LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — WFTV found out that a Lake County doctor, who posted signs telling people if they supported the president's health care plan they should to get treatment somewhere else, regularly leaves the country to perform a procedure not approved in the U.S. He claims the procedure cures prostate cancer.
Now, a congressman is calling for his license to be revoked.
The sign that started the controversy is still on the front door of his Mount Dora doctor's office telling patients who voted for Obama to seek care elsewhere. Now, urologist Jack Cassell is under fire for taking patients to the Caribbean to treat prostate cancer using a device that's not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
"He's taking people to other countries in order to get cash out of them like they are some human ATM," Congressman Alan Grayson said.
Grayson, who fought for Obama's health care plan, thinks Dr. Cassell should lose his medical license.
"I think Alan Grayson is an idiot," Cassell said. "I do everything by the book. I am not doing anything illegal."
In the last three years, Cassell has treated 50 Central Florida patients in the Caribbean. The procedure costs $25,000 and destroys prostate tumors using a high-intensity ultrasound instead of incisions. Cassel says he only makes a couple thousand dollars off each procedure.
"I think it's deeply immoral," Grayson said.
Wearing a pin with a red "X" over Grayson's face, Cassell told WFTV the technique's success rate is comparable to standard treatment for prostate cancer without the invasive surgery.
"What about people who say it's unethical?" WFTV reporter Vanessa Welch asked the doctor.
"They don't have to have it done," he replied.
The procedure is used in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Japan and South America, but not in the U.S. The FDA is currently studying the device. Dr. Cassel expects it will be approved in the next year.
WFTV
