Lola Butcher in Undark Magazine:
Like many surgeons, Marty Makary used to routinely treat appendicitis by removing the patient’s appendix, a procedure performed nearly 300,000 times a year in the U.S. That changed about a decade ago after he read a research study that found antibiotics may be an effective alternative. Despite subsequent research confirming that appendectomies can often be avoided, Makary estimates only about half of surgeons have accepted the idea. “That means whether or not you go under the knife for appendicitis today in America depends on who’s on call when you walk into the emergency department,” he writes in “Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health.”
In detailed behind-the-scenes case studies, Makary, a surgeon and public health researcher at Johns Hopkins University, reveals how and why physicians often salute bad science and baseless opinions at the peril of their patients. Among other things, Makary claims, the medical establishment created the opioid epidemic and the peanut allergy epidemic. Tens of thousands of women have died prematurely because of misinterpreted data about the danger of hormone replacement therapy. The U.S. government banned silicone breast implants for 14 years without evidence they caused harm. Physicians’ overuse of antibiotics is likely causing untold suffering. Doctors still tell overweight people to eat low-fat foods, even though low-fat diets are associated with obesity and diabetes.
More here.
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