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Internationally renowned doctor and headache specialist Dr Elliot Shevel has been suspended from practising by the Health Professions Council of South Africa.

This has come after an investigation into the deaths of two of his patients, while one has been left in a vegetative state following a procedure at The Headache Clinic in Johannesburg.

81-year-old Shevel, a maxillo-facial and oral surgeon, started The Headache Clinic in 1992 and has served as its medical director ever since.

HPCSA spokesperson Priscilla Sekhonyana confirmed his suspension to News24 earlier this month, saying this was pending the institution of a formal inquiry.

“[It is alleged] he was posing harm or risk as a result of unsafe professional practice or substantial risk of such harm or injury. His conduct indicates that the members of the public might be at risk should he continue to practise his profession,” she said.

Dr Shevel’s downfall is related to the deaths of two patients;  one who died three years ago and another in June under similar circumstances. The first patient referred to was Marinella Avvakoumides, 38, who was hospitalised hours after being treated at his clinic in 2021. She died eight days later.

The family of the Avvakoumides, the academic director of a Cape Town fashion school, approached the medical watchdog to investigate the possibility of professional misconduct or negligence as the cause of their loved one’s death.

Apparently, she had been suffering from severe headaches for some time, which no doctor could treat effectively, until she found Shevel who could perform the so-called “Shevel Desensitisation Procedure”, which she underwent in June 2021.

According to The Headache Clinic’s website, the “very precise” practice uses a cautery needle to permanently numb the pain signals from the tendons that connect the neck muscles to the skull at the back of the head. This while allowing the tendons to continue to function normally.

The treatment is said to have a very high success rate after spending years developing it along with decades of research. However, Avvakoumides’ headaches persisted and she returned for a second procedure. Shortly afterwards, she was in a comatose state as her friend rushed her to Life Fourways Hospital, where she never regained consciousness and was declared brain dead a few days later.

 

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The autopsy found that her cause of death was “sequelae of intraspinal and intracranial haemorrhage” – essentially bleeding in the spine and brain – with features of surgical intervention consistent with the available history of craniocervical intramuscular injection.

The Avvakoumides family was “devastated with the course of events and the catastrophic outcome associated with the treatment/intervention performed” on her, according to Andrew, Marinella’s brother,  in his complaint asking that a “thorough professional review be undertaken” of Shevel’s conduct.

“These tragedies weigh very heavily on me,” Shevel told News24, adding that he was “deeply saddened”.

“While inferences can be made into the mechanism of what may have happened, the chain of events is still not certain, nor to what extent they are linked to the procedure. Due to this uncertainty, I understand the committee’s need to take this precautionary step and I am offering my full cooperation.”

Shevel argued that medical complications, even very serious ones, may arise following any medical procedure, and this does not automatically imply negligence nor that a duty of care was breached.

“No proven causative link has been established, nor was the suspension committee tasked with making such a finding. These matters will be thoroughly examined at the forthcoming inquiry,” he said.

He had attended a suspension hearing earlier this month, where he was verbally informed of the decision to be suspended.

“I am still coming to terms with these tragic events, and I hope for an outcome that gives closure to the families, while allowing the valuable knowledge and experience I have gained over the course of my career to be passed on safely to benefit future generations of headache and migraine sufferers.”

Meanwhile, Bruce Johnstone has left in a vegetative state after going to The Headache Clinic in Johannesburg for a procedure to cure tension headaches on 3 November 2022.

Tristan Clarke was just 20 years old when he went from matric student to the head of the household, carer of his disabled father and dad to his brothers, aged 11 and 13, reported News24.

Last week, Clarke submitted a complaint to the Health Professionals Council of SA (HPCSA) against internationally known Dr Elliot Shevel, 81, who was suspended last week following the deaths of two patients – one in June, and the other in 2021.

Shevel said although he is “very saddened” to hear of Cruce’s condition, the doctor denies that the procedure was even performed on the day he collapsed.

While Bruce was getting his headache treatment, staff called an ambulance to take him to Milpark Hospital when he collapsed and lost consciousness after an unspecified procedure was performed on him.

Johnstone was diagnosed with a bilateral haemorrhage to the brain, which is similar to what killed Avvakoumides.

Clarke said Johnstone was not just a father to him; “he was my best friend and biggest supporter”.

“As beautiful as it is that he survived, to me, my dad died on 3 November [2022],” Clarke said. “He was a healthy 50-year-old who had never smoked; he was a regular at the gym and was hands-on with a family that relied on him,” he said.

Clarke noted how his father’s headaches were not debilitating, and were merely stress-related and mildly frustrating. Now he is fully disabled, unable to move or speak.

In his statement to the HPCSA, Clarke said he called the clinic in late 2023 to establish what happened to his father while at the clinic.

“I spoke to a female who informed me during the telephone call that my father had begun with his treatment and approximately 20 minutes into the procedure, he had collapsed and was unconscious.”

Clarke said the clinic gave the family a refund after the procedure.

However, in News24’s inquiry with Shevel, the doctor claimed that “Mr Johnstone’s incident occurred before he had treatment.”

“He was being prepared for theatre when he received a very distressing personal call, I believe, regarding divorce and a custody battle for his children. Shortly thereafter he collapsed and was admitted to hospital immediately.”

Shevel has a lot to contend with right now, not to mention a public feud in 2015 involving his son Daniel, according to a TimesLIVE report, who alleged that his father was conducting illegal medical experiments on his patients, and that “innocent people have been hurt, some have been killed”.

At the time, Shevel Jnr was locked in a legal tussle for defaulting on thousands of rands in rental owed to his father for the flat in which he stayed in Cape Town. Rather bizarrely, he was also claiming the Hawks were attempting to assassinate him.

The migraine guru’s son (47 at the time) was also involved in a nasty spat peppered with supposed death threats after being fired from his father’s business in December 2015 for apparent misconduct and insubordination, which included an attempted hostile takeover of The Headache Clinic, locking his father out, encouraging staff to strike, stealing patients’ files and computer disks and hacking staff emails.

Daniel unsuccessfully challenged his axing in the Labour Court and failed to have his father disciplined by the HPCSA, which found no evidence of unprofessional conduct.

[source:news24]