​Consider the case of the infant who was to have a routine circumcision ("so he will look like all the other boys"). The surgeon used an electrocautery that was set too high and burned the infant's penis completely away. The medical staff then recommended to the young parents that the boy be surgically converted to a girl. The parents were assured that all would be fine so long as they reared him as a girl. What the heck, the only difference between a girl and a boy is the presence or absence of a penis and a few hormones, right?
 
In the end, the young boy never thought of himself as a girl and never behaved like a girl in spite of intense and devoted nurturing to the contrary.¹ (Another nail in the coffin of nurture over nature.) It is hard to even imagine the physical and psychological stress this poor youngster and his parents went through. Eventually he was surgically rebuilt as a male, but normalcy never came to his life and he committed suicide as a young adult.
 
I recently visited an 83-year-old friend in the hospital. She was having a bout of fluid buildup in the lungs from congestive heart failure. The dieticians were feeding her pudding, instant potatoes, and a slab of some nondescript canned 'meat.' None of it was edible to her and her frail and wasting frame was starving. The nurses, however, made sure she took her 17 different pills—yes, 17—with a cup of water. Down the hatch they went on an empty stomach.

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​She had placed her care and life in modern medicine's hands and it was killing her. She pleaded for us to go out and bring back some "real food." So we did and she promptly inhaled it. I encouraged her to get home as soon as possible. When she got home she began to promptly improve.
 
I investigated the 17 medications and discovered that the total number of contraindications and side-effects reported on the drug inserts was over 350. No doctor could have any idea what all these medications taken in combination were really doing to this poor lady. But every time she had a complaint, off to the doctors she'd go. They would oblige with yet another medication insisting that the meds were what was keeping her alive. My friend, like some torture victim that had finally caved in with total surrender, would do whatever the imperious masters of her life (the doctors) said.
 
Thinking people should not cave in to medical authority. Buyers (this is a buy/sell arrangement, don't forget) must beware, skeptical, and informed.² Today, with the Internet and the plethora of alternative medical opinions, ignorance is no excuse. But people in the main put less effort into choosing medical care than they do buying a car. They just submit.
 
As a society, we surrender to medicine because of the presumed validity of the system. Couched in esoteric technology and vocabulary as it is, both doctors and patients assume there is precision and safety. Yet hundreds of double-blind tested drugs supposedly proven safe and effective have had to be withdrawn from the market after they maimed and killed enough people. Are the profit driven sponsors of such science, the pharmaceutical companies, unbiased? Are they going to want to release results that present them in a negative light, or will they redesign a study that is not going their way so that the result they want is achieved?³⁻⁴
 
Another wild card in all medical testing is the placebo effect. How does one control for the fact that the results hoped for may occur even in the sugar pill cohort? If, for example, a person can lose their hair or experience cancer remission when they think they are receiving chemotherapy, but are in fact receiving sugar pill placebos (which has happened), then all blind studies are shadowed by doubt.⁵⁻⁷

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​Disregarding commercial bias and the power of mind over body is a serious modern medical error. It results in blindness to anything other than conventional thinking wherein the results desired are the only ones accepted as true.
 
Here are further examples demonstrating that modern medicine is by no means an exact science, but most certainly is a business—and a risky one at that:
 
• More money is spent on marketing drugs to doctors than is spent on education in all medical schools combined.⁸⁻¹⁰
• A new growth market for pharmaceutical companies is the creation of 'diseases' that conveniently need drugs. Examples would include "restless leg syndrome" (RLS), erectile dysfunction (ED), and high cholesterol. Cholesterol medications now approach twenty billion per year in revenues and ED drugs are the most successful (profitable) pharmaceuticals ever invented. This is not to say that there may not be some who are affected by RLS, ED, or high cholesterol, but it is difficult to argue that they are serious medical conditions requiring potentially dangerous drugs. Also, each of these conditions can be remedied either completely or to a significant degree by safe exercise, lifestyle, and dietary changes. RLS can often be resolved by supplements of iron, folic acid, magnesium, and antioxidants like vitamin E, or simply abstaining from caffeine, cigarettes, or alcohol. On the other hand, if people take the drug designed for this condition (Requip), they are putting themselves at risk of over 20 side effects, including compulsive gambling and eating, as well as hypersexuality. The same applies to drugs for ED. High cholesterol, as presently defined, is neither a disease nor a symptom, nor has it been proven to cause heart disease and strokes. Little wonder that cholesterol drugs have not been proven to prevent heart disease or heart attacks.¹¹⁻¹⁶
• After pathological review of removed tonsil tissue began, the number of removals decreased by two-thirds. Surgeons decided to stop the surgery if they were going to be called on the carpet by review boards for doing it unnecessarily.¹⁷
• Biopsy tests to determine cancer of the prostate showed a 25% incidence, but no more than 3% of those who have a positive test manifest the actual disease by age 70. (Tests themselves can create 'epidemics.') Digital screening of the prostate is of no proven value. Canada, Australia, Sweden, and Denmark are against the more sophisticated PSA (prostate specific antigen) test. The inventor of it says, "It's over," meaning it's no longer worth using. Hundreds of thousands continue to be performed.¹⁸⁻²¹
• The stethoscope has never been proven to benefit patients. (Meaning it is no more effective than placing an ear to the chest or simply observing patients.)
• At least 65% of operations are unnecessary.²²⁻²⁴
• Adenoidectomy has been proven to be of little or no benefit.²⁵⁻²⁸
• Antibiotics for sinusitis are ineffective.²⁹
• The neonatal ICU is no better than mom and breast. Use of a bilirubin light in preemies can result in a heart defect (PDA). Oxygen therapy in preemies can result in retrolental fibroplasia, a potentially blinding condition affecting the retina.³⁰⁻³⁵
• In spite of hundreds of thousands of cervical smear tests performed over the years, there is no change in the death rate from cervical cancer.³⁶⁻³⁸
• Mammography can spread breast cancer to the rest of the body. A study of 50,000 women demonstrated that the procedure did not improve mortality for women aged 40-50.³⁹⁻⁴⁹
• Computed tomography scanners (CT scans) were introduced in 1973 with no FDA safety or efficacy studies. By 1992 there were over 6000 scanners in the U.S. Their overuse is proven by the fact that in some institutions over 90% of scans are negative.⁵⁰
• Carotid endarterectomy is a procedure that supposedly decreases strokes and helps some 35 other conditions. But it has never been proven to be of value. In 1971, there were 15,000 performed; in 1985, 107,000. The number continues to grow.⁵¹⁻⁵⁸
• Getting a check up before engaging in an exercise program has never been proven to be of value.⁵⁹
• Wearing an eye pad for corneal damage is of no proven value.⁶⁰
• Screening for colorectal cancer is of no proven value.⁶¹⁻⁶⁷
• The number of surgeries decreases if surgeons are on a salary.⁶⁸⁻⁷¹
• At least one-half of all pacemakers are unnecessary.⁷²
• Most C-sections are unnecessary, yet the number continues to climb. The U.S. delivers 24% of babies by this method while the Netherlands only does 8%. There is no evidence that moms and babies are different in the two countries. There is evidence that the U.S. maternal and infant mortality is higher either in spite of or due to the cesarean section pandemic.⁷³⁻⁷⁴
• Amniocentesis performed on a healthy pregnancy can result in miscarriage.⁷⁵⁻⁷⁸
• Fetal monitoring is not supported by studies and not recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. It results in a higher incidence of cesarean section.⁷⁹
• Circumcision is unnecessary and harmful.¹ ⁸⁰⁻⁸⁹
• It is estimated that 85% of all disease that is treated is self-limiting. That means that 85% of treatments are no better than giving a placebo, and potentially far worse than doing nothing.⁹⁰
• Mortality is not decreased with coronary by-pass operations, but it is a 100 billion-dollar per year business. The procedure is increasingly performed even though clinical trials have not proven its safety or
effectiveness. By-pass surgery and angioplasty (not clinically proven either) rates vary with skin color, type of medical insurance, and geography—factors having nothing to do with the disease condition. The cost per patient over five years for either procedure is about $40,000. Angioplasty patients also receive massive doses of carcinogenic x-rays during the procedure, up to 1580 mrem (a routine chest x-ray is 2 mrem).⁵⁰ ⁹¹
• Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was introduced in 1989 and in five years 85% of all gall bladder surgeries were performed by this method. There was an associated increase in cholecystectomies of 30%, indicating that the mere introduction of a new procedure can increase the rate of a disease. Mortality for people with gall bladder disease has not declined with the new procedure.⁵⁰ ⁹²
• The earlier a person is released from the hospital, the faster the recovery.⁹³⁻⁹⁴
• The average senior receives 25 prescriptions annually, yet there is no physician or pharmacologist anywhere that can predict how they all interact.
• X-rays, CT scans, mammography, and fluoroscopy are a contributing factor in 75% of new cancers. 100 million premature deaths over the next decade are estimated to be due to ionizing radiation. X-rays used to measure the pelvis of expectant mothers and diagnose twins resulted in a 40% increase in cancer in the children.⁹⁵⁻⁹⁶
• Vaccines are now the cause of all cases of polio.⁹⁷⁻¹⁰⁴
• In 1900, one in thirty got cancer. In 1971, President Nixon declared war on cancer and hundreds of billions have been spent on research and therapy. Now almost one in three get cancer. All so-called improvements in cancer mortality statistics (with the exception of a few leukemias) are attributable to changes in lifestyle (decreased smoking, dietary supplements, etc.), not medical intervention.⁷ ¹⁰⁵ ¹⁰⁹
• Scalp irradiation can result in breast cancer.¹¹⁰⁻¹¹²
• Induction of ovulation can result in neural tube defect in the newborn.¹¹³⁻¹¹⁵
• According to the New England Journal of Medicine, one in 50 physicians is an imposter. Whether they do more or less good than the legitimate ones has never been determined.¹¹⁶⁻¹¹⁷
• Yearly checkups do not improve health.¹¹⁸
• Doctors going on strike have resulted in decreased mortality in the community.¹¹⁹⁻¹²¹
 
The list could go on, way on. Caveat Emptor – let the health buyer (you) beware.
 
This critique of modern medical practice is not to lay blame. It is a wake-up call that salvation at others' hands does not await after a thoughtless life of self-abuse. You, not someone else, are the master of your health destiny. Take control, starting today. Use the principles outlined in these chapters, the library, Internet, bookstore, and get outside of mainstream popular press. You must be wrong (in the eyes of standard medical care) in order to be right. Go about achieving health as if thinking matters. You can prevent and heal and are your own safest and best doctor.

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