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How would you like to hear that from your doctor? 
That is the latest quote from Dr. Shortt, the steroid doctor, upon learning that his license was suspended.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/11399232.htm
State board suspends Shortt’s medical license
After months of waiting, relatives of deceased patients express relief
By CLIF LeBLANC
Staff Writer
The state medical board Thursday stopped West Columbia alternative-medicine physician James Shortt from practicing medicine.
In its order of temporary suspension, which has no time limit, the board said Shortt is “unfit to practice medicine” and called him “a serious threat” to public health.
Shortt, 58, told The Charlotte Observer Thursday he has done nothing wrong.
“I’m annoyed,” he said of the suspension. “Suspension of a license is supposed to be to protect the public.
“Ain’t nobody dead, except for one person, and I still can’t figure that one out,” he said of patient Katherine Bibeau.
“And the second one,” referring to deceased patient Mike Bate, “was terminal the day that person walked into some other doctor’s office six months before they saw me.”
Shortt said through his lawyer, Ward Bradley, that he will abide by the directive. But he has not decided whether to appeal.
The suspension gave relatives of Bibeau and Bate a sense of vindication.
“It’s taken too long, but I am relieved that finally the public is being protected,” said David Bibeau, whose wife, Katherine, 53, died last year within days of getting intravenous hydrogen peroxide from Shortt.
“My lone voice has turned into a chorus,” he said Thursday from Minnesota, where the Bibeaus had been raising their two sons. Bibeau said he hopes Shortt’s license is revoked permanently.
The board cited Shortt for violations of medical practices and state law involving eight unidentified patients. It listed:
• Unorthodox treatments, including steroids and other drugs that are not medically justified
• Use of an unaccredited laboratory to diagnose and treat some patients
• Failure to keep records of his treatment of two patients last year
The board voted behind closed doors Wednesday and announced its decision Thursday after notifying Shortt.
Even though the suspension is an interim step pending further investigation and final action, the medical board said it has enough evidence to temporarily suspend Shortt’s license.
Temporary suspensions often are used when the board believes patient safety is a risk and wants to act quickly.
The board, citing a sworn statement by its investigator, Cheryl McNair, said Shortt’s actions “render him unfit to practice medicine and constitute a serious threat to the public health, safety and welfare.”
Shortt’s prescriptions for steroids and testosterone were in doses and volumes that were “extremely unlikely to have been prescribed with any legitimate medical justification,” the board said in its order.
The State newspaper has reported that Shortt is under federal investigation for allegations that he illegally prescribed performance-enhancing drugs to current and former members of the Carolina Panthers professional football team.
The newspaper also reported that U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents have questioned at least nine players.
The State reported Panthers center Jeff Mitchell, punter Todd Sauerbrun and former Panthers offensive lineman Todd Steussie had testosterone prescriptions from Shortt.
The television news magazine “60 Minutes Wednesday’’ further reported the players had their prescriptions filled within weeks of competing in the 2004 Super Bowl.
Panthers general manager Marty Hurney would not comment on Shortt’s suspension.
LuAnn Theinert, a registered nurse whom Shortt treated for adrenal failure, said he saved her life with a series of supplements designed to rid her system of poisons.
“I met quite a lot of people at that clinic,” Theinert said. “I saw so many people get better right before my eyes.”
She and other patients stand by Shortt and wonder where they will get their treatments.
But other people worry about how Shortt already has treated their loved ones.
Janet Bate’s husband, Mike, died July 21 of prostate cancer not long after getting testosterone from Shortt. The physician also directed a desperate Mike Bate to the illegal cancer drug laetrile, she said.
“In one month’s time, Michael went from walking to needing a cane, a walker and getting a prescription for a wheelchair,” Janet Bate said Thursday.
“He died in less than six weeks after those medications were given to him,” she said. “That’s unacceptable doctoring.”
Janet Bate, also a former patient of Shortt’s, blames him for accelerating her 66-year-old husband’s death.
Columbia attorney Richard Gergel, who represents David Bibeau and Janet Bate, said the Shortt case highlights flaws in the way the state regulates doctors.
“It did take the board too long, and the procedures were too cumbersome,” Gergel said. “But the board did get to the right place.”
Janet Bate said she told her late husband about the suspension order.
“Here in my own living room I read it out loud. I felt his presence.
“I wanted him to know I did all I could to make sure other families didn’t suffer,” she said, struggling for composure.
Bate said she hopes other Shortt patients — many of whom sharply criticized her public complaints about him — will be more careful about selecting their doctors.
Dr. Clay Nichols is a Richland County forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on Bibeau. For the first time in his 20-year career, Nichols filed a complaint with the medical board after determining that Shortt’s hydrogen peroxide treatment killed her.
“I think this is a physician-caused homicide,” Nichols said last fall.
Thursday, Nichols said the board has not gone far enough.
“I feel that not only should his license be revoked, but should be shredded.”
That is the latest quote from Dr. Shortt, the steroid doctor, upon learning that his license was suspended.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/11399232.htm
State board suspends Shortt’s medical license
After months of waiting, relatives of deceased patients express relief
By CLIF LeBLANC
Staff Writer
The state medical board Thursday stopped West Columbia alternative-medicine physician James Shortt from practicing medicine.
In its order of temporary suspension, which has no time limit, the board said Shortt is “unfit to practice medicine” and called him “a serious threat” to public health.
Shortt, 58, told The Charlotte Observer Thursday he has done nothing wrong.
“I’m annoyed,” he said of the suspension. “Suspension of a license is supposed to be to protect the public.
“Ain’t nobody dead, except for one person, and I still can’t figure that one out,” he said of patient Katherine Bibeau.
“And the second one,” referring to deceased patient Mike Bate, “was terminal the day that person walked into some other doctor’s office six months before they saw me.”
Shortt said through his lawyer, Ward Bradley, that he will abide by the directive. But he has not decided whether to appeal.
The suspension gave relatives of Bibeau and Bate a sense of vindication.
“It’s taken too long, but I am relieved that finally the public is being protected,” said David Bibeau, whose wife, Katherine, 53, died last year within days of getting intravenous hydrogen peroxide from Shortt.
“My lone voice has turned into a chorus,” he said Thursday from Minnesota, where the Bibeaus had been raising their two sons. Bibeau said he hopes Shortt’s license is revoked permanently.
The board cited Shortt for violations of medical practices and state law involving eight unidentified patients. It listed:
• Unorthodox treatments, including steroids and other drugs that are not medically justified
• Use of an unaccredited laboratory to diagnose and treat some patients
• Failure to keep records of his treatment of two patients last year
The board voted behind closed doors Wednesday and announced its decision Thursday after notifying Shortt.
Even though the suspension is an interim step pending further investigation and final action, the medical board said it has enough evidence to temporarily suspend Shortt’s license.
Temporary suspensions often are used when the board believes patient safety is a risk and wants to act quickly.
The board, citing a sworn statement by its investigator, Cheryl McNair, said Shortt’s actions “render him unfit to practice medicine and constitute a serious threat to the public health, safety and welfare.”
Shortt’s prescriptions for steroids and testosterone were in doses and volumes that were “extremely unlikely to have been prescribed with any legitimate medical justification,” the board said in its order.
The State newspaper has reported that Shortt is under federal investigation for allegations that he illegally prescribed performance-enhancing drugs to current and former members of the Carolina Panthers professional football team.
The newspaper also reported that U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents have questioned at least nine players.
The State reported Panthers center Jeff Mitchell, punter Todd Sauerbrun and former Panthers offensive lineman Todd Steussie had testosterone prescriptions from Shortt.
The television news magazine “60 Minutes Wednesday’’ further reported the players had their prescriptions filled within weeks of competing in the 2004 Super Bowl.
Panthers general manager Marty Hurney would not comment on Shortt’s suspension.
LuAnn Theinert, a registered nurse whom Shortt treated for adrenal failure, said he saved her life with a series of supplements designed to rid her system of poisons.
“I met quite a lot of people at that clinic,” Theinert said. “I saw so many people get better right before my eyes.”
She and other patients stand by Shortt and wonder where they will get their treatments.
But other people worry about how Shortt already has treated their loved ones.
Janet Bate’s husband, Mike, died July 21 of prostate cancer not long after getting testosterone from Shortt. The physician also directed a desperate Mike Bate to the illegal cancer drug laetrile, she said.
“In one month’s time, Michael went from walking to needing a cane, a walker and getting a prescription for a wheelchair,” Janet Bate said Thursday.
“He died in less than six weeks after those medications were given to him,” she said. “That’s unacceptable doctoring.”
Janet Bate, also a former patient of Shortt’s, blames him for accelerating her 66-year-old husband’s death.
Columbia attorney Richard Gergel, who represents David Bibeau and Janet Bate, said the Shortt case highlights flaws in the way the state regulates doctors.
“It did take the board too long, and the procedures were too cumbersome,” Gergel said. “But the board did get to the right place.”
Janet Bate said she told her late husband about the suspension order.
“Here in my own living room I read it out loud. I felt his presence.
“I wanted him to know I did all I could to make sure other families didn’t suffer,” she said, struggling for composure.
Bate said she hopes other Shortt patients — many of whom sharply criticized her public complaints about him — will be more careful about selecting their doctors.
Dr. Clay Nichols is a Richland County forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on Bibeau. For the first time in his 20-year career, Nichols filed a complaint with the medical board after determining that Shortt’s hydrogen peroxide treatment killed her.
“I think this is a physician-caused homicide,” Nichols said last fall.
Thursday, Nichols said the board has not gone far enough.
“I feel that not only should his license be revoked, but should be shredded.”
