Tag: New York Times
What the New York Times gets wrong about puberty blockers for transgender youth
The New York Times recently published an article expressing grave concern about the use of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria in transgender adolescents. Unfortunately, the reporting ignored evidence and important context to weave a narrative portraying puberty blockers as far more risky than they actually are.
Are placebo effects genetically determined?
We frequently write about placebo effects here at SBM because understanding placebo effects is essential to understanding a lot of clinical trial science and, most relevant to the topics of this blog, how those promoting unscientific medicine misunderstand and misuse placebo effects to promote quackery. Last week, The NYT published an article asking if placebo effects are genetically determined. The evidence supporting...
The New York Times: Promoting False Hope as Journalism
The New York Times sells a narrative of false hope, and fails to engage in even basic journalism to tell a more complete story.
Afterword. Chiropractic and The New York Times. Is the newspaper TRYING to prove Trump right?
The New York Times had to go an publish "For Bad Backs, It May Be Time to Rethink Biases About Chiropractors" right after my Friday extravaganza, "Spinal Manipulation and the JAMA Meta-Analysis: An Analysis of Fuel. Sigh. Doody [sic] Calls.
Is “harnessing the power of placebo” worthwhile to treat anything?
We frequently write about placebo effects here on Science-Based Medicine. The reason is simple. They are an important topic in medicine and, at least as importantly, understanding placebo effects is critical to understanding the exaggerated claims of advocates of “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), now more frequently called “integrative medicine” (i.e., integrating pseudoscience with science). Over the years, I (and, of course,...
Once more into the screening breach: The New York Times did not kill your patient
Dr. George Lombardi thinks that he could have saved a patient from dying of prostate cancer if a prostate specific antigen test had been done. Is he right? Probably not.
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...
The Plant vs Pharmaceutical False Dichotomy
A recent New York Times piece promotes the idea that herbs are safer and more effective than pharmaceuticals. The reality is, both are drugs, with risks and benefits that need to be assessed and considered. Where they differ is in the degree of scrutiny and evidence required - extensive amounts for drugs, almost none for herbs.