Kaufman Stephen J Dr Dr

Don’t waste your money. This is probably the biggest scam ever to be pulled in the medical community to date.
I attended Dr. Kaufman’s seminars with high hopes. As much as he raved about his revolutionary «Pain Neutralization Technique» and as much as we paid for the class, I anticipated a weekend of valuable learning. I was gravely mistaken.
The crude mechanisms of the scam are as follows:
1) First, with very aggressive marketing you are convinced that this technique is worth learning, even worth thousands of dollars. You take the bait and purchase a seminar, plane tickets, hotel, etc…
2) The making of his DVD’s;
The DVD’s are nothing more than his recording of a previous seminar and that he sells back to you. This amounts to however many hours, 14 maybe (minus the 2 hours that he spent promoting and offering deals on his DVD’s). On this recording there are NO EXPLANATIONS for how he claims to be accomplishing supposed pain relief during his demonstrations. Most of the recording is him telling stories about his brilliant treatments.
3) The technique and the seminar:
At the seminar you listen to him talk about himself, ask for testimonials, promote his CD’s and show a few «techniques». The techniques consist of palpating and pressing firmly into tender points in the superficial soft tissue, tweaking the tissues gently for a matter of seconds, then rechecking the tender point, this time pushing much more gently and saying «Do you hear that? They said it’s 50% less painful!» I received the treatment myself. As a medical professional who specializes in manipulative treatment, I feel confident in sharing that it was bogus. The days consist partly of group discussions and sharing of treatments amongst the students. This is the only time you may actually learn something; from another student.
3) The testimonials:
The «hundreds of testimonials» that he claims were written for him were done so by demand during our lunch break. Whether or not we had ever received his treatment, we were given a sheet of paper and pressured to leave a testimonial prior to leaving that day. The best of these so called testimonials were then collected and posted on his website. This is how he claims that he has hundreds or thousands of testimonials from medical professionals.
4) Smokescreens:
If at any time there were questions or doubts regarding his technique, he would respond in an angry, confrontational manner. He would then exclude the inquisitive person from many of the discussions and activities. He would however, emphatically praise anyone who spoke highly of him. It occurred to me in retrospect that this is typical behavior of a narcissist.
5) Other noteworthy deterrents:
–His fingernails were very long and dirty. Inappropriate for his profession and painful.
–He is a very wealthy man who recently took several years off to meditate (his words). He shared that the reason for the sabbatical was the recent dissolution of a romantic relationship and spoke of the success of his new technique as his come back.
I was less than impressed with him as a person or as a professional and suggest caution to anyone who is considering funding his cause.