slow news is no news

[Guest guest]

this has nothing to do with nor herbs but its a slow news day

so I thought others might want to view this story about this nightmare doctor.

 

 

Calif. doc who hailed herbal cancer cure arrested

By GREG RISLING Associated Press Writer

 

Oct 8th, 2009 | LOS ANGELES -- Prosecutors brought fraud charges Thursday

against a doctor accused of promising terminally ill cancer patients in their

darkest hours that they would be cured with an herbal treatment.

 

Using her influence as an ordained Pentecostal minister, Dr. Christine Daniel

tapped into the vessel of faith to entice people from across the nation to try

her regimen. She even appeared on cable's Trinity Broadcasting Network in 2002

touting her cancer cure and its 60 percent success rate, according to federal

investigators.

 

Authorities arrested Daniel, 55, at her San Fernando Valley home Thursday and

charged her with two counts each of wire and mail fraud. If convicted, she faces

up to 80 years in prison.

 

In court documents, authorities contend Daniel took advantage of patients who

desperately sought alternative measures after enduring draining rounds of

chemotherapy and radiation.

 

In all, federal prosecutors said Daniel siphoned about $1.1 million from 55

families between 2001 and 2004. Six patients ranging in age from 4 to 69 died

within seven months after seeing Daniel.

 

" This is an example of a doctor who is preying upon the most vulnerable people

in our society, " said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Johns. " These patients were

told they were being cured, but they were being eaten alive by cancer. "

 

A phone message left for Daniel's attorney, Manuel Miller, was not immediately

returned. Daniel was scheduled to appear in federal court Friday.

 

Prosecutors said Daniel concocted a remedy known, among other names, as

" C-Extract " that she claimed would help treat cancer and other afflictions such

as multiple sclerosis, hepatitis, and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

 

Some of her patients were drawn to her from her appearance on TBN's " Praise the

Lord. " Daniel told viewers she collected herbs from around the world, and, when

they were combined with prayer, there was a good chance their cancer could be

cured.

 

" We have seen the dead raised, " Daniel said on the broadcast, according to the

indictment.

 

Among those who tried Daniel's nostrums were Minna Shakespeare, who had seen

Daniel on the TV show in December 2002. The 49-year-old Hanover, Mass., resident

contacted Daniel shortly thereafter and was told by the doctor to stop her

chemotherapy because it didn't work, according to an affidavit filed by the Food

and Drug Administration.

 

She stopped chemotherapy and paid Daniel about $13,000 for the cancer treatment.

When Shakespeare felt the new treatment wasn't working, she claims Daniel told

her to go back on chemotherapy as well as continue the herbal solution, court

documents show.

 

Shakespeare died in 2003. Her husband, Easton, sought a refund from Daniel and

reported her to a local consumer's council. The council forwarded the complaint

to the California Medical Board, which is still investigating Daniel. A phone

message left for Easton Shakespeare was not immediately returned.

 

Other patients traveled to California and stayed at local motels while they were

being treated, court documents show.

 

Prosecutors said Daniel even fleeced other clergy. In late 2003, George

McKinney, who founded St. Stephen's Cathedral Church of God in Christ in San

Diego, agreed to have his wife, Jean, treated by Daniel. The couple moved into

their son's home in Los Angeles, and Jean McKinney took an herbal mixture three

to four times a day for her terminal colon cancer.

 

Daniel also used a heat machine that was supposed to reduce the tumor,

authorities said. The couple paid Daniel more than $100,000. Jean McKinney died

in June 2004.

 

A phone message seeking comment from George McKinney wasn't returned.

 

Daniel was interviewed by investigators in August 2004, and she denied ever

practicing alternative medicine for cancer, court documents show. She also

attested that she never talked about a 60 percent cancer cure rate on

television.

 

Daniel's arrest comes nearly two weeks after Orange County prosecutors charged a

Las Vegas man with multiple felony counts after he also allegedly claimed he

could cure cancer and urged patients to stop chemotherapy. Daryn Peterson, 37,

is not licensed by the Medical Board of California.