Results for: right to try
Acupuncture – Disconnected from Reality
The primary goal of science-based medicine (SBM) is to connect the practice of medicine to the best currently available science. This is similar to evidence-based medicine (EBM), although we quibble about the relative roles of evidence vs prior plausibility. In a recent survey 86% of Americans said they thought that science education was “absolutely essential” or “very important” to the healthcare system....
When fraud undermines science-based medicine
The overriding them, the raison d’être if you will, of this blog is science-based medicine. However, it goes beyond that in that we here at SBM believe that science- and evidence-based medicine is the best medicine. It’s more than the best medicine, though; it’s the best strategy for medicine to improve therapy for our patients. We frequently contrast science-based medicine with various...
Evidence-Based Legislation? Lessons From Abroad
President Obama appears to be refreshingly pro-science in his outlook, publicly lauding objectivity and careful analysis. He has even been credited with saying that “we need evidence-based legislation” in regards to public policy. The New York Times reports: Agencies will be expected to pick science advisers based on expertise, not political ideology, the memorandum said, and will offer whistle-blower protections to employees...
The GAO Report on Supplement Regulation
We advocate for Science-Based Medicine partly because science incorporates various generic intellectual virtues to which everyone should aspire. These include logical and clear thinking, unambiguous definitions, and internal consistency. In fact it is demonstrably true that opposing science often equates to promoting muddied and sloppy thinking, ambiguous language, and self-contradiction. Last week I wrote about that latter virtue – consistency – and...
An all-too-common breast cancer testimonial for “alternative medicine”
One of the consistent themes of SBM since its very inception has been that, when it comes to determining the efficacy (or lack thereof) of any particular medicince, therapy, or interventions, anecdotes are inherently unreliable. Steve Novella explained why quite well early in the history of this blog, and I myself described why otherwise intelligent people can be so prone to being...
Wyeth Vs. Levine: Joe Six Pack Trumps The FDA
The New York Times has called today’s US Supreme Court ruling in the Wyeth vs. Levine suit the “most important business case in years.” I have been following this case for many months, astonished that a medical malpractice suit had gotten all the way to the Supreme Court. But even more shocking is the fact that the court actually ruled that lay...
Double Standards – Newsweek and Tom Harkin
There has been a flurry of news relevant to science-based medicine in the last week – more than enough to keep a bevy of bloggers busy. More important than the individual news items themselves is the striking pattern they bring into focus when viewed together – the growing and pernicious double-standard between mainstream medicine and so-called CAM. Begley vs Doctors Science editor...
Tom Harkin’s War on Science (or, “meet the new boss…”)
This was cross-posted at White Coat Underground, despite the topic having been covered by Dr. Gorski yesterday. The topic is important enough that many of us in the medical blogosphere are going to be talking about this. Remember when President Obama said something about returning science to it’s rightful place? Well, our new president has a real tough climb ahead of him....
The incredible shrinking vaccine-autism hypothesis shrinks some more
Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in. Michael Corleone in The Godfather, Part 3 I hadn’t planned on doing two vaccine posts with such a short interval between them, but all too often, as the they say in the weakest of the Godfather movies, I get pulled back in again. So, after noting last week that 2009...
Timothy Kreider
Timothy Kreider, MD, PhD began his residency training in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania in June 2011, after graduating from New Jersey Medical School. His interests include child psychiatry, placebo effects, somatization, and neuroethics. Tim was introduced to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) at campus events sponsored by the student interest group for CAM at his medical school. Guest lecturers promoted...