Hello everyone
I'm looking for information about the lost court case of shelton.

Thanks,
Uri

which lost court case would that be?

it's mentioned in wikipedia (the article about shelton)

May not be the same case, but in the on-line "Fit For Life" article by James J. Kenney, Ph.D, R.D., re the Diamonds' book, is the following paragraph:

"On September 21, 1982, the Los Angeles Daily Journal [a Los Angeles newspaper for the legal community] reported that a federal court jury had awarded $873,000 to the survivors of William Carlton, a Los Altos [CA] man who died after being on a diet of distilled water for 30 days at the Shelton Health School. According to the article, Carlton had died of bronchial pneumonia resulting from a weakened condition that also caused him to lose 50 lbs. during his last month of life. The article also stated that he had been the sixth person in 5 years to die while being treated at the school, which closed in 1981."

If this is what you're looking for, you can probably access the actual article through the LA Daily Journal or track the case itself at a local law library.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/26/2007 08:59PM by KFCA.

Thanks for the info.
What I'm looking for is more information about the dead patient, such as the condition he had before he went to shelton.

I believe he had colitis, and was ordered by a traditional doctor to have part of his intestine removed, while he was under Sheltons care. So it is my understanding that he was seeing a traditional doctor, and Shelton at the same time. He died, and Shelton was sued for it. All the details I have found are hazy....

One of the problems is that the losing lawsuit cited by Shelton's followers (& at Wikipedia) had to do with an (alleged) patient, later decedent, named "Hal Conrad" and that Mrs. Conrad was awarded $890,000.

However, you will note that the case cited in the 1982 LA legal newspaper had to do with the late "William Carlton" & bronchial pneumonia, and the jury award was $873,000. Strange that the money amounts could be so similar. And also that no mention is made of the "Carlton lawsuit" & award by Shelton's followers that I have found.

So it seems that thare were either two different lawsuits against Shelton, et al going on at the same time...or something else is going on.

As to Messrs. Conrad's or Carlton's pre-health...beats me.

What do you think?

i'm not sure what to think except that people who have been treated for pneumonia or even cancer via "orthodox" medicine have died and there are recorded files in the THOUSANDs ( if not more) that attests to this

and yes, there are people who have also died who have had advanced stages of cancer and have resorted to fasting or other alternative remedies
but i believe they have been the exception and not the rule since shelton ran his fasting sanitarium for DECADES with a very high success rate

i think that when a condition becomes so advanced, it is like trying to put out a forest fire that is raging..

sometimes there has been too much damage done to the forest and the fire has gone too far for the forest to "make it"

to denounce a regimen ( like fasting) is not a bad thing if the condition does not warrant it or would make the situation even worse

the thing is, a physician (neither orthodox nor alternative)

is able to wholly predict the outcome of someone who has very advanced stages of a particular illness when they prescribe a regimen

i have yet to see or read about the THOUSANDS of patients who ( after having died from chemotherapy/radiation treatments) had family members sue the doctor for malpractice. It is usually "understood" or taken for granted that the doctor did all that she or he could.

this is definetely not the case with doctors who use "alternative" medicine. If their practice was successful 99% of the time, there will always be a floodlight on the very few cases where it was not successful.

i think it is important for me to state my opinion which is that the patient ought to take just as much responsibility for the outcome of their health as the doctor who , in actuality, can NEVER "heal" a patient but simply

1) prescribe a regimen, environment etc.
2) assist the patient in sticking to the regimen

Apart from this, the doctor who uses alternative medicine, does not do much.

And apart from dispensing drugs and utilizing surgery, the orthodox doctor does not do anything else.

it is up to the patient him/herself to:

1) continue with a regimen
2) change courses if it is not working
3) leave it completely

I know a friend whose relative had such an advanced stage of cancer that had metastasized so severely and rapidly that there was not too much of him that had NOT been affected by the cancer... it pretty much affected his entire body.

At that point, I am not sure if either alternative or orthodox medicine could have helped him. He chose orthodox medicine and died. Was it the doctor's fault or was it just beyond what the doctor was capable of 'fixing". The idea of suing did not even enter the family's minds.

If they had put him in a fasting facility ( an idea that is kind of 'foreign" to them), i am sure they would not have hestitated to sue the doctor if he had died.

My point is NOT to say that

Doctors who practice alternative medicine must be immune from litigation

my point IS to say that:

There is a PROFOUND discrepancy between the litigation that goes on in orthodox medicine and alternative medicine and the question that must be asked is :

WHY?

my last point is to pose the question of:

where does the patient's responsibility "end" ( if it actually ever does) and the doctor's responsibility "begin"

whose responsibility is a person's health, ultimately? especially if their health has been so devastated that it would take a miracle and a half to "save" them.

Well yeh, yeh, yeh...but did the Shelton, et al followers fabricate this "Hal Conrad" story?

I've mentioned previously that I do genealogy as a hobby & prefer to look for "facts" not "fantasies". I would think the original poster was interested in the former, not the latter, but I guesss we should let him speak for himself since he clearly wanted specific information & we have no knowledge for what purpose.

If he wishes I'll look further into the story; I have a lot of sources. Up to him.

I did find this criminal case that Dr. Shelton was prominently involved in:

From the Nevada State Journal, May 10, 1964:

"SAN DIEGO, Calif (UPI)

"A health faddist on trial for involuntary manslaughter admitted under cross-examination he stopped making entries in a log on the condition of his sick daughter three days before she died."

Due to copyright restraints I won't go into the whole thing, but Donald E. Sullins of Escondito, California testified that he kept a daily journal of his 7-year old daughter's weight & temperature until March 6, 1963.

He testified that he kept the log on the advice of "Dr.Herbert Shelton, a San Antonio chiropractor and head of the American Natural Hygiene Association".

Mr. Sullins, a member of the Association, also testified that he kept Shelton informed by telephone during the girl's 41 day illness.

"Shelton, he said, had prescribed a rigorous fast for the child."

William H. Kennedy, the San Diego County Deputy District attorney in the case, contended that the father contributed to his daughter's death by forcing her to fast on water & juice during 29 days of her illness.

Her autopsy presented at the trial disclosed that Rhea Sullins died of pneumonia with malnutrition being a contributing factor.

According to the newspaper article, "The hygiene association prescribes fasting for childhood fevers, Sullins said."

Because of my time constraints, I was not able to find out how the case went down for Mr. Sullins.

I agree with the spirit of veroniques post.

Cheers,
J

OK, just checked. According to the June 9, 1964 issue of The Los Angeles Times, Sullins was convicted & sentenced to one year in jail, plus assessed a $2,000 fine. Was not able to read the full article in their archives; only a short abstract.