Barbara O'Neill

Barbara O'Neill is an Australian alternative health care promoter who advertises unsupported health practices described as misinformation and a risk to health and safety by the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission. She does not have any recognised qualifications and did not finish nursing training. She has presented her claims at alternative medicine organisations, wellness retreats, and Seventh-day Adventist Churches. She is married to Michael O'Neill, the founder of the now-defunct Informed Medical Options Party, an anti-vaccination and anti-fluoride political group. The investigation found that she also did not have any qualifications in a health-related field, and that she failed to meet the expected standards of unregistered health professionals. She was due to run an event 2 - 7 November 2026 there.

In 2025 the Australian Skeptics awarded O'Neill the Bent Spoon award for "the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of pseudoscientific or paranormal piffle". Although she has been prohibited from providing "any health-related services in Australia ... she has continued to spruik her medical conspiracies and alternative treatments at functions overseas, which are often streamed back to Australia."

Activities

O'Neill has promoted herself as a naturopath, nutritionist, and health educator since at least 2004, despite lacking any relevant qualifications or training. and Fiji. O'Neill continues to deliver programs aimed at cancer patients in the United States as of July 2023 at a cost of almost per person.

As a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, she has also spoken at churches.

She has also published several books on health and nutrition which include dangerous claims and advice.

Unsubstantiated claims Cancer

According to the HCCC investigation, O'Neill falsely claimed to be able to cure cancer and although she claimed that she did not give clients advice, she told clients that they would be more likely to cure their cancer if they did not use chemotherapy. falsely claiming that a doctor had shown "a 90% success rate curing cancer with sodium bicarbonate injections".

In late 2019, it was revealed that a Cook Islands man with stage-four cancer had died after following O'Neill's advice, having declined medical intervention and attempting to treat his disease with bicarbonate soda, lemon juice, and boiled water. Supporters of O'Neill claim that he had been in remission for two years before his death. She is also associated with the HEART Party, a known alternative health and anti-vaccination political group led by her husband, Michael O'Neill, that has drawn significant criticism from medical associations and health professionals.

Antibiotics

In several of her YouTube videos, O'Neill discourages the use of antibiotics, promoting the disproven claim that they cause cancer. She has told pregnant women it is unnecessary to take antibiotics for group B streptococcal infection because "no baby has ever died from Strep B catching out of birth".

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission

In late 2019, O’Neill and her husband's Misty Mountain Health Retreat were investigated by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission for alleged breaches of Australian charity law. Under its health promotion charity status, the Retreat had received government grants and various tax concessions. In defending its status, the Retreat had claimed it had provided diet, exercise and health advice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and people with chronic and terminal illnesses, and that it had previously been branded as "The Aboriginal Healing Centre".

Investigations in the Cook Islands

In October 2019, Cook Islands health secretary Josephine Herman expressed concern after learning O'Neill had been running health workshops in Rarotonga, and referred the matter to the chief medical officer for investigation. Herman raised concerns regarding O'Neill's suitability to be delivering health services, including the legal requirement of an annual practising certificate amongst other documentation.