For over a quarter
century, fighting for his beliefs has been a way of life for James P. Hilton.
---------------------------------------
"It all started in the 1970’s when I was growing up the hard
way on the streets of Jersey City. The first time I got mugged I was nine. One kid held my arms behind my back while another
emptied my pockets of my lunch money. I also got bullied a lot. In fact on any given day so many different guys were out to
beat me up that I had to walk (and sometimes run) a different route to school daily. So I started working out hard and got myself
strong. I took up karate. Later came judo. I'm now pushing 50 and I can pump out more push-ups than
when I was 18."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It wasn't long before Hilton's street fighting skills quickly
morphed into fighting "the system" and saw the young idealistic paramedic clashing, often spectacularly,
with profit driven medicine. In April 1984 while employed as the full time education director for 55 emergency
medical technicians and paramedics his employers demanded he sign off medics who couldn't pass national certification
exams. He responded by walking straight into the offices of The Miami Herald. For his reward his bosses who
descrbed him to reporters as, "a brilliant young man," promptly fired him. Although he did spark an official
inquiry, it turned into a white wash. Branded a "disgruntled" troublemaker he was boxed out of work and
down on his luck.
----------------------------------------
Understandably disillusioned with orthodox medicine he turned to alternative medicine, a subject
in which he had already shown a keen interest. Part of his formal medical education was taken
in "Amish Country" (Lancaster County, Pennsylvania) an area famed to this day for locals
who shun excessive reliance on technology. Later he became the first fully qualified paramedic to work in Gallup, New
Mexico, a place known as the "indian capitol of the world." While there, he responded to medical calls
on the reservation and learned about the secretive "medicne men."
-----------------------------------------
While clocking up even more experience as an emergency medical specialist
for busy Broward County, Florida he started polishing his skills as an expert lecturer at area hospitals and medical schools
including the University of Miami School of Medicine.
------------------------------------------
After visiting
his wife's native New Zealand he authored a book laying bare the corruption he experienced in the medical business. He
landed a two hour stint on New Zealand's top rated radio talk show and the book became something of a folk
sensation. Sales soon took off and calls started flooding in from neighboring Australia.
-----------------------------------------
Shortly
after arriving in Sydney a full time publicist was needed to keep up with interest and by 1999 he was keynote speaker
at The Natural Health Society of Australia's annual conference. That same year he was also invited back to New
Zealand by tribal elders to speak at a Maori Marae in Rotorua (a very rare invitation for a non-Maori).
----------------------------------------
While orders for the book were steadily picking
up speed across Australia, the AMA in three states fanned the flames by calling for the book to be banned. Climactically,
after debating Sydney's leading cancer specialist live on national television, sales in Australia also skyrocketed and the
book went on to be reprinted three times. Public demand saw him crisscross both Australia and New Zealand on a lecture
tour covering every major city and many small towns in both countries twice over.
----------------------------------------
He has authored ten books and numerous widely circulated essays sharply critical
of the medical and political establishment. His words have been published by USA Today, The Miami Herald, The Associated Press, The Washington
Times, The Australian, and The Sydney Morning Herald.
He has received certificates from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Integrative and Mind-Body medicine,
is a certified hypnotist, has earned two black belts in karate, is an Eagle Scout, was awarded honorary membership in
the Natural Health Society of Australia and is a past member of the National Association of EMS Educators.
------------------------------------------
His most recent book is: The People's Medicine: How To Be Your Own Doctor. He is also founder of Hilton Books
and Cookies For A Cause.
