MONTREAL - Westmount naturopath Mitra Javanmardi was confronted with yet another witness on Tuesday, this time it was a medical doctor, who openly accused the woman of illegally practicing medicine.
Javanmardi is accused of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing the death of an elderly patient in 2008.
The doctor now lives in Pennsylvania, but testified via videoconference. Samuel Tirer says he went to see Javanmardi at her Westmount clinic six years ago. The naturopath was giving intravenous treatments to his father, who suffered from dementia.
"I said to her that her therapy was cruel and abusive and that his health was declining. He didn't recognize me anymore."
Javanmardi, he claimed, defended her practice.
"She told me she knew it was illegal. But that it was allowed outside Quebec."
Earlier in the trial, police testified that the naturopath used the same excuse when she was met with police after the death of her patient Roger Matern. The 84-year-old died several hours after he too received an intravenous cocktail of potassium and magnesium.
These new revelations come less than a week after a pathologist told the court that Roger Matern died of septic shock, which began soon after Matern started his intravenous treatment.
Last month, an expert testified that at least one vial seized in Javanmardi's clinic was heavily contaminated with bacteria. It was administered to Matern through an IV and minutes later he became ill, but the naturopath dismissed it as hypoglycemia. Matern fell into a coma and died hours later.
Javanmardi's trial is once again being put on hold, because the case is dragging on and the court calendar is full. It's expected to resume only next fall.
