A Toronto, Ont., family doctor has been stripped of his license to practice medicine for selling snake oil remedies to cancer patients.
The Dr Akbar Khan was ordered to shut down his medical practice after he used unproven cancer therapies, defrauded tens of thousands of dollars from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan for treatments not provided, and even falsely told a patient that she had leukemia when she did not, according to the Toronto Sun.
“Snake oil”, but also “witch’s drink”, this is what the doctor proposed in particular to his patients for treatment. The Dr Khan co-founded the Medicor Cancer Centers clinic, which promotes “non-toxic” cancer treatments.
“Extremely serious”
The Disciplinary Tribunal for Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario concluded, despite the current shortage of family physicians, that it would be “too dangerous to agree to suspend him for a period of time and then allow him to resume treatment of non-cancer patients”.
It was “extremely serious misconduct and incompetence” that was found that affected many patients and their families, according to the decision.
A decision last February already concluded that Dr Khan was incompetent and guilty of professional misconduct. This time, a judgment orders him to close his practice.
the Toronto Sun published an email on Wednesday addressed to him by the Dr Khan.
“On behalf of our cancer patients who are doing well, but who will likely suffer and die without my care (since they cannot access their treatments elsewhere), we demand that the Ontario government immediately take control of College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, reinstate my medical license and initiate a full forensic criminal investigation into their (alleged) misconduct,” he fired back.