In Defense of Medical Heresy - Asheville Integrative Medicine · In Defense of Medical Heresy . The...
Transcript of In Defense of Medical Heresy - Asheville Integrative Medicine · In Defense of Medical Heresy . The...
Personal and historical stories of challenging the status quo of
mainstream medicine.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Hypnotherapy
• Well-documented studies in leading medical journals in support of Hypnosis as therapy. Accepted by the AMA in 1955.
• The Portland Academy of Hypnosis: teaching medical, dental, and mental health professionals how to use hypnosis.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Hypnotherapy “Grand Rounds”
• Inspired by outstanding evidence.
• Presented to assembled doctors at hospital of residency.
• Expected enthusiastic reception.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
From Company Guy to Challenger
• “Unimpressed”.
• Looked upon as a “Quack”.
• Used to tow the line; now standing outside the mainstream.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Turning Point
• Majority of doctors don’t care about hypnosis, or other potentially-useful treatments outside the current “standard of care”, even in the face of great data.
“Paradigm Box”
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
“All data will be ignored if it does not fit the ruling
paradigm.”
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
A Cracked Paradigm
• Became interested in what might actually help a patient, rather than how most doctors would treat them.
• Led to “Alternative Medicine.”
• Prefer “Integrative Medicine.”
– Integrate whatever really works = Good Medicine !
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Scientific Revolutions
• “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”
• Advances in science and medicine occur as revolutions, not just evolutions.
• New ideas are first ignored, then ridiculed, then persecuted, and then finally accepted as obvious, and as if they were the establishment’s own all along.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Massage Therapy License
• Personally benefited from the transformative potential of massage.
• Effective healing modality.
• In North Carolina, realized risk of embracing techniques outside mainstream “standard of care” of medical practice.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
NC Licensure Interview
• Expected welcome, no worries……
• Instead, “What’s this massage stuff about?”
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Accusation
• Couldn’t imagine interest in massage therapy…other than an inappropriate one.
• Because of license for massage therapy in Oregon:
“I fully expect to see you back here within two years on boundary violation charges.”
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
A Tense Interview
• Did he control my ability to practice medicine?
• State law required valid reason for denial.
• I was scared at first, then angry.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
“Not in Oregon anymore”
• Granted License, “with reservations” (was I on his “hit-list”?):
–“You’re not in Oregon anymore, and we don’t do that alternative stuff here in North Carolina, so when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
“Not in Oregon anymore”
• …. so when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
• “Hmmm, the Romans - Now weren’t those the guys who threw the Christians to the Lions?”
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Fortunate, Sassy and Grateful
• Received License; fortunate to practice medicine
• Sassy mouth with authorities not my only defense.
• Benefit from a battle fought in part by some local medical pioneers:
– Change in state law,
– “Pulled the teeth” out of the Med Board’s efforts to suppress physicians who dared to offer treatments outside the usual and customary “standard of care” in the community.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
The Life and Tragic Death of a Medical
Pioneer
On August 13, 1865, 47-year-old Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis died a horrible, lonely death as a result of his persecution for attempting to advance the status quo of medicine.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis
–Gifted medical researcher and physician. – Expired in a Viennese insane asylum. – Internal injuries he received from guards
there: • Sleep deprivation; Delirious. • Boils; Gangrene. • Straitjacket; Doses of castor oil. • “Treated” with cold water dousing.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Why?
What had he done to receive abuse?
What offense had he committed?
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Simple Discovery
• Suggested that obstetricians should disinfect their hands before moving from a cadaver dissection to a pelvic exam on a live patient.
• Fellow obstetricians were outraged.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
The Status Quo
Then, as now, proponents of the ruling medical paradigm were bitterly opposed to anything that did not fit within the boundaries of their limited experience.
Can you say
“Cognitive Dissonance”?
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Maternity Clinic
• At 28, became assistant at Viennese General Hospital maternity clinic.
• Appalled at clinic’s mortality rate.
• Expectant mothers begged to be discharged, some escaped.
• At one point, 11 of 12 maternity patients perished from what was then called “Childbed Fever.”
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
“Childbed Fever”
• Many theories
– Inadequate ventilation, poor circulation, protracted labor, injuries to uterus during delivery, tightness of petticoats, strong liquor, crowded rooms.
• Semmelweis not satisfied, so pursued his own investigations.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
“Childbed Fever”
His Conclusion:
The disease was caused primarily by decaying particles of flesh carried on the hands of the physicians attending the doomed patients.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
“Childbed Fever”
• Doctors followed dissection of cadaver to live patient.
• More progressive doctors washed their hands in water, some even used soap.
• Semmelweis discovered that mere soap and water would not kill the bacteria that were causing childbed fever
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Solution
• Developed a chloride of lime solution.
• Insisted physicians in his section wash with it thoroughly before working on a live patient.
• Mortality rate in his section dropped to almost zero.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Did the medical community hoist Semmelweis on their shoulders and honor him for the many thousands of lives his discovery would save ?
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Not the Case
• Firestorm of resentment and political intrigue.
• Doctors actively tried to discredit him.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Denied – One doctor argued that the infective material
around a fingernail would not enough to kill a person.
– Another claimed no advantage, when his “washings” were dunking fingertips into fluid left unchanged for many days, itself full of harmful material.
Challenged – An opposed doctor funded student research which
again supported Semmelweis’s findings. These conclusions were not widely circulated.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Despite Rejection, Saved Lives
• Findings were grossly misinterpreted by the medical establishment.
• Rejected by many prominent physicians.
• Semmelweis continued to achieve dramatic success in surgical procedures considered dangerous.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Still Opposed
• No impression on the protectors of the status quo.
• Following an otherwise favorable report on chlorine washing, editor of medical journal stated:
– “We believe that this chlorine washing theory has long outlived its usefulness…It is time we are no longer to be deceived by this theory.”
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Semmelweis Crushed
• Embittered by rejections,
• Despair over the lives lost to childbed fever,
• Resorted to heavy drinking, prostitutes.
• Angry open letters denouncing prominent obstetricians as irresponsible murderers.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Ruined Reputation
• Lured to insane asylum, he fought involuntary commitment.
• Guards attacked him, resulting wounds responsible for death.
• Ironically, the cause was blood-poisoning, responsible for deaths of the women in maternity ward where he began.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Later acceptance
• Not long after death, medical community accepts practice.
• Today, honored as a medical pioneer.
• Theory, practice, accepted as common knowledge among modern healers.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis
• Medical pioneer,
• Shunned, driven mad, finally killed.
• Followed conscience as a doctor and a scientist.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
What has changed?
• Surgical hygiene improved greatly.
• Technology of medicine developed at an astonishing rate.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
What has Changed?
• What about the attitude of medicine?
–Objectivity?
–Embracing New Ideas?
–Willingness to Admit Error?
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Dr. George Papanicolaou
• 1928 – he and his wife Mary introduce the “Pap smear.” How weird is that?
• Reduced death rate from cervical cancer by 74%.
• Took 30 years to become accepted.
• How many women died needlessly?
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Dr. Thomas McPherson Brown
• In the 1940’s, isolated an infectious agent from cases of Rheumatoid Arthritis.
• Cured thousands of arthritis patients with antibiotics.
• Persecuted for 50 years.
• Finally – “I outlived the bastards.”
• www.RoadBack.org
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Dr. Kilmer McCully
• 1969 proposed the elevated Homocysteine can contribute to vascular disease.
• Lost his job and had to work in the basement of the V.A. hospital for 30 years.
• 1998 – JAMA publishes confirmations.
• How many have died prematurely?
• BTW – rumors of the death of the homocysteine theory are premature.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Barry Marshall M.D.
• Ulcers caused by infection? Ludicrous!
• Scoped EGD, drank flask, repeat EGD shows ulcers, took Antibiotics, and cured.
• Nobel Peace Price in Medicine – 20 years later.
• 1999 survey of US docs – only 49% know that most ulcers caused by H. pylori.
• www.helico.com
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
New Ideas come with New Challenges Today
• Lyme Disease, Autism vs vaccines, dental amalgam mercury syndrome, etc, etc.
• FDA controversies –
Stevia vs aspartame.
Limiting access vs quality-control.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Current Protection
In NC, the Medical Practice Act law is a relative shelter offering patients their choice of reasonable therapies.
– Every year, attempts to change law.
– Now it only takes a sub-committee of three members, rather than the full Board, to discipline a doctor.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
George Guess M.D.
• 1986 – N.C. Medical Board revoked his license (with a 3-year ‘stay’) for practicing homeopathy, which was outside the “standard of care” for physicians.
• 1992 – Dr. Guess moves to Virginia, exhausted and broke from the legal battles.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
John Laird M.D.
• NC Med Board prosecutes for doing IV EDTA Chelation Therapy for vascular disease, also “outside the standard of care.”
• 1992 – he forms ‘Carolinians for Health Care Access’, a consumer group.
• 1994 – passed law to change the medical practice act – Burden of Proof is on the Board to prove that Rx is more harmful than the standard.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
John Laird M.D.
• 1995-1996 – he moves to NM, exhausted and financially drained from the fight.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Cissy Majebe L.Ac.
• Office raided in 1990 for practicing medicine without a license.
• Took business records, patient records, diplomas, etc.
• Changed the law to create the NC Acupuncture Board, and became first chairperson.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Not Today?
• Even today the act of challenging the medical status quo leaves one vulnerable to attack, sometimes on the most flimsy of pretenses.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
What Can we Do?
Join an organization educating and fighting to preserve and expand medical freedoms.
But, which group….?
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
The North Carolina Integrative Medical Society (NCIMS)
830 Hendersonville Rd
Asheville, NC 28803
www.ncims.com
Carolinians for Healthcare Access (CHCA)
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
American College for the Advancement of Medicine (ACAM)
www.acam.org
Find ACAM Physician
1-888-439-6891
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Defeat Autism Now! (DAN)
www.danconference.com
www.autism.com
Autism Research Institute's
Autism Resource Call Center:
1-866-366-3361
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
International Hyperbarics Association (IHA)
www.ihausa.org
To Find a Hyperbaric Center Near You
Call 877.IHA.USA1
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM)
7701 E. Kellogg Dr Ste 625
Wichita, KS 67207-1705
www.aaem.com
(316) 684-5500
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Words of Wisdom:
“A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”
Max Planck (the father of Quantum Physics)
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
2nd Renaissance:
The 1st Renaissance occurred largely due to Gutenberg’s printing press, making information suddenly attainable by the masses.
The 2nd Renaissance is the advent of the
Information Age, made largely possible by the Internet.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy
Physician-Patient Relationship: Old Paradigm…
Paternalistic All-Knowing Doctor. Receptive Obedient Patient. 7-10 minute visit to evaluate the “chief
complaint”, label it, and provide a prescription for the right pharmaceutical drug to treat it.
James Biddle, MD
In Defense of Medical Heresy