South African headache specialist Dr Elliot Shevel has been charged with the murder of former patient Marinella Avvakoumides, who died hours after undergoing a procedure at his Headache Clinic in Johannesburg in 2021.
Despite his insistence that the procedure was safe, autopsy reports suggest that the injections he administered allegedly caused fatal brain injuries.
Shevel (81) appeared in the Randburg Magistrate's Court last Thursday, charged with the murder of Cape Town fashion school vice-principal Avvakoumides (38) who died within hours of the Shevel Desensitisation Procedure.
News24 reports that until his surgery in Johannesburg was closed about two months ago, Shevel had charged patients more than R30 000 to cure them of their persistent headaches at the clinic he established in 1992.
But his business and reputation began to crumble when, in September, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) suspended him after investigating at least three complaints of alleged malpractice.
Two of those cases involve patients who died after undergoing his eponymous procedure. Another involves Bruce Johnstone, a single father of three, who was left in a vegetative state after being treated at the Headache Clinic in 2022.
In the court last week, Prosecutor Yusuf Baba told the court that police were investigating other cases against him.
The state did not oppose bail, on condition that Shevel handed over his South African and Irish passports.
In August, Shevel told News24 the allegations against him were “unfounded” and “deeply distressing”.
“"It is important to note that when she was discharged from our clinic, she was in stable condition and not in any pain, as confirmed by our discharge notes, which she signed,” he said.
Avvakoumides, based in Cape Town, had travelled to Johannesburg for treatment at the Headache Clinic.
About three weeks earlier, she had undergone the Shevel Desensitisation Procedure, which involves injecting the patient with a thick needle at the back of the skull under local anaesthetic to “permanently numb” pain signals from tendons connecting the neck muscles to the skull.
However, it had failed to work, and her headaches persisted.
An affidavit deposed by a friend states that on 15 July 2021, she accompanied Avvakoumides to the Headache Clinic to undergo the procedure again. Afterwards, her friend took her home, where Avvakoumides lay down but could not sleep because she was in excruciating pain.
Later, Avvakoumides asked her friend to call Shevel because the pain was severe. He told her to take her back to his rooms.
But 10 minutes later, en route, Avvakoumides began convulsing and vomiting, so they drove straight to Fourways Life Hospital. She had a pulse but was in a coma. She was removed from life support eight days later.
According to a postmortem report by state pathologist Dr Jena Stuart, cause of death was a bleed on the brain, allegedly caused by the needles used on her at the Headache Clinic: “Intraspinal and intracranial haemorrhage with features of surgical intervention consistent with the available history of craniocervical… injection.”
A confirmatory report states: “The puncture of the spinal canal resulted in air in the skull cavity… The logical conclusion would be that the injections led to the intracranial haemorrhage and complications.”
Shevel had previously told News24 that any suggestion his “established” method to treat headaches was unsafe was “simply not accurate”.
“I categorically deny that our treatment was the cause of her death or that any such findings have been made,” he said, describing his procedure as “minimally invasive and outside the skull”.
He said many factors could contribute “to such a medical emergency, and they must all be considered before jumping to conclusions”.
The procedure Avvakoumides underwent is not covered by medical aid.
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