$2.5 Million Verdict Against Lase Med Inc. and Antonella Carpenter for Phony Breast-Cancer Treatment

In September 2007, Therese Westphal, a 54-year-old California mother of three, received a diagnosis she had feared: a 2.25-inch tumor in her left breast, classified as stage two breast cancer. Her oncologist placed her survival odds at 75 to 90 percent with timely standard treatment. Soon after, while shopping at a California health-food store, Westphal came across a promotional flier for Lase Med Inc., a company operated by Antonella Carpenter, a self-described physicist based in Arkansas. The flier promised a "100 percent success rate" in destroying breast cancer tumors through a laser procedure Carpenter called "LIESH Therapy."

Westphal paid $6,250 for a course of treatment. Carpenter told her after one week that her cancer was gone and instructed her to stay away from medical doctors. Westphal believed her. By the time she returned to conventional care, the cancer had advanced to stage four. Her estimated survival odds had fallen to roughly 20 percent.

Carpenter held no medical license. Her academic credentials were disputed, and her standing to offer any health treatment was contested throughout the litigation. The therapy itself claimed to work by heating tumors to 134 degrees Fahrenheit with laser equipment, a mechanism no credible expert could substantiate. Multiple patients testified at trial about similar experiences after pursuing treatment at Lase Med clinics.

McMath Woods attorney Will Bond filed suit in the Eastern District of Arkansas, advancing claims of fraud and deceptive trade practices. At trial before U.S. District Judge James Moody in Little Rock, Bond called oncologist Bill Tranum, who testified that the Lase Med treatment had no demonstrated value against breast cancer. Bond characterized what Carpenter sold patients as "snake oil" in plain terms the jury heard and credited.

Neither Carpenter nor any representative of Lase Med appeared at trial. Carpenter, reached separately by reporters, denied practicing medicine and claimed civil rights violations. The jury returned its verdict on June 14, 2011, finding both defendants liable for fraud. Damages totaled $2.5 million: $500,000 in compensatory damages, plus $1 million in punitive damages against Carpenter individually and $1 million against Lase Med Inc.

The Department of Justice later pursued Carpenter criminally for similar conduct at a clinic she operated in the Tulsa area, resulting in a conviction and a $1.1 million criminal forfeiture judgment covering fees she collected from 97 patients over six years.