William Brady (physician)

William Brady (March 26, 1880 – February 25, 1972) was an American physician and pioneering medical columnist.[1]

William Brady
BornMarch 26, 1880
Canandaigua
DiedFebruary 25, 1972
Beverly Hills, California
OccupationPhysician, columnist

Biography

Brady was born in Canandaigua.[2] In 1901, he obtained his M.D. from the University of Buffalo.[2] He began his medical practice in Buffalo, New York in 1901. In 1904, he married Cora May McGuire, they had two daughters.[3]

In 1914, Brady started the first syndicated medical column "Personal Health Service" in the Elmira Star-Gazette, which he wrote until his death in 1972.[4] Brady was "America's oldest columnist, in age and in number of years of syndication."[4] He wrote the medical column for 58 years.[5] It was syndicated in daily newspapers throughout the United States.[2]

Brady also edited the medical column "Here's to Health" in the Los Angeles Times.[6] In this column, Brady supported the consumption of saccharin. He recommended it as a substitute for "stout people who are trying to reduce and those who wish to avoid accumulating more slacker flesh".[7] In 1946, he commented that there was "ample scientific evidence" to suggest that anyone could consume up to five grains of saccharine a day.[7] He wrote articles recommending people to take iodine doses. Brady was also supportive of the meat diet of Vilhjalmur Stefansson.[8] In his 1961 book, Brady admitted he held "strange notions" that were based on a "lifetime of sometimes unorthodox observation and practice are geared to keeping patients out of doctors' offices."[9] He died of uremia at his home in Beverly Hills, California.[2]

Reception

Brady was criticized by other physicians for making misrepresentations about medical treatments and promoting dubious health advice. A 1937 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association commented that Brady "has during recent years gradually departed from anything resembling accuracy or established medical science."[10]

A 1946 article in the Journal of the American Dental Association noted that:

For years Brady has tried to pit his stupid assertions against tested scientific knowledge; he has often given dangerous advice that could have a serious detrimental effect on those who heeded it. Time and again leading medical and dental journals have called attention to Brady’s inaccuracies and proved them to be such, but for some reason otherwise reliable newspapers have continued to print his notions and superstitions as a guide to sound health.[11]

The Southern California State Dental Association accused Brady of misinforming his readers on specific dental ailments.[12]

Selected publications
  • An 80 Year Old Doctor's Secrets of Positive Health (1961)

References
  1. Weiner, Richard. (1997). The Doctors: An Historical Overview of Syndicated Columnists, from Dr. William Brady to Dr. George Crane. American Journalism 14 (3-4): 530-538.
  2. Anonymous. (March 19, 1972). "Dr. Brady, Writer". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 24
  3. Anonymous. (1973). Brady, William. In Who Was Who in America, Volume 5. p. 82
  4. Weiner, Richard. (1979). Syndicated Columnists. New York. p. 116
  5. Bondi, Victor. (1995). American Decades: 1970-1979. Marquis-Who's Who. p. 432. ISBN 978-0810388826
  6. Baur, John E. (2010). The Health Seekers of Southern California, 1870-1900. Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. p. 8. ISBN 978-0873282253
  7. Peña, Carolyn de la. (2010). Empty Pleasures: The Story of Artificial Sweeteners from Saccharin to Splenda. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 42-43. ISBN 978-0-8078-3409-1
  8. Anonymous. (1931). Physician Accepts Results of Stefansson-Anderson Meat Diet Experiment. Meat and Livestock Digest 11 (6): 4.
  9. Brady, William. (1961). An 80 Year Old Doctor's Secrets of Positive Health. Prentice-Hall. p. 8
  10. Fishbein, Morris. (1937). The Misrepresentations of William Brady. Journal of the American Medical Association 109 (16): 1282-1283.
  11. Anonymous. (1946). William Brady: Newspaper Medicine Man. Journal of the American Dental Association 33: 623-624.
  12. J. C. A. H. (1946). Brady—Bunk or Debunk?. Journal of the Southern California State Dental Association 13 (8): 8.
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