Lewis A. Grossman, "Choose Your Medicine: Freedom of Therapeutic Choice in America" (Oxford UP, 2021)

The podcast explores the history and evolution of freedom of therapeutic choice in America, focusing on medical licensing, alternative medicine, and patient autonomy. Lewis A. Grossman, author of "Choose Your Medicine," discusses the first broad medical freedom movement, the Thompsonians, who fought against medical licensing in the early 19th century. The conversation covers the mid-20th century's "golden age of medicine" and the subsequent decline in trust in medical establishments, leading to new forms of activism. Grossman contrasts AIDS activism, which sought faster access to mainstream pharmaceuticals, with COVID-era activism, which often resists vaccines and promotes unproven treatments. The discussion also touches on the role of patient advocacy and the changing political dynamics of medical freedom movements.