‘Doctor’ practicing without license is sentenced
Personal Injury News
Article Date: 2/12/2010 | Resource: MLG
‘Doctor’ practicing without license is sentenced
A man authorities said illegally practiced medicine, distributed unapproved drugs to cancer victims, and ran an unauthorized HMO was sentenced today to five years of formal probation and 270 days in jail, prosecutors said.
Daryn Wayne Peterson, 37, of Las Vegas pleaded guilty in December to several charges relating to his business.
Peterson pleaded guilty to one felony count each of the unauthorized practice of medicine, operating a health care service plan without a license, offering an unapproved drug for cancer treatment, and one misdemeanor count of selling misbranded food.
According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Peterson practiced medicine without the required state license, and claimed to have a PhD from “Canterbury University.” Investigators said they found that Canterbury is not a legitimate university and that they could obtain the very same “degree” via the Internet for $180.
Peterson ran a Web site for his HMO, the “Natural Health Care Organization,” which allowed those who paid for it access to “doctors” who purportedly could cure serious ailments without drugs or surgery. None of those listed as doctors on the Web site were licensed to practice in California, prosecutors said.
The District Attorney’s Office began investigating Peterson after he was featured in an Orange County Register story which focused on Peterson’s claims and included skeptics rebuffing him. Peterson asserted a Mission Viejo hospital referred patients to him, though hospital representatives quoted in the article said they had never heard of him.
Some of Peterson’s satisfied “patients” turned out to be relatives using altered names, district attorney’s investigators said.
For more information regarding this article please contact:
Jeffrey Marquart
(949)589-0150
jmarquart@marquartlawgroup.com