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In 1994, based on its investigation of several extremely serious complaints from his patients and their loved ones, the Medical Board of California found that Dr. Frank A. Shallenberger was subject to multiple disciplinary actions due to "gross incompetence," "repeated acts of gross negligence," and "acts of dishonesty and corruption which are substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a physician and surgeon." In response, Dr. Shallenberger chose not to contest the Board's findings, but to surrender his license to practice medicine in the state of California. After losing his license in California, Dr. Shallenberger moved to Nevada, where he now runs the Nevada Center for Alternative and Anti-Aging Medicine in Carson City. In 1995, having failed to notify Nevada officials of the surrender of his California license, Dr. Shallenberger was publicly admonished by the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners. The President of the Board, Thomas Scully, MD, wrote to Shallenberger, "Your conduct casts great discredit upon you personally and professionally, and upon the medical profession in general. It is my unpleasant duty as President of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners to formally and publicly reprimand you for your conduct." In September 2007, Shallenberger pleaded guilty to one count of medical malpractice in response to another complaint against him. The case arose as a consequence of Shallenberger's mistreatment of David Horton, who died after Shallenberger misdiagnosed his colon cancer as hemorrhoids, treated him with witch-hazel and other ineffectual remedies, then, after Horton's cancer had spread, unsuccessfully tried to combat the disease with Insulin Potentiation Therapy, a controversial treatment that has yet to be accepted by mainstream oncologists. In line with its history of protecting dangerous doctors, the Medical Board did not revoke or suspend Shallenberger's license. Instead, for his direct contribution to his patient's death, the Board fined him only $5,000 and ordered him to pay $6,500 in legal costs. At the same meeting, the Board dismissed a second complaint against Shallenberger, maintaining that it could not discipline him for mistreating a patient with severe cognitive impairments because he also holds a homeopathic license, and, according to the Medical Board at that time, homeopaths in Nevada do not have to conform to ordinary standards of medical care even when they are also licensed MD's. In August 2009, the Medical Board responded to yet another complaint against Shallenberger, charging him with two counts of malpractice for misdiagnosing and mistreating a patient by ignoring laboratory results and improperly prescribing medication. In contrast to its earlier claim that it was not responsible for overseeing homeopathic MD's, the Board charged Shallenberger with malpractice in part because he had used homeopathic tests to "improperly diagnose" a patient "as having hypothyroidism in the face of normal lab results." |
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