I have often mused about the difference between being right and being influential – especially in light of the relative success of the anti-vaccine movement. Despite the fact that there is no evidence for a link between vaccines and autism, celebrities like Jenny McCarthy have manufactured public mistrust in one of the safest, most cost effective means of combating disease known to humankind.
So if scientists are not persuading the public with appeals to carefully designed trials and factual data, how should they make their point? I’m not sure I have the full answer, but I think I might have struck a nerve with the public lately. I decided to try a novel approach to communicating my concerns about pseudoscience on the Internet – and presented 20 slides at 20 second intervals to a conference of ePatients in Philadelphia. I did it with powerful and humorous images, tied together with a long Limerick. Sound kooky? Maybe so… but it resonated, and was received with cheers and applause. Now that’s how we like science to be recognized!
It’s hard to recreate the experience – with voice, images, and rhyme – on the blog. But please check out the slide deck here, and I’ve reproduced the Limerick in its entirety below. It’s called, “A Tale Of Two ePatients” – and the slides advanced at each “***”. I hope my fellow scientists will join me in continuing to find novel approaches to win hearts and minds. Public health really is at stake.
Megan’s Story
A woman woke up from her sleep
With a pain that felt terribly deep
It didn’t seem right
She worried all night
But resorted to counting her sheep
In the morning she saw a physician
To check on her tummy condition
But alas what he found
By poking around-
A cancer and some malnutrition
***
So she asked what her chances could be
Of finding a way to be free
Of the mutating cells
They should bid their farewells
She hoped to hear something happy
The doctor’s face turned very dour
I’m sorry but I’m almost sure
There isn’t a chance
You’re far too advanced
The prognosis is terribly poor
***
She asked if there might be some way
To research new treatments today
But the doctor moved on
To see patients anon
No time to say more now, ok?
Afraid to ask questions again
She decided to put down her pen
With her anger and hurt
And his choice to be curt
She became an ePatient right then
***
Meg soon found a doctor online
The top of his field – so kind
And his new research
From his USC perch
Showed promise for tumor decline
His knowledge promised to advanced her
For all things he had a good answer
He provided the data
And other schemata
And planned for a cure of her cancer
***
But just to be sure he was right
She checked out the NIH site
And with careful review
She knew what to do
She refused to give up on her fight
The treatment was not very easy
She often felt shaky and queasy
Yet she stayed the course
Pushing through it with force
Walking whether ‘twas sunny or breezy
***
A friend called to check on the rumor
That Meg picked a fight with a tumor
The friend offered advice
About herbals and spice
Which he presented in really good humor
Oh my friend this sounds really appealing
And I know all you want is my healing
But how do you know
To believe in this so
When all you rely on is feeling?
***
Dear Megan, he said with a wave
I know that you’re awfully brave
You don’t have to endure
The toxins I’m sure
These herbals are able to save
Well let’s look at their track record then
If they really do work I’ll give in
So they researched Medline
And Mayo Clinic online
Finding no evidence of a win
***
But there are people who say this will work
Herbs saved these three guys and a clerk
They put their minds to it
Were sure they could do it
And avoided chemo with a smirk
But my friend in this life you must see
We use science to think critically
If there is an effect
We’re sure to detect
A dose-response repeatedly
***
Meg carefully weighed all her choices
Giving weight to the most reasoned voices
She found the best science
And increased self-reliance –
Worth more than a million Rolls Royces
Her first doctor rallied to meet her
Admitting she’d saved her own keister
So she offered a toast
To the folks she loved most
And the victory couldn’t be sweeter
Julie’s Story
A woman had been in the shower
For something quite close to an hour
When she noticed a lump
The tiniest bump
Just below her tattoo of a flower
I guess I must have a bug bite
Though this bump doesn’t fe-el quite right
She wondered aloud
With her head in a cloud
Assuming that it was alright
***
Months later she noticed some pain
On the spot where she had a food stain
So she scratched off the spot
Took her walk to a trot
And proceeded to shut off her brain
Later on she woke up with a start
This lump’s really starting to smart
So she went to the net
Now breaking a sweat
Worried something was wrong with her heart
***
She netsurfed around for some time
Chatting live with the people online
They thought she might like
A short hunger strike
Or to calm down her chest pain with wine
But my skin is getting so red
Am I making this up in my head?
Why not watch for a while
Or jog for a mile
There’s nothing much more to be said
***
Julie liked her new friends on the web
Though with patience beginning to ebb
She asked yet again
To Kim, Kyle and Ken
If they had some ideas instead
An herbalist friend that I know
Diagnoses her friends on the go
Please call her right now
And she’ll show you how
To cure pain with good energy flow
***
So she called the healer in a pinch
And was told it was really a synch
She should lie on the floor
To strengthen her core
And breath without moving an inch
But my skin is beginning to crack
-Well of course it’s because you might lack
Vitamins for your dermis
Put them all in a thermos
Drink ‘em down and put on an ice pack
***
Do you think I should see an MD?
Julie asked of her community
Heck no, don’t go there
You won’t have a prayer
You’ll be poisoned immediately!
Don’t you think that there might be just one
Who could help out my skin rash a ton?
It itches and hurts
I can’t wear my shirts
I can tell you this isn’t much fun
***
Julie left her friends on the computer
To find a physician to suit her
During the exam
The doc shouted “Ma’am!”
I’ll need to call our trouble shooter
The oncologist looked on aghast
At the breast cancer’s fungating mass
Why did you wait?
You’ve sealed your fate
There’s no way to alter the past
***
You can’t fix this tumor for me?
Well now I see very clearly
My friends told me docs
Are as useless as rocks
You don’t do much good, I agree
But miss Julie, you’re breaking my heart
The oncologist, flipping his chart
We do have a cure
You’d have it for sure
If you came in with a lump at the start
***
We can treat you for pain and unease
We’ll give comfort however you please
The lesson of course:
Consider the source
As an ePatient with a disease
Oh doctor, we need to tell others
Not to mix up our health with our druthers
May my death find some meaning
My soul intervening
For breast cancer in daughters and mothers