Purification Rundown - Adverse Outcomes

Adverse Outcomes

Paride Ella and Giuseppe Tomba, clients of Narconon in Taceno, Italy, died in 1995 during the vitamin phase of the program, suffering kidney problems and a heart attack respectively.

In 1996, journalist Mark Ebner described the case of a woman who had suffered heatstroke and anemia while on the program.

One day, she was found blue-lipped on the waiting room floor, hemorrhaging. Instead of taking her blood pressure or calling an ambulance or even a doctor, they explained away her bleeding as "restimulation" from radiation she had absorbed from ultrasound testing she'd had years before.

In 1997, two emergency room doctors reported treating a 45-year-old man who had participated in the Rundown. Previously healthy, he had developed tremors while on the program, for which the Church of Scientology recommended further Purification as treatment. Put back in the sauna, he developed seizures and was taken to hospital in an incoherent state. He was diagnosed with severe hyponatremia but three days of treatment returned him to normal. In a similar case, the wife of a Medina, Ohio dentist required hospitalisation after developing hallucinations and other bizarre symptoms during the program. In 2004, a former participant in the UK told reporters that the program had gravely worsened his physical condition, and that he had been denied medical treatment.

A 25-year-old man in Portland, Oregon died from liver failure having taken the program. His parents sued the Church of Scientology and the case was settled out of court. Scientology officials blamed the death on prior medical problems.