Quack Medicine

Quack Medicine

Author: Eric W. Boyle

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2013-01-09

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0313385688

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This timely volume illustrates how and why the fight against quackery in modern America has largely failed, laying the blame on an unlikely confluence of scientific advances, regulatory reforms, changes in the medical profession, and the politics of consumption. Throughout the 20th century, anti-quackery crusaders investigated, exposed, and attempted to regulate allegedly fraudulent therapeutic approaches to health and healing under the banner of consumer protection and a commitment to medical science. Quack Medicine: A History of Combating Health Fraud in Twentieth-Century America reveals how efforts to establish an exact border between quackery and legitimate therapeutic practices and medications have largely failed, and details the reasons for this failure. Digging beneath the surface, the book uncovers the history of allegedly fraudulent therapies including pain medications, obesity and asthma cures, gastrointestinal remedies, virility treatments, and panaceas for diseases such as arthritis, asthma, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS. It shows how efforts to combat alleged medical quackery have been connected to broader debates among medical professionals, scientists, legislators, businesses, and consumers, and it exposes the competing professional, economic, and political priorities that have encouraged the drawing of arbitrary, vaguely defined boundaries between good medicine and "quack medicine."


Health Frauds and Quackery

Health Frauds and Quackery

Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Special Committee on Aging. Subcommittee on Frauds and Misrepresentations Affecting the Elderly

Publisher:

Published: 1964

Total Pages: 568

ISBN-13:

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Health Frauds and Quackery

Health Frauds and Quackery

Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Special Committee on Aging. Subcommittee on Frauds and Misrepresentations Affecting the Elderly

Publisher:

Published: 1964

Total Pages: 1342

ISBN-13:

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Health Care Fraud

Health Care Fraud

Author: Williamd Edward Ackerman, III

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-09-24

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 9781976463044

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The medical profession and health care in general has deteriorated over the past twenty years. It has become plagued with fraudulent behaviors. It is difficult for individuals to know if they are being scammed. Fraud unfortunately exists in all aspects of health care today. In 2011, $2.27 trillion was spent on health care and more than four billion health insurance claims were processed in the United States. It is an undisputed reality that some of these health insurance claims are fraudulent. No institution has undone more quickly and more completely than American medicine. In only a few decades, the medical system has been overrun by organizations seeking to exploit for profit the trust that susceptible and sick Americans place in their healthcare. No doctor wants to be identified as being out of step with medical practice norms. Furthermore, most health care providers do not want a decrease in profit margins as well. This book is about the millions of Americans who have access to what some would call the best medical care in the world but are being swindled. Of course, there are millions of uninsured Americans whose access to care is heartlessly limited. The problems of fraudulent health care described in this book are less likely to transpire to the latter group, simply because they receive less medical care. This book is about the relentless expansion of medicine and our health providers increasing tendency to only make a diagnosis so that further treatments can be done to increase their revenues. Americans have been taught to be concerned about their health. We are all aware that types of hidden jeopardies prowl inside of us. The conventional wisdom is that it's always better to know about these dangers so that something can be done. That's why we are so enthusiastic about amazing medical technologies that can detect abnormalities even when we reason we are well. That's also why we welcome the identification of risk factors, disease awareness campaigns, cancer screening, genetic testing etc. Americans love a diagnosis so that they can receive attention and health care whether or not it helps them. But it's also true that we do receive too much of it in some circumstances. Some people are diagnosed and treated needlessly by swindlers who do unnecessary or dangerous treatments to increase their profit which is one reason why this book was written. Our legislators have proven themselves either unwilling or incapable of reining in the increasingly outrageous costs faced by patients, and market-based solutions only seem to funnel larger and larger sums of our money into the hands of corporations. Impossibly high insurance premiums and inexplicably large bills have become facts of life. The majority of health care frauds are committed by a very small minority of dishonest health care providers. Unfortunately, the stock in trade of fraud-doers is to take advantage of the confidence that has been entrusted to them in order to commit ongoing fraud on a very broad scale. Another reason for this book is to inform individuals that rewards can be made by reporting health care fraud by becoming a whistle blower. Health care consumers need to identify these health care fraudsters and report them to ultimately attempt to salvage what remains of our health care structure. Fighting Medicare fraud is an important part of safeguarding our healthcare for future generations. Health deception costs Americans billions of dollars. We all must do our parts to reverse this trend. If you suspect that something has happened illegally with respect to medical care, then it is your duty to blow the whistle. Doing so makes you part of the solution. This book addresses the types of fraud which plague the healthcare industry and describes the most common fraudulent behavior throughout this industry and how to report fraud and possibly receive a reward. We must all do our part in trying to save our health care system!


Quack!

Quack!

Author: Bob McCoy

Publisher:

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781891661105

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InQuack! Tales of Medical Fraud from the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, curator Bob McCoy shares his collection of the hilarious, horrifying, and preposterous medical devices that have been foisted upon the public in their quest for good health. From the Prostate Gland Warmer to the Recto Rotor, from the Nose Straightener to the Wonder Electric Generator, these implements reveal the desperate measures taken by the public in their search for magic cures. With period advertisements, promotional literature, and gadget instructions, this book offers a wealth of past--and present--medical fraud. For instance, you'll learn about: Albert Abrams, the "King of Quackery," who believed that all that was needed from a patient for diagnosis was a drop of blood, a single hair, or even a handwriting sample as these would give off the unique "vibrations" of that individual. His theories were so popular that none other than Upton Sinclair promoted them in an article forPearson's magazine. Wilhelm Reich, the groundbreaking psychiatrist who, in the latter portion of his storied career, discovered "Orgone"--the energy supposedly released during sexual orgasm. According to Reich, absorbing large quantities of Orgone through his Orgone Energy Accumulator would make a person healthier. Dr. Albert C. Geyser, whose Tricho machine for removing unwanted hair through x-ray depilitation resulted in thousands of women contracting hardened and wrinkled skin, receded gums, never-healing ulcerated sores, tumors, and, of course, cancer. And if you think quackery is a thing of a past, a sampling of late night television commercials advertising everything from fat burners to magnetic and/or copper pain relievers will cure you of that notion. In fact, in the mid-1990s, a product called "The Stimulator" was advertised on television as a "cure" for pain, menstrual problems, arthritis, and carpal tunnel syndrome. The commercial--featuring Evel Knievel as its spokesperson--was so effective that over 800,000 Stimulators were sold for $88.30 before the FDA shut the company down. Still, the owners made quite a hefty profit on what was simply a one dollar gas grill igniter!