A DOCTOR WHO advised that a bleach solution be given to a Dublin child with autism has been voluntarily struck off by the UK’s General Medical Council.
The case was exposed by RTÉ’s Prime Time in its May 2015 episode ‘Bleach by Prescription’ after featuring a programme about the Genesis II Church, which promotes ‘Miracle Mineral Solution’ (MMS) as a cure for all ailments, including cancer and autism.
MMS is a 28% concentrated solution of sodium chlorite which, when mixed with water, becomes chlorine dioxide, which is similar to bleach.
The Belfast doctor Finbar Magee, who admitted to having recommended MMS to his patients and defended the solution, has applied to be removed from the General Medical Council (GMC) register according to a Freedom of Information request by RTÉ.
This is in advance of a fitness to practice hearing due to be held at the GMC’s Medical Practitioners Tribunal this November.
Prescription bleach
Kathryn Murphy was advised in 2011 by Dr Magee to give her three-year-old daughter the controversial solution as a solution for stomach cramps and chronic hives.
She told the RTÉ programme:
“I want to make it clear to people I wasn’t looking for a cure for autism. I wanted to go to a doctor to treat the physical symptoms she was displaying that may or may not be associated with her autism.
I went to a doctor in Belfast recommended to me by a speech and language therapist. Along with other treatments, he advised me to give my daughter MMS.
Despite the advice, Murphy did her own research and decided against giving it to her child.
When RTÉ asked Dr Magee to respond, he said that he hadn’t prescribed MMS for years because of the controversy surrounding it, but also said that “it is one of many oxidising agents used to try to kill viruses, bacteria and fungi”.
The GMC began investigating Dr Magee, has been a doctor since 1987, following the Prime Time report.
In October, the GMC suspended his licence on an interim basis while it continued its investigations. However, Mr Magee recently himself applied for erasure from the medical register and the GMC case examiners accepted a voluntary strike off.
As a result, with immediate effect, Finbar Magee no longer has a licence to practice medicine and is no longer permitted to work as a doctor in the UK or in Northern Ireland, in private or public practice.
Doctors removed from the register can no longer hold themselves out to be a doctor – any attempt to do so would be a criminal offence.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say