Doctor Cleared of All Charges after Being Investigated for Recommending a Low Carb Diet to Diabetic Patients
Dr. Fettke was banned by his medical board from telling severe diabetics who were about to lose their limbs that eating low carb could reverse their disease and allow them to save their limbs.
Dr. Gary Fettke was an Orthopaedic Surgeon in Launceston, Tasmania, for 25 years.
In July 2014, Gary was notified that a dietitian had reported him to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA ) for recommending that his patients with weight-related joint issues, chronic metabolic disease, and diabetes reduce sugar and processed carbohydrates in their diet and eat plenty of healthy natural fats.
Dr. Fettke was then investigated for several years, during which time an 845-page document was compiled against him even though there was no patient harm or patient complaints.
He then spent years responding to vexatious notifications instigated by the Dietitians Association of Australia and was subjected to intimidating star chamber investigations. It was exhausting trying to clear his name.
Dr. Fettke was then been banned by AHPRA from offering his patients nutritional advice, despite being confronted with multiple patients facing amputation due to their diet-related Type 2 diabetes. Wow! Is this real life?
In 2018, Dr. Fettke decided not to renew his 3-year contract at Launceston General Hospital after 25 years. He wrote in an announcement here:
Until there is a satisfactory resolution of my bullying, mobbing and victimisation claims, and more importantly, the acknowledgement and satisfactory resolution of the many breaches of my current Visiting Medical Practitioners agreement, my situation is untenable. It is impossible for me to continue to provide best practice to my patients, and indeed the broader community, when I have been unsupported and undermined in my work place since 2012. Particularly as there has been no incident of patient harm, nor patient complaint regarding my circumstances.
I knew that most people are not informed about the benefits of low carb. But it’s interesting to read of outright opposition to it. Gary wrote here:
I can't keep going to work and bandaiding sick-care, and I certainly can't continue to recommend Low Carb Healthy Fat principles to my patients and have that advice undermined by senior administration and the allied health departments in my own hospital!
Thankfully, in 2018, the AHPRA not only cleared him of all charges—they issued a formal apology. This is great news for low-carb docs everywhere!
He recently wrote on X (aka Twitter):
LCHF [low carb high fat] restored my joy of medicine for my patients but destroyed my faith in the health system AKA #SicknessIndustry .