Josef M. Issels; Pioneer in Alternative Cancer Treatment

Dr. Josef Maria Issels, 90, controversial advocate of alternative as well as traditional treatments for cancer. Born in Monchen-Gladbach, Germany, Issels ran afoul of the Nazis by treating Jewish patients. As punishment, he was drafted and sent to the Russian front, where he was captured and held as a prisoner of war through 1945. In 1951, he opened the Ringberg-Klinik in Rottach-Egern, Germany, the first hospital in Europe offering alternative treatments for terminal cancer. His methods resulted in jail and a trial for fraud and manslaughter in the early 1960s--ending in acquittal. The BBC broadcast a documentary on him in 1970 in which respected medical educators praised him for his contributions to “the whole person approach” to cancer therapy. Issels wrote two books, “More Cures for Cancer” and “Cancer: A Second Opinion,” and was the subject of the book “Issels--the Biography of a Doctor.” On Feb. 11 in Rancho Santa Fe, of pneumonia caused by influenza.