DEATH BY MODERN MEDICINE: Seeking Safe So lu t ions Carolyn Dean MD ND www.drcarolyndean.com 1 DEATH BY MODERN MEDICINE: Seeking Safe So lu t ions DEATH BY MODERN MEDICINE: Seeking Safe Solutions Carolyn Dean MD ND Meet The Doctor of the Future: Dr. Dean is a medical doctor, naturopath, herbalist and acupuncturist. She’s authored and co‐authored 18 books including The Yeast Connection and Women’s Health, IBS for Dummies, IBS Cookbook for Dummies, and the Magnesium Miracle. She's the medical director of the educational Nutritional Magnesium Association. You’re invited to join her online wellness program Future Health Now! and receive a free subscription to her Doctor of the Future newsletter. Disclaimer: The purpose of this book is to educate. While every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy, the book’s contents should not be construed as medical advice. Each person’s health needs are unique. To obtain recommendations appropriate to your particular situation, please consult a qualified health care provider. With your purchase you acknowledge that the publisher and author shall have neither liability nor responsibility for any injury caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. Ver 1.2 Carolyn Dean MD ND www.drcarolyndean.com 2 DEATH BY MODERN MEDICINE: Seeking Safe So lu t ions CONTENTS Foreword: by Dr. Abram Hoffer Foreword: by Dr. Joseph Mercola Foreword: by Dr. Julian Whitaker Introduction Chapter 1: Death by Modern Medical Doctors Chapter 2: Death by Drug Companies Chapter 3: Death by Health Care Bureaucracy Chapter 4: Death by Media Chapter 5: Death by Propaganda Chapter 6: Death by Modern Drugs and Procedures Chapter 7: Death by Modern Science Chapter 8: Death by Cancer Inc. Chapter 9: Death by Modern Chemicals Chapter 10: Death by Sugar Chapter 11: Death by Addiction Chapter 12: Death by Denial Chapter 13: Death by Lifestyle References: Appendices: Appendix A: Henry VIII Herbalist Charter Appendix B: Death by Medicine—Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine Appendix C: Dr. Abram Hoffer: “OvertheCounter Drugs” Appendix D: Dr. Nancy Appleton: 136 Sugar References Appendix E: Helke Ferrie: “the Quackbusters—Busted!” Carolyn Dean MD ND www.drcarolyndean.com 3 DEATH BY MODERN MEDICINE: Seeking Safe So lu t ions INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION The first edition of Death by Modern Medicine was written in 2005. It’s only been three years since the first edition and much has changed; some things for the better and some things have gotten worse. I’m often asked on radio shows to confirm that natural medicine is becoming more widely accepted and benefitting the general population. I have to say that I really don’t see widespread evidence of that happening. As long as allopathic medicine remains the gatekeeper for access to health services and insurance reimbursement, health providers with other skills will not be allowed to play in their sandbox. Even worse, allopathic medicine continues to prosecute doctors who offer health care that is outside the standard practice of medicine, which is limited to drugs and surgery. Also, the FDA has taken a renewed interest in “regulating” dietary supplements making it increasingly challenging for small companies to stay in business. There can be no renaissance in medicine with such limitations to our freedom of choice and free will. Death by Modern Medicine won the 2006 Independent Publisher Book Awards category of Most Progressive Health book. It has been referenced by thousands of people around the world. Most notable is Shirley MacLaine’s Sageing While Ageing. Death by Modern Medicine and the paper that preceded it, “Death by Medicine,” written in 2003, struck a resounding cord. No longer able to deny the negative impact of modern medicine, books, papers, websites, and testimonials began to proclaim the reality that had for so long been denied. Not only the Emperor but he and his whole entourage were bare naked for all to see! In my general medicine practice I always kept a drug compendium for people to look up the side effects of the drugs they were taking. Such reference texts are also kept in libraries and pharmacies but it’s easier these days to google drugs on the internet and be aware of their potential for harm. If you visit a drug company website, the side effects will be downplayed, evenso, you might just be that one‐in‐a‐ million patient that develops a strange side effect, so it’s important to know as much as you can about the drugs you are taking. As I write this section, I’m thinking about a telephone consult with a new client who has had intolerable skin itching for over a year. In the history she sent me it, every drug she is taking causes skin itching. The following websites will help you learn more about drugs and their side effects. Remember, you cannot assume that the drugs your doctor gives you are harmless. And when you tell your doctor you are having side effects, he or she may not “believe” you. They are not trained to identify drug side effects and try to ignore them as much as possible. Carolyn Dean MD ND www.drcarolyndean.com 4 DEATH BY MODERN MEDICINE: Seeking Safe So lu t ions DRUG WATCH WEBSITES 1. Worst Pills: http://www.worstpills.org 2. Prescription Drug Watch: http://drugs.healthdiaries.com/ 3. Drug Injury Watch: http://www.drug‐injury.com/ 4. Side Effects Made Simple: Shopper's Guide to 22 Worthless Drugs: http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/simpleside.html FDA Adverse Drug Reactions Even with so much attention on the dangers of modern medicine, the following inventory compiled by the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System for the years 1998‐2005 shows that it’s just getting worse. Be aware that this reporting system is voluntary, not mandatory and research shows that only about one out of ten 1 adverse events are ever reported to the FDA. Adverse Events Comparison 19982005 1. Serious adverse drug events increased by 260%. 2. Fatal drug events increased by 270%. 3. Drugs withdrawn from the market due to serious adverse events up 26%. 4. For 13 new biotechnology drugs, serious events grew by 1,580%. 5. Out of 1,489 drugs related to serious adverse events, 20% caused 97% of all of these events. I began writing Death by Modern Medicine (2005) at a Codex meeting in Bonn, Germany in October 2004 as I wrestled with the incongruity of a system that claimed to promote safe food and dietary supplement trading across borders but made no reference to the health of the people that would ingest these foods and supplements. As you will read in Chapter 3, Codex Alimentarius is not concerned with food for its vital health‐giving properties but only as a commodity. I observed a duel agenda in the Codex proceedings that appears to encourage the maximum levels of toxicity in the food supply and the lowest amount of nutrients in synthetic supplements. Codex was initiated in 1962 under the auspices of The World Health Organization, which defines traditional or natural medicine as: “Health practices, approaches, knowledge, and beliefs incorporating plant, animal, and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques, and exercises, applied singularly or in 2 combination to treat, diagnose, and prevent illnesses or maintain well‐being.” In 1995, the World Trade Organization diverted Codex away from safeguarding food for humans to commercializing food for corporations. 1 Moore TJ, et al. Serious Adverse Drug Events Reported to the Food and Drug Administration, 1998-2005. Arch Intern Med. 2007;167(16):1752-1759. 2 Dean C, Null G. “Death by Medicine.” Nutrition Institute of America, November 2003. www.lef.org and search Death by Medicine. Carolyn Dean MD ND www.drcarolyndean.com 5 DEATH BY MODERN MEDICINE: Seeking Safe So lu t ions I began to seek solutions to the crises of modern medicine after participating in two Codex meetings in Europe. Primarily, I wanted to accentuate positive ways that can benefit our health. After writing Death by Modern Medicine I didn’t want to spend my time discussing the negative aspects of our health care system. After all, it’s not just medicine that is in crisis; there is a breakdown at all levels of society. You can read my thoughts on this in Chapter 4; simply recognizing the need for a system‐ wide transformation may make it easier for us to “accept” that medicine is no longer serving us. At Codex, where they have set a very low limit on the potency of supplements, I began searching for high‐quality, low‐potency supplements would be considered “safe enough” to pass the Codex regulations. I was also looking for low potency vitamins and minerals manufactured by privately owned companies—not publicly traded companies whose ‘bottom line’ is stockholder profit and not product quality. At Codex, I watched as higher levels of mercury and pesticides were being allowed in commercial foods. I became aware that farming in America was being discouraged and importation of all our food products from developing nations was being encouraged. I knew I needed to be in a clean and safe environment where organic food can be grown year round, where the air is clean, and the water is unpolluted. Rather than trying to fight against, what appears to be, the inevitable decline of food and supplements in America, I sought out supplement companies that would fit the Codex criteria of low potency. I realized that food‐based organic products are well absorbed and low potency as are angstrom‐sized cellular absorbed minerals. My favorite course of study, presently, is Recall Healing a scientific system that helps discover the stressful conflicts in the mind that are systematically downloaded into the body as a disease in order to “keep the body alive for another day”. CT scans of the brain can identify focal points that correspond to the affected body part. A thousand disease conditions and their conflicts have been identified. It is breakthrough medicine that informs my work with clients and can offer miraculous benefits. INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION In the fall of 2003, I spent an intense 3 weeks working on a paper about medical iatrogenisis for The Nutrition Institute of America published in Life Extension Magazine. Throughout the book are excerpts from this paper called “Death by Medicine.” I also edited a version of the paper for the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, which is included in Appendix B. NOTE: (dbm) throughout the text is a notation for references you will find in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine article and a wider discussion of the topic. Carolyn Dean MD ND www.drcarolyndean.com 6 DEATH BY MODERN MEDICINE: Seeking Safe So lu t ions NOTE: In Death by Modern Medicine I use the terms natural medicine, natural healing arts, and similar words to describe the kind of medicine I support and envision. Allopathic medicine and modern medicine will be used interchangeably to describe drug‐based medicine that seeks to monopolize medical care. Carolyn Dean MD ND www.drcarolyndean.com 7 DEATH BY MODERN MEDICINE: Seeking Safe So lu t ions CHAPTER 1 DEATH BY MODERN MEDICAL DOCTORS I have endeavored to show that there is no real service of humanity in the profession (of medicine) and that it is injurious to mankind. Mahatma Gandhi What did Gandhi know that we choose to ignore? Let’s explore why he would make such an ‘extreme’ statement as the above “there is no real service of humanity in the profession (of medicine) and that it is injurious to mankind.” Medical doctors are licensed and regulated by their own medical boards. Increasingly, these boards are populated with representatives of the drug industry, health insurance industry, and doctors who are paid “advisors" for pharmaceutical companies. Drug and insurance affiliations represent a conflict of interest or at the very least a vested interest in promoting allopathic medicine. Doctors may have been drawn to study medicine for a variety of reasons: humanitarian, financial, and prestige. When I was in medical school, many of my classmates had parents who were doctors; they were raised in a medical world. Others, especially in the baby boomer age group, grew up with the Marcus Welby and Dr. Kildare images of caring doctors who were an extension of the family, making house calls and adding a measure of common sense to every prescription. Young medical students these days have been brainwashed by the content of movies and TV shows like ‘ER’. The drama of an EVAC helicopter rescue of a severely injured accident victim, bleeding and comatose, miraculously snatched from the grip of death, is presented as the epitome of modern medicine. Surgically reattaching limbs, reviving someone from a near fatal heart attack, or saving the life of a 2 pound 2 ounce infant is modern medicine at its best. Technology, autopsy, and forensics are played out in film and television dramas and gone are the house calls and concern for the patient who has any form of chronic disease that won’t resolve within a one‐hour drama. The most popular medical drama in 2006‐2007 was “House”. Each week their featured patients are given the ‘million dollar’ work up, multiple misdiagnoses and a litany of side effects by a team of supposedly brilliant doctors. This program does little to make people confident with modern medicine. A 2007 book, Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer by Shannon Brownlee is the subject of a Moss Report book review, January 13, 2008 at ralphmoss.com. Dr. Moss says that “Increasingly sophisticated tests and imaging techniques have largely supplanted the traditional process of diagnosis, and have, in effect, become the new physical exam.” He quotes Brownlee who is convinced that Carolyn Dean MD ND www.drcarolyndean.com 8 DEATH BY MODERN MEDICINE: Seeking Safe So lu t ions "Testing has replaced thinking on the doctor's part and feeling cared for on the patient's. What's lost in the process...is the personal relationship, the trusting interaction that once formed the basis for healing. But when the patient views the doctor as a tool of the insurer, and the doctor views the patient increasingly through the narrow lens of a computer screen, it's difficult for either to see the other as a partner in the process of healing." Moss continues. “Every year in the US, we undergo millions of tests ‐ MRIs, CTs, PET scans, blood tests ‐ that frequently lead doctors to diagnose conditions that, if left alone, might never have developed into overt, detectable disease. A very high proportion of the normal, well population harbors what are known in the medical profession as 'incidentalomas' ‐ lesions of little or no clinical significance that are only detected as a result of a test or scan for another condition entirely. But because theoretically any such lesion might ‐ just might ‐ progress, further investigations are almost always recommended. These further investigations ‐ biopsies, excisions, tests ‐ not only represent an enormous financial burden on our health care system but may also lead, in their own right, to illness, complications and even death ‐ all in the service of preventing or "curing" what are essentially pseudo‐diseases.” Brownlee’s book covers the problems encountered in hospitals, the risk of infection, and iatrogenic illness reported in Death by Modern Medicine. She then focuses on “the deliberate use of "disease‐mongering" by the drug industry in order to create lucrative new markets…and the worried well” Her estimate of the advertising budget for the drug industry is $29.9 billion in 2005. A new study out of Canada 3 discussed in Chapter 5 places the drug industry advertising price tag at $57 billion. In Overtreated, Shannon Brownlee offers both a compelling investigation of the economic forces that drive unnecessary care, and a rational prescription for what can ‐ and must ‐be urgently done about it. It is highly encouraging that various prominent members of the medical profession have enthusiastically received this book. In a glowing review, Marcia Angell, MD, former editor‐in‐chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, has written: "This book could save your life. In gripping detail, Brownlee explains how well‐insured Americans get much more high‐tech medical care ‐ CT scans, angiograms, and the like ‐ than they need, enriching the hospitals and doctors who provide it, but driving up the overall costs of health care and often endangering patients' lives. Brownlee clearly shows in this important book that overtreatment, like under‐treatment, is very bad medicine." We can safely say the high points of modern medicine are: 1. Emergency medicine 2. Surgery 3. Diagnostics 3 Gagnon MA, Lexchin J (2008) The Cost of Pushing Pills: A New Estimate of Pharmaceutical Promotion Expenditures in the United States. PLoS Med 5. Carolyn Dean MD ND www.drcarolyndean.com 9 DEATH BY MODERN MEDICINE: Seeking Safe So lu t ions However, there is a growing focus on the technology of: 4. Genetic engineering 5. Vaccines Yet, we hear from allopathic medicine cheerleaders that today’s modern medicine is unsurpassed. Let’s look at the report card on a medical system that relies on drugs and surgery as its mainstay. Only 55 percent of patients, in a recent random sample of adults, received recommended care, with little difference found between care recommended for prevention, to address acute episodes, or to treat chronic 4 conditions. According to an Institute of Medicine report, more than 50% of patients with diabetes, hypertension, tobacco addiction, hyperlipidemia, congestive heart failure, asthma, depression, and chronic atrial fibrillation are inadequately 5 managed. A well‐known comment on scientific medicine is the long lag time between the discovery of a more effective form of treatment and its incorporation into routine patient care. One study says that the waiting time for such 6 incorporation averages seventeen years. NOT Leader of the Pack For all the bravado and hype about the high quality of health care in America, ScienceDaily (01‐08‐8), an online journal, reminded us exactly where we rank 7 among other industrialized nations on the issue of preventable deaths ‐ LAST. We’re not the alpha dog, we’re not even the alpha dog’s lieutenant, we’re so far down the scale, we’re hardly significant. The Commonwealth Fund, an independent foundation working toward health policy reform and a high performance health system, financed a study called “Measuring the Health of Nations”. In the report the U.S. placed last among the nineteen countries studied when it comes to preventable 8 deaths. The authors stated "It is notable that all countries have improved substantially except the U.S." In the six years from 1997‐2003 the U.S. dropped from th th 15 to 19 in rank. Projected statistics by the authors showed that if the U.S. matched the performance of the top three countries, France, Japan, and Australia, it could have saved 101,000 American lives annually. The report further stated that, “The fact that other countries are reducing these preventable deaths more rapidly, yet spending far less, indicates that policy, goals, and efforts to improve health systems make a difference." The other countries included in the study were Austria, Canada, 4 McGlynn EA, Asch SM, Adams J, Keesey J, Hicks J, DeCristofaro A, Kerr EA. “The quality of health care delivered to adults in the United States.” N Engl J Med. 2003 Jun 26:348(26):2635-45. 5 Institute of Medicine, 2003c; Clark et al., 2000; Joint National Committee on Prevention, 1997; Legorreta et al., 2000; McBride et al., 1998; Ni et al., 1998; Perez-Stable and Fuentes-Afflick, 1998; Samsa et al., 2000; Young et al., 2001. 6 Balas EA. “Information systems can prevent errors and improve quality.” J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2001 Jul- Aug:8(4):398-9. 7 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080108082944.htm 8 http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/In-the-Literature/2008/Jan/Measuring-the- Health-of-Nations--Updating-an-Earlier-Analysis.aspx Carolyn Dean MD ND www.drcarolyndean.com 10