In a landmark disciplinary case last week, Staffordshire-based veterinary surgeon Roger Meacock MRCVS has undertaken to amend his website after the College alleged it contained content which was either misleading or inaccurate to the point of bringing the profession into disrepute.

Mr Meacock faced six charges relating to his website - naturalhealingsolutions.co.uk - which has claimed, amongst many other things, that:

• e-Lybra9 Bio-Resonance Technology reveals weaknesses in the immune system and strengthens it to increase resistance to disease;
• Quinton Marine Plasma allows the body to recover from a wide range of medical diseases;
• the specific properties of the localised environment created by the Russian Healing Blanket around the patient’s body provide the desired activation of the body’s self-regulatory and self-recovery mechanisms;
• Aerobic Oxygen has been found to have a wide range of health benefits;

VetSurgeon.org understands this is the first time that claims made on a practitioner's website have been the subject of a disciplinary hearing. However, before the case could be heard and the claims tested, counsel for the College and the defendant met in private, whereupon Mr Meacock voluntarily entered into undertakings with the RCVS to amend his website in order to make it compliant with his professional responsibilities.

As a result, the College applied to adjourn the hearing generally (ie indefinitely). This application was not opposed by Mr Meacock and was granted by the Committee.

Judith Webb, chairing the Committee and speaking on its behalf, explained that the adjourned charges would be kept open indefinitely but the Committee encouraged the College not to extend the period beyond two years. However, if at any time in the future Mr Meacock failed to keep up his undertakings or made further claims which the College found unacceptable, then a fresh case could be brought.

Because Mr Meacock's undertakings were agreed in private, it is not yet known whether he has agreed to remove all of the content on his website alleged by the College to bring the profession into disrepute, although presumably time will tell.

In addition, it is not clear whether Mr Meacock also undertook not to practise those treatments which the College claimed bring the profession into disrepute (as opposed to just advertising them on his website). 

Either way, the implications of the case could stretch beyond Marine Plasma, Russian Healing Blankets and Bio-Resonance Technology. In particular, it raises a serious question over the unsupported claims being made by other practitioners of alternative and complementary therapies, such as the claim by the British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons that homeopathy is effective in resolving cancer: http://www.bahvs.com/cured-cases/.

The Committee's full findings and decision are available here.

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