Body of Prominent Autism Doctor Found in River — Family and Patients Cry Foul

2nd July 2015

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

A leading autism researcher and physician was found dead last week in North Carolina under what many believe are questionable circumstances.

The body of Dr. Jeff Bradstreet was discovered by a Rocky Broad River fisherman in Chimney Rock, North Carolina Friday afternoon June 19th. A press release by the local sheriff’s office states that Dr. Bradstreet “had a gunshot wound to the chest, which appears to be self inflicted.”

An investigation into the death is still in progress. Results from the autopsy on June 23rd have yet to be released.

Notably, Dr. Bradstreet’s death occurred shortly after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency raided his clinic.

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The Gwinnett Daily Post reports: “The FDA has yet to reveal why agents searched the office of the doctor, reportedly a former pastor who has been controversial for well over a decade. Robert Hiser, an assistant special agent in charge with the federal agency’s criminal investigations division, referred questions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta, which couldn’t immediately be reached Thursday.”

Rick Allen, director of the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency was also unavailable for comment.

The life and work of Jeff Bradstreet

When Bradstreet’s 18-month-old son, Matthew, exhibited signs of autism, Dr. Bradstreet began a journey to find answers. He consulted with doctors Bernard Rimland, Sidney Baker and Doris Rapp, whom, like Dr. Bradstreet, refused to believe that autism was untreatable.

He investigated the role of the gut, electrolyte absorption and seizures in the disorder. Eventually, Dr. Bradstreet fine tuned a comprehensive protocol that included educational, behavioral and biomedical interventions. Areas like dietary change, rebuilding gut flora, chelation therapy, detoxification and oxygen therapy were considered.

All in all, he reportedly helped over 4,000 children recover from autism and other correlated conditions.

A quick look at Dr. Bradstreet’s Facebook memorial page will attest to the fact that he touched the lives of many in a compassionate and caring way. “My son has been a patient of Dr. Jeff since 2004. He has considered Jeff Bradstreet a second father for a long time,” one parent writes. “My child had no language until about age six. Through Dr. Jeff’s care my son advanced immensely.”

Another said, “Dr. Jeffrey Bradstreet was a gift to my family…a blessing. While others took away our faith, you restored it. Followers of broken systems of antiquity offered nothing short of a life sentence. You offered us hope, and you delivered miracles. A pioneer and a warrior…you fearlessly carved out a new path. How fortunate we were to have crossed this path!”

However much he was loved by his patients and their families, Dr. Bradstreet also stirred controversy within the medical community.

“He was well aware that critics painted him with a wide brush, accusing him of practicing pseudoscience and worse. Yet this did not dissuade him, because the success he and others who used similar approaches saw was undeniable. He was dubbed a “no-vax” doctor, though his concern over vaccine policy and safety was well thought out and much more complex than that,” said Sheila Rogers DeMare, MS, in ACN Latitudes.

Ultimate despair or foul play?

The storm of debate surrounding Dr. Bradstreet’s methods have lead many to question the circumstances behind his death.

As one reader at Fox News bluntly points out, “Self-inflicted? In the chest? I’m not buying this. This was a doctor who had access to pharmaceuticals of all kinds. This was a religious man with a thriving medical practice. Sorry, but this stinks of murder and cover-up.”

Moreover, John Reinhold Sr., a former colleague of Dr. Bradstreet, states in the Washington Post:

“I can not accept the notion that Jeff would take his own life. His research was a threat to many representing huge financial losses in the hundreds of billions, if the direction his research was validating came to be accepted as ‘fact.’ We discussed this many times when he was in the earliest stages of his work. The public is unaware of how easy it is for someone knowledgeable whose financial interests are threatened to make a phone call and simply state, ‘He’s an annoyance we don’t need right now,’ and that simple statement putting plans in motion. If Jeff’s strong suspicions are right regarding cause and causes of autism, legal actions against those corporations implicated would be staggering and possibly unprecedented in the history of world finance. Jeff was brilliant and had every reason to live. Although we’ve not been in touch in recent years I can not fathom that he checked himself out.”

Due to the unresolved questions surrounding Dr. Bradstreet’s death, his family has created a GoFundMe campaign that will enable an in-depth investigation to establish the truth.

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