Sacred Heart Medical Center's director of hematology says "This is at best, bad science."

03:35 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 31, 2004

By DAWN PICKEN / KREM 2 NEWS

KREM

SPOKANE VALLEY -- What if someone told you they could help you improve your health, just by looking at your blood? Countless people across North America have tried the technique promoted as an alternative therapy. KREM 2's Dawn Picken discovered a Spokane Valley business that may be breaking the law with the procedure.

A business known as Micromed Research has operated in the City of Spokane Valley for almost one year. Meagan Walsh, the owner of the business, claims she can help people fight fatigue, improve digestion and battle stress. Her clients pay hundreds of dollars for a technique many doctors say is no better than reading tea leaves

Carolyn Shelley was preparing to look at a magnified drop of her blood on a video screen. The procedure is called live blood analysis. Shelley told KREM 2 News this was her second session with the woman she called Doctor Meagan. Shelley said she wanted to learn what conventional doctors have been unable to explain to her. "I complain about being fatigued and they don't have any answers for that," she said.

Shelly said Doctor Meagan recommended coral, calcium and enzyme supplements and foods specific for Shelley's blood type. "It's only been a week, so it's hard to tell," she said. "But yesterday and today I've felt a lot better than I have in a long time."

Shelley is among several Micromed clients we met who say their lives have changed after Doctor Meagan analyzed their blood. Using a method often referred to as "live cell analysis," Walsh places a drop of client's blood under a microscope that sends the image to a television monitor. "Walsh was able to tell me the particles in my blood told me I had an irritation to white flour," said another MicroMed client, Laura Wentz.

Another Micromed client Larry McCormick, who also sees Walsh said, "With her blood analysis, you can see that what you're taking is giving you some results. The white cells have more integrity."

The analysis by Walsh costs $125.

Walsh recommends supplements, which she sells for $30 a bottle and dietary changes based on what she sees on screen. "Different structures of red cells tell us different things," Walsh said. "Is it diagnostic? No, it is not and can be subjective. I'm not a diagnostician."

Despite her disclaimers, she's not treating disease, the state of Washington is investigating two complaints against Walsh for being an unlicensed health care practitioner as well as running an unlicensed blood lab. "Blood work certainly could be considered care that would be regulated," said Washington Health Department spokesman Donn Moyer. "If it looks like medical care and it sounds like medical care, it's medical care."

But Meagan Walsh is not a doctor or a nurse or a chiropractor. "I'm just a scientist," she explained. "I received a PhD and earned it in orthomolecular biology."

According to the government, that claim by Walsh is not true. The diploma on her office wall is from Columbia State University, a diploma mill. Columbia advertised degrees people could earn in as few as 27 days for $3,000 until the state of Louisiana shut it down in 1998. "I know a lot of stuff," Walsh said. "I've studied for many years under really credible people."

Walsh refused to tell KREM 2 News who these credible people were. "I don't really want those people disturbed right now," she explained. Walsh said she's doing another online study course through Trinity College in Indiana, which authorities also say is also a diploma mill. "I don't apologize for what I've learned," she said. "I don't apologize for what I know. I'm a research scientist and this is a research facility."

When Walsh was asked 'Who uses your research?' She replied, "I'm probably not at liberty to say."

Former Micromed associate Scott Lane said he was initially impressed by Walsh's apparent expertise. However, Lane said he quit the business last March after red flags appeared. One example he told KREM 2 News was the man who showed up at Micromed to train with Walsh. "And he said he went to this weekend class and he was going to do live blood cell analysis," Lane recalled. "You know something's not right when someone can go to a weekend class, grab a microscope and open up and say 'I'll look at your blood and tell you what you need to do."

In fact, KREM 2 News found an online company known as Biomedx in Chicago offering a three-day course in live cell analysis. For $900, anyone, regardless of education or experience, can get a certificate. The website reads, "After the three days of training, you'll be up and running and can begin generating revenue with your microscope."

KREM 2 News wanted to learn what Walsh would say about reporter Dawn Picken's blood. Walsh told her that her red cells were clumped together. She said Picken could possibly have fatigue, brain fog and a hormonal imbalance. "This would require a sequence of enzymes," said Walsh. Of live cell analysis, Walsh claims, "the science is behind it and the science is valid."

Sacred Heart Medical Center's Doctor William Dittman disagrees. "The science is behind it and the science is valid. I wouldn't even go so far as to call it junk science," he said.

Doctor Dittman is the director of hematology at Sacred Heart Medical Center. He and many other medical doctors say live cell analysis, also called dark-field video analysis and nutritional microscopy, is an unproven fad that could be used to sell supplements. "The danger is, you're delaying finding out what may be going on," Doctor Dittman said. "You're also spending money."

KREM 2 News had Doctor Dittman examine at Picken's blood, unstained, just as Walsh performed the procedure at Micromed. Even after 25 years of studying cells, Dittman said there's not much he could diagnose with an unstained slide. "If we stain the blood, I might be able to make definitive diagnosis," he explained. "I see no reason to believe any of it. This is at best, bad science."

Walsh told KREM 2 News she believes in what she's doing. "I just want to get the message out that it's time to dream the impossible dream," she explained.

The federal government has said that any facility performing live blood cell analysis must have clinical certification. Micromed has no such certification. Walsh said she didn't think she needed any type of certification.

Walsh also told KREM 2 News that she's closing her business in Spokane Valley to work with a doctor at Post Falls, Idaho.