Bad Medicine

Early in his career, Judge John Reilly did everything by the book. His jurisdiction included a First Nations community plagued by suicide, addiction, poverty, violence and corruption. He steadily handed out prison sentences with little regard for long-term consequences and even less knowledge as to why crime was so rampant on the reserve in the first place. In an unprecedented move that pitted him against his superiors, the legal system he was part of, and one of Canada’s best-known Indian chiefs, the Reverend Dr. Chief John Snow, Judge Reilly ordered an investigation into the tragic and corrupt conditions on the reserve. A flurry of media attention ensued. Some labelled him a racist; others thought he should be removed from his post, claiming he had lost his objectivity. But many on the Stoney Reserve hailed him a hero as he attempted to uncover the dark challenges and difficult history many First Nations communities face. At a time when government is proposing new “tough on crime” legislation, Judge Reilly provides an enlightening and timely perspective. He shows us why harsher punishments for offenders don’t necessarily make our societies safer, why the white justice system is failing First Nations communities, why jail time is not the cure-all answer some think it to be, and how corruption continues to plague tribal leadership.

What you don’t know about the American healthcare system might kill you. From fatal malpractice to Medicare fraud, Dr. Stephen Soloway has seen it all over his thirty years practicing medicine. Now, the man known as “Dr. Trump” is ripping off the Band-Aid and exposing the truth about the American healthcare system—the good, the bad, and the rotten. Page after shocking page, you’ll discover the truth about where the coronavirus came from, and if we’ll ever be able to cure it. Learn the sad reality of what Medicare for All would mean for our nation. Find out why you should stay away from hospitals as if your life depended on it. (It does.) Dr. Soloway explains the medical tips and tricks that could save you from amputations, years of pain, or even death. Appointed by President Donald Trump to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, Dr. Soloway is a leader in his field, who sat on numerous boards and panels in the pharmacological industry, along with national advisory panels for major companies involved in arthritis or osteoporosis research. His uncanny ability to diagnose even the most complex cases has earned him the reputation of being a real-life Dr. House—minus the pill problem. Beyond his savvy insights into the secrets of our medical system, Dr. Soloway also shares his own rags to riches story, and how dedicated medical professionals can still succeed in this difficult environment. Ultimately, Dr. Soloway has a diagnosis for all Americans: Our healthcare system—and our country as a whole—is headed for disaster. The prescription? Read this book to find out.

“Charlotte Bismuth gives us a bold and cinematic true crime story about her work at the intersection of medicine and greed. Bad Medicine is a gripping memoir that toggles deftly between the personal and prosecutorial.” —Beth Macy, New York Times bestselling author of Dopesick “Bismuth has written a brilliant account of prosecuting a doctor who became a drug dealer in a white coat. She is haunted by the voices of the dead and listening closely to the voices of the living.” —Nan Goldin, artist, activist, and founder of P.A.I.N. “Bad Medicine is a taut exploration of America’s deadly battle with opioid addiction—an unnerving and inspirational firecracker of a book.” —Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of The Ghosts of Eden Park For fans of Dopesick and Bad Blood, the shocking story of New York’s most infamous pill-pushing doctor, written by the prosecutor who brought him down. In 2010, a brave whistleblower alerted the police to Dr. Stan Li’s corrupt pain management clinic in Queens, New York. Li spent years supplying more than seventy patients a day with oxycodone and Xanax, trading prescriptions for cash. Emergency room doctors, psychiatrists, and desperate family members warned him that his patients were at risk of death but he would not stop. In Bad Medicine, former prosecutor Charlotte Bismuth meticulously recounts the jaw dropping details of this criminal case that would span four years, culminating in a landmark trial. As a new assistant district attorney and single mother, Bismuth worked tirelessly with her team to bring Dr. Li to justice. Bad Medicine is a chilling story of corruption and greed and an important look at the role individual doctors play in America’s opioid epidemic.

In this controversial new account of the history of medicine, David Wootton argues that, from the fifth century BC until the 1930s, doctors actually did more harm than good, and asks just how much harm they still do today.

Editor of the award-winning site Feministing.com, Maya Dusenbery brings together scientific and sociological research, interviews with doctors and researchers, and personal stories from women across the country to provide the first comprehensive, accessible look at how sexism in medicine harms women today. In Doing Harm, Dusenbery explores the deep, systemic problems that underlie women’s experiences of feeling dismissed by the medical system. Women have been discharged from the emergency room mid-heart attack with a prescription for anti-anxiety meds, while others with autoimmune diseases have been labeled “chronic complainers” for years before being properly diagnosed. Women with endometriosis have been told they are just overreacting to “normal” menstrual cramps, while still others have “contested” illnesses like chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia that, dogged by psychosomatic suspicions, have yet to be fully accepted as “real” diseases by the whole of the profession. An eye-opening read for patients and health care providers alike, Doing Harm shows how women suffer because the medical community knows relatively less about their diseases and bodies and too often doesn’t trust their reports of their symptoms. The research community has neglected conditions that disproportionately affect women and paid little attention to biological differences between the sexes in everything from drug metabolism to the disease factors—even the symptoms of a heart attack. Meanwhile, a long history of viewing women as especially prone to “hysteria” reverberates to the present day, leaving women battling against a stereotype that they’re hypochondriacs whose ailments are likely to be “all in their heads.” Offering a clear-eyed explanation of the root causes of this insidious and entrenched bias and laying out its sometimes catastrophic consequences, Doing Harm is a rallying wake-up call that will change the way we look at health care for women.

Ned’s friend Trevor is a promising young doctor, but his patients keep disappearing. As Nancy unravels the mystery, the bodysnatcher stalks her. Could this be Nancy’s final operation?

"Christopher Wanjek uses a take-no-prisoners approach in debunkingthe outrageous nonsense being heaped on a gullible public in thename of science and medicine. Wanjek writes with clarity, humor,and humanity, and simultaneously informs and entertains." -Dr. Michael Shermer, Publisher, Skeptic magazine; monthlycolumnist, Scientific American; author of Why People Believe WeirdThings Prehistoric humans believed cedar ashes and incantations could curea head injury. Ancient Egyptians believed the heart was the centerof thought, the liver produced blood, and the brain cooled thebody. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates was a big fan ofbloodletting. Today, we are still plagued by countless medicalmyths and misconceptions. Bad Medicine sets the record straight bydebunking widely held yet incorrect notions of how the body works,from cold cures to vaccination fears. Clear, accessible, and highly entertaining, Bad Medicine dispelssuch medical convictions as: * You only use 10% of your brain: CAT, PET, and MRI scans all provethat there are no inactive regions of the brain . . . not evenduring sleep. * Sitting too close to the TV causes nearsightedness: Your motherwas wrong. Most likely, an already nearsighted child sits close tosee better. * Eating junk food will make your face break out: Acne is caused bydead skin cells, hormones, and bacteria, not from a pizza witheverything on it. * If you don't dress warmly, you'll catch a cold: Cold viruses arethe true and only cause of colds. Protect yourself and the ones you love from bad medicine-the brainyou save may be your own.

A doctor removes the normal, healthy side of a patient's brain instead of the malignant tumor. A man whose leg is scheduled for amputation wakes up to find his healthy leg removed. These recent examples are part of a history of medical disasters and embarrassments as old as the profession itself. In Brief History of Bad Medicine, Robert M. Youngson and Ian Schott have written the definitive account of medical mishap in modern and not-so- modern times. From famous quacks to curious forms of sexual healing, from blunders with the brain to drugs worse than the diseases they are intended to treat, the book reveals shamefully dangerous doctors, human guinea pigs, and the legendary surgeon who was himself a craven morphine addict. Exploring the line between the comical and the tragic, the honest mistake and the intentional crime, Brief History of Bad Medicine illustrates once and for all that you can't always trust the people in white coats.