St. Louis Park Business Facing BBB Scrutiny

A St. Louis Park hormone therapy center is in hot water with the Better Business Bureau, which is advising consumers to be wary of treatment.

HRC Medical Center, Inc., which is based in Nashville and has a local clinic at 5000 W 36th St., recently received an "F" rating from the BBB in Nashville. In a release, the bureau said they received complaints from several customers about side effects such as facial and body hair, voice changes, and other physical appearance changes.

The BBB also reports skepticism with a number of the company's advertised claims.

HRC Medical offers "bio-natural hormone replacement therapy" that can treat things in both men and women such as loss of energy, low sex drive, sexual dysfunction, weight gain, hot flashes and night sweats, according to the company's website.

The BBB said a secret shopper—a woman in her 60s—who was sent in for an appointment at the St. Louis Park location was told that treatment would restore her hormone levels to the level they were at when she was in her late 20s, stimulate bone growth and that her bone density would improve by a minimum of 18 percent.

The BBB reports that HRC Medical has not provided information that would substantiate these claims.

Coon Rapids resident Cheryl Wahl said she went to the St. Louis Park location beginning in late-July, but quit treatment after five weeks—it was supposed to last for 18—because she said she was feeling very ill.

"I felt nothing but awful," Wahl said. She added that her symptoms were consistent with those reported as common by the BBB.

Wahl said she still feels ill these days, noting she is receiving treatment for high blood pressure and high testosterone.

"I haven't been the same since I first went," she said. "I've been nothing but sick."

Wahl said she was handed a $1,500 bill for her five weeks of treatment, of which she's already paid several hundred dollars. She said she's contacted a lawyer and is considering a personal injury claim.

"They really do just want your money," Wahl said. "I would (tell other people) absolutely do not do it."

In a statement, HRC Medical claimed the BBB hastily put together an "attack" on the company, possibly in an effort to bully the company into joining the BBB.

The statement also backed the service HRC Medical provides: "Hormone replacement therapy is safe and it is well documented that having proper hormone levels is preventative and protective with regard to a wide variety of diseases and ailments."

Check back with St. Louis Park Patch for updates to this story.