Hi All
I did a fresh google of " universal medicine cult" to see what else was out there and stumbled accross this medical magazine - Medical Observer. Link below but have also posted the full story. It would appear that a feature is going to be written on it next week.
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www.medicalobserver.com.au]
THE Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) of NSW has been asked to investigate an alleged “cult” led by a former tennis coach turned “esoteric” healer amid accusations the group urges followers not to exercise, not to eat most foods and not to see a registered doctor if they are ill.
Universal Medicine, based in Lismore in northern NSW – and believed to have 400 members, mostly women – is also accused of telling people their health predicaments are the result of wrongdoing in a past life.
Other alleged practices include “esoteric breast massage”, which members are told can prevent cancer; anti-cancer “ovary readings” performed by a practitioner with no formal qualifications; and having patients sit on postcard-size drawings, at $20 each, to prevent illness.
While most of its practitioners are not registered professionals, MO has been told those who are registered allegedly encourage members to seek GP referral for Medicare treatment plans to pay for sessions.
MO spoke to one woman who started a Medicare treatment plan for six physiotherapy sessions at Universal for a back condition.
She said while her Universal physio claimed her health was improving from “craniosacral pulse” therapy, her GP ordered tests that found she had cancer.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said her HCCC complaint alleges Universal “is just simply not capable of diagnosing, and that [its clients] should be referred on to a doctor”. “But they say doctors will make you sicker than you already are,” she said.
The organisation’s leader Serge Benhayon, who says he coached elite athletes before turning to alternative therapy, strongly denied he was anti-medicine, saying Universal urged unsatisfied or concerned clients to seek a medical opinion and that all allegations were either false or taken out of context. He encouraged “gentle” exercise, denied running a cult and told MO he had no followers, only paying clients. “I am super pro medicine,” Mr Benhayon said.
However, a local man, who said his marriage ended over his wife’s devotion to Universal, said his “main concern is that they are actually a cult”. “I would like to see an inquiry into… the veracity of what they’re promoting,” he said.
GP Dr Sue Page, based in nearby Lennox Head, urged rural GPs to ask patients about relationships, as the breakdown of the family unit was leaving people, particularly women, open to groups based on “touch” and self-affirmation.
“In an area [with limited access to conventional medical] services, if you don’t ask these questions, who will?” she said.
The HCCC would not comment but said practitioners could face a tribunal while it could only “recommend” an organisation to comply with professional codes of conduct.
Next week: Universal Medicine, the Inside Story