A doctor who administered pointless stem cell treatments to multiple sclerosis patients, costing them thousands of pounds, has been struck off the medical register.
The General Medical Council told 56-year-old Robert Trossel that his “unjustifiable” treatments had harmed nine people who, in “desperation” to find a cure for their disease, sought his help.
After a lengthy fitness to practise hearing, the GMC panel’s chair Brian Gomes da Costa told Dr Trossel: “You have exploited vulnerable patients and their families. You have given false hope and made unsubstantiated and exaggerated claims to patients suffering from degenerative and devastating illnesses.
“Your conduct has unquestionably done lasting harm, if not physically, then mentally and financially, to these patients and also to their families and supporters.”
Dr Trossel’s misconduct is “fundamentally incompatible” with the medical profession.
Five MS patients received injections of a substance which contained stem cells between August 2004 and August 2006 at the doctor’s clinic in Rotterdam. The panel ruled that this was medically unjustifiable, inappropriate and exploitative of vulnerable patients.
Stem cell therapy offered “scant”, if any, prospect of alleviation of MS symptoms, the panel added.
Copyright © Press Association 2010
