Eric Weisman Gets Fine and Probation for Violating Court Order

I recently received a comment from Mr. Eric Weisman, promoter of Evolution Diet, regarding a post I wrote about his products in 2009. The comment was full of conspiracy theories, baseless accusations, and a general disregard for truth. At that time of my original article, I knew only that Mr. Weisman was making claims about his diet, as well as other commercial diets and veterinary medicine as a profession, that were untrue and without any basis in fact. It later became clear that Mr. Weisman isn’t interested in facts at all when a reader pointed out that Mr. Weisman had been sanctioned numerous times for violating the terms of his license as a chiropractor and for practicing veterinary medicine without a license. In an update to my original post, I made available the public documents showing this pattern of dishonest behavior, for which Mr. Weisman ultimately lost his license to practice chiropractic.

Unfortunately, this did not disabuse him of the mistaken belief that he was qualified to practice medicine on both humans and animals, since he was subsequently charged with violating the terms of this court injunction along with new counts of practicing medicine without a license and mistreatment of animals, as I reported in an update last year. The allegations included some horrific descriptions of unethical behavior, including this from a veterinarian at the University of Minnesota,

Weisman brought in a cat he suspected had kidney failure and cancerous lesions, the complaint said. According to the U’s veterinarian, the cat had neither – it died of pneumonia, was unable to absorb nutrients from the food it ate and had broken bones in each of its front legs. The suspected cancerous lesions, the veterinarian said, were actually scabs caused by the cat walking on its joints instead of its broken feet, the complaint said.

Earlier this year, Mr. Weisman and the authorities reached a plea deal in which he pled guilty to violating the terms of his earlier court agreement. In return for this plea, he received a fine a 90-day suspended sentence, and probation, and the other charges were dropped. Interestingly, Mr. Weisman did not deny that he diagnosed a dog with cancer and prescribed treatment for it or that he recommended treatment to a man with lymphoma, he merely claimed that in doing so he explicitly told them he wasn’t a doctor and so was not legally allowed to practice medicine. Apparently, this disclaimer, followed by behavior indistinguishable from the practice of medicine, is sufficient to absolve Mr. Weisman of legal responsibility for his actions.

Naturally, Mr. Weisman sees his conviction as a vindication, and it’s hard not to see why when such egregious disregard for the law of the truth meet with such mild sanction. And it seems clear that no lesson has been learned here. While sprinkling his web site with disclaimers about not being allowed to practice veterinary or human medicine, statements like this are still to be found there:

Q. I have concerns about how healthy a Vegetarian Diet is for my Pet. My pet is having some problems and I have been feeding my pet another pet food or Evolution for a while and I’m not sure if it’s the food causing the problem.

Please phone me immediately with any Health Concerns at 651-221-9056 and leave a message for me, Eric Weisman, Scientist, Dr. of Health Sciences. I have helped many Dogs, Cats, Ferrets and Humans with Health and Behavior Issues in 1000’s of cases. I am an internal disease expert with many years of both Nutrient Compound Procedure and Drug-Surgery Health Experience and feeding a Meat Based or Vegetarian Diet to many types of animals, including wild outdoor animals and exotic pets. Although it is far better to phone for the fastest response, you may also e-mail us about health, behavior, and product issues at weisman@qwestoffice.net. For Urgent issues,call 651-492-2190.

We can tell you exactly how we treat a Dog, Cat or Ferret with the same or similar condition you or a veterinarian describes. I will give you the most accurate information possible about our Nutrient Compound Procedures. I can also use your Veterinary Diagnosis and we can review your Veterinary Lab Work & Diagnosis. I would also be glad to work with your veterinarian, although that will involve extra veterinary expense. Again, I will tell you about all the supplements and what we do in the same or similar case. Because of current law, we can not refer to our Nutrient Compound Procedures as a diagnosis, prevention, treatment or cure. I am a former physician with 23 years of experience with humans. I have worked and helped people in thousands of cases with their dogs, cats and ferrets for 20 years explaining exactly how I use nutrient, botanical and pharmaceutical procedures in cancers, immune system disfunction and failure, infectious disorders, kidney and liver failure, etc..

Despite have no recognized medical credentials, Mr. Weisman is willing to make recommendations and sell products to people with ill pets by representing himself as “an internal disease expert” and a “former physician” (not a former chiropractor stripped of his license, which would be accurate). This seems quite clearly to violate the terms of Mr. Weisman’s plea, but ultimately that is up to the Minnesota Attorney General, or perhaps the Little Canada City Attorney.

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4 Responses to Eric Weisman Gets Fine and Probation for Violating Court Order

  1. v.t. says:

    And his website still indicates he is still practicing veterinary medicine (probably of the holistic variety, and also claims he has run a naturopathic practice for some years):

    http://www.petfoodshop.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=browse&id=1678534&pageid=109

    He claims he gets amoxicillin and clavamox from his “own vet”, without that vet ever seeing the pet, then Weisman mixes the amoxi or clavamox with his concoctions.

    Should this not be an alarm for the powers that be???

  2. Rita says:

    Sorry, know this isn’t on-topic, but I’ve just seen an advertisement for these products: http://www.backontrack.com/ – some sort of joint wrappings with ceramic particles, “clinically proven” etc, for humans, dogs, horses……worth a look?

  3. Pingback: Vegan Cats? | Skeptical Vegan

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