February 5th, 2010 by Dr. Val Jones in Humor, Medblogger Shout Outs
Tags: Blog, Blogging, Chris Clarke, Coyote Crossing, Formula, Incendiary Blog Post, Social Media
2 Comments »
Blog connoisseurs know that certain authors have an almost formulaic approach to provocation. In this hilarious description of a “typical incendiary blog post” (thank you, Chris Clarke) readers will learn just how predictable some blogs (and their comment sections) really are. For the record, we don’t publish such posts at Better Health… just ones that make fun of them.
***
This sentence contains a provocative statement that attracts the readers’ attention, but really only has very little to do with the topic of the blog post. This sentence claims to follow logically from the first sentence, though the connection is actually rather tenuous. This sentence claims that very few people are willing to admit the obvious inference of the last two sentences, with an implication that the reader is not one of those very few people. This sentence expresses the unwillingness of the writer to be silenced despite going against the popular wisdom. This sentence is a sort of drum roll, preparing the reader for the shocking truth to be contained in the next sentence.
Read the rest of this post at Coyote Crossing
here.
January 12th, 2010 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, Medblogger Shout Outs, Opinion, Patient Interviews
Tags: Bloggers, Blogging, Diabetes, ePatients, Exploitation, FTC, Harrassment, Industry, Influence, Patient Bloggers, PR, PR Professionals, Press Releases, Social Media
No Comments »
Quick post to the PR professionals in the healthcare sphere:
When someone dies, it is terrible tragedy. That person leaves behind a family, loved ones, and – especially when they die young – their future. If someone dies as a result of diabetes, or due to complications from diabetes, or from something else entirely but they happened to have diabetes, and you decide to exploit their death to gain pageviews for your website? (See also: Brittany Murphy, Casey Johnson)
Come on.
There’s a difference between passing on information that could help people improve their lives, and then there’s pure, TMZ-style exploitation. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
October 20th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Medblogger Shout Outs, Video
Tags: #bwe09, ABC News, Accurate Health Information, Blog World Expo, Channel 8, Colon Cleansing, Colonics, Dave Lucas, DC, False Information, Garlic, Health Blogger Code Of Ethics, Medblogger, Medblogger Track, MedPage Today, Pseudoscience, Vaccines
2 Comments »
My friend and morning ABC anchor, Dave Lucas, is tired of all the false health information that fills his email inbox each day. He’s very relieved that there are physicians, nurses, and patient advocates “swimming against the tide” of pseudoscience and misleading health information online. Today Dave and I discussed how people can find accurate and potentially life-saving health information through peer-reviewed medical blogs, thanks to the health blogger code of ethics (administered by MedPage Today).
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JARcgVxNkYU
August 3rd, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements, Medblogger Shout Outs
Tags: 4, Birthday, Blogiversary, Emergiblog, Kim McAllister
2 Comments »
Today marks the fourth year anniversary of Emergiblog, a delightful collection of Emergency Medicine musings by nurse Kim McAllister.
Kim doesn’t know this, but I use excerpts from Emergiblog when I teach blogging courses to healthcare execs. Her writing is a favorite with them – and when I ask what kind of person they think she might be (judging from her blog) they say things like:
“An experienced nurse with a heart of gold.”
“Someone who’s seen it all and still kept her marbles.”
“I want her to be my nurse when I show up in the ER.”
I agree with all those sentiments… and I wish you a very happy blogiversary, Kim! I’ll see you in Las Vegas*
*Attention – anyone who reads/writes blogs should join us at Blog World Expo, October 15-17. This is our very first year for a special medblogger track. All are welcome!
Speakers include:
Kevin Pho – KevinMD
Dr. Rob – Musings Of A Distractible Mind
Kim McAllister – Emergiblog
Dr. Val – Better Health
Dr. Mike Sevilla – Doctor Anonymous
Paul Levy – Running A Hospital
Kerri Morrone Sparling – Six Until Me
Gene Ostrovsky – Medgadget
Terri Polick – Nurse Ratched’s Place
Nick Genes – Blogborygmi
Marc Monseau – JNJBTW
July 9th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Book Reviews, Medblogger Shout Outs, Opinion
Tags: Christianity, Creationism, Director, Faith, Francis Collins, Intelligent Design, NIH, Science Based Medicine
2 Comments »
Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is probably best known for his leadership of the Human Genome Project, though his discoveries of the Cystic Fibrosis, Huntington’s, and Neurofibromatosis genes are also extraordinary accomplishments. Dr. Collins is a world-renowned scientist and geneticist, and also a committed Christian. In his recent best-selling book, The Language Of God, Dr. Collins attempts to harmonize his commitment to both science and religion.
Some critics (such as Richard Dawkins) have expressed reservations about Dr. Collins’ faith, wondering if it might cloud his scientific judgment. Since Collins was rumored to be the most likely candidate for directorship of the NIH (and he was nominated for the position yesterday, but must be confirmed), and because I wanted to know if Dawkins et al. had any reason for concern, I decided to read The Language Of God.
First of all, Christians are a rather heterogeneous group – with a range of viewpoints on evolution, science, and the interpretation of Biblical texts. On one extreme there are Christians (often referred to as “young earth creationists” or simply “creationists”) who believe in an absolutely literal interpretation of the Genesis story, and see evolution as antithetical to true faith. Dr. Collins suggests that as many as 45% of Christians may actually be in this camp.
On the other end of the spectrum are Christians who embrace evolution, accept and promote scientific thinking, and understand the Bible to be a blend of poetry, allegory, and historical literature. While they see the Genesis account of creation as poetic, the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and teachings are considered to be more literal.
Collins’ views are very representative of the scientific end of the Christian spectrum. In fact, he spends several chapters attempting to help creationists embrace evolution. He takes great pains to explain how irrational it is to deny the evidence we have (both from a genetic, and an archeological/basic science perspective) for evolution. He argues that evolution is not an enemy of faith, but rather an enlightening look at how God’s creative process works.
Collins also takes on “Intelligent Design (ID),” exposing it as a PR play, not a true scientific theory. He suggests that ID is an “argument from personal incredulity” expressed in the language of mathematics, biochemistry, and genetics. Furthermore, Collins explains that ID proponents have confused the unknown with the unknowable – there is no current “irreducible complexity” that cannot be explained by evolutionary theory. We don’t need a “God of the gaps” to explain what we’ve yet to learn.
One of the more interesting parts of the book is Dr. Collins’ mathematical review of the incredibly low odds of the right blend of atoms/elements and the correct rate of expansion of the universe to occur by chance. He argues that certain atomic particles needed to be present in unequal and varying amounts at the earliest moment of the Big Bang to produce – eventually – the right conditions for life as we know it. He uses this analogy: it’s possible that a poker player could randomly obtain a straight flush in 50 consecutive hands. However, a more plausible explanation is that he’s cheating. In the same way, the universe could have come into being by coincidence, but it’s more likely that it was a coordinated event.
Collins’ argument for the existence of God is compelling to me. His explanation of why he chose to become a Christian is a little less so. Collins often resorts to lengthy quotes of C.S. Lewis in lieu of his own theological rationale – but I suppose we can forgive him for this. He is first and foremost a scientist, not a theologian, and his book simply reflects that fact. [Those interested in a more compelling theological rationale for Christianity might try Timothy Keller’s, The Reason For God: Belief In An Age Of Skepticism.]
In summary, Collins claims to believe in “theistic evolution.” He says that few people have heard of it because it harmonizes science and religion – and “harmony is boring” and doesn’t have a PR agenda. Nonetheless, he finds it internally consistent and intellectually satisfying. The material world is best understood through scientific inquiry, the spiritual world cannot be tested or understood by science. Matters of conscience, morality, and a yearning for answers to questions that may not be resolved empirically (What happens to us after death? What existed before the Big Bang? Is there a soul?) are matters best left for religion.
After reading The Language Of God, I feel confident that Collins is a reasonable person. He embraces science more successfully than many people of faith, and I didn’t notice anything about his beliefs that would make me question his ability to lead the NIH in true, scientific inquiry. In fact, The Language Of God may embolden other Christians to join the Science-Based Medicine movement by offering them a rational way to allow faith and science to co-exist. I hope that scientists who hold atheist or agnostic religious views will embrace this small group of evolutionary theists as religious moderates who fully support scientific orthodoxy.
