Bizarre Medical Treatments: 17 'Remedies' That Didn't Turn Out So Well (PHOTOS)

PHOTOS: 17 Most Bizarre Medical Treatments

Primum non nocere. That Latin phrase, meaning "first, do no harm," has been part of medical training since ancient times.

But in the not-too-distant past, doctors and other practitioners administered some pretty iffy treatments, including those that we now know to be ineffective, if not downright dangerous.

Take radium. The dangerously radioactive element was once promoted as a treatment for arthritis and diabetes. Heroin was once used to treat the common cold.

And those are just a couple of many such remedies that, in hindsight, seem absolutely absurd. Click here to see our list of more amazingly bad remedies--and if we've left anything out, please add to the list in the comments.

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17 Crazy Medical Treatments In History

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