Deadly Cures

For most of history, the cure could be deadlier than the disease.

George Washington's doctors drained nearly half his blood as he lay dying. Victorian mothers soothed teething babies with morphine syrup. A millionaire drank radioactive water until his jaw fell apart. A Nobel Prize went to the inventor of the lobotomy. And within living memory, blockbuster drugs and "minimally invasive" implants harmed millions before anyone was held to account.

Deadly Cures tells the stories behind 50 treatments that did more harm than good, from ancient skull-drilling to modern pharmaceutical scandals. In short, gripping chapters, you'll discover:

• The Age of Humors: bloodletting, mercury for syphilis, powdered mummies, and the tobacco smoke kits once stationed along the Thames to revive the drowned
• The patent medicine boom: cocaine toothache drops, heroin cough syrup, snake oil, and the "rest cure" that inspired The Yellow Wallpaper
• Rays and glands: radium tonics, X-ray hair removal, goat gland surgery, and the psychiatrist who pulled thousands of teeth to cure madness
• Psychiatry's darkest decades: insulin comas, Metrazol convulsions, the ice-pick lobotomy, and Australia's deep sleep scandal
• The pharmaceutical age: Elixir Sulfanilamide, thalidomide, DES, fen-phen, Vioxx, OxyContin, and transvaginal mesh

Every chapter can be read on its own, and together they reveal the patterns that keep repeating: brilliant doctors who trusted theory over evidence, companies that ignored warning signs, and patients whose complaints went unheard. They also tell the stories of the skeptics, regulators, and survivors who finally forced change.

Perfect for readers of medical history, true stories, and dark history, and a companion to Plagues: 50 Diseases That Changed the World and Deadly Plants and Fungi.