” This is a pharmaco-fascist state we live in” Dr Katelaris declared.“ It’ s child abuse what’ s going on, I mean, what civilised country refuses to treat children with one of the safest medicines known to man?”“ They’ re irrelevant to my existence” Dr Katelaris said about Health Care Complaints Commission( HCCC) sanctions against him after the NSW Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, made a formal complaint about the cannabis“ experiment” involving two women. He said he had not been contacted by police after the HCCC referred its report and findings to them about the two women, one taken to the Calvary Mater hospital, the other, to the John Hunter hospital, two days after injections. In a statement, Dr Katelaris criticised federal and state governments after a police raid on his Newcastle premises in December 2016 that led to the destruction of more than 200 cannabis plants.
“ Will I bother to go and appeal the decision? Hardly. It’ s easier to simply ignore it. I answer to a higher moral authority than the HCCC. My own conscience”, even though Dr Katelaris alleged the HCCC report contained“ errors of fact”. NSW Police confirmed Dr Katelaris had been referred to them for investigation but declined to comment further. Dr Katelaris told the HCCC that he had warned both women on 2 September 2015, that cannabis oil injections directly into tumours had never been tried before,“… you’ re in unchartered waters”. Asked about the ethical issues raised by breaking the law, Dr Andrew Katelaris asked in reply,“ What are the ethics of forcing sick people to go to criminals?” Dr Katelaris held the Department of Health responsible for the failure of his“ experiment”, after alleging it prevented him from having the University of Sydney test the strength of the active ingredient in the cannabis oil he used. He placed blame“ squarely at the feet of the ministry( of health)”, the HCCC found.“ We’ re not cavalier and I’ m not stupid” he told the
HCCC. Dr Katelaris was asked why he persisted in describing cannabis as a“ safe and effective herbal medication” given what the commission termed a“ catastrophic” outcome for both women.“ He completely and somewhat angrily repudiated the use of the word‘ catastrophic’”, the HCCC report said. The HCCC found his insight was“ so deficient, that he poses a serious risk to the health and safety of the public. The commission finds that he devised a hasty, illconceived and unsafe clinical trial of this experimental treatment, which would give him the‘ protection’ of a disclaimer if things went badly, but personal accolades and good publicity if things went well”, it found.
Type‘ Katelaris’ into the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency database for cancelled health professionals and it doesn’ t come up, and it’ s the same if you try it in the field for“ practitioners who have given an undertaking not to practice”. AHPRA advises you to go to AustLII, the Australasian Legal Information Institute, where you can search for court or tribunal cases. However, you won’ t find the 2005 Medical Board decision that led to Dr Katelaris’ deregistration if you check on AustLII, which makes the AHPRA referral of limited assistance. That’ s if you’ re even aware AHPRA exists at all, despite the millions of dollars spent establishing and running it since 2010.
Dr Katelaris referred to the Medical Board – now the Medical Council – as“ a bunch of f … wits” and the Health Care Complaints Commission was a“ pharmacofascist” institution. In October 2015, the HCCC ruled that“ Andrew Katelaris is permanently prohibited from supplying or administering cannabis or any of its derivatives to any person for the treatment, or purported treatment, of cancer”. The HCCC report is available on their website. The commission concluded Dr Katelaris put his own interest in self-protection and self-promotion ahead of the health and safety of two vulnerable women suffering from ovarian cancer.