Doctor's Data
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Doctor's Data, Inc. is a clinical laboratory based in St. Charles, Illinois that is often used by practitioners of alternative medicine.[1]
History
[edit]Founded in 1972, the company was originally known as Bio Medical Data, Inc. until the early 1980s, when it changed its name to Doctor's Data. It was originally owned by Miller Pharmacal, which was founded by John J. Miller, former research chemist for J.B. Roerig, which was purchased in 1953 by Pfizer. Miller died in 1977, and three owners took control of the company with Ted Lueken as president.[citation needed]
Controversy
[edit]Doctor's Data has proven controversial because of the four lawsuits that have been filed by people who say that the company victimized them by diagnosing them as having toxic metal poisoning based on their urinalysis tests, and then prescribing them chelation therapy. According to Patricia Callahan, the problem with these tests and the way they are interpreted is that, after administering a chelator to their patients, "Doctor's Data...compared those drug-provoked results to a reference range calculated for people who had never been given a chelation drug."[2] In addition, they have faced considerable criticism from Stephen Barrett, who has described how provoked urine test reports are used to mislead patients.[3] and has also written negatively about hair analysis in general, which he contends is "unscientific, economically wasteful, and probably illegal."[4] Arthur Allen has also criticized the methodology of their urinalysis tests, saying that they "...present the results [from their urine analysis tests] in such a way that it almost guarantees a finding of "toxicity" for each child."[5] In response to this criticism, Doctor's Data president Ted Lueken argued that "the technique can be valuable when used along with other tests and a doctor's knowledge of his patient."[6] Doctor's Data later sued Barrett on June 18, 2010, accusing him of "...harm[ing] Doctor's Data by transmitting false, fraudulent and defamatory information about this company in a variety of ways" in his writings about the company.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ Lowe, Derek (1 July 2010). ""Doctor's Data": Telling the Truth and Getting Sued For It". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
- ^ Tsouderos, Trine (4 March 2010). "Doctors sued over 'dangerous' autism treatment". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
- ^ Barrett, Stephen (14 August 2013). "Doctor's Data Facing Multiple Lawsuits". Quackwatch. Archived from the original on 30 October 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
- ^ Barrett S (1985). "Commercial hair analysis. Science or scam?". JAMA. 254 (8): 1041–5. doi:10.1001/jama.1985.03360080053028. PMID 4021042.
- ^ "The vaccine/autism theory may be dead, but the treatments live on". April 2009.
- ^ "Hair Analysis Labs Criticized". The New York Times. Associated Press. 25 August 1985. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
- ^ Barrett, Stephen (26 July 2012). "Doctor's Data vs. Barrett Lawsuit Settled Amicably". Quackwatch. Retrieved 9 October 2013.