Fwd: [SymphonicHealth] Dr. Renner dies/quackwatch

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HealthSCOUT's Medical Officer Dies

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Dr. H. Renner led fight against quacks on the Web

By Randy Dotinga

HealthSCOUT Reporter

TUESDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthSCOUT) -- Dr. H. Renner, chief medical

officer

of HealthSCOUT and a leading advocate of accuracy and integrity on

health

Web sites, died Saturday following heart surgery at the age of 67.

During a career of some 40 years, Dr. Renner worked as a physician,

professor, advocate, columnist and government consultant. In addition to

his

duties at HealthSCOUT, he was a clinical professor at the University of

Missouri-Kansas City Medical School and president of the National

Council

for Reliable Health Information.

" Throughout his life, Dr. Renner campaigned tirelessly to protect

patients

from health fraud and ensure reliable information for health consumers

everywhere. We are proud to have had him serve as HealthSCOUT's chief

medical officer, editorial consultant and author of our weekly Web site

reviews column, " said Karamjeet S. , president and CEO of the

HealthSCOUT Network.

" We will miss his wisdom, his expertise and his wonderful sense of

humor.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends, " said Mr.

.

Dr. Renner was always graceful, even as he punctured the dangerous lies

that

plague the medical profession, said his friend and colleague Dr.

Barrett, chairman of the Quackwatch.com Web site. The site is devoted to

exploding health-related frauds, myths, fads and fallacies.

" He had a tremendous amount of knowledge, " Barrett said. " He was a very

warm, friendly person who cared about people. "

Dr. Renner woke up on Saturday and was watering a plant when he felt

severe

chest pain, said his daughter, Renner Simon. He called 911

himself,

awakened his wife, and went to a local hospital in the Kansas City area.

Dr. Renner was then airlifted to St. ph's Health Center where he

died

after seven hours of emergency heart surgery, his daughter said. " He was

fighting all the way to the end, " she said. " He was a man who lived his

life

to the fullest -- he enjoyed his work to the fullest. "

Dr. Renner would have turned 68 this coming Friday.

Much of Dr. Renner's work was dedicated to keeping the public informed

about

the differences between good and bad medicine. The growth of the

Internet as

a medical source both intrigued and frightened him.

Monitoring the Web

" The Internet is a useful tool for consumers to find health

information, "

Dr. Renner said in a speech at a July conference at the New York Academy

of

Medicine. " However, we must constantly arm ourselves with discretion in

determining whether the information is trustworthy. "

He warned that while many sites might look good, " so does a mirage in

the

desert. You have to know how to navigate around the quackery and

questionable claims of cures. "

In a weekly HealthSCOUT column called " Stars and Stinkers, " Dr. Renner

lauded professional health Web sites while blasting others, like one

that

advocated drilling a hole in the head to cure chronic fatigue syndrome.

" He probably did more health Web site evaluations than anyone else on

the

Internet, " Barrett said.

In addition to his column, Dr. Renner ensured the accuracy of

HealthSCOUT's

content, oversaw its scientific advisory boards, and served as a liaison

between HealthSCOUT and the medical community.

Dr. Renner also promoted health education in a column for The Kansas

City

Star and in numerous appearances on radio and television news programs.

Dr. Renner was a graduate of the Washington University School of

Medicine. He spent more than 10 years as a family physician in Virginia

and

then joined the University of Wisconsin Medical School, where he helped

found the department of family medicine and practice. He both taught and

served as chairman of the department.

He moved to the Kansas City area in 1980 and established a family

practice

residency at what was then known as St. 's Hospital.

He was also a clinical professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas

City

School of Medicine.

Dr. Renner is survived by his wife, and his children,

Renner

Simon of Los Angeles and Craig Renner of Madison, Wis.; and two

grandchildren.

What To Do:

Contributions in Dr. Renner's honor may be made to the American

Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, Leawood, Kan., or the National

Council for Reliable Health Information, Box 1276, Loma , Calif.

92354.

For further information

of Rx Remedy, Inc., jwilson@..., 646-227-7621, for

HealthSCOUT

or

Hope Heyman of Edelman PR Worldwide, 212-704-4512,

hope.heyman@...

for HealthSCOUT

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© 2000 Rx Remedy, Inc.