
Knock me down with a feather
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What a pathetic effort by Mr Sam Cohen of IHRB. Today he has modified his website by adding a new sentence at the bottom of his page. The disgraceful sentence reads, ‘Subject to HCCC’s Permanent Prohibition Order’. Well, you can knock me down with a feather. What a joke. What a laugh. What a disgrace. Despite all the fuss and nonsense about him breaking the law in terms of not obeying the Health Care Complaints Commission’s requirements, he thinks he can get away with this minuscule, useless statement, and treat us all as idiots. I cannot believe that this puny line complies with anything. I think that this demonstrate’s Mr Cohen’s total disregard to the HCCC directive which states: ‘If the practitioner advertises their services following the imposition of a prohibition order, they must include the terms of the Prohibition Order in the advertisement. Any failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence.’
[UPDATE: On Tuesday 21 February 2012, Sam Cohen removed that line from his website. So now, according to the requirements, IHRB is committing a criminal offence.]
It states that the ads must include the TERMS of the Order. Mr Sam Cohen should have written something along the following lines:
The Health Care Complaints Commission conducted an investigation into IHRB’s unethical business conduct that endangered the health of its clients. The following statement is printed on this website/advertisement in accordance with the requirements imposed upon IHRB by the Health Care Complaints Commission:
Mr Cohen has breached the code of conduct for unregistered health practitioners in that he has failed to provide health services in a safe and ethical manner and his provision of health services is a risk to public health and safety.
The Commission made a prohibition order under section 41A(2)(a)(ii) placing the following conditions on Mr Cohen’s practice:
– Mr Cohen must not be in possession of any client prescriptions.
– Mr Cohen must not obtain, supply or sell any medications requiring a prescription by a medical practitioner or required to be sold only by a pharmacist
– Mr Cohen must inform his clients that loniten is not approved in Australia by the Therapeutic Goods Administration when advising clients about hair regrowth prescription medication.
The conditions in the prohibition order will be permanent.
Instead, we see a stupid line that reads, ‘Subject to HCCC’s Permanent Prohibition Order’. What in the name of sanity does that line mean and what does it do? The purpose behind the requirement is presumably to warn poor unsuspecting clients who do not even know what Minoxidil is, let alone what the abbreviation HCCC stands for. Which consumer knows what HCCC means? To an unsuspecting client, that line could well be an accolade. Wow it could even sound impressive. I can just hear Sam Cohen boasting about this, ‘Yes I am the best hair man in the world. My treatment is subject to HCCC’s Permanent Prohibition Orders, and that means that I am good and you can trust me…’ That throw-away line is a snub. It almost resembles the lines we see on packets of cheese or at the back of high-end electronic products. Too outrageous. I am yet again speechless.
By the way, the image below is from IHRB’s website. It invites readers to click to view ‘editorials from independent journals’. Indeed, click here and I will show you how non-independent they are. Then we see a link for ‘testimonials’. Click here to read about Sam’s outrageous testimonials. And click here to read about his suspicious testimonials.

Above we see the pathetic text added to the IHRB website which supposedly warns consumers that IHRB is subject to a Permanent Prohibition Order by the HCCC.
I have reason to believe that Mr Cohen reads this website. He tells everyone so. I have been monitoring his IP address and how often he clicks on my pages. So I would like to see him deny knowing that HCCC required him to list the terms of the Order. Nonetheless, he has denied it. I shall see if we can get him to repeat his lies while under Oath. That day will come. Meanwhile, he has pleaded ignorance. That’s his mantra. Or should I say, that’s his trademark. I believe that Mr Cohen has known that he has been violating the Permanent Prohibition Order and the associated directives imposed upon him by the Health Care Complaints Commission. I have been highlighting his misconduct for almost two years. He knew that he was sprung when I made it clear to him and to the world that he violated the Temporary Prohibition Order, yet he proceeded to place ads in Negotiator Magazine, ignoring the law. HCCC says that it is a criminal offence not to state the terms of the Order in the ads.
For a second time, I wrote to the publisher of ‘Negotiator Magazine’, who, for a second time, ignored me. Politeness oozes out of some business people.
I wrote to the Commissioner of the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC). After all that, I suspect that Mr Cohen has pleaded ignorance. No doubt saying that he had no idea that he was breaking the law. I just find it hard to pick myself up from these endless excuses and calculated moves that show no respect. Mr Sam Cohen can thank his lucky stars yet again. He slips through the cracks once more. He just breaks the law, and lies and pleads for mercy and says that he is poor and that he is an angel who helps people to regrow their hair. Yet, by his actions, we see an endless array of misconduct that sticks the middle finger up at the world. Defiance in unlimited supply.
By the way, despite adding that disgusting line on his website, he still has not corrected his PDF advertisement which is hyperlinked on his page under a heading, ‘Be weary about what you hear and see’. That ad might go for another few months while I press the matter with the Authorities, and while he says, ‘Oh dear I did not realise, sorry.’ Be weary indeed. Be very very weary of Mr Cohen. He loves digging the boot into his competitors, but never can he do the right thing himself. There must be a word for that.
A sorry state indeed. The more that Mr Cohen displays that kind of unethical behaviour, the more he raises my dander. Or should I say, the more that he ruffles my feathers. More fuel to the fire… and he wonders why it’s getting a bit hot for him. I am simply concerned for the poor clients who go to him and swallow his lies. He takes their money, tells them lies, risks their health and wellbeing, wastes their time, and never refunds their money without a right-royal stink via legal avenues wherein Mr Cohen lies his way through the legal system. And if you stand up to him, he will threaten violence or, in my case, death!
21 FEBRUARY 2012
Below we see the screen grab of Sam Cohen’s website, which reveals that he has removed the mandatory warning. At the same time, he added new pages to his website that compound his breaches of the Sanctions made by the Complaints Resolution Panel.
2 AUGUST 2012
After months of ignoring the need to place a warning on its website, IHRB re-instated the pathetic small warning at the bottom of its website. Why did it choose to do so? Perhaps someone from HCCC gave IHRB a nudge after my recent complaints, or perhaps it dawned upon IHRB that it had better do something, given that I mentioned this fact at a recent Tribunal Hearing.

On 2 August 2012, this line re-appears. It certainly is inadequate, and does not spell out the terms of the Order. Unsuspecting clients would not have a clue what that phrase really means. In my opinion, the public is no better off by this phrase. HCCC documents show that those who are Prohibited, but display the TERMS of the orders, and not just that an Order exists.
8 OCTOBER 2012
Here we go again. On Monday 8 October, IHRB has once again removed the HCCC Prohibition warning.

This is a screen shot of IHRB’s website which shows that the warning regarding the HCCC Prohibition Orders has been removed.