Amish farmer sentence to 6 years for selling herbal remedies

[rph3664]

Among other things, he claimed that one of his remedies cured cancer. It sounds to me like he was also practicing medicine without a license.

Amish farmer sold herbal health products. He’s going to prison for 6 years.

I used to live in an area with a large Amish population. They were regularly patients at my hospital (they do use modern medical care; they never had insurance, not even Medicare, but always managed to pay the bill through their own version of crowdfunding) and aren't as different from "us" as most people think they are. I saw them get sent to prison for things like puppy mills, meth manufacture, and child molestation.

Should this man get a long prison term? I don't think so, but he definitely needed to be stopped from doing things the way he did them.

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[PharmDBro2017]

I wish the FDA would go after homeopathic stuff next, or Dr. Oz.

 

[npage148]

My grandmother lived in Amish country PA, she never had anything nice to say about them except they sold good produce

6 years for killing and harming people via deception? I'm ok with it

 

[lord999]

I wish the FDA would go after homeopathic stuff next, or Dr. Oz.

21 U.S.C. § 321 - U.S. Code Title 21. Food and Drugs § 321 | FindLaw

Until HP is struck from Title 21, nope, not possible. Last time FDA tried to get this off (I was part of that effort), cranks in both parties killed it in committee. There was significant pressure from both the GNC lobby and also the Alt. Health lobby.

 

[BidingMyTime]

If this was his first run-in with the inspectors, I would have said it was excessive and unnecessary. But he had been previously told to stop his production, and he did not. Not to mention that he was found guilty of threatening witnesses. So I can see why the judge didn't feel like he could trust him with probation or home arrest or anything less than prison. On the other hand, prison is expensive, we as taxpayers have to pay for this, so it would have been nice if the Amish farmer had complied from the beginning and had quit selling his unapproved remedies. But, like the OP mentioned, Amish aren't that much different from anyone else, and this was obviously a big revenue source for this farmer, so he didn't want to give it up, even when he knew he was required to by law, and perhaps he thought he could play the religion card and get a pass. Lots of different Amish communities, but from what I understand, most of them do believe in following the law, unfortunately, this particular farmer chose not to.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Plus, I also don't think it's true when the farmer testified that Amish don't believe in modern pharmaceuticals (maybe his particular community doesn't.....but I have my doubts.) Amish in general, don't have a problem with taking modern pharmaceuticals, and as the OP pointed out, the community will work together to pay for each other's medical care when needed.

 

[rph3664]

I missed the part about threatening witnesses. That probably explains the "more to the story" thing I was wondering about.

Like I said, they were patients at my old hospital all the time. Most of their babies were born at home (and we saw some negative consequences to that) and sadly, most of the vaccine-preventable diseases which passed through that hospital were also in Amish patients. If they never went to public school and did not work at or travel to a place where vaccines and/or immunity are required, a lot of them don't get vaxed because they believe God will protect them.

 

[BidingMyTime]

If they never went to public school and did not work at or travel to a place where vaccines and/or immunity are required, a lot of them don't get vaxed because they believe God will protect them.

That's unfortunate, they need to consider if they are around anyone else who is traveling or going out into the public, then they run the risk of being exposed. There are Amish communities where a home health nurse will drive around and vaccinate, and the Amish are very receptive to that. I think when the Amish aren't getting vaxxed, it's because they aren't informed about the vaccines that are available or it's too much trouble to get to a clinic where they can be vaxxed.

 

[297point1]

Authorities grew suspicious when they noticed a fleet of new wagons parked outside the farmers' barn.