Hoxsey Therapy, also known as the Hoxsey Method, is promoted as an alternative medical treatment for cancer. It involves a combination of approaches, including a caustic herbal paste for external cancers or an herbal mixture for "internal" cancers, alongside laxatives, douches, vitamin supplements, and specific dietary changes. Despite its historical presence and continued use, major medical organizations have found no evidence supporting its effectiveness.
The Hoxsey Method is currently marketed by the Bio-Medical Center in Tijuana, Mexico.
Historical Context of Hoxsey Therapy
The Hoxsey Therapy was first marketed in the 1920s by Harry Hoxsey, a former coal miner and insurance salesman, and Norman Baker, a radio personality. Hoxsey traced the treatment's origins to his great-grandfather, who supposedly observed a horse with a tumor healing itself by grazing on wild plants.
Hoxsey established a clinic in Taylorville, Illinois, which was the first of 17 clinics that he would eventually open. Due to legal issues related to practicing medicine without a license, Hoxsey frequently relocated his clinics. In 1930, Hoxsey partnered with Norman G. Baker to operate the Baker Institute in Muscatine, Iowa. By 1936, Hoxsey opened a clinic in Dallas, Texas, which grew into one of the largest privately-owned cancer centers globally. In the 1950s, Hoxsey's annual income from treating approximately 8,000 patients reached $1.5 million.
Hoxsey advertised his methods in books, including "You Don't Have to Die: The Amazing Story of the Hoxsey Cancer Treatment" (1956), and received support from figures such as Gerald Winrod and H. L. Mencken.
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Components of Hoxsey Therapy
The Hoxsey treatment includes several components:
- Herbal Mixture: A combination of herbs is the core of the treatment.
- Dietary Changes: Specific dietary guidelines are recommended as part of the therapy.
- Additional Treatments: Antiseptic douches and washes, laxative tablets, and nutritional supplements are also included. A mixture of procaine hydrochloride and vitamins, along with liver and cactus, may be prescribed.
Regulatory and Medical Scrutiny
The United States National Cancer Institute (NCI), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the American Medical Association (AMA) have actively worked to restrict Hoxsey's clinic operations, viewing them as fraudulent and providing false hope to cancer patients.
The American Medical Association condemned Hoxsey's "caustic pastes" and tonics as fraudulent. In 1949, Hoxsey sued the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and its editors for libel and slander.
In 1950, Hoxsey submitted case histories of 77 patients to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The NCI found that only 6 of these reports included actual tissue biopsies, and of the two biopsies from patients described as having "internal cancer," neither showed evidence of malignancy. The NCI concluded that Hoxsey's records lacked sufficient information to evaluate the treatment. In 1956, the FDA sent an investigator posing as a patient to Hoxsey's clinic.
Lack of Scientific Evidence
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have found no evidence that Hoxsey Therapy is an effective treatment for cancer.
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The American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute do not advise the use of Hoxsey Therapy, as neither has found any objective evidence that the treatment provides tangible benefit to people with cancer. Reviews by the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and M. D. Anderson Cancer Center found no evidence that Hoxsey Therapy is effective as a treatment for cancer. A controlled experiment in lab mice did not find any difference in tumor growth between untreated mice and those given the Hoxsey tonic. An FDA review of 400 people claiming to have been cured by the Hoxsey method found that many of the patients never in fact had cancer, or had received successful medical treatment elsewhere before being treated with Hoxsey Therapy. Those who had cancer at the time they used Hoxsey Therapy were uniformly either deceased or alive with active cancer. In 1957, a group from the University of British Columbia visited Hoxsey's Mexican clinic and obtained records for 71 Canadian patients treated by Hoxsey. For over one-half of the [cancer] patients from British Columbia, the result [of treatment with the Hoxsey method] has been either death or progression of the disease. In nearly one-quarter there was no proof that the patient ever had cancer. Nearly one in ten of the patients had curative treatment before going to the Hoxsey Clinic.
The Bio-Medical Clinic in Tijuana
In 1963, Mildred Nelson, a nurse who had worked closely with Hoxsey, established the Bio Medical Clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, with Hoxsey's approval.
Hoxsey's Personal Experience
In 1967, Hoxsey developed prostate cancer, and his own treatment failed to cure it.
Modern Context and Legal Disputes
The treatment gained wide press coverage in 2006 due to a court dispute between the family of Starchild Abraham Cherrix and Social Services of the State of Virginia. Cherrix had requested to undergo Hoxsey Therapy to treat a recurrence of Hodgkin disease. Because at the age of 16 he was still a minor, Social Services considered the parents to be negligent and sought to have Cherrix undergo conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy. On August 16, 2006, Circuit Judge Glen A. Tyler announced that both sides had reached an agreement that the parents did not act in a way that was medically neglectful.
Dietary Recommendations and Potential Risks
The Hoxsey Therapy includes dietary changes, though specific recipes are not widely available or standardized. Red clover, an ingredient in the herbal mixture, may increase the risk of bleeding for people who take anticoagulants.
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