Doctor accused of misleading claims

A KILDARE-based doctor made false and misleading claims about the effectiveness of “salt cave climate therapy”, which he offered as a treatment for bronchial ailments, a Medical Council inquiry has been told.

The fitness to practise inquiry was told that Dr Tamas Bakonyi, who qualified in Hungary in 1997 and came to Ireland in 2005, had set up a salt cave clinic to treat a range of ailments, including chest infections, asthma and cystic fibrosis.

The clinic, in a unit in the Glenroyal shopping centre in Maynooth, aimed to recreate the atmosphere of underground salt caves.

It was claimed that such caves were long known in eastern Europe for their therapeutic powers, particularly for respiratory conditions.

The inquiry was told that Dr Bakonyi recommended the clinic for bronchial patients aged from six to 80 years.

Dr Bakonyi, who also worked in general practice in Leixlip, is facing two counts of professional misconduct and/or poor professional performance.

Solicitor for the Medical Council JP McDowell said that Dr Bakonyi's claims had been made in the Liffey Championand The Irish Timesas well as on a website, in an RTÉ radio interview and in advertisements in the print media generally.

However Mr McDowell said that a report carried out by Stephen Lane, clinical professor of respiratory medicine at Trinity College Dublin and a consultant at Tallaght hospital, had found that there was little substance to a number of the claims.

Giving evidence at the inquiry yesterday, Prof Lane said he found that a number of the claims were not proven.

He particularly objected to the word "proven" in an advertisement in the Liffey Championin relation to alleged benefits from the treatments.

He said claims in another advertisement in that paper that salt crystals loosened up phlegm, diminished inflation and killed harmful bacteria were also not proven.

There was, Prof Lane said, “no evidence” that the therapy would loosen up phlegm, “no evidence that it would diminish inflation” and “no evidence that it would kill germs”.

While there were many complementary therapies out there, “if a doctor is validating a treatment, patients will go along. If a doctor is not validating, then patients can make up their own mind on that.”

It looked, Prof Lane added, as if the treatment was endorsed by the medical profession.

Cross-examining Prof Lane, barrister Simon Mills, for Dr Bakonyi, said there was no allegation that his client used his status as a doctor to lure patients into the salt caves.

Mr Mills also said that the words “wouldn’t it be great if you and your children could improve without taking another drug” contained in advertisements represented “a question, not a claim”.

Dr Bakonyi did not write the newspaper articles, he said.

Prof Lane said Mr Mills was being disingenuous.

The hearing continues this morning.