The FBI on Thursday raided a Detroit-area medical facility for reportedly treating non-hospitalized coronavirus patients with intravenous vitamin C, which the FBI appears to be claiming is a “fraudulent treatment.”
Allure Medical Spa, which is owned by Dr. Charles Mok, had been giving out vitamin C injections for free to first responders before the FBI came in and aggressively shut him down.
WATCH:
FBI agents went into the building wearing full protective gear to protect themselves from potential exposure. Sources claim the raid is because Allure has been allegedly performing treatments for COVID-19 patients without an approved treatment or cure.
On April 18, Allure’s Facebook page had a post that said “At Allure Medical, we have been using intravenous vitamin c therapy to treat COVID-19 in non-hospitalized patients with great results.”
That post, as well as a post on Allure Medical’s official website on vitamin c treatments, has been taken down.
After talking to staff members off-camera, some believe this is a misunderstanding. They claim the vitamin c is meant to help prevent or shorten the duration.
Dr. Charles Mok, who owns Allure Medical Spa, did a Facebook live video giving an IV-vitamin c treatment for free to a Detroit police officer. In the video, Mok said “What I’m finding in practice — I treat a lot of COVID patients — is that if we catch people early, get them on intravenous vitamin c, they turn around really fast.”
While it may not be a “cure,” vitamin C is being used widely as a treatment for coronavirus in hospitals throughout the world and has been shown to be effective in patients with sepsis and severe acute respiratory failure in past studies. Multiple clinical trials to study its effectiveness at treating the coronavirus are currently ongoing.
FOX 2 Detroit, which simply parroted the line fed to them by the FBI, claimed vitamin C is a “fake treatment” and quoted FBI spokesperson Mara Schneider saying the clinic was accused of providing “fraudulent treatments for COVID-19” and allegedly “did not observe proper protocols to protect patients and staff from the virus.”
FOX 2 Detroit said a doctor at the facility told them Dr. Mok is “ahead of the curve in this type of treatment and has always put the [patients’] health first, often treating them for free.”
“Vitamin C infusion, is a common practice in the US because it boosts the immune system,” the doctor said.
“I’ve gone there for several years and always found them to be so welcoming and helpful and informative,” one of their patients told FOX 2 Detroit.
“The FBI said that no one is in custody, no arrests were made but they did say that this was an ongoing investigation,” FOX 2 Detroit reported.
Here’s what appears to be a press release Allure Medical put out the day of the raid:
Allure Medical Offering High-Dose Intravenous Vitamin C to Frontline Employees
Allure Medical is providing high-dose intravenous vitamin C therapy to all frontline employees who are at risk of contracting COVID-19 and to existing COVID-19 patients. “We are using high-dose IV vitamin C to help support peoples’ immune systems and to help those with the virus recover quicker. We want to provide this treatment to those who need it, regardless of their ability to pay,” says Dr. Charles Mok, founder of Allure Medical.
Intravenous vitamin C is being used in hospitals across the country to help the disease associated with COVID-19 – Severe Acute Respiratory (SARS – COV 2). In numerous studies intravenous vitamin C appears to reduce the duration and severity in more moderate forms of COVID-19 by stimulating your immune system. High-dose intravenous vitamin C is becoming the standard of care for patients.
If you are a frontline worker exposed to the COVID-19 or are currently showing any symptoms, you may want to boost your immune system with high-dose intravenous vitamin C therapy. Most insurers have waived the co-pay deductibles for COVID-19-related diagnosis. Allure Medical is providing at risk, frontline workers, at no charge. Frontline workers, such as hospital staff, policemen, first responders, grocery store employees and others working closely with the public, are at a higher risk for contracting COVID-19. In addition, the general public can contact Allure Medical to conduct a telehealth evaluation to determine if immune support with a high-dose intravenous vitamin C therapy would be beneficial. Please note: Allure Medical will not treat sick people at the same time as healthy people and continues to exceed CDC guidelines for disinfectants and cleanliness.
The only statement I can imagine the FBI could have taken issue with is Mok saying they’re using it to “help those with the virus recover quicker.”
It hasn’t been proven yet in double-blind clinical trials that vitamin C helps coronavirus patients recover quicker but this is a doctor recommending a common treatment of a heavily studied, essential vitamin to non-hospitalized patients for (mostly) free.
Raiding his facility and shutting his business down for giving free vitamin C treatments in the midst of a pandemic strikes me as massive overkill.
Could this dispute not have been solved with a simple letter or a phone call?
