A naturopathic physician with an office in Maple Ridge has been fined $10,000 and given other sanctions from the College of Naturopathic Physicians of B.C.
In addition to the fine, Dr. Allan Strauss had his practice suspended from Oct. 18 to 25, and was reprimanded for having purchased and injected counterfeit products into patients without notifying them.
He heads the clinic Salveo Naturopathic and Skin Care, practicing in family medicine and cosmetics, at Westgate Centre in west Maple Ridge.
He agreed to complete a six-week correspondence course in ethics for naturopathic doctors.
Strauss consented to supervision from the college, including random spot audits by an inspector over a two-year period.
He also agreed to provide a monthly list of patients, including contact information and the services he provided to them, for a period of one year.
Strauss admitted that he administered a counterfeit medical substance to patients, and failed to exercise reasonable care and diligence in notifying patients who might be adversely affected by treatment with a non-sterile, counterfeit, injectable product labelled “Juvederm”… according to the public notification on the college website.
He will also “write an open letter to the profession which summarizes his experience with purchasing and administering a counterfeit product, and warning the profession about the risks of purchasing and using unlicensed medical products,” says the notification.
The college investigated, after it received a written complaint form Health Canada alleging that Strauss had imported and used the non-sterile, counterfeit, injectable product in his practice.
Strauss was unavailable for comment.