John Goddard - It's one more miracle he can't prove

John Godddard's piece entitled The Miracle Worker appeared on page A-9 in the Sunday Star. Unfortunately for the readers, who thought it was a news item, it really belongs with the horoscopes. It is a work of PURE FICTION.

http://tinyurl.com/rgkwn

Goddard has failed to establish the basic facts in the case of Adam Dreamhealer. He failed to present any evidence that what this teenage flim flam artist and his family have actually accomplished cured anyone.

The fact that this reporter has attended two of Adam's workshops and had a "treatment" from him and makes unsubtantiated claims himself is a real eye opener.

There is zero evidence that any of his claims are true. For the Star to allow this story to run without corroboration is a serious violation of the Canadian Association of Journalists' policies or standards.

This was not in the Life or entertainments section. It was in the NEWS section of the paper.

Goddard repeated the same misinformation about Dreamhealer's background that everyone else has done. There is no new information here, not one world of criticism, not one person interviewed who could shed some light on this flim flam.

For the latest on Adam's attempts to scam the public might I suggest visiting my web site and the links to many others who have a different point of view. There have been a number of challenges to Adam Dreamhealer by Canadian scientists, such as Dr. Barry Beyerstein, and by James Randi.

All of them have been ignored. In other words when asked to prove what he does is real, the family steadfastly refuses to have Adam tested. This was never mentioned in the article by Goddard, when there is an enormous amount of evidence that is easily found on the internet.

I challenge the Toronto Star to allow a full rebuttal to Goddard's piece and to have his article scrutinized by the Canadian Association of Journalists. In my opinion he has violated the CAJ's own Principles and Ethics Guidelines and should be admonished by the publisher of The Star.

• The CAJ sets up an ethics advisory panel

• The CAJ Statements of Principles and Ethics Guidelines:

"Our reporting must be fair, accurate and comprehensive."

[Goddard's reporting was neither accurate or comprehensive]

"We will not allow our own biases to influence fair and accurate reporting." [It would appear to me that since Goddard had treatments from Dreamhealer

and had attended two of his workshops that he can not fairly or accurately report on the subject]

"We will identify sources of information, except when there is a clear and pressing reason to protect anonymity." [Goddard failed to identify Adam

Dreamhealer by name. The public's right to know who is scamming them has been violated here.]

"We will independently corroborate facts if we get them from a source we do not name." [Adam was never identified, which I feel is clearly deceptive, and he Goddard has made no attempted to obtain

independent corroboration for any of the facts of the case. His facts were just his subjective opinion]

"Our primary duty is to seek and report the truth as completely and independently as possible. We will make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our reports." [There was no independent or accurate reporting.]

Goddard makes the following absurd statement:

"I do not doubt Adam's integrity or that of his parents. Are they

self-deluded? If not, Adam might one day prove his theories."

The whole bloody point is that neither Adam or his parents have proven anything except the fact that they have been able to pull the wool over the public's and the media's eyes for years.

For every person who attends one of his workshops there is a clear risk that they will discontinue their doctor's advice, or refuse to be examined properly by their health provider.

There are people out there who have spent thousands of dollars to travel to one of his workshops who died shortly afterwards.

These cases are not isolated, and none of them was ever discussed by Goddard.

Shame on The Star for promoting this flim flam artist as a Miracle Worker.