News 3 has learned some attorneys prosecuting cases against licensed health care professionals are being scrutinized more closely now. The move follows some complaints by alternative medicine doctors and nurses who say they aren't getting "fair treatment."

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I-Team: Fair Treatment, Part I

One Green Bay doctor is spending more than $300,000 in his fight with the state. He's charged with 10 counts of unprofessional conduct, but he claims some at regulation licensing are just out to get him -- and others agree, reports News 3's Linda Eggert in Part II of her special series.

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News 3 finds it's a licensing battle that has some lawmakers steaming, and health care workers organizing. They're out to set history.

"We're taking one step in the right direction, letting the Department of Regulation and Licensing know," said Rep. Sheryl Albers, R-Reedsburg. "We aren't going to tolerate this kind of activity."

"Wisconsin is the first state in the United States that's going for legislation for both licensed and unlicensed practioners to protect them from persecution from the dept of regulation," said nurse Barb Lemke (pictured, left) of the Wisconsin Association for Health Freedom who was also under state investigation.

Spurring much of the controversy is the long and expensive disciplinary hearing of Dr. Eleazar Kadile. Some health practioners see it as a threat to the future of alternative medicine in Wisconsin.

A state attorney sees it as protection against "quackery."

"It's a shocking case, in the scope of unprofessional conduct," said Arthur Thexton, state DORL attorney in October 2002.

"The only thing that's shocking about this case is that it was brought at all ... and that it's continued for eight years," said Greg Seeley, former defense attorney for Dr. Eleazar Kadile.

"An utter sham -- it is so unscientific that it is unworthy of any belief or credibility whatsoever," Thexton said.

"What is going on in my case and case of other complimentary and alternative doctors that are being persecuted, it's purely politics," said Kadile who runs an alternative health care clinic with 1,500 patients -- 60 percent using experimental chelation therapy.

EDTA chelation is legal, and FDA approved for toxic lead and heavy metal poisoning, but he and other state doctors are using it to treat poor circulation and heart disease.

Patient Rolf Kurandt recently told lawmakers: "I was stunned ... I didn't even realize it felt better! Said, 'My God, I'm not going to miss any of these treatments!'"

Still many doctors are skeptical of such chelation. Kadile said he was too, until his father was facing a leg amputation, and he tried it as a last resort.

"Then the following morning, when he came down, he showed me his leg -- his leg shrunk like an old potato!" Kadile said. "We save his leg, he live up to 100 years old. We bury him with his leg intact."

Thexton said Kadile is practicing outside the standards of care -- putting patients at risk.

In 2001, Thexon reopened an old 1994 case on Kadile, despite no apparent patient complaints.

"None of my patients was harmed, there was no complaint at all," Kadile said.

In hearings, Kadile's attorneys have attacked the credibility of the state's expert witness, Robert Baratz, a Massachusetts doctor, dentist and consultant, who also leases laser hair removal equipment.

He is also the president of the National Council Against Health Fraud, which shares the same mailing address. It's in the same office building as his hair removal equipment business.

The council debunks the science behind all kinds of alternative care and treatments, calling chelation therapy, "is unethical and should be banned."

But Thexton calls Baratz extremely qualified, "He is biased. He is biased in favor of science."

A couple minutes into his first day of testimony, Baratz defended himself, in an emotional display.

"This man, Mr. Seeley, has made a number of untoward allegations even this morning about my character," he said. "And I wish to reflect on each and everything I have done in life to show you. … that I am a person of high ethics … and integrity, and ethics -- which is what this trial is all about! And if I would (inaudible) get emotional about it, I may!"

"Look at his background, and I am not satisfied he's the right person to be testifying on these issues," said Albers, who introduced a bill to protect chelation doctors.

A couple of lawmakers say taxpayers have been "soaked" to the tune of at least $50,000, and say the state's on a "witch hunt" against chelation doctors.

"Well, here you have individuals who have been investigated for years ... and to me, that's absurd," Albers said.

Department of Regulation and Licensing Secretary Donsia Strong Hill said, "I can't tell you why certain cases were opened in the past."

But the new secretary of regulation and licensing is making changes.

"I can tell you under this administration, we will not be targeting alternative health care providers," she said. "That's not our role, that's not our purpose."

Strong Hill (pictured, left) points out attorneys take direction from the medical examining board, which has the final say. But her staff said it intends to focus priorities on cases where the public is in great need of protection. In addition to closer supervision, prosecuting attorneys now must justify their experts and their fees to their superiors.

Strong Hill said she hopes cases dating back to 1999 are wrapped up by next year.

I-Team: Fair Treatment, Part I