More on the alternative medicine clinics in Mexico where Coretta Scott King died:

The Tijuana area has been a mecca for alternative medicine for more than 40 years, reaching the height of its fame in 1980 after actor Steve McQueen was treated for cancer at another Rosarito Beach clinic with laetrile, a treatment made from apricot pits. McQueen died a few months after his treatment.

Donsbach has had a long and controversial career promoting treatments that many medical and health-fraud experts consider useless or unproven. His clinic’s Web site touts such therapies as microwave energy for “heating” cancer cells, and anti-cancer nutritional supplements formulated by Donsbach.

Though the clinic’s Web site refers to Donsbach as “Dr.” and says he has “successfully treated thousands of critically ill patients,” it fails to mention that Donsbach has no medical degree. Nor does the Web site cite Donsbach’s conviction in 1996 for federal tax evasion and smuggling illegal medicines across the border.

Dr. Stephen Barrett, director of Quackwatch, a nonprofit group that combats medical fraud, said the U.S. government should pressure Mexico to “clean up the Tijuana ‘alternative’ clinic cess pool.”

“When someone well-known and highly respected goes there it just demonstrates how vulnerable people are,” Barrett said.