Health Savings Accounts and Quackery Revisited
Health savings accounts don't require medical treatments to be safe or effective for consumers. This leads to taxpayer-supported quackery.
The Anti-Vaccine Narrative Just Gets Darker
Anti-vaccine conspiracy theories are dark by their very nature. A recent article shows how dark, cynical, and paranoid they can get.
Update on Testosterone Supplementation
Testosterone supplementation is a legitimate treatment for properly-diagnosed androgen deficiency, but it is being overprescribed by doctors who make exaggerated claims for it. New evidence clarifies its modest benefits and worrisome risks.
“Chemotherapy is for losers”: A tragic tale of cancer, naturopathic quackery, and murder
When a patient and her family trust a naturopath rather than oncologists and oncologic surgeons, the result is often tragic. In this case, Fikreta Ibrisevic trusted naturopath Juan Sanchez Gonzalez instead of real doctors to treat her rhabdomyosarcoma in 2015. The results were as tragic as expected, and she died. What happened next was not expected and amplified the horror of the...
Corrigendum. The week in review for 03/12/2017
Waiting for a vaccine-preventable infection. More lousy acupuncture studies. Medical students interested in homeopathy are not as strong at science. Water wet. TCPM consuming donkeys. What the FDA does, and doesn't do, for now.
Medical Lore in Modern Pediatric Practice
Examples of modern medical lore that are passed down from doctor to doctor are commonplace in pediatric medicine and share similar features with the most egregious examples of medical pseudoscience
Melatonin: What’s on the label isn’t in the bottle
Melatonin is taken by millions each year. But does it work? Is it safe? And can you trust the label?
Why Do Prestigious Hospitals Sell Snake Oil?
It is important for consumers to understand the phenomenon of hospitals, even prestigious hospitals, offering dubious treatments, and how we got here. Don't be fooled by the apparent endorsement of nonsense. It is still nonsense.
Magnets Provide Amusement, But Not Health Benefits
Static magnets have no health benefits, but the advertising can be quite entertaining.
The Texas Medical Board lets Stanislaw Burzynski off lightly: A cautionary tale of the failure of regulating medicine
After three years and countless twists and turns, the final decision by the Texas Medical Board on the sanctions to be imposed on Houston cancer quack Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski were announced on Friday. Sadly, they were not enough. The Burzynski saga should serve as a cautionary tale that the regulation of physicians and medicine is too lax, not too strict.