Salt cave doctor guilty of poor professional performance

A DOCTOR who promoted his “salt cave climate therapy” clinic in the media and availed of a celebrity endorsement from Twink was yesterday found guilty of poor professional performance by the Medical Council.

Dr Tamas Bakonyi of Maynooth, Co Kildare, was found not guilty of professional misconduct, however. The council will determine at a later date what sanctions, if any, should be applied.

The verdict came after a two-day hearing in which Prof Stephen Lane, clinical professor of respiratory medicine at Trinity College Dublin and a consultant at Tallaght hospital, was critical of the claims made by Dr Bakonyi.

Prof Lane told a Medical Council fitness-to-practise inquiry that claims in relation to the therapy being effective for chest infections and asthma were unproven. There was, he said, “no evidence” for many of the claims. There was no evidence the therapy “would loosen up phlegm, no evidence it would diminish inflation” and “no evidence that it would kill germs”.

Prof Lane said the involvement of a qualified general practitioner in the salt cave clinic raised unrealistic expectations among potential patients, as did the inclusion of the endorsement by Twink, the stage name of the entertainer Adele King. While he was critical, the actions complained of in his opinion did not represent professional misconduct.

Salt cave therapy was supported by a number of witnesses at yesterday’s hearing. John Bradley of Leixlip, Co Kildare, a former ballroom dancer who said he was forced to give up dancing through ill health, told the inquiry he was able to resume dancing due to the efficacy of the treatment. He said the results had been dramatic and had made “a huge difference” to his life. A second patient, Frances Keely, also of Leixlip, spoke in favour of the salt cave clinic, describing it as “a life saver”. She said she felt “100 per cent better” having used it.

Ms Keely told barrister Dr Simon Mills, for Dr Bakonyi, she had suffered from aspergillosis and that Dr Bakonyi had warned her it was not certain the treatment would work. He had provided her with a leaflet explaining the treatment, and offered her a full refund if it was not effective. It was so effective, she said, that she had told her hospital doctors of it, and they had said she did not need her nebuliser.

Dr Mills said he did not believe the allegation over unrealistic expectations could be substantiated unless the chief executive of the Medical Council “brings in someone who says: ‘I am a paid up member of the Liffey Champion readers’ brigade or the Twink fan club, and I had my expectations raised’ ”.