Racketeering in Medicine: The Suppression of Alternatives [Paperback]

James P. Carter (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing Company; 1 edition (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 187890132X
• ISBN-13: 978-1878901323
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Information!, September 18, 2000

By 

Christina Paul (Anamosa, IA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Racketeering in Medicine: The Suppression of Alternatives (Paperback)

I have been reading various books on alternaitve medicine for years, and this one sticks out as one of the top five in my library about how the AMA, FDA and pharmaceutical industry has for years tried to discredit alternative,less expensive, less invasive and often times more effective modalities of treatment.

James Carter does not just sensationalize but documents quite clearly the evidence behind his assertion. He clearly shows that the governing bodies of modern general or "accepted" medicine have a vested interest in supressing these treatments and making sure that most average folks never know about them. This book is well worth reading as it offers ways to empower the reader to find out more and to participate in the decision process concerning their own healthcare.

69 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone about the "big business" of Medicine, January 17, 2000

By 

Eric Blake (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Racketeering in Medicine: The Suppression of Alternatives (Paperback)

An excellent book, shows how alternative therapies are suppressed and how only drugs and surgeries are allowed to receive approval. It is a wake-up call for those people that need a reminder of the imperfect nature of man and how money/power can overwhelm a doctor's true desire to help the general population's health.

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars TELLS IT LIKE IT IS, May 9, 2004

By 

Theresa Welsh "The Seeker" (Ferndale, Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Racketeering in Medicine: The Suppression of Alternatives (Paperback)

I could have wished for better, more focused writing, as this book wanders around a lot -- but Dr. Carter provides plenty of examples of useful therapies that we don't get to try because Big Pharma can't profit from them. He shows how our "free enterprise" medicine is driven by profit and how large special-interest organizations (drug companies, insurance companies, government agencies, big bucks charities and especially, the AMA) determine what kind of treatments are considered "legitimate."

He shows how the government's requirements for testing new (and old, but never "scientifically" tested)) treatments, along with the almost fanatic belief in double-blind trials keeps good therapies from public use. Many other countries sanction these therapies, but in the US, allopathic medicine - led by the AMA -has a virtual monopoly on providing health care.

Since Dr. Carter wrote this book, the situation has improved a bit for alternative treatments, but overall, health care in the US is stagnant and disastrously expensive. If we had a system where the incentives were for delivery of good, cost-effective care for everyone, we would get fewer bypass operations, take fewer pills, and get fewer high-tech tests. But we'd be much better off as a society than we are with our bloated, overpriced profit-driven health care environment that mainly benefits big drug and insurance companies and highly-paid providers and executives.

The most shocking revelation in the book is how local medical societies team up with government to persecute providers who use unorthodox treatments. The medical profession claims it uses hearings to weed out bad doctors, but it seems these local medical societies mostly go after doctors who might have a treatment (like EDTA chelation) that doesn't cost enough. AMA doctors, hospitals, and even insurance companies would rather do a $30,000 operation than let someone suffering from clogged arteries have a $3000 treatment.

We Americans pay obscene (and unsustainable) amounts of money for health insurance only to be denied payment for treatments we may choose for ourselves. These denials of payment and persecutions of pratitioners are the actions of a monopoly protecting its own financial interest.

When will the American people demand a change? Wake up, America! You do not have the best medical care in the world, just the most expensive.