Natural Justice and the Rule of Law

In December Dr Jozef Krop's appeal will be heard in court. Winning the appeal means an extraordinary victory for alternative medicine because freedom of choice in health care will be affirmed. It will cause a revolution in the way colleges of physicians and surgeons throughout Canada-not just Ontario's infamous old boys' club-will have to conduct themselves in future. Ontario's Kwinter Bill, which became law in December 2000, will also have been tested. The disciplinary process will have to focus on patient outcome and cease to function as the private inquisition of self-appointed high priests like Ontario's deputy registrar, Dr John Carlisle, who initiated the case against Dr Krop 12 years ago.

Patient power is already winning victories. The registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO), Dr John Bonn, was fired in July following two simultaneous events: the government-appointed two-year-long investigation of the College's handling of complaints by KPMG (an accounting, tax and professional services firm), which frankly declared the CPSO to be out of touch with reality.

Within weeks, the Toronto Star began publishing a series about the college's mishandling of complaints against truly scary doctors (not simply doctors practising alternative therapies). Meanwhile, Dr Krop's lawyer, Matthew Wilton, was preparing an appeal that reads like an index of all the abuses of power (against doctors) the CPSO has committed for two decades, thereby retarding medical progress. Many doctors had their licenses revoked or fundamentally restricted. They failed in appeal because the trial documentation coming out of the CPSO's quasi-judicial kangaroo court was "doctored" (omissions of key documents, misleading affidavits, misrepresentation of or rejection of expert witnesses and research), misleading the appeals court itself.

This time thousands of determined and supportive patients, an army of alive readers and a crack team of lawyers will make sure the appeal court considers the mountain of evidence detailing abuse of law, medicine, patients' rights and natural justice.

For Dr Krop personally, Hemingway's famous definition of courage comes to mind: "Grace under pressure."

His four children grew up with a father on trial in a home that was simultaneously the War Room for the Battle of Modern Medicine. Under threat of a professional death sentence, Dr Krop juggled patient care and preparation for trial hearings, while keeping up with research, publishing medical papers, fundraising events, medical conferences and family life.

To support Dr Krop send your cheques to: J. Krop MD Legal Defense Fund, alive magazine, 7436 Fraser Park Drive, Burnaby, BC V5J 5B9.