Consumer Health Digest #21-13

April 4, 2021

Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by William M. London, Ed.D., M.P.H., with help from Stephen Barrett, M.D., It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; other news items; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; research tips; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. The Digest’s primary focus is on health, but occasionally it includes non-health scams and practical tips. Items posted to this archive may be updated when relevant information becomes available. To subscribe, click here.

Chiropractor charged with falsely billing for electro-acupuncture procedure. Suhyun An, a chiropractor in the Spring Valley area of Houston, has been named in a civil suit along with her medical group under the False Claims Act. She owns and manages Campbell Medical Group, PLLC, and Johnson Medical Group, PLLC, doing business as Campbell Medical Clinic. [Chiropractor charged with falsely billing for procedure learned via YouTube. U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Texas news release, March 10, 2021] The civil complaint alleges that An:

  • fraudulently obtained over $3.9 million from the Medicare and TRICARE programs by billing for the implantation of neurostimulator electrodes, which are surgical procedures that usually require the use of an operating room
  • instead of performing surgeries, applied inexpensive devices used for electro-acupuncture by inserting needles into patients’ ears with a neurostimulator taped behind the ears
  • learned how to apply the devices by watching YouTube videos and participating in training with sales representatives
  • either knew the devices were not billable or recklessly disregarded that fact
  • ignored emailed warnings from employees and outside billing companies, including warnings that the devices were being labeled as “possible fraud”

COVID-19 vaccine doomsaying denounced. Geert Vanden Bossche, DVM, PhD (in virology) has speculated in widely publicized documents on his website that vaccinating people against COVID-19 will lead to dangerously mutated viruses. His claims have been refuted in these commentaries:

Jonathan Jarry noted:

  • If we are worried about dangerous variants emerging, it is much riskier to allow the virus to spread between unvaccinated people.
  • If coronavirus variants emerge for which the current vaccines offer little to no protection, the vaccines can be reformulated to be a better fit, much like the annual flu vaccine.
  • Dr. Bossche proposes the use of a new type of vaccine based on natural killer cells, which he claims he is working on but for which there is no published evidence.
  • His academic publications essentially stop in 1995, except for one 2017 article about his natural killer cell vaccine idea published in a journal belonging to a publishing group, OMICS Group Inc, that has been called “predatory” and was sued by the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive practices.

Banned stimulants found in weight loss and sports supplements. Deterenol is a pharmaceutical bronchodilator that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) never approved as a drug for humans. The FDA determined in 2004 that deterenol is not permitted as an ingredient in dietary supplements. Although since 2018, deterenol has been detected in several brands of dietary supplements sold in the U.S., the FDA has not advised manufacturers to remove it from products or warned consumers to avoid supplements labeled as containing the drug. In April 2018, researchers made online purchases of 35 samples of 17 brands of supplements labeled as containing deterenol (or a synonym) to determine the presence and quantity of active pharmaceutical stimulants that have not been approved by the FDA for oral use. [Cohen P. and others. Nine prohibited stimulants found in sports and weight loss supplements: deterenol, phenpromethamine (Vonedrine), oxilofrine, octodrine, beta-methylphenylethylamine (BMPEA), 1,3-dimethylamylamine (1,3-DMAA), 1,4-dimethylamylamine (1,4-DMAA), 1,3-dimethylbutylamine (1,3-DMBA) and higenamine. Clinical Toxicology, March 23, 2021] The researchers found:

  • Eight of the brands were marketed for weight loss, six as sports/energy supplements, and three with no listed purpose.
  • Thirteen of the brands were found to contain deterenol; in eight of them, deterenol was the only stimulant.
  • Seven of the other stimulants have previously been subject to FDA regulatory actions including product seizures, warning letters, and public notices.
  • A total of nine stimulants found are prohibited in dietary supplements by the FDA and/or prohibited in sport by the World Anti-Doping Agency; they were found in eight different combinations.

The researchers criticized the FDA for failing to remove adulterated supplements from the marketplace. They note that “supplements containing deterenol have been linked in Europe to a series of serious adverse effects including sudden death.” They concluded:

The FDA should warn consumers about the presence of cocktails of experimental stimulants in weight loss and sports supplements and take immediate effective action to remove these stimulants from the market. Clinicians should remain alert to the possibility that patients may be inadvertently exposed to experimental and prohibited stimulants when consuming weight loss and sports supplements.

Risk of surprise bills for ambulance rides continues. According to a recent Consumer Reports article, when the No Surprises Act takes effect on January 1, 2022, surprise medical bills will be banned in emergencies and from out-of-network providers who treat you at an in-network medical facility or via air ambulances. However, the law does not apply to billing for out-of-network ground ambulance service. The article also offers tips for fighting surprise ambulance bills. [Rosato D. Your ambulance ride could still leave you with a surprise medical bill. Consumer Reports, Feb 27, 2021]


2001 || 2002 || 2003 || 2004 || 2005 || 2006 || 2007
2008 || 2009 || 2010 || 2011 || 2012 || 2013 || 2014
2015 || 2016 || 2017 || 2018 || 2019 || 2020 || 2021
2022 || 2023 || 2024 || 2025

To subscribe, click here.

< Previous Issue || Next Issue >