Linda Hazzard: Early 20th Century "Doctor" Who Starved Her Patients to Death

[Cleopatra7]

Linda Hazzard who lived in the Seattle area in the early twentieth century who called herself a doctor, though she had no medical credentials. Her method of treatment involved extreme fasting, as she claimed that ill-health and toxins were the result of eating. So Hazzard set up a clinic where people paid her money so she could starve them to death:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/doctor-who-starved-her-patients-death-180953158/

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/natural-medicine-starvation-and-murder-the-story-of-linda-hazzard/

(there are also some really good podcasts on Hazzard; just put in her name into the search function on iTunes or Podcast Republic)

Like many quacks, Hazzard used her clinic as a way to relieve her patients of their money, fine clothes, and jewelry. She was put on trial, but got a ridiculously light sentence, partially because the all-male juries of the time were loath to convict superficially respectable white women of murder and because she wasn't really a doctor so she technically wasn't guilty of medical fraud. Hazzard eventually died when she fasted herself to death, which causes one to wonder if she was always in this scam for the money or if she was a true believer in what she was selling. The sad thing (other than all the people Hazzard killed) is that I could completely see a starvation clinic being set up today and promoted by GOOP. In fact, her book, "The Science of Fasting" is still sold in some health food stores and can be found in its entirety online.

[infooverload]

I read the book Starvation Heights about this doctor and treatment a few years ago. I still have the book on my bookshelf. The book was an interesting read and would recommend it if you want to know the history of her, the treatment, and get a breakdown of the whole sad affair.

[CTRLZero]

I have Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen on my bookshelf, too!  It's local to me here in the Puget Sound region, and Ivar's seafood chain is very popular here, so that especially made it memorable to me.  From the first link above:

Quote

Despite the harsh methods, Hazzard attracted her fair share of patients. One was Daisey Maud Haglund, a Norwegian immigrant who died in 1908 after fasting for 50 days under Hazzard’s care. Haglund left behind a three-year-old son, Ivar, who would later go on to open the successful Seattle-based seafood restaurant chain that bears his name.

Whacky methods of curing what ails us persists to this day (Plexus, anyone?), but I am interested in reading how people dealt with various illnesses around the turn of the 20th century (e.g., The Road to Wellville, The Yellow Wallpaper, and also non-fiction).  I can somewhat understand how people put themselves at the mercy of these quacks when there was really no other alternative but to suffer and die, but starvation is especially brutal.  There will always be these folks and their "cures" ready to take our money.
 

 

[infooverload]

I have Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen on my bookshelf, too!  It's local to me here in the Puget Sound region, and Ivar's seafood chain is very popular here, so that especially made it memorable to me.  From the first link above:

Despite the harsh methods, Hazzard attracted her fair share of patients. One was Daisey Maud Haglund, a Norwegian immigrant who died in 1908 after fasting for 50 days under Hazzard’s care. Haglund left behind a three-year-old son, Ivar, who would later go on to open the successful Seattle-based seafood restaurant chain that bears his name.

Whacky methods of curing what ails us persists to this day (Plexus, anyone?), but I am interested in reading how people dealt with various illnesses around the turn of the 20th century (e.g., The Road to Wellville, The Yellow Wallpaper, and also non-fiction).  I can somewhat understand how people put themselves at the mercy of these quacks when there was really no other alternative but to suffer and die, but starvation is especially brutal.  There will always be these folks and their "cures" ready to take our money.
 
 
I'm in the Northwest as well. Not on topic, but do you remember seeing the Long John Silver restaurant commercials in the 1990's. Most people I knew were all what the heck we have Ivars, but none of these places. Oh and Almost Live was great as well, the bits were great.

[CTRLZero]

10 minutes ago, infooverload said:

I'm in the Northwest as well. Not on topic, but do you remember seeing the Long John Silver restaurant commercials in the 1990's. Most people I knew were all what the heck we have Ivars, but none of these places. Oh and Almost Live was great as well, the bits were great.

Hello!  I probably saw the Long John Silver commercials, but don't recall them at this point.  Almost Live was fun.  John Keister was especially memorable.  I looked him up and he only hosted for a year (but was a performer before that).

Slightly back on topic, I've visited the various hot springs in the Columbia River Gorge area.  The Carson Hot Springs was established by a couple back around 1897 as a place to offer relief from aches and pains.  That's one "cure" I can get behind; there's something about relaxing in warm water.  Of course, some folks took the claims further and said drinking the waters would cure all.  Interesting stuff in our neck of the woods.