Description

Hoxsey – When Healing Becomes A Crime83minThis documentary explores the struggle between orthodox and alternative medicine: the story of Harry M. Hoxsey, a former coal miner who, in 1924, operated a number of cancer clinics using an herbal concoction handed down by his grandfather. But that history soon becomes obscured by an ongoing battle between Hoxsey and the then newly formed AMA, a battle which raged from 1924 to 1960, with much of it played out in the media. Hoxsey eventually won a slander suit against Dr. Morris Fishbein, head of the Journal of the AMA. There was little doubt that Hoxsey was curing cancer, because there were so many recovered patients testifying on his behalf. Hoxsey claimed that AMA officials went after him because he would not sell them his formula. In the end, the FDA was brought into the act and closed Hoxsey down. One of his former nurses took the treatment to Mexico where American patients have sought help ever since. The human aspect of this program, therefore, is the story of the one surviving Hoxsey Clinic which is now flourishing in Tijuana.