Beleaguered screening center operator AmeriScan has shut its doors, according to an open letter posted on the company’s Web site by company founder Dr. Craig Bittner. In the letter, Bittner attributed his firm’s demise to the controversy over using imaging for health screening; the criticism has been so costly to his medical practice that it has forced him to close the Scottsdale, AZ, company down, he said.
AmeriScan aimed to become a pioneer in offering imaging-based screening services to asymptomatic patients. The company’s most controversial offering was MRI BreastScreen, which AmeriScan touted as a test that was more accurate than x-ray mammography.
AmeriScan launched high-profile marketing campaigns in several of the markets it served, but the company got caught in the economic downdraft that made it more difficult for consumers to afford luxuries like non-reimbursable screening exams. By October, the company had closed all of its sites with the exception of one in Scottsdale and another in San Jose, CA.
AmeriScan’s death blow fell on October 23, when it was hit with a lawsuit filed by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and the Medical Board of California. The suit charged AmeriScan with false advertising because its MRI breast screening claims were not supported by the scientific literature.
In the message on AmeriScan’s Web site, Bittner claimed that AmeriScan had saved thousands of lives, and he said he would continue to be an advocate for health screening.
"The fight to provide state-of-the-art health screening is not over," the letter reads. "Since the medical establishment has refused a fair and open evaluation of health screenings like breast MRI, I must now take science to a court of law. I cannot back down from scientific truths simply because the medical establishment will not give them fair consideration."
By AuntMinnie.com staff writersNovember 3, 2003
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AmeriScan founder sued over breast MRI screening claims, October 24, 2003
AmeriScan offers franchises, July 29, 2003
AmeriScan to offer MRI prostate screening, May 1, 2003
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