Doctor sued over treatment given to 5-year-old autistic boy who died

PITTSBURGH - The parents of a 5-year-old autistic boy who died after receiving a controversial chemical treatment yesterday sued the doctor who administered it for wrongful death.

Mawra and Rufai Nadama, who live in Britain, accused Roy Kerry of causing their son, Abubakar Tariq Nadama, to die of cardiac arrest at Kerry's office immediately after the boy received chelation therapy in 2005.

Chelation removes heavy metals from the body and is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration only for acute heavy-metal poisoning that has been confirmed by blood tests. Some people who believe autism is caused by a mercury-containing preservative once used in vaccines say chelation may also help autistic children.

"This is a real human tragedy that never should have happened," said John Gismondi, the Pittsburgh attorney representing the Nadamas. "The doctor had no business administering this drug to a child, and he only made matters worse by giving it much too quickly."

Local and state prosecutors are investigating the death.

Kerry, of Greenville, did not immediately return a message left at his office yesterday. The lawsuit also names another doctor who allegedly directed a medical assistant to administer the fatal dose at Kerry's behest at the Advanced Integrative Medicine Center in Portersville, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh.

The Nadamas are also suing ApotheCure Inc., of Dallas, and several sister corporations, which supplied, made or tested the chelation solution but which, they contend, did not provide appropriate warnings or instructions. ApotheCure did not return a call seeking comment.

The Department of State, which licenses physicians in Pennsylvania, filed six disciplinary charges in September against Kerry, including unprofessional conduct and breaching the standard of care. Those charges were still pending and could result in fines or the revocation or suspension of his license.

The department alleged that Kerry prescribed an IV push - meaning the drugs are administered in one dose intravenously - despite warnings that the method can be lethal. He also prescribed the wrong formula of the drug, officials said.

In a response to the department's allegations, Kerry, 68, denied wrongdoing and said investigators were biased because of his age and because he advertises alternative medical treatments.

The lawsuit filed yesterday echoes the Department of State's allegations and the results of an autopsy that showed the boy's cardiac arrest was caused by a sudden drop in calcium. The lawsuit stresses the role that the IV push allegedly played in the boy's death and claims Kerry ordered the wrong chelation solution - one that did not contain a calcium additive.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also investigated the death, has said he was given Disodium EDTA instead of Calcium Disodium EDTA.

The Nadamas, who live in Plymouth, England, had moved to the Pittsburgh area to get treatment for their son.