A few weeks ago I asked you to challenge the Advanced Medical Institute. An organisation who specialised in selling medication for men’s psychosexual problems (erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation) who caused concern over their advertising method and sales techniques which bullied and humiliated vulnerable men.
Following complaints from men, an investigation by Trading Standards in Westminster has led to AMI ceasing trading. The company still practices in Australia where it has it’s main offices.
While it is good news AMI is no longer operating in the UK, there are still issues about the company we need to urgently address and I would encourage you to do this if you’re a journalist, blogger, healthcare practitioner or men’s health activist.
We need to find out answers to the following questions:
What has happened to the men who’ve had ‘treatment’ from AMI?
We know the approach taken by AMI hinged around bullying men and making them feel anxious and inadequate for their sexual problems. There was also pressure not to consult with the medical profession (GPs particularly) or counselling services. This could have caused a lot of harm to men already anxious about psychosexual problems. We need to try and reach men in this category and share information with them about how to get help – particularly talking to their GP and getting referrals to psychosexual therapy if appropriate. We also need to try and identify just how many men were affected and learn lessons from their experiences to ensure this kind of exploitation can be avoided in the future.
Campaigning for refunds for those who’ve paid for treatment
Those who have paid AMI for products they’ve either not received or were ineffective are entitled to a refund, however with the company no longer trading it is unclear how this will be addressed. I would recommend men who are worried about this to contact Westminster Trading Standards directly or you can also get more information about claims from Consumer Direct (thanks again to our friends @SuffolkTS for this recommendation and for their continued advice/support in investigating AMI). Those in a position to campaign more widely on this may want to try and help men affected.
Investigating the doctors who worked for the company
AIM were not just a bunch of salespeople. The patient history and approval of products were taken/given by medics, most of whom I believe were NHS staff working as locums for AMI. This raises questions about ethical and appropriate conduct of medical practitioners who could have been in no doubt of the company they were working for. Given how dreadfully men have been treated by the company I would not think it unreasonable that doctors identified as working for AMI should be reported to the GMC. If you are interested in exploring this further please do email me as I have information that could help in this case.
We should not let this story end here. I cannot stress enough how appallingly men were treated by this company and the long term physical and psychological harms that have been caused as a result. Because this is a psychosexual topic it’s easy to see it as trivial or even joke about it. It truly isn’t. Let’s please give this the attention we’d pay to other health topics and seek help and recompense for men affected – and a full investigation into the medics who were happy to collude with AMI’s unethical practices.
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Trading Standards closes AMI – but where does this leave their customers?
A few weeks ago I asked you to challenge the Advanced Medical Institute. An organisation who specialised in selling medication for men’s psychosexual problems (erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation) who caused concern over their advertising method and sales techniques which bullied and humiliated vulnerable men.
Following complaints from men, an investigation by Trading Standards in Westminster has led to AMI ceasing trading. The company still practices in Australia where it has it’s main offices.
While it is good news AMI is no longer operating in the UK, there are still issues about the company we need to urgently address and I would encourage you to do this if you’re a journalist, blogger, healthcare practitioner or men’s health activist.
We need to find out answers to the following questions:
What has happened to the men who’ve had ‘treatment’ from AMI?
We know the approach taken by AMI hinged around bullying men and making them feel anxious and inadequate for their sexual problems. There was also pressure not to consult with the medical profession (GPs particularly) or counselling services. This could have caused a lot of harm to men already anxious about psychosexual problems. We need to try and reach men in this category and share information with them about how to get help – particularly talking to their GP and getting referrals to psychosexual therapy if appropriate. We also need to try and identify just how many men were affected and learn lessons from their experiences to ensure this kind of exploitation can be avoided in the future.
Campaigning for refunds for those who’ve paid for treatment
Those who have paid AMI for products they’ve either not received or were ineffective are entitled to a refund, however with the company no longer trading it is unclear how this will be addressed. I would recommend men who are worried about this to contact Westminster Trading Standards directly or you can also get more information about claims from Consumer Direct (thanks again to our friends @SuffolkTS for this recommendation and for their continued advice/support in investigating AMI). Those in a position to campaign more widely on this may want to try and help men affected.
Investigating the doctors who worked for the company
AIM were not just a bunch of salespeople. The patient history and approval of products were taken/given by medics, most of whom I believe were NHS staff working as locums for AMI. This raises questions about ethical and appropriate conduct of medical practitioners who could have been in no doubt of the company they were working for. Given how dreadfully men have been treated by the company I would not think it unreasonable that doctors identified as working for AMI should be reported to the GMC. If you are interested in exploring this further please do email me as I have information that could help in this case.
We should not let this story end here. I cannot stress enough how appallingly men were treated by this company and the long term physical and psychological harms that have been caused as a result. Because this is a psychosexual topic it’s easy to see it as trivial or even joke about it. It truly isn’t. Let’s please give this the attention we’d pay to other health topics and seek help and recompense for men affected – and a full investigation into the medics who were happy to collude with AMI’s unethical practices.
Trading Standards closes AMI – but where does this leave their customers?Related posts