This excerpt is made available courtesy of Prometheus Books (U.S.)
 

The "Persecuted" Doctor
From "The Health Robbers,"

by Stephen Barrett,
Prometheus Books, 1993
Pgs. 379-382
 
 

Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., a Harvard graduate who obtained his medical degree at the University of Michigan, began practicing in 1973 in Kent, Washington, a few miles southeast of Seattle. In Dr. Wright's Book of Nutritional Therapy (Rodale Press, 1977), he labels his approach "nutritional biochemistry" and describes how he treats a wide range of health problems with vitamins, minerals, other "natural" substances, and/or dietary measures. He and Alan Gaby, M.D., of Baltimore, give seminars on "Nutrition as Therapy," which present their theories in detail. In 1992, Wright became board chairman of the National Health Federation (see Chapter 28).

Wright has achieved considerable notoriety battling the FDA. The dispute surfaced in July 1991 when law enforcement officers seized 103 bottles of L-tryptophan from the For Your Health Pharmacy adjacent to Wright's clinic. The FDA had banned the marketing of L-tryptophan after it was implicated in an outbreak of eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (see Chapter 2), but Wright continued to prescribe it. In August 1991, he filed suit, asserting that the outbreak was due to a contaminant and that his tryptophan was safe and therefore legal to dispense. The suit also asked the court to return the product and bar the FDA from "unreasonably interfering" with Wright's ability to exercise clinical judgment in treating patients.

During the same month, according to an FDA affidavit, FDA investigators observed mold in some glass vials at the pharmacy and were informed that the products had been made at a laboratory adjacent to Wright's clinic. Further investigation indicated that Dr. Wright and the pharmacist were co-owners of the laboratory and clinic and that a clandestine manufacturing facility was being constructed in a vacant business next to the pharmacy. When the investigators went to the laboratory, Wright would not permit them to conduct a full inspection. During the next few months, however, illegally marketed products were identified by inspecting trash from the clinic and pharmacy.

In December 1991, an FDA inspector posing as a patient was diagnosed with an Interro device. He reported that the woman who operated the device probed points on one of his fingers while selecting items on the screen that were said to represent substances to which he might be allergic. The woman explained that the height of a vertical bar that appeared when she probed his finger would indicate whether or not he was sensitive to the item being tested. After the test was completed, a printer next to the monitor printed a list of foods, chemicals, and other substances, with numerical values corresponding to readings on the Interro screen. Then the inspector was given several homeopathic medicines, instructions for using them, and an article stating that they would result in dramatic relief of his allergic symptoms. The Inerro is a computerized galvanometer that measures changes in the skin's electrical resistance and depicts them on the screen of a monitor. The reading on the screen is determined by how hard the probe is pressed against the patient's finger; the harder the pressure, the less skin resistance and the higher the reading (see Chapter 13). The FDA Center for Devices and Radiologic Health has said that the device is "adulterated and misbranded" and can have no legal medical use.

In February 1992, Wright's clinic posted a notice claiming that state licensed physicians are "exempt from the restrictions and regulations of the federal Food and Drug Administration as a matter of federal law." The notice also stated that "no employee, agent or inspector of the FDA shall be permitted on these premises."

In May 1992, a U.S. Magistrate issued warrants authorizing the FDA to conduct criminal searches at Wright's Clinic and the adjacent pharmacy Two days later, FDA agents accompanied local police officers who broke down the front door of Tahoma clinic. Wright and his supporters claim that the search party entered with guns drawn and terrorized the clinic staff. However, federal officials state that the police broke down the door because the clinic staff had refused to open it when they knocked. The officials also state that a single gun was drawn because the officers suspected that those inside might be hostile, but the gun was never pointed at anyone and was reholstered as soon as the area was deemed safe. The authorities seized products, patient files, computer records, and Interro devices from the clinic and additional materials from the pharmacy. Two weeks later, the state pharmacy board summarily suspended the pharmacy's license, an action taken only when the board feels that public health may be endangered.

Wright and his allies have characterized the search procedure as "the Vitamin-B Bust" and sold videotapes showing part of the raid, the reaction of several clinic employees, and demonstrations staged by Wright supporters. However, Sherman L. Cox, Assistant Secretary for Licensing and Certification for the State of Washington, has stated that the items seized "were not just injectable vitamins but included a number of unapproved drugs." He did concede that the police officers' fear of danger was the result of assuming that the FDA definition of "illegal drugs" was the same as the county's definition (which covered heroin, cocaine, etc.).

On the "Larry King Live" television show, an FDA official said that the agency became interested in Wright's activities after someone complained that he was prescribing L-tryptophan and sending people to the pharmacy to have the prescriptions filled. Wright maintained that he had a right to do this because his supply was not contaminated. When Larry King asked why he thought the FDA ban did not apply to him, Wright replied, "My lawyer said I could use it."

The health-food industry is attempting to arouse public sympathy and fire up its own supporters by claiming that the authorities used excessive force, that Wright "had committed no crime but was only providing his patients with nutritional supplements and non-toxic, natural therapeutics." Wright and his supporters have generated extensive press coverage of their version of the controversy and have also established a legal defense fund. The Nutritional Health Alliance, a group campaigning to weaken FDA jurisdiction over vitamins, has donated $50,000 to the fund.

In August 1992, Dr. Wright signed an agreement consenting to the destruction of the 103 bottles Of L-tryptophan that had been seized and agreeing to pay at least $850 to cover court costs and fees associated with the action. But he has also filed a suit seeking to stop the FDA from regulating what he does. In a recent interview he stated that the pharmacy had given up its license and gone out of business, but that he has continued to operate his clinic. For Your Health is now operating as a health food store. A grand jury convened to determine whether Wright should be criminally prosecuted for violating FDA drug laws has not yet reported its findings.