We need more stories like the one in today’s New York Times that addresses legitimate questions about mammography now being raised in the UK. It started with an article in the BMJ about the inadequacy of British informational brochures on mammography. Then a letter to The Times of London entitled, “Breast cancer screening peril: Negative [...]
Jon Palfreman, who has produced some of the smartest health care and science documentaries anyone has ever produced, rolls out his newest tonight. PBS Frontline. “Sick Around America.” It follows his earlier “Sick Around The World” film. And it will show once again how you can cover vital health policy issues on TV if you [...]
NBC said it “could be the magic bullet for preventing heart disease and strokes.” They threw up a “BREAKING NEWS” banner even though they acknowledged that each of the five pills in the “polypill” has been “around for a long time.” Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy The anchor [...]
A devastating indictment. That’s what Dr. Daniel Carlat – on his blog – called yesterday’s piece in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Drug firms’ cash skews doctor classes: Company-funded UW courses often favor medicine, leave out side effects.” I’m late in weighing in on this, so I’ll just refer you to Carlat’s analysis. But I will [...]
Based on my reading of a New York Times story in my local Star Tribune today, I was ready to blast the Times. I was reading the story out of the American College of Cardiology meeting on the new data suggesting that statins can reduce the risk of venous thromboembolism. By how much can statins [...]
By zero we mean zero stars – our lowest score – on HealthNewsReview.org. The ABC program’s segment last week, “Life Saving Test: How One Minute Can Save Your Life,” received one of our rare ZERO scores. One of our reviewers even ran a stopwatch on the “one minute” test. It took 5 minutes on live [...]
The Argus Leader newspaper of Sioux Falls recently reported that two local hospitals were offering $50 heart screenings to check for excess calcium buildup. Let me count the ways this story was poor journalism: 1. The headline: “Cost of saving a life: $50.” Cost-effectiveness has not been established for this procedure. This is a headline [...]
“Killer Meat” – headlined an LA Times online column. “Want to Live Longer? Cut Back on Red Meat” – pronounced CNN.com. “Daily Red Meat Raises Chances Of Dying Early” warned washingtonpost.com. It all sounds so certain. But this was an observational study – not an experiment. It was based on responses to a questionnaire. Such [...]
Cover story for UMN Alumni Association magazine this month. George Clooney wasn’t available.
The new issue of Nieman Reports includes my article, “Changing the Drumbeat of Typical Health Reporting.”
We look for more critical analysis of FDA expedited approval of a new drug like this.
Five-star story on small study that tries to counter large body of evidence on soy supplements for hot flashes.
Our reviewers, including a leading women’s health clinician-researcher, felt this piece would have been benefited from more data and context.
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