BajaNews - 2-4-2006 at 05:53 PM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20060203-9999-1s3doctor...
Olympians treated by 'doctor' banned in U.S.
By Brent Schrotenboer
February 3, 2006
An 81-year-old former San Diego ?doctor? who was banned from practicing medicine in the United States has re-emerged ? this time in Mexico, treating
famed U.S. skier Bode Miller and several other Olympic skiers.
It's the latest chapter in the long and bizarre history of Milne Joseph Ongley, who shot and killed a man in Nevada in 1977, endured a pipe-bomb
attack on his motor home in Orange County in 1987 and has faced a long list of legal problems, including a 1987 malpractice suit by Olympic high
jumper Dwight Stones.
Ongley now works in Ensenada, where he gives injections of his ?Ongley solution,? a combination of substances that reportedly has helped several
Olympians. However, a 1992 California court ruling prohibited Ongley from saying the solution was accepted medically and was without risk.
Reached in Ensenada yesterday, Ongley declined comment, saying he agreed only to talk to ESPN, which has taped an interview with him scheduled to air
next week.
?They said, 'Please, until this program is aired, no other interviews,' ? Ongley said. ?They did not pay me. . . . But a man's word is his word.
That's the deal we made.?
ESPN The Magazine reported that at least four members of the nine-member U.S. Olympic men's ski team have visited Ongley, including Miller and J.J.
Johnson, who credited Ongley for his being on the team.
Miller also had credited Ongley for relieving pain in his left knee after he injured it in a downhill crash in 2001, according to Sports Illustrated.
The magazine mentioned that Miller was treated by Ongley in Ensenada in July. Miller and other Ongley patients are gearing up for the Winter Olympics
in Italy next week.
Calls seeking comment to U.S. Ski Association President Bill Marolt, U.S. Ski Team coach Phil McNichol and trainer Paul Meier yesterday were not
returned.
USSA spokesman Tom Kelly wrote in an e-mail yesterday to The San Diego Union-Tribune, ?We do not have any comments? on Ongley.
AJ Bear, an Australian Olympic alpine skier, said in a statement in November that his injured left knee ?felt 10 years younger? after taking advice
from Miller, the controversial U.S. skier, to travel to Mexico for treatment from Ongley.
Former Olympic pole vaulter Mike Tully and volleyball player Mike Dodd also vouched for Ongley's procedures 16 years ago ? before he resurfaced in
Mexico.
The California Medical Board banned Ongley from using the ?Ongley Solution? in 1992, when Ongley also was banned from practicing in the United States
by an Orange County judge. He had been found guilty of multiple violations of the state health and professions code, including practicing medicine
without a license, according to a copy of the judgment. A story in the Union-Tribune that year reported that authorities had identified more than nine
patients harmed by Ongley's injections.
Ongley injects his solution ? identified as a mixture of phenol, glycerine, dextrose, distilled water and a local anesthetic ? into patients' injured
ligaments as part of a treatment called prolotherapy. The injections cause inflammation, which promotes tissue growth, according to the theory.
Ongley, who was trained in Ireland, has his disciples and is thought of as a ?genius? by some, including Dr. Thomas Dorman of the Paracelsus Clinic in
Washington state.
?You will find extensive articles on my Web page regarding the work we all learned from him,? said Dorman, who declined further comment yesterday
because he first wanted to clear his comments with Ongley.
Authorities and others have been more critical. Stones sued Ongley in 1987, blaming his badly torn hamstring muscle on the Ongley technique. Stones
also charged him with impersonating a licensed physician, misdiagnosing his hamstring problem and negligence. Stones did not return an e-mail seeking
comment yesterday.
In 1989, Ongley's California acupuncture license was revoked after it was discovered he lied about his past troubles in his application for
certification. The state acupuncture board learned that in 1974 his license to practice in New Zealand was revoked. A judgment of $79,906 was made
against him in that country in 1973 in a malpractice case, according to the ruling.
According to a 1990 story in The San Diego Union, Ongley moved to the United States after marrying a San Diego woman, Marilyn M. Cooper Ongley, a
former figure skater whom he reportedly met in Africa.
In 1977, Ongley shot and killed a man in his house, Las Vegas police said at the time. Police said the case was considered a justifiable homicide
after Ongley said an intruder was trying to rape his wife.
In 1987, Ongley escaped unharmed when a pipe bomb exploded beneath his motor home in Costa Mesa. The case remains unsolved, according to a Costa Mesa
police spokesman yesterday.
After his professional ban in the United States, he showed up in Mexico. His Web site says he's practicing there because he was presented ?with a
unique opportunity by a new hospital in Ensenada . . . that seemed ideal.?
[Edited on 2-5-2006 by BajaNews]
NZ-born therapist in Olympic row
BajaNews - 2-21-2006 at 03:50 AM
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&Ob...
17.02.06
The controversial work of a New Zealand-born orthopaedic practitioner in Ensenada, Mexico, Milne Joseph Ongley, is attracting attention in debate at
the Turin Winter Olympics over alternative medicines.
Mr Ongley is best known for injecting a solution that includes a substance found in mouthwash into the knee of injured competitive skiers to promote
healing - including nearly half the US alpine skiing team. US alpine skier Bode Miller is at the centre of the debate, the Los Angeles Times reported
this week.
He and another US skier, Erik Schlopy, have acknowledged travelling to Mexico for shots of "the Ongley solution" from Mr Ongley, who calls himself on
his website "the Mozart of reconstructive therapy".
The Ongley solution, according to the website, consists of distilled water, sugar, glycerin and phenol, an antiseptic sometimes used in mouthwash and
throat lozenges. None of those ingredients are banned as performance-enhancing, and the treatment, known as prolotherapy, is also available in the US.
Neither Miller nor Schlopy has ever failed a drug test, but US ski team officials have publicly voiced doubts about the treatments, and at the same
time medical experts have said mainstream interest in prolotherapy is growing.
Prolotherapy is a technique that is more than a century old; it purports to stimulate cell growth that can repair an injury by triggering inflammation
of surrounding tissue or joints.
Although the therapy has shown promise in some studies, it has not been widely accepted because of great variation in the injections and solutions,
which sometimes contain an anaesthetic. A number of the solutions studied are similar to those that Mr Ongley says he uses.
ESPN has reported that at least four members of the nine-member US Olympic men's ski team have visited Mr Ongley, including Miller, Schlopy, and J. J.
Johnson, who credited Mr Ongley for his being on the team.
Now aged 81, Mr Ongley's website says that he earned a medical degree in 1953 in Ireland. Herald files show he left New Zealand after he was fined
$80,000 for malpractice in 1973, and moved through Africa to the United States, where he ran foul of authorities in four states.
In 1989, Mr Ongley's California acupuncture licence was revoked for illegally practising medicine, harming patients and committing perjury after it
was discovered he lied about his past troubles in his application for certification.
The state acupuncture board learned his licence to practice in New Zealand was revoked. In 1992, he was convicted of practising medicine without a
licence in California and New Mexico.
The 1992 California court ruling prohibited Mr Ongley from saying the solution was accepted medically and was without risk. A story in the San Diego
Union-Tribune, reported authorities had identified more than nine patients harmed by Mr Ongley's injections.
Before these difficulties, Mr Ongley earned a strong reputation among athletes drawn to him by testimonials in muscle magazines. In the 1980s, he
treated some US Olympic medal winners, including pole-vaulter Mike Tully, and volleyball player Mike Dodd.
He also treated high jumper Dwight Stones, who sued Mr Ongley in 1987, blaming his badly torn hamstring muscle on his treatment.
After leaving California, Mr Ongley moved to a hotel in Mexico. From Tijuana on the border to Ensenada 100km south, there are many facilities where
practitioners locked out of the US offer therapies considered unproven.
According to a 1990 story in the San Diego Union, Mr Ongley moved to the US after marrying a San Diego woman, Marilyn M. Cooper Ongley, a former
figure skater he met in Africa.
In 1977, Mr Ongley shot and killed a man in his house.
Las Vegas police said it was considered a justifiable homicide after Mr Ongley said an intruder was trying to rape his wife.
In 1987, Mr Ongley escaped unharmed when a pipe bomb exploded beneath his motor home in Costa Mesa.