The Brych Affair: Promotion and control of cancer quack Milan Brych

In 1978, self-proclaimed cancer 'doctor' Milan Brych set up a clinic in the Cook Islands offering a treatment that Brych claimed could cure 80% of terminal patients. Patients from Australia and New Zealand flew to Rarotonga to have the $12,000 treatment - at least one sold her house to pay for it. It was, however, one of Australia's most prominent cases of quackery. Most of Brych's patients died within months and were buried in the Rarotonga cemetery, which became known locally as the 'Brych Yard'. Given the contemporary interest in medical misinformation and the key role of historians in bringing enriched understandings of the past to assist in confronting contemporary challenges, it is timely to consider the Brych Affair. This paper looks at this notable case of cancer quackery, what Brych claimed his treatment was, his communication strategies and the role of the media, and what motivated his patients to seek his treatment and advocate for him. Further, the Brych Affair raised significant legal and public interest challenges, answered by the Commonwealth Government with bold - but constitutionally questionable - legislation. Drawing on historical scholarship on quackery, regulation of the medical profession, and contemporary studies on misinformation, this paper considers issues of media ethics and regulation, terminal patients' rights, and legal responses