A self-described health professional exposed nearly 30 years ago for selling fake HIV cures in Toronto is now peddling unproven and harmful treatments for everything from chronic pain to cancer, according to a Marketplace investigation. cancer
The Doc of Detox, as Darrell Wolfe calls himself, has built a growing alternative health operation at a resort in Ixtapa, Mexico, where he and his staff use questionable procedures and devices that are not only expensive and ineffective, but they can often cause glaring physical problems. suffering. He also trains new recruits in his techniques.
- Watch the Marketplace investigation Friday at 8pm on CBC or anytime on CBC Gem.
“People who are running out, or trying to take advantage of others, will take any avenue they can,” said Jacob Shelley, a professor of health law at Western University in London, Ontario. “He’s not actually providing medical care. He’s not helping people. He’s selling a story to try to line his pockets. … He’s preying on people’s hope.”
LOOK | A self-described health professional demonstrates an aggressive massage technique that he claims will heal a recently broken wrist:
A self-described health professional demonstrates an aggressive massage technique he claims will heal a recently broken wrist
Darrell Wolfe performs what he calls the “non-surgical” method, which he says will break down emotional trauma manifested as scar tissue.
Marketplace spoke with 21 people who described their experiences with Wolfe and his show. They said it was akin to joining a cult; that the physical treatments bordered on “torture”; and promises that it would be able to cure diseases, including advanced cancer, left them feeling “foolish” and “deluded”.
“He’s a snake oil salesman,” said Calgary woman Carla Adamarczuk, who has multiple sclerosis. “I totally bought into it. I bought all the products, I bought all the supplements.”
She said Wolfe promised she would get better and even walk again, so she spent more than $10,000 on his devices and supplements out of her “desperation.” None of this worked.
Adamarczuk said that as a former nurse, she “should know better.”
Carla Adamarczuk says she spent more than $10,000 on Wolfe’s treatment plan and devices. None of this worked in his multiple sclerosis. (CBC)
CBC Marketplace undercover reporters attending one of his courses in Mexico last May captured some of the suffering described by Wolfe’s clients on a hidden camera, documenting a woman with a recently broken wrist writhing and screaming in pain as Wolfe performed an unproven physical technique on her to release what he claimed was emotional trauma manifested as scar tissue.
Wolfe refers to himself as a doctor, but he is not a licensed physician and is not qualified to treat people with serious medical problems. Still, many people Marketplace spoke to believed he was a doctor.
LOOK | Health Claims Made by ‘Doc of Detox’ Caught on Hidden Camera and Social Media:
Health claims made by ‘Doc of Detox’ caught on hidden camera and social media
A self-described health professional exposed nearly 30 years ago for selling fake HIV cures in Toronto is now peddling unproven and harmful treatments for everything from chronic pain to cancer, according to a Marketplace investigation. cancer
Although Wolfe advertises his services to potential clients in Canada and the United States, he largely operates from Mexico, where costs are substantially cheaper and both government scrutiny and law enforcement are more lax. .
Marketplace reached out to the local government of Zihuatanejo, which also governs Ixtapa, to inquire about Wolfe’s operation, but did not hear back.
Those who went to Mexico for teachings or treatments learned quickly: come with money and at your own risk.
Wolfe claims device can ‘stop cancer with one treatment’
In 2021, Nancy Jacobs’ left breast was so thick that it had broken through the skin. The doctors informed her that she had breast cancer. While searching for natural treatment options, she came across Wolfe’s videos online.
Nancy Jacobs says she maxed out three credit cards and spent about $13,000 on Wolfe’s treatment plan and trip to Mexico. He died last May. (CBC)
Jacobs spent thousands on supplements and devices based on Wolfe’s recommendation. But when things got worse, she said he told her to go to Mexico so she could use a pulse machine called a CellSonic.
“He said he’s worked with this, he’s worked with breast cancer and this is what I need,” Jacobs said when speaking to Marketplace from her home in Fairfield, California.
Several videos on Wolfe’s Facebook page hint that the CellSonic can cure cancer, including Wolfe claiming the device can “stop cancer with one treatment” and that “after a CellSonic treatment, they can’t find cells. cancer cells”.
After Jacobs arrived in the fall of 2021, Wolfe didn’t see her for weeks, according to text messages between her and Wolfe’s staff. When she was finally treated with the CellSonic, she claimed that she lost the function of her arm.
Jacobs says she lost function in her arm after a series of treatments by Wolfe in Mexico. (Sent)
An oncologist Marketplace consulted said the arm swelling can be caused by breast cancer, but Jacobs said the pain got worse after CellSonic treatment.
“From that point on, I couldn’t take care of myself,” she said. “And I suffered pain.”
There is no evidence to support claims that the CellSonic treats cancer, according to several oncologists and medical professionals consulted by Marketplace.
“It’s a treatment I’ve never heard of or seen before,” said Dr Matthew Follwell, a radiation oncologist at the Royal Victoria Regional Hospital. “Sounds like quackery.”
When he returned to California, Jacobs was even more frail and ill.
“I’m mad,” said Faith Ceja, Jacobs’ daughter. “I’m frustrated. I’m sad… it’s really, really heartbreaking. I want to [Wolfe] to be stopped.”
Marketplace contacted the BC Ministry of Health, where Wolfe’s address and business are registered. The ministry confirmed that the title “doctor” can only be used exclusively by university registrants, and Wolfe is not registered with the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons or as a naturopathic doctor with the College of Physicians naturopathy
In an emailed statement, the ministry also said: “We encourage the public to contact the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC to file a complaint if they believe they have been the victim of a fraudulent medical professional.”
The statement also said that “if any person believes that Mr. Wolfe violated the Criminal Code of Canada during his interactions, the appropriate authority to file a complaint would be the police.”
The manufacturer of the CellSonic, Andrew Hague, said he stands by his product and offered anecdotal reviews from professionals in India and the United States.
Jacobs, in the end, said he maxed out three credit cards and spent nearly US$13,000.
He died two weeks after his interview with Marketplace.
Hidden cameras catch cancer patients, dangerous claims
Wolfe’s clinic is cordoned off in a wing of the resort, with rooms equipped with everything from massage beds to light therapies for moods.
A member of Wolfe’s team uses a CellSonic machine and claims it will “work on literally everything.” (CBC)
Marketplace’s undercover team documented several people, like Jacobs, who were there for treatment.
Another man who had a tumor the size of an orange on his face told undercover reporters that he had CellSonic to make it go away, even though it clearly hadn’t worked.
And despite repeated claims that the CellSonic can shrink or eliminate tumors, Wolfe acknowledged during the course that they were now trying to raise $20,000 to surgically remove the man’s tumor.
“It’s too big to take down the CellSonic,” Wolfe told the hidden cameras.
“A higher level like Jesus Christ”
CBC requested an on-camera interview with Wolfe while he was in Mexico, but he declined. Instead, he held a Facebook Live that lasted more than an hour in response to CBC’s request.
“Is everyone satisfied with our work? No,” he said in the video. “Go ahead, strip me of everything, strip me, cut out my tongue… Maybe I can go to a higher level like Jesus Christ.”
In August 2022, CBC caught up with Wolfe at a seminar in Barrie, Ont.
Wolfe repeatedly stated that he never said he could cure cancer and that there was no cure for cancer. He also said that no one has died after spending thousands on his treatments. When asked about his credentials, Wolfe said he has a “doctorate in natural medicine.”
No recognized university in Canada offers a PhD in natural medicine.
LOOK | Wolfe’s claims about cancer treatments caught on hidden camera and on social media:
Darrell Wolfe claims about cancer treatments caught on hidden camera and social media
The Doc of Detox, as Darrell Wolfe calls himself, has built a growing alternative health operation at a resort in Ixtapa, Mexico, where he and his staff use questionable procedures and devices that are not only expensive and ineffective, but they can often cause glaring physical problems. suffering.
CBC reporters had gone under the guise of students taking the “Whole Life Coach Certification” course, a nine-day event that would teach people to “deprogram” themselves because the root of all illness, according to Wolfe, it’s the negative emotion.
Many of the attendees had come from the UK, USA and Australia. There were also three Canadian nurses on the course.
During the course, Wolfe embraced conspiracies about COVID-19 and big pharma, and peddled his products and made wild claims of miracle treatments.
“I would give my father a urine injection … and I would do it three times a day,” he told the class. “You might think that’s ego, but I got rid of it [my dad’s] leukemia in six weeks. Untraceable”.
Wolfe sells both of these devices on its website. The device on the left is meant to be pushed into a belly button, and the device on the right…