Posted by Gary Schwitzer in Drug industry, Health care journalism
Very important and very well done story by Richard Knox of NPR. It’s enterprise reporting – not something he did in response to a news release coming across his desk. He evaluated evidence. He found troubling patient stories in young women – not the glowing, happy faces and balloons the drugmaker provides in ads and testimonials. He interviewed several expert sources.
This is a must read – you can read the text online.
Or a must-listen, which you can do here:
I have heard so much bad stuff about Yaz, I remember when it first came out and I also specifically asked my Doctor about Yaz and thankfully he decided that he would rather not change my pill.
Disclaimer: I welcome comments but will delete those with any kind of product pitch, profanity, personal attacks or those from anyone who doesn’t list what appears to be an actual e-mail address. I will also end any thread of comments that are repetitive. Because I moderate comments, I can’t keep reacting to repeatedly inaccurate or unsubstantiated claims. We don't give medical advice so we won't respond to questions asking for it.
Treatment for advanced ovarian tumors may lengthen survival, but questions still remain, despite the story’s emphasis on “promising” and “new hope.”
As with the HealthDay story on this research that we reviewed, readers of this story get a good dose of caveats and cautions along with the suggestions that electrical brain stimulation might someday “have implications” for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
The readers of this story and the other one we reviewed by Reuters are likely to understand that electrical brain stimulation could have some memory effects, but it’s a long way from becoming a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
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eg42 posted on August 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
If reporters continue producing such objective stories, followed by the health care industry changing accordingly, there is hope for the US healthcare industry. Thank you for alerting readers to this.