Autism Doctor Has License Revoked in Missouri and Illinois
On behalf of Brown & Crouppen, P.C. posted in Medical Malpractice on Thursday, November 8, 2012
A doctor who uses unconventional and unapproved methods for treating patients has had his license to practice medicine revoked in Missouri and Illinois. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Dr. Mark Geier, who operates autism clinics in St. Peters, Mo. and Springfield, Ill., has lost his license to practice medicine in nine other states.
Geier used Lupron on children with autism, a drug approved for chemical castration of sex offenders, and costing $6,000 per month. His medical treatment has been described by medical boards as “dangerous, abusive and exploitative.”
His attorney indicated that they were appealing the decision to revoke the license. His attorney said that Dr. Geier’s “unpopular position” on autism treatment “has generated a lot of animosity.”
Dr. Geier promotes the discredited theory that autism is caused by children’s vaccines containing Thimerosal. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) research indicates this theory has no basis in fact.
His license was suspended in Maryland earlier this year and he had been fined $10,000 by the Maryland licensing board for practicing medicine without a license.
While a medical license is no guarantee that a doctor will not violate the accepted medical standards of care, a doctor who is unlicensed is clearly a danger to any patient.
As a rule, we trust doctors, as their degree and licensing represent years of education and training, and indicate they have met the minimum standards a state requires to practice medicine. However, sometimes we can trust them too much.
Doctors who push “controversial” or “unproven” treatments should be viewed with great caution. Unlicensed individuals promoting such methods represent a grave risk to anyone falling prey to their marketing.
Source: “Controversial autism doctor Mark Geier loses licenses in Missouri, Illinois,” Blythe Bernhard, November 03, 2012