The Australian Newspaper reports..
Andrew Katelaris, who is deregistered and permanently banned from injecting any cannabis substance into people or using any derivatives in the treatment of cancer, is a consultant for the Newcastle-based Church of Ubuntu, which has been caught up in a controversial case that cannot be detailed for legal reasons.
A complaint from a member of the public to the Health Care Complaints Commission raised concern that Mr Katelaris had been advising in the above case by providing “dangerous dietary advice along with the administration of cannabis”.
In its reply, the commission “determined it appropriate to refer the matter to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency for their management”. “We have requested that (AHPRA) provide you with the outcome of their investigation,” it said.
The commission investigated Mr Katelaris last year for administering injections of cannabis products directly into the abdominal cavities of two ovarian cancer patients, one of whom later died.
In a succinct summary of their findings, the commission said Mr Katelaris’s cannabis trial “lacked authorisation, ethics approval, scientific legitimacy and credibility” and that he “put his own interests in self-protection and self-promotion ahead of the health and safety of two vulnerable women suffering from ovarian cancer”.