Doctor of Hope.(Luigi Di Bella)(Brief Article)

Nothing about Luigi Di Bella stands out. He's not tall. His dark suit, by Italian standards, is rather plain. Even the restaurant where he's having coffee is unremarkable. But it is easy to see why a cancer patient would be drawn to this kindly 90-year-old doctor with grandfatherly eyes and a face like a koala's. Di Bella is a terrific listener. His consultations with patients can last hours. He wants to hear about symptoms, complaints and life stories. Then, taking all this into account, he fixes up a special cocktail--of prescription and nonprescription drugs, vitamins, hormones and homeopathic medicines-- tailored for the patient at hand.

By most accounts, patients are satisfied. In 35 years, Di Bella has used his "multiple therapy" treatment on roughly 10,000 cancer sufferers. His Web site displays their testimonials. Claudio of Turin thanks the doctor for providing hope in his fight against throat cancer; Marzia of Milan writes of the courage and renewed hope the doctor has given her mother in her struggle against lymphoma. In response to popular sentiment, the Italian Parliament earlier this year voted to include Di Bella's treatment in the national health service.

There's only one problem with this success story: according to his colleagues, Di Bella's practices have about as much to do with medical science as the wizardry of Harry Potter. "The hidden dangers of quackery in cancer treatment are well exemplified" in Di Bella's work, says Gianfilippo Bertelli, an oncologist at the National Cancer Research Center in Genoa. Silvio Garattini, a pharmacologist in charge of the Mario Negri Institute in Milan, says Di Bella's cure is a "totally irrational association of drugs supported by absolutely no scientific evidence or data whatsoever." Di Bella has never published a word about his treatments in a peer-reviewed journal, and clinical trials have debunked them. So why do patients flock to him? Could it have something to do, as one detractor says, with the "universality of popular delusion"?

When Di Bella came to the public's attention in 1998, few medical doctors outside Italy had heard of him. It started with a series of television appearances, complete with evangelist-style testimonials from survivors, touting ...