Posted by Gary Schwitzer in Evidence-based medicine, Health care journalism, Medical devices
Earlier this week, the NBC Today show brought viewers news of robotic heart surgery – from Australia! Our observations:
• The story went out of its way to name the company making the robotic system – making it feel awfully ad-like. Maybe from a video news release?
• The story said this was “one of only two being used in Australia” but nothing about any US experience. Are viewers in Adelaide, Australia now part of the Today Show’s key demo?
• Nothing on cost or evidence.
• Nothing with any context – just more gee-whiz, high-tech drooling – especially because it had ROBOT in the title. Way cool.
• It was 50 seconds of “must miss TV” but we bring it to you anyway.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
This NBC stuff is NOT journalism. It is sensationalistic reporting, obviously written by someone without a medical background. Just more media hype and surface glitz. Thank you for maintaining a level of professionalism, which the TODAY Show kind of reporting certainly lacks.
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.
We will not display your name or e-mail address on the site, nor will we share youre-mail address with any third parties.
For site updates and news from Gary, find us on Twitter:
HealthNewsReview: @HealthNewsRevu
Gary Schwitzer: @garyschwitzer
Copyright © 2012 Health News Review
PalMD posted on August 13, 2010 at 3:22 pm
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords. But I want evidence first.