Dan's Journal of Skepticism

Gaye Demanuele is a homeopath and midwife who killed two babies and a mother in three separate home birthing incidents.

The Melbourne midwife involved in a home birth where a mother died was present at two other home births that resulted in the deaths of two babies.

The three deaths occurred within an 18-month period between July 2011 and October 2012.

Home birth advocate Gaye Demanuele was the senior of two registered midwives at Caroline Lovell’s fatal home birth in January 2012 that is the subject of a current coronial inquiry. –The Age

The coroners report into the death of Caroline Lovell revealed that Ms Demanuele even ignored Ms Lovells peas for an ambulance and callously let her victim “bleed out” instead.

Failed to manage the third stage in an appropriate manner in that she left Caroline and for the most part X, sitting in the pool for not less than one hour without testing her for pulse, blood pressure or physically examining her for the possibility of PPH. 

Failed to call Ambulance Victoria when Caroline first fell unconscious and had to be lifted from the pool.

Failed to call Ambulance Victoria when Caroline later begged for that to be done, maintaining this position for a period of not less than 10 minutes until Caroline further declined into a state of collapse with the 000 call finally made at 10.27.55 and, 

Failed to provide Ambulance Victoria officers, and later the Austin Hospital ED, with an accurate medical history.

 –Coroners Report

Gaye Demanuele REFUSED to call an ambulance despite being “begged for that to be done”. There is no grey area here, a deliberate refusal to render medical assistance when a person is in dire need of such is murder. If that wasn’t horrific enough Gaye Demanuele has killed before, and after Ms Lovells death.

As revealed by The Age newspaper an earlier death took place in 2011 where a newborn baby died after Ms Demanuele refused to call an ambulance. 

More information about the 2011 death emerged in statements from the baby boy’s parents that were tendered to court by Slater and Gordon lawyer Michael Magazanik on Wednesday.

The mother, who cannot be named, said in her statement that Ms Demanuele ignored her requests for an ambulance during the labour.

“She told me an ambulance would be expensive as I would not be regarded as a medical emergency,” she said.

–TheAge

So having already killed a child Gaye Demanuele then decided to take the same course of action against Caroline Lovell who also died as a result of her pleas for an Ambulance being ignored. Are we spotting a pattern here?

Fairfax Media has also learned that in March 2012, just two months after Ms Lovell’s death, Ms Demanuele was present at another home birth in western Victoria. The baby, also a boy, was born with severe brain damage as a result of a lack of oxygen and died seven months later. –The Age 

A normal person might be affected by all this, however this is a midwife without remorse. A sociopath so unaffected by their actions that she plans to continue murdering women and children providing homebirths.

It is also noted that prior to this inquest and in the face of action taken by the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency, which action might have resulted in Gaye’s deregistration as a midwife as well as the unfavourable publicity associated with such a process, that Gaye took it upon herself to arrange for her own immediate deregistration. The fact that she testified that she is now seeking employment as an unregistered midwife in her own words, to offer assistance to the mother, who catches the baby with her own hands, is a

matter of concern that should be immediately addressed. –Coroners Report

Gaye Demanuele is a serial killer. She apparently has no remorse about these deaths as evidenced first by her actions in causing them and secondly by her determination to continue doing it. The coroner addresses the seriousness of this situation by referring the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Pursuant to Sections 49(1) and 69(2) of the Coroners Act 2008, 1 recommend that the Director of Public Prosecutions examines the evidence collected in this investigation and takes such action against Gaye Demanuele, as he may deem to be appropriate.

Hopefully this discusting person can be thrown behind bars. It’s the only thing thats going to stop her.

Homeopathic sugar pills that frauds and crooks like to fleece members of the public with have once again been proven to have zero effect on treating anything but an overweight wallet.

Last year the National Health and Medical Research Council released a statement regarding the efficacy of Homeopathic Treatments.

Based on the assessment of the evidence of effectiveness of homeopathy, NHMRC concludes that there are no health conditions for which there is reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective.

Homeopathy should not be used to treat health conditions that are chronic, serious, or could become serious. People who choose homeopathy may put their health at risk if they reject or delay treatments for which there is good evidence for safety and effectiveness. People who are considering whether to use homeopathy should first get advice from a registered health practitioner.* Those who use homeopathy should tell their health practitioner and should keep taking any prescribed treatments.

National Health and Medical Research Council expects that the Australian public will be offered treatments and therapies based on the best available evidence. –NHMRC-Statement_on-homeopathy

Unsurprisingly the people who profit from this scam are once again upset at being called out by medical experts. 

The Australian Homoeopathic Association (AHA) accused NHMRC of a bias that influenced its findings and approach. It also claimed that NHMRC was influenced by anti-complementary medicine campaigners. –International Business Times

After five years of writing this blog (yes, it’s been more quiet lately) nothing should come as a surprise any more. At this point I’ve seen every excuse possible from frauds and pseudo-scientists, and a great deal of their tactics used to target people who call them out as the frauds they are. Quite a few of those tactics have been used in my direction as well. But the one thing that does surprise me still is how powerless government authorities are when dealing with scammers.

They assessed 176 individual clinical trials focused on 68 different conditions, and had two conclusions. Firstly, that there is no evidence that homeopathy works better than placebo and, secondly, that patients may harm themselves if they use homeopathy instead of effective therapies.

….

Given the overwhelming evidence against homeopathy it now seems like the time to act. There is no reason any longer for anyone to believe in homeopathy. Pretending there is room for a legitimate debate is merely misleading the public. –Edzard Ernst, the Independant

How many times must Homeopathy be revealed as a total sham before the frauds who sell it are dealt with? Selling fake medicine has the potential to cause real harm. Especially when the homeopath has the potentian to end up killing their patient. (Click Here)

Just over a month ago Homeopathy Plus an outfit selling fake medicine was punished by the Federal Court of Australia and ordered to pay  $115,000 in fines plus the legal costs of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, in addition to Fran Sheffield owner of Hompeopathy Plus being personally fined $23,000.

It recently came to my attention that Homeopathy Plus has quietly migrated its website from the Australian .com.au domain to the international .com I don’t know the exact reason for this, but in my experience a common way for shonks to try and evade government regulators is by moving or at least pretending (often poorly) to move beyond the jurisdiction of their perceived foe. Unlike a .com.au which must be tied to the registrant by either an ABN or Trademark a .com can be registered to anybody, including a third party who acts as a proxy to hide the identity of the real owner.

Given that the court order was worded as

The First Respondent and the Second Respondent cease publishing and remove from

the website www.homeopathyplus.com.au permanently

Homeopathy Plus, a sham operation that promotes fake medicine has been trying to fend off the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) since 2013. The ACCC took legal action against HomeopathyPlus for making fraudulent claims on its website about the ‘benefits’ of Homeopathy.

After a lengthy court battle the verdict is finally out and it’s bad news for the fraudsters at HomeopathyPlus. Not only have they been ordered to permanently remove articles from their website:

But they have also been fined $115,000 to be paid within 30 days of the order while Fran Sheffield the owner of HomeopathyPlus has been fined $23,000 to be paid within 90 days. Additionally the respondents/frauds must also pay the ACCCs legal costs which are unlikely to be a small sum.

However the real win from this case will be the aftermath. Now that the Federal Court has examined claims about the effectiveness of Homeopathy and found the evidence lacking it will set a precedent for future action against scammers who try and peddle this fake medicine.

The First Respondent and Second Respondent be restrained, whether by themselves, their agents, servants or howsoever otherwise, for a period of five years from making any statements or representations, in trade or commerce, in connection with the supply or possible supply of Homeopathic Treatments or in connection with the promotion of the supply of Homeopathic Treatments, to the effect that Homeopathic Treatments are a safe and effective alternative to the Vaccine for the prevention of whooping cough, for so long as:

A: there is no reasonable basis, in the sense of an adequate foundation, in medical science to enable the First Respondent and the Second Respondent to state that Homeopathic Treatments are safe and effective as an alternative to the Vaccine for the prevention of whooping cough; and

B: the Vaccine is the only treatment approved for use by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for inclusion on the National Immunisation Program for the prevention of whooping cough.

-Federal Court of Australia

So although this case focused specifically on the Whooping Cough Vaccine the fact that there is now a finding like this in a court of law combined with the ACCCs ability to recover their costs, means that it is both economically and legally viable for regulators to begin cracking down on this type of sham operation.

I look forward to the fallout from this ruling. It should give the pseudo-science community the shakeup it deserves.

Download: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission vs Homeopathy Plus

Today HomeopathyPlus is in court due to legal action taken by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission against them for making false and misleading claims about the efficacy of Homeopathy.

I was unable to attend but fortunately Maureen Chuck was in court to reports via twitter that Homeopathy Plus has been found guilty of Misleading and Deceptive conduct.

There will be a directions hearing on the 4th of February to decide what penalties Homeopathy Plus should face.

Update: 1730hrs

THE COURT DECLARES THAT:

The First Respondent and the Second Respondent have in trade and commerce: engaged in conduct that was misleading and deceptive or was likely to mislead and deceive, in contravention of section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law (“ACL”); and in connection with the supply or possible supply of homeopathic treatments or products (“Homeopathic Treatments”), and in connection with the promotion of the supply of Homeopathic Treatments, made false or misleading representations that the vaccine publicly available in Australia for whooping cough (“Vaccine”) is of a particular standard or quality in contravention of sections 29(1)(a) and (b) of the ACL, by publishing, or causing to be published, on the website www.homeopathyplus.com.au (“Website”): from 1 January 2011 until around 26 April 2012, an article entitled “Whooping Cough – Homeopathic Prevention and Treatment” (the “First Whooping Cough Article”) in which a representation was made to the effect that the Vaccine is short-lived, unreliable and no longer effective in protecting against whooping cough; from 11 January 2013 until around March 2013, an article entitled “Whooping Cough – Homeopathic Prevention and Treatment” (the “Second Whooping Cough Article”) in which a representation was made to the effect that the Vaccine may not be the best olution for, is of limited effect, and is unreliable at best, in protecting against whooping cough; and from 3 February 2012 until around March 2013 an article entitled “Government Data Shows Whooping Cough Vaccine a Failure” (the “Government Article”) in which a representation was made to the effect that the Vaccine is largely ineffective in protecting against whooping cough; when, in fact, the Vaccine is effective in protecting a significant majority of people who are exposed to the whooping cough infection from contracting whooping cough.

The First Respondent and the Second Respondent have in trade or commerce: engaged in conduct that was misleading and deceptive or was likely to mislead and deceive, in contravention of section 18 of the ACL; in connection with the supply or possible supply of Homeopathic Treatments, and in connection with the promotion of the supply of Homeopathic Treatments, made false or misleading representations that the Homeopathic Treatments are of a particular standard or quality in contravention of section 29(1)(a) and (b) of the ACL; and in connection with the supply or possible supply of Homeopathic Treatments, and in connection with the promotion of the supply of Homeopathic Treatments, made false or misleading representations that Homeopathic Treatments have a use or benefit in contravention of section 29(1)(g) of the ACL, by publishing, or causing to be published, on the Website:

the First Whooping Cough Article;
the Second Whooping Cough Article; and
the Government Article in conjunction with the Second Whooping Cough Article, in which representations were made to the effect that there was a reasonable basis, in the sense of an adequate foundation, in medical science to enable it or them (as the case may be) to state that Homeopathic Treatments are a safe and effective alternative to the Vaccine for the prevention of whooping cough when, in fact: there is no reasonable basis, in the sense of an adequate foundation, in medical science to enable the First Respondent and the Second Respondent to state that Homeopathic Treatments are safe and effective as an alternative to the Vaccine for the Prevention of Whooping Cough; and the Vaccine is the only treatment currently approved for use and accepted by medical practitioners in Australia for the prevention of whooping cough. –Federal Court of Australia

The order has not be entered yet so it isn’t available on the Federal Court website until tomorrow. This judgement should shake the homeopathic community in Australia to it’s core. It just goes to show that peddlers of bogus medicine can only get away with fraudulent practises for a limited time until the courts hold them to account.

Update 24th December 2014 1143Hrs

The full 105 page Judgement can be downloaded here.

Back in February I mentioned the Homeopathy Plus was being taken to court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for making false and misleading claims about the efficacy of Homeopathy.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted Federal Court proceedings over allegedly misleading claims on a homeopathy website regarding the effectiveness of the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine.

The ACCC has taken proceeding against Homeopathy Plus! Australia Pty Ltd and against the owners of the Homeopathy Plus! website.

The claims on the Homeopathy Plus! website include statements that the whooping cough vaccine is “unreliable” and “largely ineffective” in preventing whooping cough and that homeopathic remedies are a safe and effective alternative for the prevention and treatment of whooping cough.

The ACCC alleges that these claims are misleading and deceptive, in breach of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

The ACCC is seeking an injunction to have the claims removed, as well as penalties against the company and individuals.

Whooping cough is a highly infectious respiratory disease which is most serious in young children. The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing recommends children receive the whooping cough vaccine as part of routine childhood immunisation. –ACCC Public Release

Fran Sheffield of Homeopathy Plus sent out a media release earlier this year with more indepth details of the case. 

At the Directions Hearing in the Federal Court last Friday (March 1, 2013), the ACCC sought immediate orders and a fast-tracked date for when the case would be heard in full.

So what was the outcome of this hearing? Thanks to excellent representation by our barrister, the Justice removed the fast-tracking; the case is now scheduled for late August, at which time we intend to defend our position vigorously. In the meantime we have agreed to remove the pages in question from our website until the case is heard.

There is still a long way to go. The case is significant and a lot is at stake – not just for us but for anyone who accesses and wants to continue to access information on vaccines and healthcare from an alternative viewpoint.

When our case reaches court in August, the following questions will be asked:

1. Were our statements about the efficacy of the whooping cough vaccine correct; and
2. Is there evidence to show that homeopathy can treat and prevent whooping cough?

You may be wondering if the repercussions of this case will extend beyond Homeopathy Plus, my husband and myself. You may also wonder if a precedent will be set that not only affects the practice of homeopathy in Australia but also the practice and supply of information by many other complementary and alternative therapies. And, like others, you may be asking, “Is it fair for someone to be prosecuted by a government agency just for questioning certain aspects of government health policy and offering an alternative view?”

We have received advice that the right to publicly question government information about vaccines and provide alternative information on homeopathy will be a central issue in this case (i.e. the extent of those rights and when they can be censored) so obviously, important issues are at stake.

We cannot say more at this time about the details of the case, but we hope this has gone some way to explaining its significance. We need your support and are asking you to help in a number of important areas. –Fran Sheffield, Homeopathy Plus

Finally after several months of silence. Fran Sheffield has once again sent out another update confirming the date of November 18th and begging for donations. The Australian Vaccination Network passed on Fran’s letter to their followers asking for $11,500.

I’m Fran Sheffield and I have an emergency.

On November 18 I will be in the Federal Court of Australia defending homeopathy against claims by the ACCC that it is a misleading and deceptive practice.

This all came about because of statements on our website saying homeopathy could be helpful in the treatment and prevention of whooping cough.

I also stated that the whooping cough vaccine was ineffective and dangerous – statements which I backed up with references to peer-reviewed articles and government data.

Surprisingly, the vaccine-related comments should be easy to defend as those statements were drawn from the mouths of government authorities – they were not just my thoughts.

The same should be true for the homeopathic statements but that isn’t the case.

We all know that homeopathy treats and prevents whooping cough – we have the historical records and accounts going back for over 100 years and we’ve seen it repeatedly in our clinics during the recent epidemic.

But because we as homeopaths and the organisations that represent us have chosen appeasement and conciliation in recent years rather than firm statements of what we know to be true, it will now make our defence in Court so much harder.

I urgently need your help. My fight is your fight and $11,500.00 has to be raised over the next week to fund our legal team’s final preparations.

If you are a homeopath, someone who uses homeopathy, or an allied alternative health practitioner I hope you will help as the outcome of this case will affect you.

If the ACCC is allowed to stop us sharing important homeopathic information that is in the public interest a precedent will be set that allows them to do the same with you – as a practitioner you can look to a future in which you will be limited in what you say, and as a user of alternative therapies you will be restricted in what you can hear.

As a result of endless complaints over the past 8 years by those hostile to homeopathy it was inescapable that this matter should end up in court.

Appeasement on our part was not an option as it would have produced the exact result we are now fighting to avoid, only earlier – their goal of having valuable homeopathic information withdrawn and suppressed would have been successful.

Instead of capitulating under the pressure we decided it was time to draw a line in the sand and say, enough is enough – this far and no further! The erosion of our rights as homeopaths and the rights of our patients has to stop. We hope you agree.

I realise that this is a difficult time for everyone but this is a serious situation that will affect you as well as me. It is important for each of us that a strong defence is mounted in this case. Can you see your way clear to donating $100 before the end of this week to ensure that happens? Can you donate the fee of your next consult? If $100 is too much, please consider giving what you can – any amount would truly be appreciated and will certainly make a difference. Contributions to the Fighting Fund can be made in one of the following ways:

They say “A fool and his money are soon parted.” so I’ve no doubt the AVN supporters will be successfully fleeced for the money. Although no amount of charity scams is going to allow these crooks to escape justice. These people think they’re invisible and above the law, as shown by Sheffield making the same claim (that Homeopathy treats Whooping Cough) that got her into so much trouble in the first place.

If these people where honest they would not be facing the wrath of the ACCC.

The Queensland Department of Health has issued a warning about fake Homeopathic Vaccinations on Facebook. Of course all Homeopathy is fake, but it’s good to see the government acknowledge it from time to time.

‘Fake’ homeopathic immunisations misleading parents trying to do the right thing

Chief Health Officer has warned parents to beware of ‘fake’ immunisations.

Queensland parents are being warned of the risks surrounding so-called homeopathic vaccinations.

The State’s Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young, said she was issuing the warning after becoming aware of a child whose parents reported she had been protected by “homeopathic” immunisation. 

Dr Young said in scientific terms the notion of homeopathic vaccinations was nonsense.

“The Department of Health becomes aware of this as an issue from time to time,’’ she said.

“It is really frustrating to see cases where parents think they are doing the right thing by their child and, in fact, they’re not protecting them at all.

“We’ve recently been told by a doctor of a parent who reported their child had received homeopathic vaccinations from a homeopath, believing this was an acceptable alternative to mainstream immunisation.

“This is totally wrong and the whole science behind homeoprophylaxis, or homeopathic immunisation, is incorrect.

“Anyone offering remedies in place of standard vaccinations is dangerously misleading parents into believing their child is protected against serious diseases. 

“Homeopathic vaccinations are no substitutes for standard vaccination.

“Such so-called vaccinations are a serious breach of trust and should not be tolerated from a health care provider.’’

Dr Young said immunisation was considered one of the most important achievements of modern medicine and had saved millions of lives worldwide.

“Immunisation underpins a healthy community and is a core responsibility of the healthcare sector,’’ she said.

“The immunisation program remains extremely important and highly effective at preventing serious and life-threatening infectious diseases.

“Thanks to the immunisation program, diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, measles, influenza Type B, meningococcal C, and polio do not occur or occur rarely in Queensland.

“Always talk to your GP or immunisation provider if you have any concerns as there is a lot of information readily available for parents on the importance and value of immunisation.’’ –Queensland Health, Facebook.

Something wonderful has happened. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is taking legal action against Homeopathy Plus for it’s anti-vaccination claims.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted Federal Court proceedings over allegedly misleading claims on a homeopathy website regarding the effectiveness of the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine.

The ACCC has taken proceeding against Homeopathy Plus! Australia Pty Ltd and against the owners of the Homeopathy Plus! website.

The claims on the Homeopathy Plus! website include statements that the whooping cough vaccine is “unreliable” and “largely ineffective” in preventing whooping cough and that homeopathic remedies are a safe and effective alternative for the prevention and treatment of whooping cough.

The ACCC alleges that these claims are misleading and deceptive, in breach of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.

The ACCC is seeking an injunction to have the claims removed, as well as penalties against the company and individuals.

Whooping cough is a highly infectious respiratory disease which is most serious in young children. The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing recommends children receive the whooping cough vaccine as part of routine childhood immunisation. –ACCC Public Release