Billy Goats, Doctors, and Lawyers

I just finished a book about Dr. John R. Brinkley. Brinkley was known as the "goat gland doctor." He transplanted goat glands into male patients to restore male virility. The $750 operation was quite pricey in during the roaring twenties and the depressing thirties, but enough patients submitted to Brinkley's knife to make him a millionaire.

I was interested in the story because Brinkley was also an early radio pioneer. He built his first radio station in Milford, Kansas and used it prescribe medicine over the air (to his licensed pharmacies), and to share his folk wisdom as well as preach the gospel on Sundays. Brinkley became something of a folk hero.

Later, after being run out Kansas, he established a "borderblaster" radio station in Mexico across the river from Del Rio, Texas. Brinkley's station was so powerful that he could be heard at night anywhere in the United States. People living near the station could hear Brinkley's broadcasts over their fence wires and even their dental work. The directional transmitters emitted a green radiant glow at night. People venturing near his transmitter would find their hair standing on end. Unfortunate birds passing by could be electrocuted.  Later the Russians would monitor borderblaster transmissions to improve their English skills.

As a result of his borderblasting, Brinkley ran afoul of the FCC and the Mexican government. A shrewd man, he was able to pull political strings to stay on the air.

His eventual undoing came as he faced the wrath of Morris Fishbein ("Old Fishy," he called him) and the budding American Medical Association. Besides charging him as a quack, the AMA challenged his medical education, despite the fact that many other physicans of the time had even more questionable credentials than Brinkley.

One great sticking point for the AMA was Dr. Brinkley's advertising his medical services over the radio. It was then considered unethical for a doctor to advertise. Because of Brinkley's use of the airwaves to solicit clients for his "operations," he was prosecuted and hounded.

Frankly, I think things were better when doctors and lawyers did not advertise.

There was a time when attorneys as well as doctors would not use print or airwaves to hawk their services. Today, I can't pick up a phone book, turn on a radio, or look at a newspaper and not see doctors and lawyers offering themselves to the world. In the case of lawyers, big cash settlements are dangled before the potential client. One physician in our area incessantly offers his services on morning television as a weight loss surgeon. HIs name has become quite familiar across southwest Louisiana.

Now we have people who believe that if some accident occurs, someone needs to pay them and pay big. At the first sign of a toxic release of some gaseous substance from a plant in our area, ads appear the next day in our local paper. Other ads show satisfied clients flashing big checks at the camera as a result of money an attorney got for them as a result of a car accident.

These elements have helped create a subculture of entitlement, a belief that if I am injured or mistreated, someone must pay- in cash. The American public is also led to believe that a medical operation can help them lose weight and regain lost self esteem. I am not disputing these claims. I am just questioning the ethics of making them public.

Dr. Brinkley was a quack and I would never impugn the professional skills publicly of any doctor or lawyer. But promising people incredible outcomes with a simple operation or court case keeps the spirit of Dr. Brinkley alive.