April 17th, 2010 by David H. Gorski, M.D., Ph.D. in Announcements, Better Health Network, Health Policy, Medblogger Shout Outs, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
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One advantage of having a blog is that I can sometimes tap into the knowledge of my readers to help me out.
As many readers know, a few of the SBM bloggers (myself included) will be appearing at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS) today (Saturday, April 17). Since the topic of our panel discussion is going to be the infiltration of quackademic medicine into medical academia, I thought that now would be a very good time for me to update my list of medical schools and academic medical centers in the U.S. and Canada that have embraced (or at least decided to tolerate) quackademic medicine in their midst. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
February 2nd, 2010 by BobDoherty in Better Health Network, Health Policy
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Yesterday, I borrowed liberally from Dr. Seuss’ “Oh, the Places You Will Go” to describe the “weirdish, wild space” – The Waiting Place – in which we now find health reform.
This got me thinking about The Waiting Place in a different context: the time it takes to get an appointment with a physician. Anyone one of us who has had to wait weeks, or even months, for an appointment would agree that The Waiting Place is, as Dr. Seuss described it, a “most useless place” to be.
Critics of the pending health reform bills, like Conservatives for Patient Rights argue that they will lead to longer wait times for appointments. Their argument being that “government-run” health care, as exists in Canada or the United Kingdom, has been demonstrated to result in long waits for medical appointments.
I would dispute the premise that the reforms being considered by Congress are akin to the systems in place in Canada or the United Kingdom. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty*
November 30th, 2009 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Quackery Exposed
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Two weeks ago, Canadian Skeptics United published on their Skeptic North site a piece by an Ontario pharmacist criticizing a proposal by the province to grant limited prescribing rights to naturopaths. The essay, which was reprinted in the National Post on Tuesday, outlines the intellectual and practical conundrum presented by allowing those with education that diverges from science-based practices to prescribe drugs.
The naturopath lobby came out in force and was relatively unopposed in the 54 comments that followed, primarily because the NP closes comments 24 hours after online posting. Therefore, those with a more rational and considered viewpoint based in facts were locked out from commenting. This is quite disappointing to me personally and professionally because of the wildly emotional appeals, strawman arguments, and smears and attacks on the author himself without, of course, addressing his well-founded criticism of the prescribing proposal before the provincial government.
At the Skeptic North post, the piece even drew a naturopath who equated the criticism of his/her field with the Nazis and Mussolini. However, you can’t write critiques of these practices without attracting attacks ad hominem, especially Godwin’s Law, that are the resort of those whose arguments are logically flawed. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
October 20th, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, News
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It came in the mail to one of my partner’s patients, a direct mailing (4 pgs, pdf, 1.2M) promising cheap drugs at significant cost savings from Global Pharmacy Canada. A closer look at the flier, however, discloses the drugs are not from Canada, but rather pharmacies somewhere in India.
Call it global direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising. All you have to do is sign a little waiver and send your money: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
September 30th, 2009 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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I heard an interview with T.R.Reid and can’t wait to read his book The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care. He traveled the world and compared how developed countries manage health care. He makes the point that all other developed countries have universal coverage. No-one is left out.
He found four basic systems (some named after their founders):
Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
