Killing Us Softly: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine. Dr Offit Paul

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СКАЧАТЬ dramatically. In 1987, the FDA banned the sale of laetrile. (It can still be obtained from clinics in Mexico or illegally from the Internet. In recent years, more websites have appeared promoting the drug.)

      In retrospect, the last best chance to save Joey Hofbauer had occurred in one court and one court only: Judge Loren Brown’s family court. This was the only time that cancer specialists had testified. Lawyers working on behalf of Joey had done their homework. The doctors and scientists presented by the state had published hundreds of papers, written book chapters on Hodgkin’s disease, chaired professional societies, headed research teams showing the value of radiation and chemotherapy, performed studies in experimental animals showing that laetrile didn’t work and was dangerous, or headed the FDA’s section on cancer treatments. They were, in short, the brightest, most accomplished members of their field.

      The doctors and scientists offered by the Hofbauers also shared several characteristics: none were board-certified in oncology, hematology, or toxicology; none had ever published a paper in a medical journal; none had shown any reasonable evidence that their therapies worked; and most didn’t even have hospital privileges. That Brown could rule in favor of the Hofbauers’ choice to deny their son a proven, effective therapy is unconscionable. But an explanation can be found in the record of the trial. In the section titled “Findings of Fact and Conclusion of Law,” Brown wrote, “This court finds that metabolic therapy has a place in our society, and, hopefully, its proponents are on the first rung of a ladder that will rid us of all forms of cancer.” Brown believed that his small family court in Saratoga County had witnessed a miracle—a breakthrough that would soon turn cancer therapy on its ear. To Judge Brown, the notion that laetrile and coffee enemas could treat Joey Hofbauer wasn’t a matter of opinion; it was a “Finding of Fact.”

      There was another force working against Joey Hofbauer in Judge Brown’s courtroom that day—a force far more powerful than clinicians like Michael Schachter or laetrile promoters like Ernest Krebs Jr. or ideologues like Robert Bradford. It was revealed during an exchange between the Hofbauers’ lawyer, Kirkpatrick Dilling, and Victor Herbert, a cancer specialist. Dilling was questioning Herbert about the value of bonemeal.

      DILLING: Calcium, is that an essential nutrient?

      HERBERT: Yes.

      DILLING: Are you familiar with the fact that bonemeal is very high in calcium?

      HERBERT: I’m familiar with the fact that bonemeal is a dangerous quack remedy because of its lead content and people have died from being given bonemeal instead of calcium properly in milk and milk products.

      DILLING: Isn’t bonemeal widely available?

      HERBERT: Certainly is, your organization pushes it.

      Dilling froze. His organization? Herbert had revealed something that wasn’t evident to most in the courtroom that day—exactly who was paying for the Hofbauers’ defense. Recovering, Dilling went on the offensive. “I want to state for the record,” he said, “that I’m proud to represent the National Health Federation and I would appreciate it if the witness would keep his views to himself.”

      The National Health Federation (NHF) is an organization that represents the financial interests of the alternative medicine industry. At the time of Joey’s trial, these therapies had become quite lucrative. Kirkpatrick Dilling was general counsel to the NHF. Against these powerful financial interests, Joey Hofbauer didn’t have a chance.

      Michael Schachter was never held accountable for his treatment of Joey Hofbauer. On the contrary, since Joey’s death Schachter has thrived, directing the Schachter Center for Complementary Medicine, in Suffern, New York. In 2010, a promotional brochure claimed he “has successfully treated thousands of patients using orthomolecular psychiatry, nutritional medicine, chelation therapy for cardiovascular disease, and alternative cancer therapies.”

      Joey Hofbauer’s story, while extreme, contains much of what attracts people to alternative therapies today: a heartfelt distrust of modern medicine (John and Mary Hofbauer didn’t believe the advice of hematologists and oncologists); the notion that large doses of vitamins mean better health (Joey was given massive doses of vitamin A, which was likely to have been to his detriment); the belief that natural products are safer than conventional therapies (the Hofbauers preferred laetrile, pancreatic enzymes, coffee enemas, and raw liver juice to radiation and chemotherapy); the lure of healers whose charisma masks their lack of expertise (Michael Schachter, a psychiatrist, convinced the Hofbauers he could cure their son, even though he had no expertise treating cancer); the power of celebrity endorsements (Steve McQueen was one of the most popular movie stars of his day); and, perhaps most of all, the unseen influence of a lucrative business (Kirkpatrick Dilling’s NHF, still active today, is one of many lobbying groups that have influenced Congress to offer special protections to the fourteen hundred companies that manufacture alternative remedies in the United States).

Part I

       1

       Rediscovering the Past: Mehmet Oz and His Superstars

      Oh, no, my dear; I’m really a very good man, but I’m a very bad Wizard.

      —The Wizard of Oz

      Few celebrities are more recognizable than Oprah Winfrey. At the height of her syndicated talk show, which attracted more than 40 million viewers a week, Oprah launched the career of a man who would soon become America’s most recognized promoter of alternative medicine: Mehmet Oz, star of The Dr. Oz Show.

      Like Winfrey’s, Oz’s show is also popular—more than 4 million people watch it every day. It’s not hard to figure out why. It’s the same reason that John and Mary Hofbauer were attracted to Michael Schachter, or Steve McQueen to William Kelley. Oz believes that modern medicine isn’t always to be trusted—that we should retreat to an age when healing was more natural, less cluttered with man-made technologies.

      On the surface, Mehmet Oz would seem to be the last person to argue against modern medicine.

      After graduating from Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and the Wharton School, Oz climbed the ranks at Columbia University Medical Center to become a full professor in cardiovascular surgery. He performs as many as 250 operations a year and has authored 400 medical papers and book chapters. Six of his books have been on the New York Times best-seller list. Oz was voted one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, the World Economic Forum’s Global Leader of Tomorrow, Harvard University’s 100 Most Influential Alumni, Esquire’s Best and Brightest, and Healthy Living’s Healer of the Millennium. He’s not just famous; he’s a brand (“America’s Doctor”).

      Certainly, no one appreciates the advances of modern medicine more than Mehmet Oz. He’s a heart surgeon. He holds people’s hearts in his hands and fixes them. Oz couldn’t do this without anesthesia, antibiotics, sterile technique, and heart-lung machines. But there was one moment when it became clear that Mehmet Oz wasn’t a typical heart surgeon. During an operation, “Oz jumped up on a standing stool, peered into the patient’s chest, and said, ‘I knew we should have used subliminal tapes.’” Oz believed that surgery wasn’t enough—success also depended on tapping into his patient’s subconscious. Watching this scene was Jery Whitworth, a nurse who operated the heart-lung machine. Whitworth shared Oz’s love of alternative therapies. “After a few minutes we stopped,” recalled Whitworth, “because the operating room СКАЧАТЬ