Florida spa that treated First Nations girls with cancer faces lawsuits from ex-staff
Director Brian Clement giving false hope, putting patients at risk, nurse says
Makayla Sault was there in July, and has since
suffered a relapse.
The other girl, who cannot be named because of a court-ordered publication ban, stopped chemotherapy treatment at Hamilton's McMaster Children's Hospital, where she was given a 90-95 per cent chance of survival, to go to the Florida spa in September.
Steven Pugh worked at HHI for over a year as a nurse. He was concerned the Clements were giving false hope to patients.
"They would use the word cure. 'We're going to cure your illness.'"
Neither of the Clements is a licensed medical doctor, though both refer to themselves as doctors with clients as well as on the HHI website.
Brian Clement says he is a doctor of nutrition, but there is some question about his credentials and Florida authorities say he is not licensed as a doctor of naturopathy.
Pugh says that the Clements routinely interpreted laboratory blood tests, ordered IVs and prescribed supplements.
They also placed restrictions on when staff could call an ambulance to take patients for emergency medical care at local hospitals, according to Pugh and other former staff.
Pugh told CBC News that lives could have been placed at risk because the Clements prescribed treatments to patients.
"Not only prescribe but actually cancel the physician's orders ... and advise them to take something totally different, or even a different amount of the drug that the physician prescribed."
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Florida spa that treated First Nations girls with cancer faces lawsuits from ex-staff - Aboriginal - CBC