Naturopath's trial under way At issue is whether practitioner caused death of teenager
*note to reader: this guy is a fraud and NOT a formerly trained Naturopathic Physician*

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4431433,00.html

By Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain NewsFebruary 1, 2006
Defense attorneys for a Wheat Ridge naturopathic practitioner are gearing up for a courtroom battle that they say goes well beyond one man's livelihood.
The attorneys plan to show that the unconventional therapies Brian O'Connell used are safe and effective.
They also will present expert testimony that a terminally ill teenager died of an overdose of painkillers, and that prosecutors used undue influence to get a coroner to change the cause of death to bolster their homicide case.
Some say the case threatens to put the profession of naturopathy on trial.
O'Connell, 37, is charged with manslaughter and practicing medicine without a license in the death of 19-year-old Sean Flanagan, who was losing his yearlong battle with Ewing's sarcoma.
Prosecutors also question the quality of the care O'Connell gave to a 17-year-old girl who was rushed to the hospital after she went into cardiac arrest at his office; and his treatment of a 55-year-old cancer patient.
His trial in Jefferson County District Court began Tuesday with jury selection, and opening statements are expected today.
Jefferson County District Judge Margie Enquist already has warned O'Connell's attorneys that she doesn't want a "sideshow" to overtake the criminal trial.
But the way attorneys Richard Jaffe and Malcolm Seawell see it, the safety of the unconventional therapies O'Connell used on his patients rests at the heart of the case.
Those therapies included a controversial procedure called "photo luminescence" - in which a small amount of blood is removed from a patient's body, exposed to ultraviolet light and then returned. A small amount of hydrogen peroxide also is injected into the bloodstream.
O'Connell also promoted the use of a corrosive herbal remedy called Black Salve for removing tumors. Some patients said he showed them jars containing malignant tumors that he said rose from internal organs and popped out of the skin after the salve was used.
"Brian O'Connell is accused of practicing medicine without a license, but we say he was doing naturopathy, which is different," Jaffe said.
"They say he's basically a con man, a fraud and a charlatan, but people are going to him because they have already been through the mill of conventional medicine. It's alternative medicine that they want."
The prosecution alleges that O'Connell violated the Medical Practice Act and misrepresented himself as a doctor, posting phony diplomas and certificates on his wall.
"I'm not at all interested in whether naturopathy is valid or doing good things - I don't care," prosecutor George Brauchler said during a recent motions hearing. "We are not attacking naturopathy. This is a case about fraud. The fraud here has nothing to do with the practice of naturopathy. . . . He was pretending to be something he is not."
The way O'Connell administered the treatments he used resulted in injury or, in Flanagan's case, hastened death, Brauchler said.
Prosecutors contend that Flanagan died when his oxygen level plummeted after receiving a series of "photo luminescence" treatments.
But defense experts contend that Flanagan died because he had pneumonia and was given high doses of painkillers after being released from the hospital to home hospice care. They said they believe the painkillers suppressed his already compromised respiratory system.
"You don't give Dilaudid when a person is having respiratory distress," Jaffe said.
Flanagan had been battling the aggressive cancer for a year, undergoing extensive chemotherapy, radiation, bone marrow transplants and the amputation of one leg.
He had his first treatment from O'Connell on Dec. 10, 2003, and was readmitted to the hospital Dec. 12 with pneumonia and an infection.
When he was released from the hospital Dec. 15, 2003, his doctors told the family that "Sean is at the end," according to court documents.
He died four days later.
In addition to the dispute over what caused Flanagan's death, the defense is challenging the coroner's decision to alter his records a year after the patient's death.
The change listed the probable cause of death as "intravenous hydrogen peroxide administration." Previously, the coroner had attributed Flanagan's death to Ewing's sarcoma.
"The medical examiner was specifically asked to amend the death certificate to make a homicide case against the defendant," Jaffe said. This was done without proper examination of the body, which was cremated without an autopsy, he said.
"If they hadn't cremated him, we could show whether the Dilaudid was what killed him," Jaffe said. "Without that, we can't say whether he had a fatal dose or not."
The amended death certificate doesn't mention Flanagan's cancer as having a role in his death.
Meanwhile, a platoon of prosecution witnesses will testify that O'Connell was using medical procedures he had no license to perform and presented patients with misleading or fraudulent credentials.
The patient's parents, Dave and Laura Flanagan, have said they believed O'Connell was a physician and that he told them he had been a pharmacist for 10 years.
O'Connell said he held a doctorate in naturopathy, but prosecutors say his training came from a correspondence course from the discredited Herbal Healer Academy in Arkansas.
Among the credentials on his wall was a certificate of naturopathic medicine issued by the nonexistent Colorado University of Naturopathic Medicine, police said.
But the defense contends that O'Connell has passed an examination entitling him to practice as a naturopath and is licensed to practice in Idaho.
O'Connell was vice president of the Colorado Naturopathic Medical Association and said he is board certified by the American Naturopathic Medical Association. Neither group is approved by the U.S. Department of Education.
"The problem is that in an unregulated alternative field, you don't have places like Harvard or Johns Hopkins providing training and certification," Jaffe said. "They're not approved by the government because the government doesn't accredit alternative health. If they did, it wouldn't be alternative health."
The Colorado group supports O'Connell and is helping to fund his defense.
A rival group of naturopaths, the Colorado Association of Naturopathic Physicians, has used O'Connell's legal troubles to push for state licensing of naturopaths tied to four-year degrees from special college programs.
The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies cited O'Connell's criminal case in its recommendation that lawmakers consider some form of licensing for naturopaths this year.
O'Connell has declined interviews.
However, in a letter soliciting defense funds from members of his group, O'Connell characterized the case as a challenge to the right to practice naturopathy.
"We are being used to set a precedent that naturopaths are dangerous and it is my feeling that the MDs are trying to use my case to shut down naturopathy in Colorado altogether," he wrote.