MedBeds: the trendy ‘medicinal bed’ treatment that promises a miracle cure that doesn’t exist

Weird places on the internet are filled with talk of miracle devices that can cure almost any disease imaginable using the power of mystical energy. There are companies that charge thousands of dollars for these “MedBeds”, but their effectiveness is far from proven.

A converted hotel in a small town on the Mississippi River in the United States seems an unlikely place to house a revolutionary technology, which a brochure in the almost deserted lobby calls the “new wave of scientific healing”.

But since mid-2022, this building in East Dubuque, Illinois (three hours west of Chicago) has housed medical devices that supposedly provide “life force energy” to its patients. It’s one of several locations operated by Tesla BioHealing across the United States (the company is unrelated to the famous car manufacturer).

I recently tried out a MedBed on a gray weekday afternoon. After being met at the front desk, a doctor checked my energy levels, asking me to place my fingers inside a metal box.

I was then led to one of the rooms, almost the same as when the building was a hotel, and waited for the “life force energy in the form of pure biophotons” to flow into my body.

conspiracy theories

The idea of ​​MedBeds is increasingly popular on alternative medical channels, major social networks and chat apps. But people have very different ideas about what they really are.

Some embark on conspiracy theories saying that the technology is secret and unlikely to be found by mere mortals, in addition to having been hidden from the public by billionaires and the “parallel state” (deep state).

Even more outrageous speculation includes details including “alien technology” and the idea that former US President John F. Kennedy is still alive strapped to a MedBed.

Another line of thought, with its feet more centered in reality, argues that MedBeds are real and available to the public, but they just aren’t part of the common medical apparatus. Which does not mean that they are validated by science.

But this is the line that Tesla BioHealing and several other companies are betting on, with their high-cost products. Tesla BioHealing offers home generators for prices as low as $19,999, though an hour in one of its hotel rooms with MedBeds costs $160.

Even in the world of consumer MedBeds, where there’s no talk of aliens or JFK, there’s no consensus on what a MedBed actually is.

There’s a good reason for that, according to Sara Aniano, a disinformation analyst at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

“It’s very difficult to define something that doesn’t exist,” she says.

Small print on notices

Aniano has been researching the rise of conversations about MedBeds online and, as part of his research, signed up for an exam with another MedBed company, 90.10.

“The exam is nothing”, says the analyst. “He tells you to lie in your bed and think really hard about the MedBed.”

“In their defense, they state, in very small print at the bottom of their website, that the MedBed is not intended to treat or diagnose disease,” according to Aniano.

It’s a common statement used in some form by almost every company offering MedBed-related products.

They list long lists of health conditions their technology is supposed to help treat and provide testimonials from satisfied customers, but they say their products are not intended to replace treatments prescribed by qualified physicians.

Tesla BioHealing is no exception. The company clearly states at the top of its website: “We cannot diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition.”

Still, its promotional material states, “Many people see improvements in their well-being even after resting for an hour in a Tesla MedBed.” They also present a number of concrete and unconfirmed arguments about specific diseases.

What is it and what are the effects?

Employees at the Tesla BioHealing hotel in East Dubuque told of countless customers with all sorts of ailments, all helped by the MedBeds, they say.

But in my room, I felt nothing but curiosity and mild discomfort as I looked out the window at an almost empty parking lot.

I didn’t get to complete my hour and went to the doctor’s office, where she repeated the test with my fingers on the metal box. And, of course, my energy, as measured by the doctor’s laptop, was already rising.

In my room, metal Tesla MedBed containers were sealed in wooden crates and on a nightstand. But neither the doctor nor anyone else at Tesla BioHealing could tell me what was inside the MedBed canisters.

Some die-hard customers have tried to figure it out for themselves. We found a video on TikTok of a concerned consumer who apparently opened one of the cans and found only a substance that looked like concrete.

“If you’re thinking about buying one of these Tesla biohealers, don’t waste your money,” she says.

The company does not inform what are the possible active ingredients included inside the cans. But they said via email: “There’s more going on with our technology than meets the eye.”

And while they asserted that Tesla generators are not intended to replace medical care, they also made new arguments about cures and asserted, “The health benefits are priceless.”

Tesla BioHealing and 90.10 have provided us with thousands of positive customer testimonials. And despite the claim prominently on the company’s website that 90.10 offers “science-backed quantum frequency medicine”, 90.10 chief executive Oliver Schalke has stated that it is “not a medical product and never intended to be”. .

How, then, are MedBed companies allowed to offer their products, which claim miraculous effects, evading all regulatory oversight?

Retired psychiatrist Steven Barrett has been investigating questionable arguments in the healthcare industry for decades. According to him, part of the blame lies with the regulatory body for medical products in the United States, the FDA, equivalent to Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) in Brazil.

“FDA registration is required by any manufacturer that wants to sell products, but it just means you’ve notified the FDA that you exist,” he says.

Tesla BioHealing and other companies advertise that they are FDA registered, but that’s saying very little.

“FDA registration says nothing about whether or not a device is useful,” says Barrett.

When it comes to vague claims about general well-being or unsubstantiated indications of increased energy, authorities “do next to nothing about it,” he says.

Barrett speaks with a despondent tone, perhaps due to the lack of the MedBeds’ “biophotons”. But more likely it’s the result of spending decades following dubious claims about health treatments.

“Do I think exposure to whatever they’re giving you in bed is making you have more energy? I have serious doubts about that,” he says.

In fact, when I started driving home through the long night from East Dubuque under an overcast sky, I clearly noticed a reduction in my life force energy.

*With reporting by Elizabeth Hotson and Shayan Sardarizadeh.