An out of hours GP who encouraged patients to take nutritional supplements from which she stood to profit must work under imposed conditions for 15 months, after a General Medical Council panel found she had abused her power as a doctor.
Vivienne Balonwu gave promotional leaflets and DVDs that made extravagant claims about the benefits of glyconutrients to four patients whom she visited at their homes in the early weeks of 2006. At the time she was working for the private clinical services company Harmoni, which provides out of hours services for 14 primary care trusts, mostly in the south of England.
She told the GMC panel that she had begun taking glyconutrients, a commercial term used for certain sugary plant extracts, during a trip to the United States. Upon her return to the United Kingdom, she contacted the UK office of the manufacturer, Mannatech, and became an associate of the company.
Dr Balonwu acknowledged under cross examination telling one patient who had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that glyconutrients might alleviate his recurrent chest infections. She filled out an order form on his behalf for a five month supply of the supplement, at £271 (€348; $537) a month.
Dr Balonwu told the panel that she believed the clinical part of her consultation was over when she raised the subject of glyconutrients and that she felt she was offering private not medical advice. But under questioning she agreed that if patients were told by her, “as a doctor, that something would benefit them, they are almost certain to take that on board.”
Dr Balnowu later gave or sent promotional material to three other patients. She was found to have told one patient, who had had a stroke, of the testimonial of a US doctor, taken from the promotional material, who claimed that his complications from a severe stroke resolved after taking glyconutrients.
During each visit, she prescribed appropriately for the patients’ conditions, and recorded her clinical steps in her notes. But she did not record her advice about glyconutrients, in breach of Harmoni’s rules that advice given to patients be recorded. Dr Balonwu was dismissed by Harmoni after patients complained about her marketing of glyconutrients.
Mannatech prohibits its UK sellers from making claims of medical cures, but Dr Balonwu told the panel that she bought DVDs and testimonial material from a different company, Glycotools, on the internet. She told the panel that she herself found some of the claims “ridiculous” and “a bit unbelievable,” but thought that glyconutrients could alleviate symptoms by strengthening the immune system.
Dr Balonwu was found to have acted inappropriately, not in the best interests of her patients, and to have abused her position as a doctor.
The panel’s chairman, Robin Knill-Jones, told Dr Balonwu that for a period of 15 months she must avoid private or short term locum work and must complete a supervised personal development plan to tackle “shortcomings” in her practice.
Mannatech is the creation of the US entrepreneur Sam Caster, who has faced lawsuits for a number of products, including the Electrocat, a device that supposedly emitted pulsed vibrations to deter pests. It was pulled from shelves after tests by the Texas attorney general’s office showed that it emitted no vibrations whatsoever.
