Coroner Gary Watts said he has subpoenaed medical records in the death of Michael Bate, a 66-year-old retired engineer who died in July after receiving treatment for prostate cancer from Dr. James M. Shortt.

The state Board of Medical Examiners is considering suspending Shortt's license after the deaths of two patients in his care. The board cites Shortt's treatment of Bate and a Minnesota woman, Katherine Bibeau, who died in March after Shortt infused her with hydrogen peroxide to treat her multiple sclerosis.

Watts has ruled Bibeau's death a homicide. No charges have been filed in the case, though authorities raided his office files in September.

Shortt has said the hydrogen peroxide infusions he administers are incredibly safe. He also said he has treated 2,200 patients with them. Shortt has continued to treat patients as the state medical board mulls suspension, and the board lists him as a physician in good standing.

The medical board's proceed-ings are cloaked in secrecy because state law keeps disciplinary actions against doctors confidential until a final decision is made.

Shortt's treatment of Bate included hydrogen peroxide injections, help obtaining an illegal cancer drug and, on one occasion, a prescription for a male hormone that may have fed his cancer, according to records released by Bate's widow to The (Columbia) State.

Michael Bate stumbled across Shortt's office in fall 2003 in his search for a natural healer in West Columbia. Bate had been diagnosed with prostate cancer a year after he and his wife retired in 2002 to South Carolina. Since the diagnosis, he had been searching for alternative ways to improve his condition.

"Mr. Bate was one of those who was looking for magic and miracles," said Phillip Baldwin, Bate's oncologist. "The Internet is full of miracles, and that made him prime prey."

Bate, a longtime engineer for Boeing who had two master's degrees, amassed about 200 health books after the diagnosis, said his widow, Janet Bate.

"After the (cancer) diagnosis, he was on the Internet four to eight hours a day looking up everything he could about alternative medicine so that, as he put it, he could stay above ground," she said, fighting tears and smiling at his macabre humor.

Shortt "was always offering hope," Janet Bate said. "That's the one thing Dr. Shortt did right. He provided the hope that kept Michael going, false hope, we now know."

Bate began twice-weekly infusions. At least eight were hydrogen peroxide, Janet Bate said.

Shortt also prescribed testosterone to treat her husband's pain, Janet Bate said.

Studies have shown testosterone, the male sex hormone, stimulates cancer in the prostate gland.

"You don't ever give them testosterone," Baldwin said. "That's an appalling, irrational choice of therapy."

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