A Few Notes on Robert Mendelsohn, M.D.
Robert S. Mendelsohn, M.D. (1926-1988) engaged in irresponsible criticism of the medical profession and science-based health care during most of his medical career. Although he had taught at several medical schools and been chairman of the Illinois state licensing board, Mendelsohn considered himself a "medical heretic." He opposed water fluoridation, immunization, coronary bypass surgery, licensing of nutritionists, and screening examinations to detect breast cancer. One of his books charged that "Modern Medicine's treatments for disease are seldom effective, and they're often more dangerous than the diseases they're designed to treat"; that "around ninety percent of surgery is a waste of time, energy, money and life"; and that most hospitals are so loosely run that "murder is even a clear and present danger."
From 1981 to 1982, Mendelsohn was president of the National Health Federation, a group whose primary purpose is to prevent government agencies from protecting consumers against quackery. He spoke frequently at NHF conventions and produced a newsletter and a syndicated newspaper column, both called The People's Doctor. He was also president of the New Medical Foundation, a tax-exempt organization formed in the late 1970s to support "innovative forms of medical education of the public and the medical profession." At a meeting sponsored by this group in 1984, he said:
Doctors complain that quacks keep patients away from orthodox medicine. I cheer! Since all the treatments, both orthodox and alternative, for cancer, coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, and arthritis, are equally unproven, why would a sane person choose treatment that can kill the patient?
In 1986, the National Nutritional Foods Association gave Mendelsohn its annual Rachel Carson Memorial Award for his "concerns for the protection of the American consumer and health freedoms."
During the mid-1980s, Mendelsohn was a guest on hundreds of radio and television talk shows. His unfair attack on immunization on Phil Donahue's show was so irresponsible that spokespeople from the American Academy of Pediatrics were permitted to rebut that he said in a follow-up program shortly afterward. As far as I know, this is the only time that Donahue's producers ever permitted unopposed criticism of quack nonsense.
The jacket of Mendelsohn's 1984 book How to Raise a Healthy Child . . . in Spite of Your Doctor described Mendelsohn as practicing pediatrics for almost 30 years. However this description was misleading. During a 1980 deposition, Mendelsohn said that had practiced full-time from 1955 through 1966, held administrative jobs for about ten years, and resumed practicing in 1976 but saw only 6 to 12 patients per week. He also testified that he opposed "all forms of routine examinations by any health practitioner of any kind" and said that no one should ever see a doctor when feeling healthy.
Robert S. Mendelsohn, M.D. (1926-1988) engaged in irresponsible criticism of the medical profession and science-based health care during most of his medical career. Although he had taught at several medical schools and been chairman of the Illinois state licensing board, Mendelsohn considered himself a "medical heretic." He opposed water fluoridation, immunization, coronary bypass surgery, licensing of nutritionists, and screening examinations to detect breast cancer. One of his books charged that "Modern Medicine's treatments for disease are seldom effective, and they're often more dangerous than the diseases they're designed to treat"; that "around ninety percent of surgery is a waste of time, energy, money and life"; and that most hospitals are so loosely run that "murder is even a clear and present danger."
From 1981 to 1982, Mendelsohn was president of the National Health Federation, a group whose primary purpose is to prevent government agencies from protecting consumers against quackery. He spoke frequently at NHF conventions and produced a newsletter and a syndicated newspaper column, both called The People's Doctor. He was also president of the New Medical Foundation, a tax-exempt organization formed in the late 1970s to support "innovative forms of medical education of the public and the medical profession." At a meeting sponsored by this group in 1984, he said:
Doctors complain that quacks keep patients away from orthodox medicine. I cheer! Since all the treatments, both orthodox and alternative, for cancer, coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, and arthritis, are equally unproven, why would a sane person choose treatment that can kill the patient?
In 1986, the National Nutritional Foods Association gave Mendelsohn its annual Rachel Carson Memorial Award for his "concerns for the protection of the American consumer and health freedoms."
During the mid-1980s, Mendelsohn was a guest on hundreds of radio and television talk shows. His unfair attack on immunization on Phil Donahue's show was so irresponsible that spokespeople from the American Academy of Pediatrics were permitted to rebut that he said in a follow-up program shortly afterward. As far as I know, this is the only time that Donahue's producers ever permitted unopposed criticism of quack nonsense.
The jacket of Mendelsohn's 1984 book How to Raise a Healthy Child . . . in Spite of Your Doctor described Mendelsohn as practicing pediatrics for almost 30 years. However this description was misleading. During a 1980 deposition, Mendelsohn said that had practiced full-time from 1955 through 1966, held administrative jobs for about ten years, and resumed practicing in 1976 but saw only 6 to 12 patients per week. He also testified that he opposed "all forms of routine examinations by any health practitioner of any kind" and said that no one should ever see a doctor when feeling healthy.
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