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The matter of Dr. David Kuntz

The following report of the case of Dr. Kuntzs has all the elements of corruption on the part of the judiciary and the legal profession.

Dr. Kuntzs believed, as most people want to believe that justice would prevail in the Candian Courts, but he learned that while Canada likes to boast about being the best judiciary in the world, it is corrupt to the core, somewhat like the myth of fresh air, pure water and free health care, the judicial system is toxic in Canada.

What you will read next is only a sample of Dr. Kuntz story.

Vision of a maverick: A much-sued B.C. surgeon wants to outfit private hospital ships to restore damaged spines and promote global medical tourism.

Report Newsmagazine

Monday, September 2, 2002

Section: Society

Byline: Candis McLean

Source: The Report

The man some consider to be among the finest orthopedic surgeons who ever lived, but who himself claims to be the "most-sued" doctor in medical history, wants to leave the Canadian medical establishment behind and set up his own worldwide fleet of private hospital ships.

Dr. David Kuntz, of Vancouver would begin by converting vessels-- he is even considering the three B.C. fast ferries--to 50-bed state-of-the-art hospitals with two operating rooms specializing in the latest in neck and back surgery.

Incorporating an acrylic replacement disc which he invented, the operation would not only get those with injured spines back on their feet, but, Dr. Kuntz maintains, would also treat a host of now-incurable neurodegenerative diseases affecting the entire aging population--including migraines, Alzheimer's, strokes, Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's, chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple sclerosis.

These he calls the "Kuntz's Kurse Variants" because he believes that in many instances they result from lack of blood flow to the upper spinal cord, brain stem and hindbrain. As Dr. Kuntz puts it, they can be cured only when replacement discs "return the spine to The Manufacturer's original specifications."

Once the spine is elongated by the discs, the arteries alongside it are freed: "It's just like unkinking a garden hose," he says. "Many patients wake up from surgery with their blinding headaches gone, difficulty in concentration relieved and short-term memory improved. It took hundreds of patients telling me their stories before--my God! It hit me and drove me to research."

The hospital ships could be a multibillion- dollar industry, Dr. Kuntz believes, "bigger than Microsoft, because while not everyone has a computer, everyone has a spine, and everyone's spine shortens."

As an indication of the enormous potential, he says there are 10 patients requiring disc replacement for every patient requiring hip replacement, and 40 million chronic headache sufferers in the U.S. alone who could be candidates for screening and treatment. "Demand will exceed ability to supply services," he predicts.

He also foresees the hospital ships pumping lifeblood into the economy of B.C.'s north coast. "Since September 11, people have been reluctant to risk travel just to see the scenery; however, they will travel for medical reasons when they're desperate for help, and B.C. would become a global end-destination for medical tourism similar to the Mayo Clinic."

Moreover, the ships would provide a "medical merchant marine fleet" for rapid deployment to areas of earthquake, terrorist attack, nuclear explosions and other disasters.

Such unique floating facilities would also circumnavigate one rather awkward complication: the controversial Dr. Kuntz, has lost his licence to practise medicine in B.C.

"But on a vessel, marine law applies, and a Canadian licence would not be necessary." According to the Canadian Coastguard, doctors only have to fulfill the practice requirements of the country registering the ships. "I would register in a jurisdiction that's friendly and guarantees legislation that no one could sue me.

You need a safe jurisdiction because this entails a complete change in existing thought; you'd be upsetting many peoples' income flow and meaning in life. You only need one or two to tie you up in court for the rest of your life."

The reason Dr. Kuntz is so adamant about a safe harbour? "I know the WCB [Workers' Compensation Board] would be looking for that one in 100 who would sue."

Animus between Dr. Kuntz and the WCB has lasted a quarter-century. "A maverick B.C. surgeon is barred from practice, but hundreds of patients want him back," wrote Ted Byfield in a 1989 cover story for B.C. Report.

Mr. Byfield described Dr. Kuntz as a "revered bone surgeon of the B.C. northland who for years performed more spinal surgery than anyone else in the province.

He has been ousted as an incompetent by the British Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, and two months ago was physically dragged through the snow and mud from the game farm he sought to develop as a refuge for injured wildlife, the bank having foreclosed on the house and property.

He now lives on the donations of his former patients in a one-bedroom Kitimat apartment while the town council, three labour unions, local doctors and some 750 former patients bombard the B.C. Health Ministry with demands for a full-scale public inquiry into his suspension."

Thirteen years later, Dr. Kuntz is still awaiting that inquiry.

Dr. Kuntz has since lived several years in the office of his lawyer, and eight years on an "old scow on the Fraser River in which the pipes kept freezing and breaking."

His wife and baby daughter were forced to live in her parents' home, although the penniless family is now reunited in Vancouver. His myriad legal battles have taken him to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Through it all, he has been kept going by former patients such as Robert Hamblin, 60, of Houston, 200 miles west of Prince George, who still phones to provide regular doses of encouragement.

Mr. Hamblin had severely damaged five spinal discs in a car accident 20 years ago. "I couldn't turn my head, my hands were like clubs, so numb I couldn't pick up anything, and my eyesight was starting to go funny.

Everything on me ached. A bunch of doctors tried everything--pills, acupuncture, chiropractors, physio. Nothing worked.

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