in defense of medical heresy - asheville integrative medicine · in defense of medical heresy . the...

In Defense of Medical Heresy

James Biddle MD

When in Rome… Watch Out for Romans

Personal and historical stories of challenging the status quo of

mainstream medicine.

James Biddle, MD


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


Hypnotherapy “Grand Rounds”

• Inspired by outstanding evidence.

• Presented to assembled doctors at hospital of residency.

• Expected enthusiastic reception.

James Biddle, MD


From Company Guy to Challenger

• “Unimpressed”.

• Looked upon as a “Quack”.

• Used to tow the line; now standing outside the mainstream.

James Biddle, MD


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


“All data will be ignored if it does not fit the ruling

paradigm.”

James Biddle, MD


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


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


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


NC Licensure Interview

• Expected welcome, no worries……

• Instead, “What’s this massage stuff about?”

James Biddle, MD


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


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


“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


“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


James Biddle, MD


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


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


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


Why?

What had he done to receive abuse?

What offense had he committed?

James Biddle, MD


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


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


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


“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



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



• 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


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


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


Not the Case

• Firestorm of resentment and political intrigue.

• Doctors actively tried to discredit him.

James Biddle, MD


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


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


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


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


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


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


Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis

• Medical pioneer,

• Shunned, driven mad, finally killed.

• Followed conscience as a doctor and a scientist.

James Biddle, MD


What has changed?

• Surgical hygiene improved greatly.

• Technology of medicine developed at an astonishing rate.

James Biddle, MD


What has Changed?

• What about the attitude of medicine?

–Objectivity?

–Embracing New Ideas?

–Willingness to Admit Error?

James Biddle, MD


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


John Laird M.D.

• 1995-1996 – he moves to NM, exhausted and financially drained from the fight.

James Biddle, MD


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


“The Price of Freedom is

Everlasting Vigilance!”

James Biddle, MD


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


My Experiences

James Biddle, MD


What Can We Do?

Stay informed

Locally

Nationally

James Biddle, MD


What Can we Do?

Join an organization educating and fighting to preserve and expand medical freedoms.

But, which group….?

James Biddle, MD


The North Carolina Integrative Medical Society (NCIMS)

830 Hendersonville Rd

Asheville, NC 28803

www.ncims.com

Carolinians for Healthcare Access (CHCA)

James Biddle, MD


American College for the Advancement of Medicine (ACAM)

www.acam.org

Find ACAM Physician

1-888-439-6891

James Biddle, MD


http://www.acam.org/

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


http://www.danconference.com/

http://www.autism.com/

International Hyperbarics Association (IHA)

www.ihausa.org

To Find a Hyperbaric Center Near You

Call 877.IHA.USA1

James Biddle, MD


http://www.ihausa.org/

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


http://www.aaem.com/

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


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


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


Physician-Patient Relationship: New Paradigm…

Patient – Doctor Team. Both bring important knowledge. Physician gives best advice. Client assumes responsibility for

evaluating and choosing options.

James Biddle, MD


in defense of medical heresy - asheville integrative medicine · in defense of medical heresy . the...

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