New name for the old “Gary Schwitzer’s HealthNewsReview blog”
This is the publisher‘s blog (perspective, opinion) – different than the systematic story reviews, in which multiple reviewers use standardized criteria to critique stories.
In a week in which we already wrote about US drug stores giving out free statin drugs, we thought readers might be interested in how a new (new-ish) skin cholesterol test is being marketed, and how some Canadian drug stores are getting in on the act. Someone in Canada sent me the following news release: [...]
Some drug stores in the US are now giving away statin drugs for cholesterol. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on a chain in its area doing so: “Retail grocery store competition is fierce, and Wegmans is trying to get an edge by giving away – yes, free – a generic version of what was the world’s [...]
Jim Thornton’s story is about prostate cancer screening. The six million dollar figure refers to the cost of screening for and treating prostate cancer. Excerpt: “At $1,000 or more per biopsy, the cost to U.S. health care for prostate biopsies alone is estimated to run into the billions each year. Whenever cancer is found, expenses [...]
A paper published in BMJ Open, “Male pattern baldness and its association with coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis,” drew lots of news coverage. When I began to scan some of the news, I scratched my head, pulled out some hair, tousled what was left, and finally decided I had to address some of what I [...]
Pap smears Under the headline, “Doctors Too Pap-Happy,” HealthDay reports: “Most primary care physicians advise women to get “Pap” tests for cervical cancer screening more often than clinical guidelines recommend, new research reveals.” PSA tests Reuters Health explained: “The American College of Physicians (ACP) became the latest group to ask doctors to be clear about [...]
Probably the two most frequent subjects on this blog regarding the proliferation of new medical technologies are proton beam radiation therapy and robotic surgery. Since this blog focuses on media messages about health care interventions, we generally focus on the marketing claims made for these technologies. The latest edition of the journal Current Urology Reports [...]
Julia Belluz writes the Science-ish blog - a joint project of Maclean’s, the Medical Post and the McMaster Health Forum in Toronto. This week she reviewed Gwyneth Paltrow’s new book, “It’s All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great.” Excerpts: “Science-ish was immediately stung by the panorama of pseudoscience premises [...]
Last week we posted Seth Mnookin’s criticism of TIME magazine’s cover story, “How to Cure Cancer.” We didn’t, at first, comment on Paul Raeburn’s analysis on the Knight Science Journalism Tracker, “TIME magazine wins the war on cancer!” But now Raeburn is back with a new angle, writing that “TIME violates industry advertising guidelines in [...]
A Minneapolis-area psychiatrist, Charles Dean, published an opinion piece in the Star Tribune, “Rise in ADHD cases is due to marketing.“ It appeared adjacent to the Strib’s republishing of the NYT op-ed piece, “Diagnosis: Human,” by Ted Gup – that we blogged about yesterday. Dr. Dean writes: “The 53 percent increase in the diagnosis of [...]
An op-ed worth reading in the New York Times – “Diagnosis: Human.” Journalist-author Ted Gup, a fellow of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, tells the tragic story of his son, one of the “11 percent of school-age children (who) now receive a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — some [...]
Better than a competing piece by Reuters but still a little short on some details about this asthma drug study.
An adequate summary of this asthma drug trial’s design doesn’t make up for the overly optimistic tone about the drug’s future. A New York Times story was better.
This story focuses on a family that may have a rare genetic mutation that increases their risk of heart disease. Unfortunately, the “rare” part wasn’t mentioned until 1,600 words into this 2,100 word story.
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