I had heard that we might see criminal charges or convictions in 2022 for unproven stem cell clinic activities. This led to my prediction for last year of a criminal conviction in the stem cell clinic sphere.
The prediction was correct as a Florida man selling unproven stem cell injections was been sentenced in late December to do time (I didn’t see the news until now). His sentence is a whopping 202 years of prison time in Georgia.
There’s never been any quite like this before.
According to WMGT TV and other Georgia stations, Jimmy Lee Taylor from Del Ray Beach, Florida was convicted of “44 counts of Elder abuse and 23 counts of Practicing Medicine without a License in the Superior Court of Houston County.” While we’ve seen stem cell clinic folks pretending to be doctors before, as far as I know, all of them had escaped any major consequences.
Like some of the others, this is a troubling case, but it seems even worse in some ways.
Phony stem cell clinic traveling salesman?
Taylor had been visiting one of his victims in Florida every two weeks to give her some kind of supposed stem cell injection. This wasn’t just in Florida either:
“Investigation revealed that Taylor was traveling all over the United States to do similar things to receive cash payments from victims. Victims were also found in California, Illinois, Alabama, and Florida. When law enforcement searched Taylor’s home in Effingham County, they found he was in possession of drugs and medical supplies believed to be from Mexico.”
That sounds very dangerous. He apparently was impersonating a physician when he was only a chiropractor.
I wonder how many similar things have been going on more broadly.
The elder abuse convictions are notable. Many stem cell clinics and marketers focus on older folks as potential future customers. When I attended a stem cell infomercial seminar in person years ago, most of the audience seemed to be older and/or retired.
A 202-year prison term is remarkable. Will it deter others selling snake oil?
I expect we’ll see more criminal charges related to stem cell clinics and related firms. I’d be surprised if we saw another prison sentence of more than two centuries though.
I am skeptical about effective stem cell treatments, but I am even more skeptical about “standard’ medical practices and government regulatory agencies. Then there is also the “big pharma” problem and the “one size fits all approach of many doctors. I think the best bet and safest approach is to listen to the advanced researchers at Mayo and Stuttgart clinics and trust the sound experimental conclusions instead of waiting another 10 years for FDA approval.
Wow! I would have rather seen 20 of these bad actors sentenced to 10 years each…I can only hope.
Regardless, a 202 year sentence is grievous, outrageous and ridiculous wrong.
Rapists, child trafficking and murderers do not get this type of sentence.
Did he claim to cure them?
Stem cells are a treatment to help fight dease not cure
I hope he can find a good lawyer
Really sad to hear 202 years ..
My sister was murdered and her murderer got 50 years to life
You do realize that this is the ultimate “Florida Man” story, right? 😉 Seriously, though, it’s good to see at least someone getting nailed for this kind of crime.