August 13th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: ACS CAN, ACS Pulls Campaign Ad, Ad Campaign, Ad Is Pulled, Alzheimer's Test Stories, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Cancer Prevention, CDC, Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, Disease Mongering, Early Detection Tools, Evidence Based Medicine, Fear Mongering, Fundraising Ad, Gary Schwitzer, HealthNewsReview.org, National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, NBCCEDP, Oncology, Preventive Medicine, Preventive Screening, Screening Tests, Vague Medical Ads, Women's Health
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Following Gary Schwitzer’s HealthNewsReview.org August 11th blog post below entitled “American Cancer Society: ‘Only’ A Fundraising Ad, Right?”, the American Cancer Society pulled its “Screening Is Seeing” ad the next day.
See Schwitzer’s follow-up post “Screening Is Seeing” Ad By American Cancer Society-Cancer Action Network (ACS-CAN) Is Pulled” and a related article by Mary Carmichael of Newsweek: “The American Cancer Society’s Misleading New Ads.”
Also see “Common Themes In The Alzheimer’s Test Stories And The Cancer Society Screening Ad” by Schwitzer.
(ORIGINAL POST)
American Cancer Society: “Only” A Fundraising Ad, Right?
A well-intentioned ad campaign run by the American Cancer Society is too vague, and therefore may leave impressions that are imbalanced, incomplete and unsubstantiated — the kind of common tactic seen in many drug company ads. That’s my opinion based on my analysis of the ad and based on my reading of the text.
An American Cancer Society news release states:
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is launching a new print and online advertising campaign in congressional districts across the country this week, urging lawmakers to fully fund a lifesaving cancer prevention, early detection and diagnostic program that is celebrating 20 years of screening low income, uninsured, and medically underserved women for breast and cervical cancer. The ads also send the message that when it comes to increasing your odds of surviving cancer, access to evidence-based early detection tools is critical.
The ads reference the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP), which has a track record of reducing deaths from breast and cervical cancer. The program has provided more than 9 million screening exams to more than 3 million women and diagnosed more than 40,000 cases of breast cancer and more than 2,000 cases of cervical cancer since it launched in 1990. But with limited funding, the program is able to serve fewer than 1 in 5 eligible women.
The accomplishments of the CDC NBCCEDP are noteworthy. So this blog entry is no knock on that program. It’s a criticism of the ad. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
August 12th, 2010 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Cancer Cure, Dangerous Side Effects, Deadly Product, Death, Dietary Supplement, Evidence Based Medicine, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, FTC, Health Canada, Health Fraud, HIV Cure, Industrial Bleach, Miracle Mineral Solution, Miracle Mineral Supplement, MMS, Operation Cure All, Oral Liquid, Science Based Medicine, Serious Harm, U.S. Federal Trade Commission
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On the heels of Scott Gavura’s superb post on dietary supplement regulation in the U.S. and Canada, I bring you one of the most egregious and obscene product cases I have seen in 15 years of teaching on botanical and non-botanical products: Miracle Mineral Solution. Please accept my apologies in advance for not having a scholarly post for you — this is just too unbelievable not to share with science-based medicine readers. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
August 12th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Athlete's Health, Brain Activity Analysis, BrainScope, Concussion Effects, EEG, Electroencephalograph, Football Season, Medical Technology, Neurological Changes, Neurology, Portable Device, Post-Concussion Monitoring, Sideline Decision-Making Aide, Sports Medicine, TBI, Traumatic Brain Injury
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It’s an August tradition: Football training camps open, and we’re treated to warnings about working out in the heat.
In the past few years, however, when it comes to football, there’s been a new emphasis on traumatic brain injury (TBI). This has caught our eyes here at MedGadget.
We’ve covered innovative impact-sensing helmet technology before (as well as smart helmets for temperature monitoring). But for the athlete with a concussion, what happens off the field? Unless a neurologist is involved, it’s up to the players and trainers to follow guidelines or make guesses about when to return to play.
Hopefully that will change, and a device like BrainScope will lead the way. When we first covered BrainScope, they were positioning their new device, based on controversial technology, as a sideline decision-making aide. Now their research seems to be focused on the weeks and months post-concussion. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
August 12th, 2010 by David H. Gorski, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Acupuncture, Center for Integrative Medicine, Clinical Therapeutics, Dr. Brian Berman, Evidence Based Medicine, Homeopathy, Integrated Medicine, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Nature Journal, Naturopathy, NCCAM, NEJM, New England Journal of Medicine, Placebo Medicine, Pseudomedicine, Pseudoscience, Quackademic Medicine, Science Based Medicine
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One of the things that disturbs me the most about where medicine is going is the infiltration of quackery into academic medicine. So prevalent is this unfortunate phenomenon that Doctor RW even coined a truly apt term for it: Quackademic medicine.
In essence, pseudoscientific and even prescientific ideas are rapidly being “integrated” with science-based medicine, or, as I tend to view it, quackery is being “integrated” with scientific medicine, to the gradual erosion of scientific standards in medicine. No quackery is too quacky, it seems. Even homeopathy and naturopathy can seemingly find their way into academic medical centers. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
August 11th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Bridging Care, Dr. Jesse Pines, Dr. Zachary Meisel, Emergency Medicine, Healthcare reform, Hospital Bouncebacks, Hospital Discharge, Hospital Re-Admissions, Improved Followup, Patient Noncompliance, Primary Care, Recently Discharged Hospitalized Patients, Shorter Hospital Stays, Slate, Transition Care Clinics
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In their most recent piece at Slate, emergency physicians Zachary F. Meisel and Jesse M. Pines tackle the issue of bouncebacks — that is, the re-admission of recently-discharged hospitalized patients. They bring up good some good points, and point out that until recently hospitals really didn’t have any incentive to reduce bouncebacks:
…hospitals have never had a compelling reason to try to prevent bouncebacks. Hospitals are typically paid a flat sum for each inpatient stay — shorter stays equal higher profits. When patients bounce back, hospitals can charge the insurance company twice for the same patient with the same problem. Many hospitals also view bouncebacks as out of their control: If a patient boomerangs back because she doesn’t follow doctor’s orders, it’s not the hospital’s fault.
With health reform, however, things are changing. In an effort to reduce bouncebacks, hospitals are paid less for re-admissions, and they must publish their bounceback rates. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
