When Healing Becomes a Crime: The Amazing Story of the Hoxsey Cancer Clinics and the Return of Alternative Therapies (Paperback)

by Kenny Ausubel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"It will help readers become wiser patients, and could even save their lives. A magnificent contribution. -- Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Words and Prayer is Good Medicine

"Physicians, patients, medical students and governmental officials could all benefit from reading this book. -- Andrew Weil, author of Spontaneous Healing

An expose of medical policies which have limited and affected promising alternative cancer therapies in this country. -- James A. Cox, The Midwest Book Reveiw

An important book . . . in demonstrating the methods . . . through which modern medicine achieved its present status. -- New Jersey Naturally, Summer/Fall 2000

Ausubel's book is essential for anyone interested in the history of medicine or the history of herbalism. -- Stephen Buhner, HerbalGram, 2000

Ausubel's book is particularly timely in view of the recent tokenistic attempts by the cancer establishment to appear open-minded to alternative therapies. -- Samuel Epstein, M.D., author of The Politics of Cancer and the Safe Shopper's Bible

Hoxsey's fate--shared by other maverick therapists--has dramatic relevance today as alternative cancer treatment gains mainstream acceptance. -- Jim Motavalli, E Magazine, July/August 2002

Investigative journalist Ausubel presents powerful and convincing testimony. -- Napra ReView, Sept/Oct 2000

Kenny Ausubel takes this subject very seriously, while maintaining a very reader-friendly style. -- Russ Reina, Talking Leaves, Winter 2001

This book is riveting. . . . The amount of scholarship that went into writing it is admirable. -- Dana Ullman, Whole Earth, Fall 2000

Product Description
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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Healing Arts Press; 1 edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892819251
• ISBN-13: 978-0892819256
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #42,811 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why Medical Doctors should practice Evidence Based Medicine, June 26, 2001

By	Patrick Merlevede (Lembeke, Vlaanderen (Belgium, Europe)) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Warning, when you read this book you might be scared away from “conventional medicine”! If you are suffering of cancer or have a relative that is terminally ill and has been given up by doctors, I recommend this book as a “second opinion”.

This book tells the story of how an alternative treatment was sabotaged by the medical community and by organizations that are supposed to protect our health (such as the Food and Drug Administration). As a European, I have been quite skeptical about this agency for some time, and this book doesn’t help at all! The picture this book gives you is that the main reason a drug gets accepted or not might be linked to serious lobbying inside the conventional medical community and to the financial gains that are linked to it. This isn’t hard to believe if you see how the tobacco lobby succeeded for years to cover up the problems smoking causes.

Yet, there is hope as far "conventional medicine" is concerned. Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) teaches doctors that they should stay current with recent research on drugs and learn how to interpret studies before administering drugs to their patients. I studied this subject in preparation of my Ph.D. I believe that EBM practices do drastically enhance our chances as patients to get the right treatment, especially if you read that 50% of doctors risk giving you a wrong or outdated treatment. No wonder many doctors admit that many patients get better DESPITE their doctor’s treatment.

The problem with EBM is that apparently some often used treatments such as many current forms of chemotherapy lack the statistical data to back them up, and that doctors seem to treat patients with those cures because they don’t have anything better. When I was doing my own research concerning whiplash, I was faced with a similar dilemma: conventional treatment in which patients have to wear a cervical collar may actually worsen the condition of patients. Yet 50% of MD’s still prescribe it today. On the other hand, if you would recommend a patient to throw away this collar, you might be pursued form “medical malpractice”.

On the other hand, I have known for years that the problem of many alternative cures (whether they are herbal remedies or psychological assistance) lies in the fact that they have not been proven scientifically. But, not being proven doesn't mean that the cure isn't valid, it only lets you know there is no way to tell. Therefore I keep trying to convince “alternative therapists” to do the necessary “homework” with regards to proving their protocols. The drama is that it doesn’t pay to do the scientific research for those cures, whereas there are billions to be gained from doing research for registered drugs.

Given that the death rate of cancer today isn't much better than in the 1950s, it's no wonder that today over 60% of cancer patients supplement their conventional treatment with one or more forms of alternative treatment. Reading this book should at least help you to be a bit more skeptical to what your doctor is telling you, and to be more willing to inquire for yourself what therapy will help to cure you.

Related books: “The Cancer industry” and “Questioning Chemotherapy” by Ralph Moss...

59 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The 'Silent Spring' of Alternative Cancer Therapies", July 17, 2000

By	Dana Ullman, MPH (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews

WHEN HEALING BECOMES A CRIME, Kenny Ausubel, Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 2000, 461pp., $19.95

Despite being involved in alternative medicine (specifically homeopathic medicine) since 1972, I have always had strong skepticism of alternative therapies for cancer. I questioned their true effectiveness, and even more, I questioned the ethics of their advocates. After reading Kenny Ausubel's newest book, I realize now how effective the propaganda against alternative cancer therapies have been on me, despite my own predilections towards alternative medicine and my strong skepticism of conventional approaches. I was truly blown away by WHEN HEALING BECOMES A CRIME. What the SILENT SPRING did for the environmental movement, his book does for the alternative cancer movement (perhaps this book should have been called or sub-titled THE SUPPRESSED SPRING, since the AMA, the FDA, and the drug companies have been so effective in suppressing any positive information about these therapies and have been extraordinarily effective in providing misinformation about them). The general public is interested in alternative medicine, not only in recent times, but Ausubel references a Chicago Medical Society survey that discovered that 85% of Americans used "drugless healers" in the early 1940s. The misinformation and demonization of alternative medicine by the AMA and the FDA is quite remarkable and sad (no, St. Johns wort won't cure this depression!). This McCarthyization of alternative healers predated McCarthy and didn't simply destroy people's lives as McCarthy did, but also led to earlier death of hundreds of thousands of people by foisting upon them as the only appropriate treatment for cancer, the notoriously ineffective and dangerous primitive radiation and chemotherapy of the day. This book details the experience of Harry Hoxsey and his herbal formulas for people with cancer. Despite getting arrested over a hundred times in one two-year period and hundreds of more times before and after this, Harry Hoxsey's leading nemesis, AMA leader Morris Fishbein, acknowledged under oath that Hoxsey's therapy was indeed effective in treating certain types of cancer, though this statement never changed his heavy-handed efforts to make access to Hoxsey's treatment difficult or impossible. Hoxsey's clinic has been forced out of the US and into Mexico since the early 1960s, but it still provides care for people, even though, remarkably enough, it STILL is not allowed back in the US. The book also provides a fascinating history of the AMA's rise to respect in the 20th century, in large part to its leader, Morris Fishbein, MD, who never practiced a day of medicine himself and who flunked anatomy in medical school. His efforts to get drug and tobacco companies to advertise in AMA journals made the AMA rich and ultimately powerful, and it led the AMA to attack any others who questioned conventional medical treatment or who offered viable alternatives. This book is riveting but can and will lead to fits of anger at orthodoxy's impressively effective PR efforts to make successful spokespersons for alternative medicine into quacks and criminals. This book is also extremely well referenced, both to historical records as well as modern scientific literature. The amount of scholarship that went into writing this book is admirable. Dana Ullman, M.P.H. Homeopathic Educational Services

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read!, December 21, 2004

By	Desiree Hayes "Natural Mama" (Southern CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I really enjoyed this book. I know people who have benefitted from Hoxsey treatment so that is why I was drawn to this book in the first place. It is very interesting to me that Hoxsey and his 17 clinics were pushed out of the United States. It seems that anything that wont make the pharmaceutical companies any money, is going to be targeted and yes, Hoxsey treatment was, even though it was helping people. In the response to the person who gave one star and claims they are making millions of dollars. The 3500 dollar is a LIFETIME charge. If you get cancer again you can go back for treatment. Here 3500 dollars will get you ONE emergency room trip and an x-ray. The doctors at the Biomedical Center in Tijuana are actual medical doctors and they are not receiving Mexican minimum wage. Also, once you arrive you go through testing. They take your blood, they have labs, x ray machines and most other medical technology for testing cancer. Those things cost money. It is not quite the money making scheme you make it out to be. All I know is 2 weeks on the Hoxsey diet and my tumors were gone, when the doctors here told me I had to have them surgerically removed. 5 years later I have never had surgery. :)