’The Curious Case Of…’: Wellness Guru Robert O. Young’s Controversial Treatment Methods Caused One Staff Member to Abruptly Quit [CLIP]
A California wellness guru promised that his unique treatment methods would lead to better health. But in reality, this fake doctor’s supposed miracle cure caused far more harm than good, insiders say in the season premiere of Investigation Discovery’s The Curious Case Of...
Woman recalls working with fake wellness guru
The Curious Case Of… Death By Detox looks at Robert O. Young, a former college tennis star and descendant of Brigham Young who made a name for himself with his pH Miracle book series.
Young – who had no legitimate medical training – advocated for an alkaline diet centering on an avocado-based green smoothie. His books were bestsellers, and he had his own line of holistic supplements and a roster of wealthy clients. But when things went sideways with Young’s treatment, he was quick to try to distance himself from the situation.
In a clip from the episode, which airs January 12, energy healer and former employee Dessa Ireland recounts a disturbing incident that led her to cut ties with Young.
Ireland recalled a patient of Young’s who was in very poor health – so poor, in fact, that she thought when she said goodbye to him on a Friday that he might not live through the weekend. When Ireland returned to work on Monday, she found a nurse in tears and the patient gone.
“They put this client in the back of the Suburban, not the backseat, the back of the Suburban, and took him to Orange County to a hospital so that he did not die at the ranch,” Ireland says. “They did not want that on their property.”
This disturbing discovery led her to quit working with Young
Ireland discovered something “even worse” when she ventured into the patient’s room.
“I saw the condition of the way he expelled his colonic,” she says. “Happened on the bed, a trail to the bathroom, happened on the toilet. It was green. Everything green. Green juice, green colonic, green everything.”
“Had it been blood, it would have looked like a murder scene,” she adds.
Ireland cleaned and sanitized the room. Then she went to the office.
“I told the manager that I quit,” she says. “I never spoke to Robert Young again.”
Young has been convicted multiple times of practicing medicine without a license and is currently serving more than five years in prison for his fraudulent treatment of a 79-year-old woman with a life-threatening liver illness.
San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan called Young’s actions “unconscionable.”
Young had “nothing more than a high school education and purchased ‘degrees’ from unaccredited correspondence schools,” Stephan said. “His fraudulent treatments did not address the serious illnesses of his patients, putting them at serious risk.”
The Curious Case Of… airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Investigation Discovery. Episodes also stream on HBO Max.
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