Naturopath

A practitioner of homeopathy and naturopathy has been released on bail under a number  of serious conditions after pleading not guilty to charges in connection with the death of one of her clients.

50-year-old Mitra Javanmardi smiled brightly at her lawyers and her family members in the courtroom, the petite woman with frizzy black hair wearing a brown jacket and ruffled white blouse, her hands cuffed.

The naturopath is accused of criminal negligence causing death and manslaughter. An 84-year-old patient of hers died of a heart attack last June the day after getting a mineral treatment through an intravenous injection at her office in Westmount.

"This case will be very, very vigourously contested," says her lawyer Julius Grey.

Crown prosecutor Hélène di Salvo agreed to her release, outlining a dozen conditions forbidding the accused from administering injections, prescribing medications or any other practices reserved for doctors.

"The fact that she's not allowed to do what she used to do is for the protection of the public. And I hope the public will know what they cannot do, the naturopath, because they are not doctors and that's important."