Arizona's homeopathic board is the second chance for doctors who may not deserve one

The osteopathic medical board also examined the autopsy and ruled that the medical examiner was right to name the injection and infection as the causes of death.

But when Cousens' dead patient came up before the homeopathic board in 2001, the board dismissed the complaint — despite the medical examiner's findings.

The board ruled that, though a patient did die, the doctor did not violate any laws of homeopathic medicine.

In his October 11, 2000 court deposition, board member Dr. Garry Gordon says he served as the board's lead investigator into Cousens, but he also worked as an expert witness for Cousens in court.

Because the homeopathic board dismissed the complaint, the medical board in California — where Cousens holds his M.D. — has no way of knowing Cousens injected a patient with animal hormones. It has no way of knowing he treated a growing infection with acupuncture or that a county medical examiner named his treatment as the causes of a patient's death.

The Arizona board has since destroyed audio records from that meeting (technically, it did so legally).

"I think it's a travesty that he's still practicing in Arizona," Howard Levy says from his home in New York. "Those people who are allowing this to continue to happen are just as guilty. The simple fact that he can continue to practice medicine in any way, shape, or form shows that the system is failing the general public."

Today, Cousens still practices at his spa in Patagonia. He says he has "28 cubic feet of scientific literature" that disprove the medical examiner. He says Levy died of an extremely rare syndrome that strikes suddenly and kills in hours. Cousens also says Levy was sick when he arrived at the spa and had the gas gangrene infection long before his cow adrenaline injections.

"Dr. Porterfield, the pathologist, really was neglectful," says Cousens, who also says he thinks he would have won the case in court. (He says his insurance company forced him to settle.) "I believe that if we were in front of the medical board, they would have cleared me just as well."

DR. CHARLES CROSBY

In 2002, the Florida Department of Health forced Dr. Charles Crosby, a D.O., into the state's impaired-physician program. Crosby had been kissing and groping female patients and staff, according to Florida records.

Crosby was diagnosed with a narcissistic disorder and with Frottuerism, a disorder "characterized by intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving touching or rubbing against the body of a non-consenting person."

The surgeon and pain-management specialist's bedside manner included "touching patients' breasts in a way they found offensive (example, stroking their nipples) . . . kissing patients and staff . . . and using crass and sexual remarks that others found offensive."

Crosby told a psychiatrist he had "developed a special technique of manipulating women's breasts to treat pain in other areas of their body." That psychiatrist diagnosed Crosby with a breast fetish and ruled him unfit to practice medicine.

In June 2003, Crosby was still practicing medicine when he was caught manipulating the breasts and ribs of a woman at a medical trade show in Norfolk, Virginia.

On March 17, 2004, Florida's physician intervention program warned Crosby that it was restricting his practice and might suspend his Florida license.

Two months later, Crosby was standing before Arizona's homeopathic board, petitioning for a homeopathic license. Crosby didn't have enough homeopathic training, but the board voted to give him a license, as long as he took 40 hours of homeopathic courses. The homeopathic board licensed Crosby in Arizona — even as the Florida board was investigating him for groping his female patients.

Two months after Crosby secured his Arizona homeopathic license, the Florida board suspended his license. Crosby apparently never moved to Arizona. He lives and advertises in Florida, and his license is still suspended there. His Arizona homeopathic license is active, though he's on probation, which means Crosby has to submit reports that confirm he's seeing a psychiatrist.

Crosby declined comment for this story.

DR. MURRAY SUSSER

Dr. Murray Susser, 73, has been practicing alternative medicine for decades. The California Medical Board has taken his license away twice.

The first time was in 1997. According to California Medical Board records, Susser failed to identify some conventional cases of cancer. He failed to diagnose colon cancer in one patient, even though the patient had blood in her stool and complained of rectal bleeding.

For another patient, Susser prescribed natural vitamins in dangerous quantities, including "tannic acid, which is carcinogenic," and testosterone, which boosted blood pressure to unhealthy levels. According to California Medical Board records, Susser failed to see bowel cancer in that patient, too.

Susser's discipline culminated when he advised a patient who was jaundiced and experiencing severe abdominal pain to not go to the emergency room. Paramedics forced the patient to go to the ER, where she was diagnosed with severe liver and pancreas damage, due to the all-natural injections.

After two years of community service at 25 hours a week, Susser's California medical license was restored in 2000. His New York license is still surrendered.

In 2002, Susser secured a homeopathic license in Arizona. He's been practicing in Scottsdale ever since. In 2005, the California Medical Board again took away Susser's license (he's on probation again) for prescribing ketamine, an anesthetic and animal tranquilizer.