August 19th, 2010 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Acupuncture, CAM, Complementary And Alternative Medicine, Conventional Medicine, Evidence Based Medicine, Harriet Hall, Holocaust Denial, Medical Quackery, New England Journal of Medicine, Science Based Medicine, Science Denialists, Selective Science Denialism, Steve Novella, TCM, Traditional Chinese Medicine
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Statement #1:
The holocaust never happened. Hitler loved Jews and respected Jewish culture. The photographic evidence of the camps, including the bodies and atrocities, were all fakes designed by the State of Israel to generate international sympathy.
Statement #2:
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an effective treatment for numerous medical conditions. Acupuncture has been around for centuries and is widely practiced in China and elsewhere. Science has proven its efficacy in controlled experiments.
With any luck, that first statement should generate dozens of hits from watchdog groups berating me for spreading the vile lie of Holocaust denial.
The second statement, or words perilously close to that effect, has appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, a previously-prestigious medical publication now revealed to be no better than the National Enquirer or any other sleazy tabloid, fit only for lining bird cages and wrapping week-old fish. Thanks to this wonderful article by Harriet Hall, it turns out that the first reference to “needling” in Chinese medical literature is from 90 B.C., although it doesn’t refer to acupuncture. It’s talking about lancing abscesses and bloodletting. The technology required to make sufficiently thin needles didn’t even exist until 400 years ago.The Chinese government tried to ban acupuncture several times around the turn of the twentieth century. The actual term “Traditional Chinese Medicine” was coined by Mao Tse Dung in the 1960s! (Go read Hall’s article linked above. It’s awesome.)
So riddle me this, campers: Why (and how) do science denialists get away with these outrageous lies? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
August 19th, 2010 by Harriet Hall, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Aging Men, Anti-Aging Treatment, Cardivascular Health, Celebrity Medical Claims, Diagnostic Accuracy, Dr. Alan Brett, ED, Endocrine Society, Erectile Dysfunction, Impotence, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, JournalWatch, Longevity Clinics, Low Sexual Desire, Low Testosterone Levels, Medical Frauds, Men's Health, NEJM, New England Journal of Medicine, Older Men, Physical Performance, Placebo Effect, Reproductive Health, Science Based Medicine, Sexual Health, Testosterone Replacement Therapy
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On the car radio, I have several times happened upon “infomercial” programs touting the benefits of testosterone replacement therapy for men, broadcast by doctors who specialize in prescribing the drugs. They have lots of wonderful stories about men who feel younger, happier, and more vigorous because of their macho remedies. It’s a tribute to the power of the placebo.
I have been reviewing John Brinkley’s goat gland scam for a presentation on medical frauds. In an era before the isolation of the hormone testosterone, Brinkley transplanted goat testes into human scrotums in an attempt to treat impotence and aging. We are more sophisticated today — but not much. Longevity clinics and individual practitioners are offering testosterone to men as a general pick-me-up and anti-aging treatment. Their practice is not supported by the scientific evidence. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
August 18th, 2010 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Circle of Life Award, Collaboration of Care, Doctor-Patient Communication, Dr. Tammie Quest, Dying Patients, ED, Emergency Department, Emergency Medicine, Emergency Room, ER, Hospice, Palliative Care, Patient-Centered Approach, Skill Sets, Slate
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An alert reader alerted me to this related piece in Slate: “We Can’t Save You: How To Tell Emergency Room Patients That They’re Dying.” An excerpt:
The ER is not an easy place to come to these realizations or assess their consequences. A handful of physicians are trying to change that. Doctors like Tammie Quest, board-certified in both palliative and emergency medicine, hope to bring the deliberative goal-setting, symptom-controlling ethos of palliative care into the adrenaline-charged, “tube ’em and move ’em” ER. Palliative/emergency medicine collaboration remains rare, but it’s growing as both fields seek to create a more “patient-centered” approach to emergency care for the seriously ill or the dying, to improve symptom management, enhance family support, and ensure that the patient understands the likely outcomes once they get on that high-tech conveyor belt of 21st-century emergency medicine.
Emergency medicine and palliative care-certified? That’s an interesting mix. We have a great palliative care service where I work (in fact, it just won the national “Circle of Life” award.) It makes a lot of sense to have a palliative care nurse stationed in (or routinely rounding) the ER, though. I think I’m going to suggest this to our hospice folks.
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
August 18th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: ALS Association, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Brain Trauma, Dr. Steven Atlas, Epidemiology, Gary Schwitzer, Health Journalism, HealthNewsReview.org, Inaccurate Health Reporting, Lou Gehrig's Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital, Neurology, New York Times, Science Journalism
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This was one time when the headline was okay, but the story that followed had our heads spinning. “Study Says Brain Trauma Can Mimic Lou Gehrig’s Disease” is a story that was troubling on a number of fronts. It reported on a study which at the time had not yet been published suggesting that some “athletes and soldiers given a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis…might have been catalyzed by injuries only now becoming understood: concussions and other brain trauma.”
To be clear — and please don’t anyone miss or miscontrue this point — this is an important and fascinating area of research. But the story did not exhibit the best of health/medical/science journalism:
1. It was based on a study of 3 people. (The ALS Association says there are up to 30,000 people in the U.S. living with ALS.)
2. It stated, “Lou Gehrig might not have had Lou Gehrig’s disease.” (No evidence for this was provided. He also may not have been a great left-handed hitter. That may have been an optical illusion.)
3. It said this could “perhaps lead toward new pathways for a cure.” (After a suggestive finding in just three people?)
4. The story later says, “The finding’s relevance to Gehrig is less clear.” (Hedging already after a bold earlier statement in the story.)
5. But just a few paragraphs later, the story says, “The new finding…suggests that Gehrig might not have had (ALS).” (Head spinning yet?) Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
August 18th, 2010 by DrRich in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Action on Smoking and Health, ASH, Cardiac Electrophysiology, Fixing Primary Care, General Medical Practitioner, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, John Banzhaf, Low-Quality Physicians, Obamacare, PCP, Primary Care Crisis, Primary Care Physician, Primary Care Shortage
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DrRich entered medical school 40 years ago with every intention of becoming a general medical practitioner, and indeed he became one. But after only a year in practice as a generalist, he found himself so frustrated with the frivolous limitations and the superfluous obligations that even then were being externally imposed on these supposedly revered professionals, that DrRich altered course and spent several years retraining to become a cardiac electrophysiologist.
(Electrophysiology is a field of endeavor so arcane as to be mystifying even to other cardiologists. DrRich hoped that the officious regulators and stone-witted insurance clerks would be so confused –- and possibly intimidated –- by the mysterious doings of electrophysiologists that they would leave him alone. Happily, this ploy worked for almost 15 years.)
Still, DrRich has always held general practitioners (now called primary care physicians or PCPs) in the highest regard, if for no other reason than these brave souls –- unlike DrRich himself, who cut and ran at his earliest opportunity –- have stuck it out. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Covert Rationing Blog*
