Confessions of a Medical Heretic

Robert Mendolsohn spent over twenty-five years as a practicing physician, and at the time of the publication of this book was the Chairman of the Medical Licensing Committee for the State of Illinois; he was Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health in the School of Medicine of the University of Illinois, and the recipient of numerous awards for excellence in medicine and medical instruction.

From the book: "I do not believe in Modern Medicine. I am a medical heretic. . . . "I haven't always been a medical heretic. I once believed in Modern Medicine. . . . But I no longer believe in Modern Medicine. "I believe that despite all the super technology and elite bedside manner that's supposed to make you feel about as well cared for as an astronaut on the way to the moon, the greatest danger to your health is the doctor who practices Modern Medicine. "I believe that Modern Medicine's treatments for disease are seldom effective, and that they're often more dangerous than the diseases they're designed to treat. "I believe the dangers are compounded by the widespread use of dangerous procedures for non-diseases. "I believe that more than ninety percent of Modern Medicine could disappear from the face of the earth—doctors, hospitals, drugs, and equipment—and the effect on our health.would be immediate and beneficial. . . . "Modern Medicine can't survive without our faith, because Modern Medicine is neither an art or a science. It's a religion. . . . "One definition of religion identifies it as any organized effort to deal with puzzling or mysterious things we see going on in and around us. The Church of Modern Medicine deals with the most puxzzling phenomena: birth, death, and all the tricks our bodies play on us—and we on them—in between. In The Golden Bough, religion is defined as the attempt to gain the favor of 'powqers superior to man, which are believed to direct and control the course of nature and human life.'