We now take it for granted that healthcare involves pharmaceutical medications, surgery, chemo and radiation therapy. But that wasn’t always the case. In fact there were many schools of natural healing that were quite popular and helped people, but were attacked and suppressed by “modern” pharmaceutical medicine in the 19th and 20th century.
- In the 19th century, homeopathic medicine flourished and death rates from infectious disease in homeopathic hospitals were ½ to ⅛ those in conventional (allopathic) hospitals.
- When the American Medical Association (AMA) was formed in 1847. Its code of ethics did not grant membership for homeopaths, and even prevented members from consulting them.
- In 1910, holistic healing modalities were taught in most US medical schools, while drug therapy was taught in only a few. This changed after AMA and John D. Rockefeller hired Abraham Flexner to evaluate medical school curricula. The Flexner report denounced natural therapies as “non-scientific” and embraced drug therapy.
- There was a clear conflict of interest here, as Rockefeller was heavily invested in pharmaceutical companies, which used products left over from the oil industry he ran. All natural/holistic medical schools were shut down, and the number of medical schools decreased from 600 to 50 within 15 years (by 1925)
- In the 1950s Chiropractic care was becoming increasingly popular and available because of widespread therapeutic success. Subsequently the AMA started a vicious attack on the profession in the 60s. They contacted physician groups and societies urging them to deem it “unethical” to refer to a chiropractor. Moreover, their publications would label chiropractors as “frauds” or a “cult”. The popularity of the profession has gone down, and is now considered a fringe, alternative healing method.
- The point here is that it’s difficult to determine which healing modality is superior to another. This decision should be left to the consumer and free market. If pharmaceutical medications are indeed more helpful, then people will use them more often. However, It is illegal to suppress alternative healing modalities and prevent them from competing. This is partially why modern healthcare is so broken.
References:
- The Beginner’s guide to Natural Living, Larry Cook, 2005
- Medical Education in the United States and Canada: A report to The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching by Abraham Flexner