoice to raise money for Rawdon's fine and petition to make alternative health care legal in Tennessee, the newspaper reported.

***

Local pharmacist appealing $1 million fine by Board of Medical Examiners

June 14, 2007 http://myhealthmychoice.us/downloads/articles/pharmacist%20appeal%20lewisherald.pdf

By Becky Newbold,

Associate Editor

The Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners ruled May 15, 2007 Dr. Larry Rawdon of Preventative Family Health Care, had been practicing medicine without a license. Dr. Rawdon, a pharmacist, is appealing the ruling. Rawdon, owner of Osa’s Garden health food store, provides nutritional counseling to people who seek his advice, his supporters stated in an interview last week.

Attorney Don Schwendimann stated evidence used by the Board of Medical Examiners was based on the testimony of a woman [Donna Ashley] and her mother from West Tennessee along with records from Rawdon’s office. Schwendimann stated the women filed a complaint after her husband [David Ashley] sought Rawdon’s advice on nutrition. The man was in the later stage of pancreatic cancer, Schwendimann stated, and an audio tape revealed Rawdon did not advise him to cease treatment advised by his physician.

According to Mr. Schwendimann, the man reported having more energy and resuming some of his activities after one month on the new diet, but when he died, his widow filed a complaint. The State Board of Medical Examiners fined Rawdon $1,000,000.00 in the case, for which hearings began January 24, 2007.

No transcript of the proceedings was available at press time. A faxed copy of the order claims Rawdon charged “patients” for visits and printed testimonial of healings, among other charges. Supporters point out Rawdon never took claimed to have healed, but gave God the credit for healing the patients.

Locally, an effort has begun to defend the rights of Tennesseans to seek alternative health care. Organizer Debbie Landers stated, “This would be the most irresponsible thing I could do,” to ignore this issue. She asserts people should be allowed to choose the type of medical help they want, without fear of repercussion for the person offering advice.

Rawdon is a licensed pharmacist in the state of Tennessee. President for the Tennessee Board of Pharmacists, Terry Grinder of Hohenwald, did not return a phone call for an interview.

At this time, Dr. Rawdon’spharmaceutical license has not been revoked. State Representative Dr. Joey Hensley stated, “They charged him with practicing without a license-- that is a serious charge...the penalty was excessive, I thought.”

Hensley stated he was unaware of the evidence used against Rawdon in the case. “The real problem is the practice of naturopathy is not legal in Tennessee and they [the Board] said he was practicing naturopathy...It is certainly not his fault someone died.”

Hensley stated he would speak with someone on the Board to gain a better understanding of the case. Legislation introduced earlier this session by Senator Tim Burchett concerning the licensing of naturopathic doctors was not heard this Legislative session, Hensley concluded, but may come up in the next session.

Schwendimann indicated Rawdon had made some changes in his operation in response to the charges, but is still running his health food store. Both men, and many supporters in the community, are hopeful the decision will be overturned in a Davidson County court. The order from the State of Tennessee Department of Health stated the civil penalty of $1 million “shall be paid within 30 days” of the filing of an Affidavit of Costs.

****

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Pharmacist fights $1 million fine over health-food therapies

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070911/NEWS07/709110374/1024/NEWS