Dick Quinn
[back] Cayenne Pepper

Book
Left For Dead by Dick Quinn

Quotes

"The rich are at risk. If you are wealthy or have very good health Insurance coverage, you are at greatest risk. You want "the best money can buy," so you will buy every miserable surgery on the list. You'll be cut, drugged and bled to death, literally. You want the best, but it's hard to be sure you're getting it, so you will settle for the most. Expect the full treatment.

Surgeons vary widely in competence. The best kill 1.9% of their patients during bypass, the worst kill 9.9%; some hospitals lose 11.9%. There is no way to tell the best from the worst, no matter how much money you have. Good luck.

There are about 360,000 coronary bypass operations in the U.S. every year. The average cost: $40,000. Gross annual sales: $14,400,000,000. I said Fourteen Billion Four Hundred Million.

If you are a piece of meat with money, you can expect several coronary bypass operations, each more devastating than the last. You'll play chemical roulette, not knowing the more drugs you take, the shorter your life. In the end, treatment will kill you.

The secret keep your plumbing clean

You and I have thousands of miles of arteries, veins, capillaries and arterials all of which must be kept clean. As I learned from my 1978 heart attack, you need every inch. Surgery only deals with a tiny part of the system and it doesn't even fix that. So surgery fails.

Coronary bypass, angioplasty and gimmicks like the laser, stent and the "roto rooter" do not extend your life, improve your quality of life or prevent a heart attack. Statistics prove they do not benefit the patient, so they don't work. There is nothing in them for you but pain, depression, ruin and death.

I keep my arteries clean with herbs. They're cheap, easy to use and they work.

It's easy. I just get up every morning and take some capsules.

Like selling used cars, but not as ethical

There is another risk to you that is implicit in all coronary surgery. Payola. Many doctors get kick-backs from the cardiologist, the hospital, the surgeons and, possibly, other people. You are the product being sold. It is accepted procedure to pay commissions. Surely your doctor will take his cut. Does he need money for something, a car or trip perhaps? Does he see you as a person or a profit source?

Would your doctor sell you surgery you don't need for a commission he does need?

The coronary industry has spent a fortune promoting business for its drugs and surgery. The Stanford University Medical Center proposed a "retreat" for referring doctors at its swank Pebble Beach resort on the Pacific coast. Tickets to big league games and other events, lavishly catered dinners, free rent, cash payments disguised as speaking honorariums, trips-kick-backs come in many forms from hospitals, specialists and medical suppliers.

Drug companies also pay prescribing doctors kick-backs. Doctors who push the right drugs get expensive dinners, paid speaking engagements, trips to the South Seas, gifts - even cash. Drug companies start selling in medical school.

Apparently, the pay-offs are O.K. with the FDA and AMA. Who needs ethics, principles or honor when you have money?

All the big-money coronary procedures pose serious threats to your arterial system. You need your arteries - all of them. You came without replacement parts, so you have to get through life with what you have."---Dick Quinn. Author Left For Dead