The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices December 4, 2006

Medical history has produced some results that make us rethink our whole profession. Anyway, we must admit it, sometimes they can point to the future. But just sometimes…

The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices has more than 250 quack medical devices in the collection:

In the early 1990′s, the American Medical Association indexed it’s Historical Health Fraud & Alternative Medicine Collection. At that time, the AMA generously donated duplicates from its collection, some 100,000 items, to the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices. Additionally, we have our own collection which includes items generously donated by individuals over the years.

I’d like to present two devices, you can see and read about the others here. The first one is the Foot Operated Breast Enlarger Pump:

In 1976, four million women in the United States each spent $9.95 on this device which caused bruising…and nothing more. The user created a vacuum by pumping the pedal with the foot. The device consists of a pump, clear plastic tubing and three cups – all in large sizes.

The second one is the McGregor Rejuvenator from 1932:

In a patent filed in 1932, Mr. M.E. Montrude Jr. of Seattle, Washington claimed that by the use of magnetism, radio waves, infra-red and ultra-violet rays he could reverse the aging process. The patient was rolled for treatment on a cart into a machine with only the head outside the chamber. The chamber does look a bit like an iron lung but the similarity ends there.