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The birth of modern medicine: lost history

Tonight, let’s discuss the American allopathic origins and the details that many of us may find, surprising.

I’ve become allergic to most every antibiotic as of now and was extremely concerned given my dental infections this year. I tried homeopathy as a last resort type situation in June and was honestly floored at its ability to rid me of a real deal infection. I wanted to know more. Even though I’m no stranger to homeopathy, I’m programmed like most, to reach for an antibiotic in an emergency. And even writing that sentence can be controversial. Wild huh? When. Humans have existed on this earth for quite some time before modern medicine.

Anyways, what do you do when you have a multitude of serious undiagnosed autoimmune conditions and you lose most medicines that most people take for granted? You get REAL creative! Ha.

I have decided to share most of this article here and if you feel like sharing in the comments, I would like to know if you were aware of our modern medicine birth.

“As someone who has been practicing medicine for over 10 years, I try to keep an open mind and appreciate both the good and bad that coexist in the Western system. In order to understand our current medical system it is helpful to take a look back at the history of medicine in the America. The business story of Western medicine, in the modern sense, starts with John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937). Rockefeller is “widely considered the wealthiest American of all time, and the richest person in modern history.” Rockefeller is probably most famous for securing a monopoly in America’s oil market, but many people haven’t heard the rest of the story.

By the turn on the 20th century, Rockefeller controlled 90% of all petroleum refineries in the America through ownership of the Standard Oil Corporation (later split into Mobil, Chevron, Exxon, etc.) Concurrently, around 1900, the science world was getting excited about new “petrochemicals” and the ability to create a variety of new of compounds from oil. Some of the first products derived from petrochemicals were plastics, but organic chemists knew that oil had the potential to create far more than plastic toys.

During this same era (early 1900’s) scientists were doing groundbreaking work to understand the basic mechanics of life and human health. It was during this time that most of the essential vitamins were discovered, including B1, B2, Biotin, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, etc. By identifying these vitamins science took a huge step forward and enabled simple vitamin remedies to cure conditions that were cause by vitamin deficiencies (such as scurvy and rickets). And of course, scientists were also involved in research to re-create synthetic versions of these vitamins in a laboratory. In 1935, Vitamin C became the first vitamin to be artificially synthesized in Switzerland. Rockefeller was smart enough to see this as a big opportunity, with the possibility that vitamins and medications could be developed from petroleum. He saw the chance to control and monopolize multiple industries at once: petroleum, chemical and medical. And of course, petrochemicals were ideal from a business perspective because they could be patented, owned and sold for high profits.

But there was a big problem with Rockefeller’s plan. Natural and herbal medicines were very popular in America during the early 1900s. Almost one half the medical colleges and doctors in America were practicing holistic medicine, using extensive knowledge from Europe and Native American traditions. Rockefeller knew that to get total control of the medical industry he would have to expunge the competition. Rockefeller’s first move was to use his vast wealth (from oil) to purchase part of the German pharmaceutical company I.G. Farben. (look up Farben’s involvement in WWII). Now that he controlled a drug manufacturing company he could move forward with his plan to eliminate the competition.

In the early 1900’s there were a variety of doctors and healing modalities in America. Some of the medical specialties included chiropractic, naturopathy, homeopathy, holistic medicine and herbal medicine. To eliminate the competition Rockefeller he hired a contractor named Abraham Flexner to submit a report to Congress in 1910. This report “concluded” that there were too many doctors and medical schools in America, and that all the natural healing modalities which had existed for hundreds of years were unscientific quackery. The report called for the standardization of medical education, whereby only the AMA (another monopoly) would be allowed to grant medical school licensure in the U.S.

Certainly, Flexner’s report did have some valid points, but unfortunately the motives for the report were entirely driven my Rockefeller’s desire for complete control of the medical system. Based on the report, congress acted upon the Flexner’s recommendations and changed laws related to medical practice. Incredibly, allopathic medicine became the standard modality, even though at the time its main treatment methods where blood-letting, surgery (quite barbaric at the time) and the injection of toxic heavy metals (lead and mercury) to supposedly “displace disease”!

With new laws in place, Rockefeller teamed up with Andrew Carnegie and started funding medical schools all over America on the strict condition that they only taught allopathic medicine. Through the power of their huge “grants”, this powerful team systematically dismantled the previous curricula of these medical schools, removing any mention of the healing power of herbs or natural treatments. Teachings on diet and other natural (non-drug) treatments were also completely removed from medical programs.

map of America created with various drug capsules

After removing traditional medicine from medical schools, Rockefeller made sure to secure his monopoly by launching a targeted smear campaign against his competitors. Homeopathy and natural medicines were discredited and demonized through the newspapers and other media of the time. Some doctors were even jailed for using natural medicine treatments, including treatments that had been used safely and effectively for decades before. In a very short time, medical colleges were all homogenized. All the students were taught the same allopathic system and medicine was now defined as a process of prescribing patented drugs. “A pill for an ill” became the mindset of American medicine.


One shocking fact that I found while researching this post was that Rockefeller didn’t stop at U.S. borders. He actually went into China to spread Western Medicine. Upon hearing this I actually got chills down my spine! Rockefeller wasn’t content with just wiping out traditional medicine in America, he saw a bigger market on the other side of the world and wanted to remove Traditional Chinese Medicine from China! Luckily, his venture in China mostly failed and the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine was preserved for centuries to come. To quickly summarize what happened in China: The China Medical Board (CMB) was created in 1914 by the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) and provided with a $12 million grant. The RF’s goal was to “modernize medical education and to improve the practice of medicine in China”. They started by building a hospital in Beijing (Peking Union Medical College, opened in 1919), but they were unable to expand to other locations (as planned) due to mounting expenses.

In short, the diligent work of Rockefeller and Carnegie was a smashing “success”. They crushed the underfunded, grassroots competition and created our current medical system. This system continues today wherein “Big Pharma” makes large “donations” to medical schools in exchange for teaching the medical students to use their patented drugs. As part of this system, many alternative treatments are criminalized. For example by law, it is illegal to treat cancer with any modality except chemotherapy, surgery or radiation. It is actually a criminal felony for a medical practitioner to treat cancer with anything but these three modalities. Why is this the case? Follow the money. The average cost of cancer treatment is $150,000, so clearly Rockefeller and his precedents were keen to keep the monopoly on this one. And of course, the American Cancer Society was founded by none other than John D. Rockefeller in 1913.

paper billing statement on a desk

Hopefully this post will shed a bit of light on the history of our current medical system. At the very least we can all be less surprised when “patients” are treated like “customers” and when medications cost thousands of dollars per month. We should also not be surprised we are faced with the fact that the COST of medical care in America rated #1, yet the QUALITY of our medicine care is rated at #37, just below Costa Rica! [1, 2]. Unfortunately, these are the natural effects that occur when our medicine system is run like a mega corporation instead of a service to the people.”

Eric Schmidt
https://meridianhealthclinic.com/how-rockefeller-created-the-business-of-western-medicine/

Wild part is Rockefellers main family physicians were homeopaths!! Who knew. Also wild to learn he and his team shut down all the homeopathic hospitals in United States. Apparently, there was a really good homeopathic psychiatric facility that was closed. There’s a book on it somewhere I have yet to read. Update: here’s the book. It’s on my to read list. What a lost part of history I never knew about! https://www.amazon.com/Sane-Asylums-Success-Homeopathy-Psychiatry/dp/1644114089

Anyways, interesting history of how big pharma entered the scene that is not commonly taught in American schools. How about you in other countries? Are you taught about this in general curriculum?

Comments

Wow, what an interesting yet disturbing piece of history. I had no idea. I'm not impressed in the least with our current medical system apart from emergency medicine and some needed surgery.

What a shame that money and greed can be had at the detriment of society.

That Rockefeller. What a greedy hypocrite.
 
I just find it bizarre that once I found out this information last year, it’s everywhere. Public knowledge. But how bizarre is it, that none of us Americans know this? We’ve been told for years that we evolved and have the best of what’s out there. I really my whole life just thought that’s how modern medicine happened. Evolution. No, turns out it was by manipulation and with profits in mind by a very influential human being. The Flexner report was really chilling to look into. Was just an avenue to shut down Mr. Rockefellers competition. Pharmaceuticals kill so many each year. Yet, we ignore it. Hands are barely slapped. We are gaslit by the medical establishment and family members if we have reactions or side effects. It’s so insane! Yet, the FDA has taken so many steps to shut out homeopathy and other natural medicines with much safer track records (keep in mind we are not talking about snake oil salesmen of the 1800s but actual hospitals and practicing physicians).

Maybe the best for trauma medicine but what about the thousands of other ailments that doctors were successfully treating with herbs, homeopathy, etc? It’s just erased from our memories.
 
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Sunshine44 - I learned this several years ago while reading World Without Cancer, the Story of Vitamin B17 (G. Edward Griffin). There's a section of the book which relates the same story about Rockefeller and the medical schools.

What is most horrific for me is the tight clamp down on any other cancer treatments. We all know people who have been killed by chemo and radiation. And there is evidence of other treatments helping without killing or seriously harming patients - but usually people don't turn to other methodologies until they've been beaten down by chemo and radiation.

How many people know that in the 1970's Sloan Kettering quashed research which showed that laetrile actually had benefit in cancer treatment? Check out "Second Opinion: Laetrile at Sloan Kettering" - there's both a book about this, well documented and a video. But all anyone "knows" today is that laetrile doesn't work.

I think we have to be in charge of our own health as much as possible. Break a leg, great, western medicine is perfect. And my twins were born via an emergency c-section, again western medicine did a great job. But so much of it is harmful.
 
That bit,
This report “concluded” that there were too many doctors and medical schools in America,
Brings to mind a thing, which is about current shortages of health care people other than doctors,

https://www.aacnnursing.org/news-data/fact-sheets/nursing-faculty-shortage
Master’s and doctoral programs in nursing are not producing a large enough pool of potential nurse educators to meet the demand.

In April 2024, AACN reported enrollment declines in both master’s and PhD nursing programs. From 2022 to 2023, enrollment in master’s programs decreased by 0.9% or 1,176 students, marking the third consecutive year of declines. In addition, enrollment in PhD nursing programs were also down by 3.1% or 137 students. Since PhD program enrollment began to dip in 2013, enrollment in these programs have decreased by 17.5%, from 5,145 students in 2013 to 4,244 students in 2023.

Further, efforts to expand the nurse educator population are frustrated by the fact that thousands of qualified applicants to graduate nursing programs are turned away each year. In 2023, AACN found that 5,491 qualified applications were turned away from master's programs, and 4,461 qualified applications were turned away from doctoral programs. The primary reasons for not accepting all qualified students were a shortage of faculty, preceptors, and clinical education sites.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/05/business/nursing-staff-shortage-school-enrollment/index.html
Another barrier to admitting more nursing students is the limited availability of clinical rotations at hospitals or other health care providers, as well as the lack of experienced nurses and other medical professionals to supervise the students.

Many hospitals are experiencing their own staffing shortages and are relying on short-term contract nurses or travel nurses. This reduces their capacity to train students, said Marie Ann Marino, dean of the Thomas Jefferson University College of Nursing in Philadelphia.

https://www.registerednursing.org/articles/nurse-education-contributing-nursing-shortage/
Is Nursing Education Contributing to the Nursing Shortage?
Amanda Bucceri Androus, RN, BSN
Last Updated On Sep 4, 2024
➡️
And ya can't merely dismiss the current nursing shortage as an artifact of the covid pandemic,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2858425/
J Clin Nurs. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 Apr 22.
Published in final edited form as:
J Clin Nurs. 2008 Dec; 17(24): 3262–3268.
doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2008.02636.x
PMCID: PMC2858425
NIHMSID: NIHMS107153
PMID: 19146584
Solving nursing shortages: a common priority
James Buchan, MA(Hons), PhD, Professor and Linda Aiken, PhD, Professor and Director


➡️ and in another sector of health care,

https://www.mlo-online.com/management/article/21276444/todays-laboratory-workforce-shortage
a decades-long decline in medical laboratory scientist (MLS) and medical laboratory technician (MLT) academic programs,

Context,
The medical laboratory field has long been struggling with staffing shortages and the reasons myriad: a decades-long decline in medical laboratory scientist (MLS) and medical laboratory technician (MLT) academic programs,2 the inability of students to secure the education and training required for credentialing, a high rate of those retiring or leaving to pursue different careers, and the growing need for lab services throughout the healthcare continuum. There is no silver bullet approach to addressing these shortages; rather, it requires “a coordinated commitment from all stakeholders to include laboratory and medical professional organizations, clinical laboratory and hospital administrations, educational institutions, the laboratory industry, and federal and state government agencies,” according to the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS).
 
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Whoaaa, well researched!

Yeah, exactly. The issue is way more complicated than just covid.
 
Sunshine44 - I learned this several years ago while reading World Without Cancer, the Story of Vitamin B17 (G. Edward Griffin). There's a section of the book which relates the same story about Rockefeller and the medical schools.

What is most horrific for me is the tight clamp down on any other cancer treatments. We all know people who have been killed by chemo and radiation. And there is evidence of other treatments helping without killing or seriously harming patients - but usually people don't turn to other methodologies until they've been beaten down by chemo and radiation.

How many people know that in the 1970's Sloan Kettering quashed research which showed that laetrile actually had benefit in cancer treatment? Check out "Second Opinion: Laetrile at Sloan Kettering" - there's both a book about this, well documented and a video. But all anyone "knows" today is that laetrile doesn't work.

I think we have to be in charge of our own health as much as possible. Break a leg, great, western medicine is perfect. And my twins were born via an emergency c-section, again western medicine did a great job. But so much of it is harmful.
Wow, thank you for sharing!

I’ve been quite interested in b17 myself and began taking it via apricot seeds this summer. When you research it on internet, it’s quite a bit of propaganda but there’s actually an abundance of information of it assisting MANY through c.

Most Each of us have known people that have passed away from it at this point. My very dear friend passed ftom it in November 2022 and she had Lyme disease as well
And the c. Treatments were beyond brutal. She couldn’t tolerate them and had to eventually stop the radiation and chemotherapy and she did undergo the double mastectomy. She died within a year 😞🙏 yet we aren’t allowed to discuss this. We just have to accept it that some are tortured by these treatments and still don’t make it. Why couldn’t we discuss other options? She might still be here 😞 Her body was so sensitive. It’s infuriating. Like dialogue is literally shut down about this in modern culture. We must just accept it and move on? How strange of a reality is that?? It seems we should get some say and voice in how we want our humans treated!

Interesting, I will have to check that out.

And I concur, Mary. Thank God got the trauma care. But, beyond that…. It’s proven a very aggressive model of medicine for most bodies.
 

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