In
1911, before medical school was required to obtain a license to practice medicine, the domineering and charismatic Dr. Linda
Burfield Hazzard dubbed herself a “fasting specialist” and built a
sanitarium in the wilderness of Olalla, Washington, where she treated
patients via a regimen of severe food deprivation, aggressive
“osteopathic” massage, and daily enemas. Her influential book, Fasting for the Cure of Disease,
enticed a diverse band of believers. Some had exhausted all hope with
traditional doctors. Others were simply intrigued by the idea of
fasting for better health.
Unfortunately, Dr. Hazzard’s treatments didn’t produce the expected results for several of her patients, especially those with fine jewelry and plump wallets. Dr. Hazzard convinced them to entrust her with their valuables and bank accounts. Then she starved them to death.
Unfortunately, Dr. Hazzard’s treatments didn’t produce the expected results for several of her patients, especially those with fine jewelry and plump wallets. Dr. Hazzard convinced them to entrust her with their valuables and bank accounts. Then she starved them to death.
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| Dora Williamson after some recovery |
In gluttonous detail, Starvation Heights
tells the story of Dr. Hazzard’s most publicized victims, British
heiresses Dora and Claire Williamson, and Dr. Hazzard’s subsequent
trial. The book also proffers Dr. Hazzard’s back story, including a
yummy little polygamy scandal.
Starvation Heights is meticulously researched and impressively comprehensive. Olsen throws around lots of names - doctors, sanitarium employees, patients and their relations, legal team members, government figures. The cast of characters gets long, so if you’re like me, you may want to keep a running list for reference.
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| Gregg Olsen |
While
Olsen’s storytelling feels a little stodgy, as if he picked up the
too-florid and not-too-lucid historical tone of his original sources, I
didn’t mind it much. Starvation Heights
is compelling in so many other ways. It appealed to my love of the
grotesque, my awe of asceticism, my fascination with charismatic
leaders, and my hunger for schadenfreude. It also toyed with my bipolar
interest in/cynicism toward alternative medicine. I was sometimes
emotionally divided, empathizing with both perspectives, evaluating and
reevaluating the benefits and drawbacks of
non-traditional approaches to healthcare. Aside from a terrific
true-crime novel, Olsen has also delivered a great little plate of
thought-fodder.
How horrifying! I'm at least glad she was caught. I've had some success with alternative medicine (taking supplements in place of certain chemical medications) myself. And I took my parents off their cholesterol medication and put them on Silymarin and N-Acetyl Cysteine--my dad's cholesterol dropped 100 pts after 3 weeks and my mom's dropped 50 pts after a couple of months. But everything I do is heavily researched first since I've been eagerly offered every "miracle cure" out there over the past 19 years. I won't take your Uncle Ernie's seaweed pills that cured whatever ailed him or your neighbor's grandmother's juice from a South American melon because it "cures everything," so don't even ask! Although, no one ever suggested starvation--which definitely gets rid of the illness if you don't mind the unfortunate side effect of also ridding one of life...
ReplyDeleteI HAVE to read this book!for all the reasons you stated.
ReplyDeleteIt also got me thinking about all the Sunday morning sermons I've heard on the spiritual and physical benefits of fasting. I don't dismiss those messages, but one must be reasonable.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that Dr. Hazzard was a spiritual person (but not Christian per se). It's also interesting that her patients seemed to fast around 40 days (same as Jesus) when they died. (Then again, Jesus wasn't getting pounding massages and daily enemas.)