When Healing Becomes a Crime
When Healing Becomes a Crime: The Amazing Story of the Hoxsey Cancer Clinics and the Return of Alternative Therapies by Kenny Ausubel. (2000. Healing Arts Press, VT)
Mr. Ausubel set out to tell a story about some snake oil salesmen but instead found something much uglier under that rock. It was shocking to find out who truly was the deceiver!
The story of Harry Hoxsey begins with his great-grandfather who used home remedies to cure his horse in the mid-1800s. At that time, remedies were passed down through the generations. What worked was kept, what didn't wasn't. His father was a veterinarian who took these remedies and blended them with what he learned. He then tried them on people close to him who were in need.
1924, Harry Hoxsey opened a clinic to help people using his father's remedies. He was very successful which began a 35 year battle between organized medicine and traditional healers.
When people began getting healed by these methods, others set out to stop him.
"First Do No Harm". In 1910, the American Medical Association was struggling for members. Doctors weren't paid well. Medicine was diverse. There wasn't a central standard.
Dr. George H. Simmons was the president of the AMA at that time. Its only income came from the AMA Journal. He was the sole control of financial decisions. He set out to centralize the medical community, gain many members and transform medicine. 1903 began the "rise of a sovereign profession"- the doctor that would be perceived as God.
The Bureau of Investigation was to catalog all irregular practitioners (folk healers,homeopathic schools,etc.). They set out to discredit them, even though Dr. Simmons had received his degree from a homeopathic school. They closed many schools and restricted the ones that stayed open to only white American males. They passed rulings that said all 'qualified doctors' were to be a part of the AMA, that they were not accredited otherwise. The healers that had been caring for their communities for centuries were suddenly found on the outside of the law.
Yet, the doctors coming out of these few medical schools could ask for much more money since they were now in demand. Those who might have brought balance to the medical community were shunned. The new, elite doctors could make all the rules...and they did. Specializing became desirable because then even more money could be sought.
Cancer was a disease they could not get a handle on. Those that were treating it successfully were shunned. Radiation and chemotherapy were doing more damage than it was helping. Yes, some were saved. Yes, everyone is different and require different treatment avenues. Then there is the connection between those who are to heal cancer and those who make money from it.
Pharmaceutical companies started as chemical companies, many of which caused the very disease they were now creating solutions for!
What about Harry Hoxsey? His clinic went to Mexico where they still treat people today.
After reading this book, one has a complete understanding of why the cancer rate is so high, why the day when all are cured of cancer is far away and why, sometimes, the best medical care is NOT in America.
Everyone should read this book or see the movie.
It's quite the eye-opener.
Mr. Ausubel set out to tell a story about some snake oil salesmen but instead found something much uglier under that rock. It was shocking to find out who truly was the deceiver!
The story of Harry Hoxsey begins with his great-grandfather who used home remedies to cure his horse in the mid-1800s. At that time, remedies were passed down through the generations. What worked was kept, what didn't wasn't. His father was a veterinarian who took these remedies and blended them with what he learned. He then tried them on people close to him who were in need.
1924, Harry Hoxsey opened a clinic to help people using his father's remedies. He was very successful which began a 35 year battle between organized medicine and traditional healers.
When people began getting healed by these methods, others set out to stop him.
"First Do No Harm". In 1910, the American Medical Association was struggling for members. Doctors weren't paid well. Medicine was diverse. There wasn't a central standard.
Dr. George H. Simmons was the president of the AMA at that time. Its only income came from the AMA Journal. He was the sole control of financial decisions. He set out to centralize the medical community, gain many members and transform medicine. 1903 began the "rise of a sovereign profession"- the doctor that would be perceived as God.
The Bureau of Investigation was to catalog all irregular practitioners (folk healers,homeopathic schools,etc.). They set out to discredit them, even though Dr. Simmons had received his degree from a homeopathic school. They closed many schools and restricted the ones that stayed open to only white American males. They passed rulings that said all 'qualified doctors' were to be a part of the AMA, that they were not accredited otherwise. The healers that had been caring for their communities for centuries were suddenly found on the outside of the law.
Yet, the doctors coming out of these few medical schools could ask for much more money since they were now in demand. Those who might have brought balance to the medical community were shunned. The new, elite doctors could make all the rules...and they did. Specializing became desirable because then even more money could be sought.
Cancer was a disease they could not get a handle on. Those that were treating it successfully were shunned. Radiation and chemotherapy were doing more damage than it was helping. Yes, some were saved. Yes, everyone is different and require different treatment avenues. Then there is the connection between those who are to heal cancer and those who make money from it.
Pharmaceutical companies started as chemical companies, many of which caused the very disease they were now creating solutions for!
What about Harry Hoxsey? His clinic went to Mexico where they still treat people today.
After reading this book, one has a complete understanding of why the cancer rate is so high, why the day when all are cured of cancer is far away and why, sometimes, the best medical care is NOT in America.
Everyone should read this book or see the movie.
It's quite the eye-opener.
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