Robert S. Mendelsohn

Robert S. Mendelsohn (13 juli 1926 - 5 april 1988) was een Amerikaanse pediatrist, anti-vaxer en criticus van 'medisch paternalisme'.

Hij wees onnodige en radicale chrirurgische ingrepen en gevaarlijke medicijnen af en herinnerde zijn lezers aan mislukkingen in de publieke gezondheid als de 'varkenspest van 1976' en de schade die dochters opliepen van moeders die het middel Diethylstilbestrol gebruikten tijdens de zwangerschap.

Hij portretteerde dokters als machtige priesters van een primitieve religie, met oneerlijkheid als haar voornaamste ethiek. Zijn milde manier van optreden sprak het publiek aan, terwijl zijn boodschap zijn medische collega's woest maakte.

Mendelsohn schreef een column met de naam The People's Doctor voor een krant van een belangenvereniging en schreef ook een nieuwsbrief met dezelfde naam (de nieuwsbrief ging na zijn dood door tot 1992, onder de naam The Doctor's People).

Hij publiceerde vijf boeken, waaronder Confessions of a Medical Heretic, Mal(e) Practice: How Doctors Manipulate Women, en How to Raise a Healthy Child...In Spite of Your Doctor. In Confessions of a Medical Heretic vergelijkt Mendelsohn het 'medische establishment' met de Rooms Katholieke Kerk en noemt hij het 'the Church of Modern Medicine'.^[1]

Hij verscheen in meer dan 500 televisie en radio talkshows.

Carrière[bewerken | brontekst bewerken]

Mendelsohn ontving rond 1951 zijn doctoraat Medicijnen aan de University of Chicago onder de jezuïeten Loyola Chicago University. Hij was Instructor aan de Northwest University Medical College, twaalf jaar Associate Professor 'Pediatrics and Community Health & Preventive Medicine' aan het University of Illinois College of Medicine, President van de National Health Federation, National Director van 'Project Head Starts Medical Consultation Service' en Chairman van de 'Medical Licensing Committee' van de staat Illinois.

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Dit artikel of een eerdere versie ervan is een (gedeeltelijke) vertaling van het artikel Robert S. Mendelsohn op de Engelstalige Wikipedia, dat onder de licentie Creative Commons Naamsvermelding/Gelijk delen valt. Zie de bewerkingsgeschiedenis aldaar.

↑ “I do not believe in Modern Medicine. I am a Medical heretic. I believe that Modern Medicine’s treatments for disease … are more dangerous than the diseases they are designed to treat. I believe that more than ninety percent of Modern Medicine could disappear from the face of the earth―Doctors, Hospitals, drugs, and equipment―and the effect on our health would be immediate and beneficial … For the Hospital is the Temple of the Church of Modern Medicine and thus one of the most dangerous places on earth … There’s plenty to be afraid of. The God that resides in the Temple of Modern Medicine is Death … The Doctor-Priest gets away with a lot because he can claim to be up against the very ‘Forces of Evil’ … Never is he seen in his true light—as the agent of the Devil … We have a Medical Inquisition. The first sign of an Inquisition is the selling of Indulgences … Medical insurance is the Doctor’s version of indulgences … Like the Communion wafer which Catholics receive on the tongue, drugs are the Communion wafers of Modern Medicine … Try getting from one end of life to the other without paying your dues to Modern Medicine: Immunizations, Fluoridated water, Intravenous fluids, and Silver-Nitrate … When you get to the Cathedrals and the little ‘Vaticans’ of Modern Medicine, you are up against Priests who have the weight of Infallibility behind them. They can do no wrong, so they are most dangerous …” —Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn, M.D.; ‘Confessions of a Medical Heretic,’ pp. 11, 13, 14, 117, 221, 58, 248, 225, (New York: 1979)

[1] “I do not believe in Modern Medicine. I am a Medical heretic. I believe that Modern Medicine’s treatments for disease … are more dangerous than the diseases they are designed to treat. I believe that more than ninety percent of Modern Medicine could disappear from the face of the earth―Doctors, Hospitals, drugs, and equipment―and the effect on our health would be immediate and beneficial … For the Hospital is the Temple of the Church of Modern Medicine and thus one of the most dangerous places on earth … There’s plenty to be afraid of. The God that resides in the Temple of Modern Medicine is Death … The Doctor-Priest gets away with a lot because he can claim to be up against the very ‘Forces of Evil’ … Never is he seen in his true light—as the agent of the Devil … We have a Medical Inquisition. The first sign of an Inquisition is the selling of Indulgences … Medical insurance is the Doctor’s version of indulgences … Like the Communion wafer which Catholics receive on the tongue, drugs are the Communion wafers of Modern Medicine … Try getting from one end of life to the other without paying your dues to Modern Medicine: Immunizations, Fluoridated water, Intravenous fluids, and Silver-Nitrate … When you get to the Cathedrals and the little ‘Vaticans’ of Modern Medicine, you are up against Priests who have the weight of Infallibility behind them. They can do no wrong, so they are most dangerous …” —Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn, M.D.; ‘Confessions of a Medical Heretic,’ pp. 11, 13, 14, 117, 221, 58, 248, 225, (New York: 1979)

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