November 23rd, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
Tags: ACP Internist, Advice For Parents, American College Of Physicians, Antibiotics, Children's Health, Epidemiology, Infant Health, Infectious Disease, Inner Ear Infections, JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association, Middle Ear Infection, Otitis Media, Parent Preferences, Pediatrics, Ryan DuBosar
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Kids get inner ear infections and then they get antibiotics, despite a long-standing knowledge that it’s not always best. Any physician knows this, but who hasn’t faced an irate or anxious parent in the exam room insisting on a prescription, whether the evidence warrants it or not?
Reuters reports that the tally for all those antibiotics is $2.8 billion dollars, or $350 per child annually. And there’s only a slight benefit to them.
While hardly comforting to the parents, physicians can add more heft to their argument that antibiotics are only modestly more effective than nothing, and they can avoid the rashes and diarrhea that antibiotics incur. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
November 23rd, 2010 by David H. Gorski, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Video
Tags: CAM, Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, Dr. David Gorski, Dr. Jeff Rediger, Energy Medicine, Evidence-Based Medicine Evaded, Faith Healing, False Hopes, Healing The Sick, James Randi, Joe Nickell, John of God, Lack of Scientific Medical Evidence, Medical Miracles, Medical Quackery, Mind-Body Dualism, Misleading Scientific Conclusions, Monica Pignotti, O Magazine, Oprah Winfrey, Pseudomedicine, Pseudoscience, Science and Skepticism, Science And The Media, Science Based Medicine, Woo
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Several of the bloggers on Science-Based Medicine have been — shall we say? — rather critical of Oprah Winfrey. The reason, of course, is quite obvious. Oprah is so famous that if you mention her first name nearly everyone will know exactly of whom you speak.
For the last quarter century, Oprah’s daytime TV talk show has been a ratings juggernaut, leading to the building of a media behemoth and making her one of the richest and most famous women in the world. Unfortunately, part of Oprah’s equation for success has involved the promotion of quackery and New Age woo, so much so that last year I lamented about the Oprah-fication of medicine, which scored me a writing gig in the Toronto Star.
Whether it be promoting bio-identical hormones, The Secret (complete with a testimonial from someone who used The Secret to persuade herself not to pursue conventional therapy for breast cancer), Suzanne Somers, the highly dubious medicine promoted by Dr. Christiane Northrup, or foisting reiki aficionado Dr. Mehmet Oz or anti-vaccine “mother warrior” Jenny McCarthy onto a breathless public, arguably no one is a more powerful force for the promotion of pseudoscience in America, if not the world.
Truly, the ending of Oprah’s TV show in the spring is a very good thing indeed for science and rationality. Or it would be, were it not for the fact that the reason Oprah is wrapping up her show after a quarter of a century is to start up her own cable channel, so that we can have Oprah-branded and -inspired programming 24/7. The mind boggles.
Still, my dislike for how Oprah promotes New Age mysticism and pseudoscience on a distressingly regular basis aside, I actually did think there were limits to how low she would go. I actually thought there were limits to how egregiously vile a quackery Oprah would endorse. The operative word, of course, is “did,” which now needs to be struck off after last Wednesday, which is when Oprah did an entire show entitled Do You Believe in Miracles? (Guess what answer was implicitly, if not explicitly, endorsed.) Featured prominently in that episode were several segments on the faith healer John of God. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
November 23rd, 2010 by Glenn Laffel, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Alain Finkielkraut, Dr. Glenn Laffel, Fit and Trim, Fitness and Exercise, Fitness As A Lifestyle, Fitness Centers, Fitness Centres, Fitness First, France, Fred Hoffman, French People, International Health Racquet and Sportsclub Association, Italy, Jogging, Michel Parada, MSNBC, Paris, Personal Trainer, Physical Exercise, Pizaazz, President Nicolas Sarkozy, Public Fitness Facilities, Regular Exercise, Spain, Sweaty, UK, Working Out At The Gym, Workout Regimes
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Like their counterparts in other first-world countries, French people know about the health benefits of exercise. And French culture has emphasized, even worshipped, good looks (which these days translates to “fit and trim.”)
So it’s surprising that the French avoid fitness centers as vigorously as factory-produced croissants. But they do.
According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, just 5.4 percent of French people were members of a fitness club in 2008. That’s substantially less than their counterparts in Italy (9.5 percent), the UK (11.9 percent), and Spain (16.6 percent).
“It appears that more people are sitting in cafes smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee than working out … the French don’t see fitness as a lifestyle,” American-born fitness consultant Fred Hoffman told MSNBC. Hoffman has lived in Paris for two decades. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Pizaazz*
November 23rd, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Humor, News, Opinion
Tags: Anti-Circumcision Activist, Baby Boys, Children's Health, CNN, Happy Hospitalist, Infant Genital Mutilation, Islam, Judaism, Lloyd Schofield, Medical Crime, Medical Humor, Newborn Care, Outlawing Circumcision, Parent Preferences, Parenting Behavior, Pediatrics, Religious Tradition
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Have you heard? First San Fransisco bans toys in Happy Meals. Now CNN is reporting there’s a circumcision ban proposed in San Fransisco as well.
To recap: Anti-circumcision activist Lloyd Schofield has drawn up a proposal outlawing all circumcisions, even for religious reasons (circumcision of boys is traditional in Judaism and Islam.) The punishment would be up to a year in jail or up to a $1,000 fine.
Boy, oh boy. What a hot-bed topic circumcision is. Mandating a ban against all circumcisions is like mandating a requirement that all boys be circumcised. Nobody is right. Everyone is an expert. You’re either for it or against it. But making circumcision a crime? I don’t know. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
November 22nd, 2010 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Best Doctors, Employee Health, Employee Protection, Employer Healthcare Contributions, Evan Falchuk, Future of Medical Practice, General Medicine, Health Insurance Companies, Healthcare Incentives, Healthcare Reform Law, New U.S. Healthcare System, See First Blog, The Future of American Healthcare, Workers Compensation System
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There’s a country with an unusual healthcare system. In it, you often spend about as much time with your lawyer as you do your doctor. There are special courts set up to decide what kinds of treatment you are allowed to have. And doctors have to be careful that they don’t say or do the wrong thing, or else they risk being blackballed by insurance companies.
The country: The United States of America.
You may not realize it, but if you hurt your back at work you end up in a different healthcare system than if you hurt your back at home. Sure, you may end up with similar doctors or hospitals, but your experience of healthcare will be completely different. Here’s why.
If you get hurt at work, you’re covered by the “workers compensation” system. That system has its roots over a century ago, when employers didn’t do much to take care of workers. So the system is based on laws that mandate employers to take care of injured workers, often for the rest of their lives. In exchange for this very comprehensive coverage, employers and their insurers get a great deal of control over what care workers get and where they get it.
Does the workers compensation system represent a model of how a future American healthcare system might work? It might. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
