Seligman Swartzman Gillis Sandman Joffe Yachad Lederman Fleishman

Journal of the American Medical Association Accusation of Medical Fraud against George Katz May 6th, 1914 THE TURNOCK MEDICAL COMPANY The Lynott-Katz-Read Mail-Order Medical Concern Declared Fraudulent by the Federal Authorities The Turnock Medical Company was a fraudulent mailorder concern operating from Chicago. May 6, 1914, the Postmaster-General issued a fraud order against the Turnock Medical Company and Dr. T. Frank Lynott, the medical employee who is described in the Turnock "literature" as the "specialist in charge." At the time the federal authorities put the quietus on this fraud, the Turnock Medical Company was receiving about four thousand letters a day from the gullible sick, and its income is said to Lave been approximately $350,000 in the last year of its existence. It has been doing business eight years. For some years past, the Propaganda Department has been keeping itself informed on the methods of the Turnock Medical Company and T. Frank Lynott. Until comparatively recently, the men behind the Turnock Medical Company are said to have been : Eugene Katz, President and Treasurer. George J. Katz, Vice-Président. Sam D. Katz, Secretary and Manager. In the operation of a mail-order medical concern a knowledge of medicine is not necessary. A due appreciation of the gullibility of the sick; an absence of moral sense; an utter disregard for truthfulness and common honesty these are the essential requirements to make a commercia success of concerns like the Turnock Medical Company. And the Turnock concern apparently fulfilled these requirements. The personnel - Eugene Katz is said to have been a professional adver¬tisement writer before he went into the fraudulent medical mail-order business. George J. Katz and Sam D. Katz were indicted by a federal grand jury in January, 1914, on the charge of operating a fraudulent mail-order concern under the style of "Dr. G. B. Abbott." The "Sam Katz Oxygen Catarrh Treatment" is another fraud operated from the same address as the Abbott swindle. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/LXII/21/1674-a.pdf Feb 19, 1938 THE PEDODYNE FOOT BUSINESS George J. Katz Avoids the Issuance of a Post Office Fraud Order Nearly a decade ago (Aug. 11, 1928) the Bureau of Investigation of the American Medical Association published in this department of The Journal an article entitled "Pedodyne for Bunions ; The Mail-Order Quackery of the Hypothetical George J. Kay." Nearly nine years later (April 1937) the concern was about to be denied the use of the United States mails but, "with a view of preventing at that time the issuance of a fraud-order" against it, the promoter of the business agreed to discontinue and abandon it. The article published in 1928 brought out that one George J. Katz of Chicago was behind the Pedodyne business. It called attention to the further fact that some years previously a man of the same name was engaged in some other disreputable and indecent medical mail-order quackery and had been indicted by a federal grand jury on the charge of operating a fraudulent mail-order concern. Moreover, the article emphasized that nowhere in the Pedodyne advertising and circular letters did the name of George J. Katz appear but, instead, that the circulars and follow-up material were signed "George J. Kay." The Journal article stated that while the Katz outfit put out a number of products ("Corn Remover," "Chilblain Remedy," "Foot Bath Comfort," "Foot Powders") the "Pedodyne for Bunions" was the preparation that Katz pushed hardest. It was claimed for the bunion "cure" that it would "dissolve" bunions, that it was a "miracle of chemistry" and that it represented "years of study and experimentation"—three definite falsehoods. The A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory was asked to analyze "Pedodyne for Bunions," which it did and reported that the "cure" consisted of three parts: (1) an ointment, (2) a powder and (3) a number of small squares of paper. The chemists reported that the ointment had an animal-fat base in which were incorporated phenol (carbolic acid) and salicylic acid,iodine and small amounts of camphor and menthol. The powder was mainly boric acid, borax and talc with small amounts of alum, zinc oxide and salicylic acid. And this humbug was sold under such claims as : "Pedodyne contains the elements that a sore, swollen bunion-afflicted skin seems to crave. It enables the pores to throw off the pus and other poisonous accumulations." "Pedodyne will positively astonish you, just as it has thousands of other sufferers. It it new. It is different. It is scientific." "Pedodyne is recognized as the most sane and sensible treatment ever devised for bunion-troubles." All these facts were detailed in The Journal Aug. 11, 1928; but Katz continued to do business! Then in March 1937 the Post Office department issued a citation calling on the Pedodyne concern and George J. Katz to show cause why a fraud order should not be issued. But in order to forestall such an order Katz executed an affidavit on April 19, 1937, in which he agreed to discontinue the business. As a result the postmaster at Chicago was directed to return to the senders all mail received at that office addressed to "Pedodyne Company, Inc.," "Pedodyne Company" and "George J. Kay." About the same time (April 24, 1937) the Federal Trade Commission issued a "cease and desist order" in which the Pedodyne Company, Inc., was ordered to cease making certain false claims in its advertising. The commission declared that its investigations showed that Pedodyne "will not banish, cure or heal bunions" and it stated that the respondents in the Pedodyne Company were George J. Katz, Rose M. Katz and "Robert L. Keats," also known as "Robert J. Katz." This fakery was in operation for over thirteen years without any let or hindrance from municipal, state or federal authorities. No doubt Katz feels that the government gave the concern a good run for its money ! ama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/110/8/596-a.pdf