The Rise and Fall of Energy-Based Healing

In the early 20th century, the American medical landscape was radically diverse. Alongside conventional doctors, thousands of licensed practitioners were using electrical devices, light therapy, and herbal remedies with reported success. But this rich diversity was swiftly dismantled by a coordinated restructuring of the U.S. medical system—largely funded and shaped by oil magnate John D. Rockefeller and steel baron Andrew Carnegie.

Rockefeller’s Oil Empire and the Birth of Modern Pharma

John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil, had a keen business sense—not just in petroleum, but in its chemical derivatives. At the time, it became increasingly apparent that petroleum could be used to synthesize chemicals, including pharmaceutical drugs. Rockefeller, already enormously wealthy from oil, saw an opportunity to monopolize another lucrative industry: medicine.

With the backing of his philanthropic foundation, Rockefeller began funding medical schools, but with strings attached: the curriculum had to center around allopathic medicine—drugs and surgery—while excluding modalities like herbalism, homeopathy, and electrotherapy. By promoting a “science-based” model, he subtly imposed a drug-centric philosophy that benefited his chemical interests.

The Flexner Report: A Strategic Strike on Alternative Therapies

In 1910, the Flexner Report—commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation—was released. This sweeping review of American medical schools had one core goal: to standardize medical education based on “modern scientific principles.” But the outcome was a purge.

Any institution that taught non-pharmaceutical approaches—including electrotherapy—was labeled unscientific and denied funding, legitimacy, and eventually licensing. Universities and hospitals that didn’t conform to the new pharmaceutical model were shut down. The result was a medical monoculture heavily skewed toward drug interventions.

The Suppression of Electrotherapy

Electrical medicine, which had shown promise in treating various ailments from nervous disorders to chronic pain, was one of the casualties of this restructuring. Though once widely practiced, its teaching was removed from curricula, its devices banned from mainstream hospitals, and its practitioners marginalized.

Many early electrotherapists were also experimenting with light, sound, and magnetism as healing tools—modalities that today are seeing a resurgence in wellness and functional medicine. But at the time, they were branded as quackery.

A Legacy That Still Echoes Today

The ripple effects of Rockefeller and Carnegie’s influence still shape healthcare today. While pharmaceuticals have certainly played a critical role in medicine, the systemic exclusion of energy-based modalities for over a century has left patients with fewer tools for chronic and functional conditions.

Ironically, recent decades have seen a renewed interest in bioelectronic medicine, PEMF therapy, and light-based healing—validating many principles that were once cast aside.

In Summary: Rockefeller’s strategic investment in pharmaceutical education, coupled with the Carnegie-funded Flexner Report, created a medical monopoly that suppressed alternative therapies, particularly electrotherapy. This shift ensured massive profits for the petrochemical industry and solidified drugs and surgery as the only acceptable treatments in mainstream medicine—a reality that is only now being seriously challenged.