advice on email list results in woman's death

[Guest guest]

(sorry for the duplicate post for those on both lists)

I thought this was something worth posting, if even just to provide food for

thought when taking or giving advice on email lists. Obviously, it's an

extreme example of someone with an acute medical condition who, for whatever

reason, followed bad advice from a list 'guru,' which resulted in her death.

FWIW, this was a Frutarian (raw vegan) list, although I imagine bad advice

is not limited to fruitarian email boards.

The original post from the woman who died is here:

fruitarians/message/986

The fateful advice post is here:

fruitarians/message/989

And the deceased's friend's post announcing her death is here:

fruitarians/message/997

Another list member's 'assessment' of the situation is here:

fruitarians/message/1004

I originally learned about this situation on the " RAW_FOOD " archives page

(posted this month)

(http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?A1=ind0210 & L=raw-food). What I find

especially nauseating, is that the dr. (dr. bernarr) who the fruitarian list

guru was telling the deceased to consult with, is also apparently on the

raw-food list, and posted what seems to be an incredibly callous response to

the announcement of the woman's death. His response

(http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?A2=ind0210 & L=raw-food & F= & S= & P=160)

was simply to post a pre-written article on the benefits of water fasting

for appendicitis, which is precisely what led to the woman's death(!) I

guess dr. bernarr is some type of " Natural Hygiene " guru? For those

unfamiliar with natural hygiene, it is an extreme form of raw veganism that

promotes a diet based primarily on fruit and, imho, seems to be more of a

religion than a diet,. Just one example - bernarr writes in his

water_fast_for_appendicitis article: " Only Natural Hygiene has had the

insight to write about this inherent self-healing mechanism. " Also, his

organization is called " God Healing, Inc. " This seems typical from what I've

read of Natural Hygiene, thus far.

I hope this is not insulting to former frutarians/natural hygienists on this

list. i do apologize if it is, i don't mean it to be. I just found dr.

bernarr's response to the death of a human being, apparently

caused_by_his_teachings, to be incredibly callous and self-serving (i hope

he is not typical of natural hygienists). And, if his response to her death,

by posting the very article that may have led to her death is not enough,

take a look at this sentence at the end of the article:

" HOW WE CAN HELP HEAL YOUR APPENDICITIS VIA THE INTERNET

We have helped heal many people with appendicitis, world-wide, via the

Internet. Contact us NOW and we will help heal your appendicitis, via the

Internet. "

Sheesh! Is he on another planet or something???

I guess this situation not only made me think about the risks associated

with giving and taking advice on email lists (although this is truly an

extreme example), but also about how people can get so caught up in a

philosophy - what they think is 'right', that they can go so far as to lose

touch with what their own body's telling them. Lots of

ideas/theories/philosophies sound good, and look good on paper, but at what

point do people need to shove their pre-conceived notions to the side and

listen_to_what_their_body_is_telling_them?

Very sad, indeed.

Suze Fisher

Lapdog Design, Inc.

Web Design & Development

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg/

mailto:s.fisher22@...