Bleach Drinking, Laser Lights, And Other Quack Cures

by Fran Withrow 07.2023

Our current healthcare system isn’t perfect, and some people are so disillusioned with it they are willing to seek medical answers outside the system. And there are scores of practitioners of “medical freedom” just waiting to take people’s money and send these sufferers their own version of the “One True Cure.”

In his fascinating book, “If it Sounds Like a Quack,” Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling set out to explore fringe medicine: how it arose from our country’s bloated, flawed health care system, why people are so easily taken in, and how our country might address it now. 

Honglotz-Hetling talked with several people who have created alternative cures for a variety of illnesses. Each of them is convinced their cure works and each struggles diligently to get their supplements and devices into as many hands as possible. They ingeniously know how to work the system; flying just under the FDA radar or even taking advantage of the FDA’s cumbersome procedures. 
Larry Lytle is a dentist who helps his community after a devastating flood. This leads him to develop a laser light he says can confer better health on the user. Toby McAdam is heartbroken over his mother’s cancer and creates his own supplements to heal her. Robert O. Young is a Mormon offering alkalizing health supplements to those whose acid levels are “off." Reading about how each of these people came up with their cures is fascinating.

Honglotz-Hetling’s writing is delightfully humorous, despite the seriousness of his topic. I chuckled repeatedly as he described meeting “the alien in Jim Humble’s body” who believes his chlorine dioxide bleach-like health drink can cure a myriad of illnesses. 

Whoa. 

And now we know where the former game show host (Honglotz-Hetling’s description) got the idea for drinking bleach as a Covid cure. Larry Lytle’s laser light also gave the former game show host some novel ideas for addressing the pandemic.

One couple’s story is more tragic. Pentacostals Leilani and Dale Neumann believed their faith would save their daughter Kara when she slipped into a diabetic coma. Kara died, but her parents were sure it was due to their lack of faith. How do you reconcile religious and medical freedom with a child’s life?

Honglotz-Hetling turns serious when he discusses how issues of medical freedom, rampant unregulated cures, and our overburdened medical system have now reached the point where there is no one way to solve the problem. He notes that public trust in the medical establishment has eroded dramatically in the past twenty years. When doctors can only spend a limited time with each patient, patients feel unheard and unhappy.

Adding to the issue is the fact that some of our most respected hospitals have begun to offer alternative therapies such as herbal therapy, energy healing, and botanical medicines. So while this book was an absolute treat to read, it is also a sobering wake up call for us all. How do we save people from themselves? 

Good question. And in this case, unfortunately, there is no One True Cure.