All posts by Clay Jones

Clay Jones, M.D. is a pediatrician and a regular contributor to the Science-Based Medicine blog. He primarily cares for healthy newborns and hospitalized children, and devotes his full time to educating pediatric residents and medical students. Dr. Jones first became aware of and interested in the incursion of pseudoscience into his chosen profession while completing his pediatric residency at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital a decade ago. He has since focused his efforts on teaching the application of critical thinking and scientific skepticism to the practice of pediatric medicine. Dr. Jones has no conflicts of interest to disclose and no ties to the pharmaceutical industry. He can be found on Twitter as @SBMPediatrics and is the co-host of The Prism Podcast with fellow SBM contributor Grant Ritchey. The comments expressed by Dr. Jones are his own and do not represent the views or opinions of Newton-Wellesley Hospital or its administration.

Put it Over There with the Others: More “Promising Preliminary” Evidence for Acupressure

Another day, another legitimate journal publishing a preliminary study practically designed to spit out a positive result. Also, acupuncture robots?

/ August 9, 2019

Think Twice Before Giving Young Children Reflux Medications

A recent study demonstrates an association between reflux medications in infancy and increased risk of fractures in early childhood, yet another reason to be cautious when using pharmaceutical interventions to manage a mostly benign and self-limited condition.

/ July 26, 2019

A Canadian Journalist Calls Out Pediatric Chiropractic Again, and the Canadian Chiropractic Association Responds…Again

The National Post has published another quality article pointing out the absurdity of infant chiropractic care. The Canadian Chiropractic Association's attempt at a rebuttal falls flat.

/ July 12, 2019

No. “Big Data” Does Not Support Chiropractic Care for Infants

A new study claims to have used "big data" to help answer the question of infant chiropractic effectiveness, but it's just another collection of anecdotes that adds nothing to our understanding of infant medicine.

/ June 28, 2019

Belief in Homeopathy Results in the Death of a 7-Year-Old Italian Child

Yet another child has suffered and died because of belief in pseudomedical nonsense, this time when his parents chose homeopathy rather than appropriate medical evaluation.

/ June 14, 2019

U.S. Measles Elimination Status in Jeopardy as the Number of Cases Reach 25 Year High

Thanks in large part to anti-vaccine propaganda and decreasing vaccination rates, 2019 is shaping up to be a bad year when it comes to measles outbreaks, the worst in over 2 decades to be exact. And we are now at risk of losing our hard-fought elimination status.

/ May 31, 2019

New Research Reveals a Startling Increase in Pediatric Foreign-Body Ingestions

New research has revealed a significant increase in pediatric foreign-body ingestions over the past 20 years, including life-threatening batteries and magnets.

/ April 19, 2019

Chiropractic Manipulation Under Anesthesia in Infants with Congenital Torticollis: All Risk and No Benefit

It may sound too unethical to be true, but some chiropractors and their conventional medical conspirators are placing infants under general anesthesia for treatment of congenital muscular torticollis

/ April 5, 2019

Science-Based Satire: American Academy of Pediatrics Releases New Guidelines on Corporal Punishment

In December of last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated their policy statement on effective discipline. Did it include an algorithm to help caregivers safely dose corporal punishment? No, that's actually pretty absurd. Offensive even, if you think about it. Don't though. Look...a squirrel!

/ March 22, 2019

Using Intranasal Breast Milk to Treat Premature Infants with Intraventricular Hemorrhages

A recent study investigated intranasal breast milk as a treatment for brain bleeds in premature infants. It's a neat idea, but I don't find it all that plausible and the study conclusion is overly optimistic.

/ March 8, 2019