A companion to the author's award-winning documentary about Harry Hoxsey, who treated thousands of cancer patients with his herbal formulas despite relentless persecution by the AMA. As alternative medicine finally regains its rightful place and enters mainstream practice, this compelling book will not only forever change the way you see medicine but could also save your life.Harry Hoxsey treated thousands of cancer patients with his herbal formulas despite relentless persecution by the AMA, which drove his Texas clinic out of the country in the 1960s. This book will change the way you see medicine.Kenny Ausubel is an award-winning author, investigative journalist, and filmmaker. His critically acclaimed documentary film on Hoxsey won the prestigious andquot;Best Censored Storiesandquot; journalism award, associated with Bill Moyers. He is the author of
Seeds of Changeand
Restoring the Earth, as well as the founder of the Bioneers Conference and Seeds of Change, Inc. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. andquot;With this book, Kenny Ausubel establishes himself as one of the truly great writers on contemporary America. Lucid, hard-hitting, well researched, comprehensive--this book will raise more than a few eyebrows in the medical establishment, and hopefully raise the consciousness of all Americans regarding the possibilities that some natural treatments might contribute to the war against cancer.andquot;"
Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of the American Botanical Council
andquot;Ausubel's book is particularly timely in view of the recent tokenistic attempts by the cancer establishment to appear open-minded to alternative therapies.andquot;
Samuel Epstein, M.D., author of The Politics of Cancer and the Safe Shopper's Bible
andquot;Freedom comes in many varieties--religious, political, and, as this book stunningly reveals, medical. The bitter power struggle for dominance within medicine has always been one of its dirty little secrets." For anyone who believes modern therapy is only about facts, evidence, and data, this book will come as a shock. It will help readers become wiser patients, and could even save their lives. A magnificent contribution.andquot;
Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Wordsand Prayer is Good Medicine
andquot;The story of Harry Hoxsey and his fight with the medical establishment over unorthodox cancer treatment is both a fascinating medical drama and an important historical episode in the development of alternative medicine in the twentieth century." Physicians, patients, medical students and governmental officials could all benefit from reading this book.andquot;
Andrew Weil, author of Spontaneous Healing
andquot;Ausubel's book will be widely read by the lay public. Should this be the case, its influence on lawmakers and the medical establishment will be substantial. Hopefully health care professionals and lawmakers will read it.andquot;
Donald G. Murphy, Ph.D., Universal Healing Arts
When Healing Becomes a Crime
The Amazing Story of the Hoxsey Cancer Clinics and the Return ofAlternative Therapies
Foreword by Bernie Siegel, M.D.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: The Wildest Story in Medical History: The Ballad of Harryand 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 ofHere with a Gatling Gun"
9. Endgame: The Government "Liquidates" Hoxsey
10. Mexican Standoff
Part Two: A Conflict of Medical Opinion: The Hoxsey Remedies vs. ConventionalCancer 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 HoxseyFilm Goes toWashington
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 MedicineLooks at Hoxsey
21. Look Out, America! Here Come Alternative Cancer Therapies
22. "Pay Your Money and Take Your Choice": The Corporatization of AlternativeMedicine
23. The Other Heroic Medicine
Epilogue
Afterword
Notesandnbsp;
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 pioneerin the field of mind-body healing.andnbsp; He founded the Exceptional CancerPatient Program, a support group system enabling cancer patients to mobilizetheir full human resources for healing.
When Healing Becomes a Crime needs to be read by every health care professionaland legislator, as well as every citizen, since we are all potential patientsduring our lifetime.andnbsp; Its importance lies not in convincing anyoneof the efficacy of Hoxsey's treatment, but in demonstrating the closed-mindednessof the medical profession.andnbsp; We must not keep repeating the scenarioand 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.andnbsp;Although this was something others had seen fifty years prior to my awareness,I am still on some Web site quack lists.andnbsp; Years ago I was on all thetalk shows and was exposed to criticism for causing guilt and blaming peoplefor their illness.andnbsp; None of this was true, but no one wanted to supportmy research or listen to what I had to say--except the people who had theillness.andnbsp; Today many doctors have come around to my view because theyor their loved ones developed cancer and they experienced first-hand thepower of the human spirit under desperate circumstances.
We need to change the system so that future doctors do not receive justmedical information but are given a true education.andnbsp; They need tolearn how to treat people, not diagnoses.andnbsp; They need to betrained to be willing to accept that which is experienced,andnbsp; We haveto remember there is more to healing a person than there is to curing adisease.
The system needs to open up so that the pages of medical journals arenot 50 percent pharmaceutical ads, thus closing minds and doors to alternativeand integrative treatments.andnbsp; In the future, companies need to be rewardedfor researching alternative treatments that cannot be patented.andnbsp; Ourgovernment could easily remedy that with tax breaks and deductions forthe cost of the research, while allowing the company doing the researchto 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.andnbsp;Yes, I am against quackery--taking advantage of sick people--even thoughbelieving in aandnbsp; quack may cure someone whom a doctor has declaredhopeless.andnbsp; What I seek is an open system to assure that we do theresearch and give people the information, enabling them to make rationalchoices that are appropriate for them. Life is a labor pain and we eachhave the right to decide what pains we are willing to experience to givebirth to ourselves.
When my father was dying of cancer, I ordered medication from overseasto give him hope.andnbsp; One day I received a phone call from the post office.andnbsp;They told me the FDA wouldn't allow the package to be delivered unlessit was labeled botanical products rather than medication, so the changewas made and we received the medication.andnbsp; Someone in the post officetreated us like human beings and cared.andnbsp; We are all entitled to makedecisions about our lives and health.andnbsp; Let us hope that some day ourmedical and health care systems include freedom of choice, communication,appropriate research, and the desireto help the patient experiencingthe disease.
I've had it easier than Harry Hoxsey because I was a doctor, and whenpeople saw that what I did worked, it became policy.andnbsp; Today the thingsI was criticized for are a part of quality treatment.andnbsp; No one is againstsuccess, so let us approach health car with an open mind and acceptanceof what works.andnbsp; And as healers, let us not forget the HippocraticOath, whose central message is, "First do no harm." True healing shouldnever be a crime, or healers criminal.andnbsp; May When Healing Becomesa Crimeherald the beginning of a new era of medical care that is inquisitive,compassionate, and devoted to making people well.A companion to the author's award-winning documentary about Harry Hoxsey, who treated thousands of cancer patients with his herbal formulas despite relentless persecution by the AMA. When Healing Becomes a Crimeexposes the overall failure of the War on Cancer, while revealing how yesterday's andquot;unorthodoxandquot; 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.