Photo: The Doctors
Hall used numerous hormones to treat two women, according to the board, missing an aggressiveuterine cancerin one patient and treating the other based on an “incorrect diagnosis in a manner such that [Hall] stood to gain financially.”
“My jaw was on the floor. This is just egregious,” said Dr. Jen Gunter, a San Francisco Bay Area OB-GYN who reviewed the medical board’s report. “You hear about all these self-described functional medicine doctors providing these treatments. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be in this ballpark.”
Hall’s publicist, Bette Light, said in a statement that “Dr. Hall continues to devote her career and life to helping patients achieve optimal health and wellness.”
“She utilizes advances in modern medicine plus proven natural therapies. Safely incorporating results of the latest medical research has allowed her to achieve exceptional results for her patients.” The statement added that Hall “joins respected physicians worldwide who are also using” this type of hormone therapy.
Crawfordand Somer’s representatives told PEOPLE they chose not to comment at this time.
In her appearances, Hall offers an appealing message to women entering their 50s and 60s who are looking for “natural” relief from hot flashes, night sweats, loss of libido, aging skin or other concerns.
The hormone treatments she provides are “like water to a plant,” Hall told Somers on an episode ofSomers’ televisionprogram, “The Suzanne Show.” “How could water be bad for a plant? … Hormones do not cause cancer.”
Compounded bioidenticals are big business. In 2013, U.S. sales of these products were estimated inone studyat $845 million, compared with a $3.7 billion market for traditional, FDA-approved hormone replacement medications.
“There’s a definite concern that for some women they may be dangerous,” said Dr. Janet Pregler, director of the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center. “Often these [hormones] are presented as risk-free, when we as physicians know that nothing you put in your body is risk-free.”
Women flocked to bioidentical hormone treatment after the Women’s Health Initiative, a massive federally funded study on a widely used hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women, was halted prematurely in 2002 over concerns about an elevated risk of breast cancer, heart disease and stroke.
RELATED VIDEO:Wendy WilliamsOpens Up About Battling Graves’ Disease In the Midst of Menopause
Hall, according to medical board investigators, put a patient with a family history of uterine cancer on a regimen of bioidentical hormones after the woman complained of “zero libido” and menstrual migraines. She also prescribed iodine and two adrenal hormone supplements. The patient started to bleed — a potential warning sign of uterine cancer — but Hall prescribed her more hormones, according to the medical board.
Ultimately, the patient developed a cancerous mass in her uterus — but board investigators alleged that Hall failed to detect it, after performing ultrasounds on the patient that she was not certified to analyze. She charged the patient $7,000 over three years for the treatment, according to the board.
In the two cases for which she was disciplined — which occurred between 2011 and 2015 — the medical board found that Hall treated women who were not yet in menopause but whom she incorrectly diagnosed as being in perimenopause. Those are the years immediately before menopause that can create uncomfortable symptoms such as hot flashes and low libido. Their lab tests showed hormone values within normal limits, the board said.
It’s not the first time California’s medical board has disciplined a doctor for prescribing such bioidentical hormones. In 2009, the board put Dr. Michael Platt of Rancho Mirage on five years’ probation after charging him with negligence and incompetence for his treatments of several patients. The doctor, author of “The Miracle of Bio-identical Hormones,” later was forced to surrender his license.
Experts say such doctors take advantage of patients’ vulnerability as they age.
“We all fear getting older and loss of sexuality, and the way society makes women feel, women are more vulnerable to it, for sure,” said Gunter, the Bay Area OB-GYN. “I don’t blame the patients for going to the doctor and putting trust in them. I blame the doctors for saying this can somehow help them.”
source: people.com
