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A powerful and substantiated expose of the medical politics that prevents promising alternative cancer therapies from being implemented in the United States.
• Focuses on Harry Hoxsey, the subject of the author's award-winning documentary, who claimed to cure cancer using herbal remedies.
• Presents scientific evidence supporting Hoxsey's cancer-fighting claims.
• Published to coincide with the anticipated 2000 public release of the government-sponsored report finding "noteworthy cases of survival" among Hoxsey
patients.
Harry Hoxsey claimed to cure cancer using herbal remedies, and thousands of patients swore that he healed them. His Texas clinic became the world's largest privately owned cancer center with branches in seventeen states, and the value of its therapeutic treatments was upheld by two federal courts. Even his arch-nemesis, the AMA, admitted his treatment was effective against some forms of cancer. But the medical establishment refused an investigation, branding Hoxsey the worst cancer quack of the century and forcing his clinic to Tijuana, Mexico, where it continues to claim very high success rates. Modern laboratory tests have confirmed the anticancer properties of Hoxsey's herbs, and a federal govenment-sponsored report is now calling for a major reconsideration of the Hoxsey therapy.
When Healing Becomes a Crime exposes the overall failure of the War on Cancer, while revealing how yesterday's "unorthodox" treatments are emerging as tomorrow's medicine. It probes other promising unconventional cancer treatments that have also been condemned without investigation, delving deeply into the corrosive medical politics and powerful economic forces behind this suppression. As alternative medicine finally regains its rightful place in mainstream practice, this compelling book will not only forever change the way you see medicine, but could also save your life.
Disc. story of Harry Hoxsey & his fight with the medical establishment over his alternative cancer treatment.
Foreword
by Bernie Siegel, M.D.
Dr. Bernie Siegel is a cancer surgeon, bestselling author, and pioneer in the field of mind-body healing. He founded the Exceptional Cancer Patient Program, a support group system enabling cancer patients to mobilize their full human resources for healing.
When Healing Becomes a Crime needs to be read by every health care professional and legislator, as well as every citizen, since we are all potential patients during our lifetime. Its importance lies not in convincing anyone of the efficacy of Hoxsey's treatment, but in demonstrating the closed-mindedness of the medical profession. We must not keep repeating the scenario and making criminals out of well-intentioned people.
Twenty-five years ago I was chastised for suggesting that personality, life events, and state of mind had an effect on the course of one's cancer. Although this was something others had seen fifty years prior to my awareness, I am still on some Web site quack lists. Years ago I was on all the talk shows and was exposed to criticism for causing guilt and blaming people for their illness. None of this was true, but no one wanted to support my research or listen to what I had to say--except the people who had the illness. Today many doctors have come around to my view because they or their loved ones developed cancer and they experienced first-hand the power of the human spirit under desperate circumstances.
We need to change the system so that future doctors do not receive just medical information but are given a true education. They need to learn how to treat people, not diagnoses. They need to be trained to be willing to accept that which is experienced, We have to remember there is more to healing a person than there is to curing a disease.
The system needs to open up so that the pages of medical journals are not 50 percent pharmaceutical ads, thus closing minds and doors to alternative and integrative treatments. In the future, companies need to be rewarded for researching alternative treatments that cannot be patented. Our government could easily remedy that with tax breaks and deductions for the cost of the research, while allowing the company doing the research to profit from its work in a similar manner to any other commercial venture.
I hope this book will awaken people to the possibilities of true healing. Yes, I am against quackery--taking advantage of sick people--even though believing in a quack may cure someone whom a doctor has declared hopeless. What I seek is an open system to assure that we do the research and give people the information, enabling them to make rational choices that are appropriate for them. Life is a labor pain and we each have the right to decide what pains we are willing to experience to give birth to ourselves.
When my father was dying of cancer, I ordered medication from overseas to give him hope. One day I received a phone call from the post office. They told me the FDA wouldn't allow the package to be delivered unless it was labeled botanical products rather than medication, so the change was made and we received the medication. Someone in the post office treated us like human beings and cared. We are all entitled to make decisions about our lives and health. Let us hope that some day our medical and health care systems include freedom of choice, communication, appropriate research, and the desire to help the patient experiencing the disease.
I've had it easier than Harry Hoxsey because I was a doctor, and when people saw that what I did worked, it became policy. Today the things I was criticized for are a part of quality treatment. No one is against success, so let us approach health car with an open mind and acceptance of what works. And as healers, let us not forget the Hippocratic Oath, whose central message is, "First do no harm." True healing should never be a crime, or healers criminal. May When Healing Becomes a Crime herald the beginning of a new era of medical care that is inquisitive, compassionate, and devoted to making people well.
Continues...
Excerpted from When Healing Becomes a Crime by Kenny Ausubel Copyright © 2000 by Kenny Ausubel. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Foreword by Bernie Siegel, M.D.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: The Wildest Story in Medical History: The Ballad of Harry and Mildred
1. Riding the Cancer Underground
2. "People Who Got Well When They Weren't Supposed To"
3. A Formula for Conflict
4. Quacking Around
5. Gone to Texas: The Medical Wild West
6. Hoxsey vs. the AMA: "Thrice Is He Armed Who Hath His Quarrel Just"
7. Uncle Sam's Quackdown: "A Conspiracy Against the Health of the Nation"
8. Twelve Thousand Patients in Dallas: "You Couldn't Run Me Out of Here with a Gatling Gun"
9. Endgame: The Government "Liquidates" Hoxsey
10. Mexican Standoff
Part Two: A Conflict of Medical Opinion: The Hoxsey Remedies vs. Conventional Cancer Treatments
11. Tempest in a Tonic Bottle: A Bunch of Weeds?
12. Hoxsey's Eclectic Approach to Cancer
13. The Hoxsey Escharotics: "Like a Pit from a Peach"
14. Nutrition with Attitude
15. Conventional Cancer Treatment: "Heroic" Medicine
16. The Hidden Roots of "Heroic" Cancer Treatment
Part Three: Money, Power, and Cancer: Healing the Politics of Medicine
17. Cancer Scandals in the Capital: The Hoxsey Film Goes to Washington
18. Patented Medicine: A Way of Business
19. Two Centuries of Trade Wars: The High Priests of Medicine
20. A TRuce in the Medical Civil War: The Office of Alternative Medicine Looks at Hoxsey
21. Look Out, America! Here Come Alternative Cancer Therapies
22. "Pay Your Money and Take Your Choice": The Corporatization of Alternative Medicine
23. The Other Heroic Medicine
Epilogue
Afterword
Notes
Appendix: Sources of Information on Botanical Medicine
Selected Bibliography Resources
Index
Foreword
by Bernie Siegel, M.D.
Dr. Bernie Siegel is a cancer surgeon, bestselling author, and pioneer in the field of mind-body healing. He founded the Exceptional Cancer Patient Program, a support group system enabling cancer patients to mobilize their full human resources for healing.
When Healing Becomes a Crime needs to be read by every health care professional and legislator, as well as every citizen, since we are all potential patients during our lifetime. Its importance lies not in convincing anyone of the efficacy of Hoxsey's treatment, but in demonstrating the closed-mindedness of the medical profession. We must not keep repeating the scenario and making criminals out of well-intentioned people.
Twenty-five years ago I was chastised for suggesting that personality, life events, and state of mind had an effect on the course of one's cancer. Although this was something others had seen fifty years prior to my awareness, I am still on some Web site quack lists. Years ago I was on all the talk shows and was exposed to criticism for causing guilt and blaming people for their illness. None of this was true, but no one wanted to support my research or listen to what I had to say—except the people who had the illness. Today many doctors have come around to my view because they or their loved ones developed cancer and they experienced first-hand the power of the human spirit under desperate circumstances.
We need to change the system so that future doctors do not receive just medical information but are given a true education. They need to learn how to treat people, not diagnoses. They need to be trained to be willing to accept that which is experienced, We have to remember there is more to healing a person than there is to curing a disease.
The system needs to open up so that the pages of medical journals are not 50 percent pharmaceutical ads, thus closing minds and doors to alternative and integrative treatments. In the future, companies need to be rewarded for researching alternative treatments that cannot be patented. Our government could easily remedy that with tax breaks and deductions for the cost of the research, while allowing the company doing the research to profit from its work in a similar manner to any other commercial venture.
I hope this book will awaken people to the possibilities of true healing. Yes, I am against quackery—taking advantage of sick people—even though believing in a quack may cure someone whom a doctor has declared hopeless. What I seek is an open system to assure that we do the research and give people the information, enabling them to make rational choices that are appropriate for them. Life is a labor pain and we each have the right to decide what pains we are willing to experience to give birth to ourselves.
When my father was dying of cancer, I ordered medication from overseas to give him hope. One day I received a phone call from the post office. They told me the FDA wouldn't allow the package to be delivered unless it was labeled botanical products rather than medication, so the change was made and we received the medication. Someone in the post office treated us like human beings and cared. We are all entitled to make decisions about our lives and health. Let us hope that some day our medical and health care systems include freedom of choice, communication, appropriate research, and the desire to help the patient experiencing the disease.
I've had it easier than Harry Hoxsey because I was a doctor, and when people saw that what I did worked, it became policy. Today the things I was criticized for are a part of quality treatment. No one is against success, so let us approach health car with an open mind and acceptance of what works. And as healers, let us not forget the Hippocratic Oath, whose central message is, "First do no harm." True healing should never be a crime, or healers criminal. May When Healing Becomes a Crime herald the beginning of a new era of medical care that is inquisitive, compassionate, and devoted to making people well.
Anonymous
Posted September 28, 2012
Everyone should be aware of.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.LorraineAZ
Posted November 15, 2010
If you or a loved one is faced with the decision of where to turn for first rate premier cancer care. Read this book! The price for treatment at this hospital ($3,500) wouldn't even cover the cost of x-rays and a one night hospital stay in the U.S. This hospital has an extremely high cure rate and is fully funded by grateful cancer survivor's. Get the word out and stop the needless butchering and suffering of our people!! I have several friends who have been successfully treated there and this is no fairy tale. God bless Kenny for writing this book!!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted September 2, 2000
This book is must reading for all cancer patients, their families and loved ones. It is exhaustively researched and meticulously referenced. In addition, it is beautifully written, much like an adventure story. Be forewarned that the book is also extremely disturbing for it tells the story of how alternative therapies for cancer, labeled 'unorthodox' during the last century, were systematically suppressed by none other than the American Medical Association and federal government agencies charged with protecting the public health. As it turns out, Harry Hoxsey who treated cancer patients with an herbal tonic beginning in the 1920's, was one of a number of people who were investigating 'unorthodox' treatments. Most of these treatments were nontoxic plant and herb-based mixtures. Like Hoxsey who was finally forced to close his cancer clinics in 1960, all of these other doctors and scientists suffered similar persecution without valid scientific investigation into their treatments. The Hoxsey clinic was moved to Tijuana, Mexico in 1963 by Mildred Nelson, Hoxsey's long-time nurse. It continues its mission as the Bio Medical Center under the leadership of Ms. Nelson's sister. Information about how to contact the center is included in the book. Kenny Ausubel deserves a Pulitzer Prize for this work. Tell everyone you know who has lost a loved one to cancer, is struggling with this disease herself or is supporting a loved one through it to READ THIS BOOK!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Overview
A powerful and substantiated expose of the medical politics that prevents promising alternative cancer therapies from being implemented in the United States.
• Focuses on Harry Hoxsey, the subject of the author's award-winning documentary, who claimed to cure cancer using herbal remedies.
• Presents scientific evidence supporting Hoxsey's cancer-fighting claims.
• Published to coincide with the anticipated 2000 public release of the ...