On the suggestion of a friend, I’ve gone and sent an e-mail to the Florida Department of Health about the incident with the quack homeopath Chey went to the other day. They replied back with some boilerplate:
Mr. Smith,
Thank you for your inquiry. By copy of this email, your request is being forwarded to the Consumer Services Unit for a response.
The mission of the Department of Health is to promote, protect and improve the health of all people in Florida. If you have any questions, please contact our MQA Communication Center at (850) 488-0595—menu option 3.
Sincerely,
Cassandra Williams
Licensing and Auditing Services Unit
To what I sent in:
From: Matthew Smith
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2011 4:11 PM
To: zzzz Feedback, MQA_LicensureServices
Subject: Doctor prescribing homeopathic weight loss HCG
I’m writing on behalf of my wife, because I suspect Lee Leslie M MD of Edgewater Internal Medicine is prescribing homeopathic HCG as part of a weight-loss plan. My wife went to Lee Leslie looking for a general doctor for a checkup. When she first met this man, he immediately began writing her a prescription for M2HCG, which he described as a weight-loss remedy along with a 500 calorie per day diet as a way to lose 100 pounds in a month. She was immediately suspicious of this, and we decided to do some looking around. I found an article in USAToday from January where the FDA described the prescribing of homeopathic HCG as a weight loss remedy to be fraudulent.
I do not have any evidence of this, as my wife walked out without the prescription. I realize that it is a big deal to accuse a doctor of fraud. I think this man should be investigated for prescribing homeopathic remedies. Someone might actually expect them to work, and not seek help from a doctor who would actually be able to help. I’d hate to read about that in the newspaper. Thanks for reading, and if you could please reply I would appreciate it.
Matthew Smith
Hmm. I did kinda scribble out that e-mail, I don’t like how it sounds. Oh well, hopefully they con’t think me some crank.
So I guess I wait and see what they decide to do, if anything. My hopes are not real high.
Grasping Blindly in the Dark 
Maybe you should walk in their office and give them some BAD TOUCH
BAD TOUCH YEAH
BAD TOUCH
IN THE TRAIN
Awesome start; hopefully that email doesn’t “accidentally” get dropped into a spam filter and lost in transit to a higher power.
Unfortunately I don’t think the Florida Dept of Health will find the quack fraudulent for prescribing homeopathic meds. THere are actually many medications on the market that don’t have documented scientific evidence behind their effects. Like so many things in life, you gotta do a little shopping around when it comes to doctors, not all are created equal. But of all things your health is worth putting in the time and frustration to find a doctor who you connect with. I’m sorry you guys had to go through that experience, but like I’m sure Ang mentioned to you already, talk to your insurance company about getting them off their list of covered physicians. If there is one thing you can do it’s hitting them in the wallet.
Thanks Steph, that sounds like the smart thing to do. I guess this whole thing has been such a big deal for me because it hit close to home. I’m used to reading about it, but there’s a distance when you read about something on the internet.
Just goes to show you have to be careful, especially with important stuff like your health. Older and wiser.