Homeopath Francine Scrayen in court for the death of her "patient".

Francine Scrayen the homeopath who defrauded one of her patients with bogus medical treatments is now being sued for the death of her patient; or should I say victim. Toni Brown is suing Scrayen over the death of her sister, Penelope Dingle who died after giving up conventional treatment in favor of the witchcraft that Ms Scrayen sold.

Penelope Dingle’s sister is suing the homeopath who persuaded the cancer victim to ignore conventional treatment in favour of fighting the deadly disease with alternative medicine.

The case made national headlines in 2010 when State Coroner Alastair Hope held an inquest into Mrs Dingle’s death, finding that her husband, Peter Dingle, and homeopath Francine Scrayen had played important roles in the decision.

Mrs Dingle’s sister Toni Brown has launched District Court proceedings against Ms Scrayen, claiming she suffered her own psychological problems as a result of the way in which her sister died. The West

I have already written about the tragic death of Penelope Dingle at the hands of Francine Scrayen in “Scammed to death: How Francine Scrayen killed Penelope Dingle.” (Comments at the bottom of the page are worth reading)

In my view the deceased’s rectal cancer was present and causing bleeding and other symptoms from at least 31 October 2001.  During the period 31 October 2001 until at least the end of November 2002, the deceased regularly described the symptoms of her rectal cancer to a homeopath, Francine Scrayen.  It was not until November 2002 that Mrs Scrayen and the deceased discussed the possibility of reporting her rectal bleeding to a medical practitioner and it was not until 5 December 2002 that she first reported those problems to a doctor.

I accept that Mrs Scrayen  believed that the deceased had suffered from haemorrhoids years earlier and the bleeding and pain was “an old symptom coming back”, but a competent health professional would have been alarmed by the developing symptoms and would have strongly advised that appropriate medical investigations be conducted without delay.

Mrs Scrayen was not a competent health professional. I accept that Mrs Scrayen had minimal understanding of relevant health issues, unfortunately that did not prevent her from treating the deceased as a patient.

This case has highlighted the importance of patients suffering from cancer making  informed, sound decisions in relation to their treatment.  In this case the deceased paid a terrible price for poor decision making. 
 
Unfortunately the deceased was surrounded by misinformation and poor science.  Although her treating surgeon and mainstream general practitioner provided clear and reliable information, she received mixed messages from a number of different sources which caused her to initially delay necessary surgery and ultimately decide not to have surgery until it was too late. Coronors Report; conclusion.

So after such a conclusion from the coroner it’s good to see that action is being taken against Francine Scrayen. While it won’t undo the damage already do it will bring fake medicines such as Homeopathy and those who sell it back into the spot light.

I personally feel that criminal charges should be filed against Francine Scrayen because she intentionally influenced her “patient” into making bad medical choices. Francine Scrayen is not a medical professional, but that didn’t stop her from treating Ms Dingle as a patient and charging her for “treatment”.

Francine Scrayen is the very worse type of fraud. Not only did she cheat her victim of money but she also cheated her out of life. Francine Scrayen sold fake medicine to a cancer patient who died as a result of being given snake oil instead of real medicine. This type of practice is unacceptable and Ms Scrayen needs to be held accountable for her despicable actions. 

3 thoughts on “Homeopath Francine Scrayen in court for the death of her "patient".

  1. raphidae

    From the Coroners report:
    —-
    The unhealthy reliance placed on Mrs Scrayen’s homeopathic “cures” by the deceased and her husband, Dr Dingle, who appears to have been very much involved in the decision-making process, resulted in a tragic series of events and the deceased suffering extreme uncontrolled pain over an extended period of time at a level not normally experienced in societies where there is access to modern medical treatment.
    —-

    I can't believe there aren't any criminal charges filed against that horrible quack Francine Scrayen. One of the most important jobs of a government is protecting society from harm, and there should be no doubt that Francine Scrayen has caused and will cause harm to the most vulnerable in society if she is not stopped. If you manipulate impressionable young children into fighting a drugwar for you, you belong in prison. If you manipulate a vulnerable cancer patient by preying on her childwish, thereby causing her to experience such pain it is essentially torture, YOU BELONG IN PRISON!

    It's rediculous that one of the victims relatives should have to file a civil lawsuit to get some justice here.

    Shame on Francine Scrayen, and shame on the government for not removing this menace to society.

    To the family I offer my apologies on behalf of the part of humankind that is not morally bankrupt.

    Reply
  2. Andrew M

    It's absolutely awful what happened. With luck this story will make others second-guess 'homeopathy' as a valid treatment. She was clearly complicit in the death of her patient, but she either believed what she was saying and was acting according to her ideas, even if perhaps she now knows they are patently wrong, or she was intentionally trying to murder her patient.

    There is also the FACT that the patient was also complicit. She bought in to what the homoeopath said, and so had a part to play too. What is possible, is that if the patient had some other problem and recovered despite the treatment she was receiving, she might herself have become a 'convert'. Perhaps she may have even decided to train in Homoeopathy herself and professed to others that the pain was 'only between the ears'.

    The moral here is not that people with fixed ideas should be punished – we'd all be guilty in that respect. We all need to learn how to think for ourselves.

    Reply
  3. Natalie

    Horrible, horrible story.

    I am also perplexed by the amount of spelling errors in the Coroner's report. I am a scientist myself and cannot believe the high level of incorrectly spelled medical terms and general lack of editing, eg venous flytrap instead of Venus fly trap (the plant) and many others.

    Reply

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