'Downton Abbey' And The History Of Medical Quackery

By Jessica Stoller-Conrad

Published September 21, 2012 at 12:58 PM EDT

1 of 6 — Outtake from a Devo show? Nope, It's an orgone accumulator. The device was touted as treatment for anemia, epilepsy and high blood pressure. In 1954, the FDA halted distribution of the devices.

Outtake from a Devo show? Nope, It's an orgone accumulator. The device was touted as treatment for anemia, epilepsy and high blood pressure. In 1954, the FDA halted distribution of the devices.

2 of 6 — The McGregor Rejuvenator. M.E. Montrude, Jr., the maker of this 1932 device, claimed that by using magnetism, radio waves and ultraviolet rays, the rejuvenator could reverse the aging process.

The McGregor Rejuvenator. M.E. Montrude, Jr., the maker of this 1932 device, claimed that by using magnetism, radio waves and ultraviolet rays, the rejuvenator could reverse the aging process.

3 of 6 — The Relaxacizor. Popularized by advertisements featuring unauthorized celebrity endorsements, the Relaxacizor claimed to help women drop dress sizes while reading, eating dinner, or sleeping. The machine used electrical pulses, which the FDA found to be harmful some people.

The Relaxacizor. Popularized by advertisements featuring unauthorized celebrity endorsements, the Relaxacizor claimed to help women drop dress sizes while reading, eating dinner, or sleeping. The machine used electrical pulses, which the FDA found to be harmful some people.

4 of 6 — The Psychograph. It looks like something you'd find in your grandmother's hair salon, but this machine supposedly read the bumps on a person's head to measure personality traits.

The Psychograph. It looks like something you'd find in your grandmother's hair salon, but this machine supposedly read the bumps on a person's head to measure personality traits.

5 of 6 — The Magnetron. Osteopath Peter D. Pauls claimed that by placing one foot on a red pad and one hand on a metal tube, patients could be treated for conditions ranging from rheumatoid arthritis to diabetes.

The Magnetron. Osteopath Peter D. Pauls claimed that by placing one foot on a red pad and one hand on a metal tube, patients could be treated for conditions ranging from rheumatoid arthritis to diabetes.

6 of 6 — The Kellogg Vibratory Chair. Though it looks like an instrument of capital punishment, this electric-powered chair was reputed to cure constipation and improve respiration. The chair shook and rattled so violently that patients had to hold firmly onto side handles.

The Kellogg Vibratory Chair. Though it looks like an instrument of capital punishment, this electric-powered chair was reputed to cure constipation and improve respiration. The chair shook and rattled so violently that patients had to hold firmly onto side handles.

The third season of the television show Downton Abbey premiered in the U.K. last weekend, and if you're a dedicated follower like me, you'll know that medical tragedy is no stranger to the Crowley household.

Spanish flu and a spinal injury shape the plot, and in one memorable scene John Bates, personal valet to Lord Grantham, uses a frighteningly painful metal contraption that he hopes will correct his debilitating limp. Call me crazy, but that got me wondering about other questionable medical devices that have been sold throughout history.

Bates bought his limp corrector in World War I-era England, but he certainly wasn't the first to be duped by medical quackery. In the United States, fraudulent medical devices are as old as the country itself, says Suzanne Junod, a historian at the Food and Drug Administration.

George Washington swore by a set of metal pins called "Perkins Patent Metallic Tractors," Junod says. Advertisements claimed the pins could channel the body's electricity "for the Relief of Topical Diseases of the Human Body; and of Horses." The pins were eventually exposed as a fraud. Surprised?

The modern FDA dates to 1906. But the agency didn't get into the regulation of medical devices until the passage of a law giving FDA the authority in 1938.

But government involvement couldn't deter all crafty charlatans. Right after World War II, there was a surge of complicated-looking machines in doctors' offices. Military surplus knobs, gauges and dials from the war effort were slapped on the front of empty wooden cabinets to create a high-tech look.

"We think now, 'Wouldn't you be able to tell [they were frauds]?' But doctors' offices really didn't have a whole lot of equipment at this point," she says. "It looked kind of impressive."

One such machine, an orgone accumulator, could supposedly treat epilepsy, high blood pressure and anemia by capturing the energizing force within living things. The Relaxacizor was said to help users lose weight without exercise. The device, featured on Mad Men, reportedly stimulated more than weight loss in female users. Both devices were outlawed by the mid-1960s.

In the early 1970s, infections from the Dalkon Shield, an intrauterine contraceptive, left hundreds of thousands of women sterile or injured, says Junod. "It was the tipping point in trying to get control over therapeutic medical devices," she says.

This case spurred the passage of the Medical Device Amendments of 1976, which laid blueprint for the current set of medical device regulations.

From faulty contact lenses to bone putty that can catch fire, medical devices can still stir controversy. But in contrast to the days of Downton Abbey, there are more people vetting the claims and watching for trouble.