Controversial cancer death doc struck off A DOCTOR involved in the radical alternative treatment of seven cancer patients - six of whom died within weeks - has been officially struck off the Medical Practitioners list. Dr Alexandra Boyd took part in the treatment masterminded by Austrian doctor Hellfried Sartori, which was later subject to a coronial inquest that concluded it accelerated the deaths of at least four women. On May 14, 2005, Sandra McCarty, 53, from Victoria, 68-year-old Pia Bosso from NSW, Perth woman Sandra Kokalis, 52, and Deborah Gruber, 42, from New York, underwent the treatment at the Mosman Park home of Dr Boyd. However, all of the women died about two weeks later, consecutively over four days, after being rushed to hospital with various symptoms, including gastrointestinal bleeding and seizures. A fifth patient, 29-year-old Perth man Carmelo Vinciullo, underwent the treatment on May 20, 2005 but stopped after five days, following unbearable pain and being told to "control the pain with his mind." Mr Vinciullo died on July 1, 2005 because of respiratory failure, and a sixth patient died within nine weeks of being treated. The seventh patient, who ceased the treatment after 11 days, survived a further four and a half years. While the inquest focused on the five patients who died in the shortest times after commencing the treatment, the Medical Board of Australia made seven allegations of either infamous or improper conduct in a professional respect, gross carelessness or incompetence against Dr Boyd for her actions. At a hearing of the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT), Dr Boyd - who has already relinquished her registration, and says she is now bankrupt - was still claiming she had little to do with the treatment, other than take blood tests from the patients. But the SAT concluded Dr Boyd had demonstrated "an abject failure ... to meet the standards expected of a medical practitioner by the public." Dr Boyd's continued minimalisation of her participation in the treatment of these patients demonstrates a worrying lack of insight. That lack of insight heightens the necessity to make orders which adequately protect the public," SAT president John Chaney said.