Denialism

Author: MarkH

  • Virginia Ultrasound Bill Back from Dead

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    MarkH
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    Turns out I gave Virginia governor McDonnell too much credit after he rejected the VA ultrasound bill on the grounds the state should insert itself into medical decisions. He’s gone and flip-flopped as a slightly revised version of the bill passes through the VA Senate: The 21 to 19 vote, mostly along party lines, came…

  • Pennsylvania next in line to require transvaginal U/S prior to abortion

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    MarkH
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    Pennsylvania is poised to enact a ultrasound bill even more stringent than Virginia’s failed bill. Even as the transvaginal ultrasound bill in Virginia was causing national outrage, Pennsylvania conservatives were quietly pushing a even more restrictive abortion bill. The legislation is designed with so many difficult and differing restrictions that long-time abortion policy analyst Elizabeth…

  • Rick Santorum: usually wrong, never in doubt

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    MarkH
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    There is a joke expression about surgeons, “sometimes wrong, never in doubt.” Depending on how you feel about surgeons I’ve heard it begin “sometimes right” and “even when wrong.” Applied to Rick Santorum, I think it has to be “usually wrong” if not “always wrong” given the serious of ridiculous distortions, lies, and made up…

  • Elsevier Blinks, Will No Longer Support Research Works Act

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    MarkH
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    In a victory for science, and those who favor open access for the easy dissemination of scientific results to the public and scientists around the world, Elsevier has withdrawn support for the Research Works Act. I think credit has to go to Tim Gowers calling for and Michael Eisen spreading the word on the boycott…

  • VA Ultrasound Bill looks Dead

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    MarkH
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    And good riddance. It sounds like the Governor saw this bill would be more trouble than it’s worth. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) revoked his support for the original bill just minutes before the House began debate on it, saying that the government did not have the power to require the transvaginal procedure. “Mandating an…

  • Conservatives crow over push for privatization in British NHS, compare apples to oranges

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    MarkH
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    Hot Air and the daily caller are excited to pronounce socialized medicine dead as the British NHS plans to contract with private hospitals and providers on top of socialized care. From The Caller: Joseph A. Morris, a former Reagan White House lawyer who now serves on the board of the American Conservative Union, told TheDC…

  • Forcing Doctors to Perform Unnecessary Medical Procedures is Unethical and Unlawful

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    MarkH
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    Many bloggers and commentators have expressed outrage over the decision by Virginia to require ultrasound examination, possibly transvaginal ultrasound, prior to women obtaining an abortion. From Bill Maher to Dahlia Lithwick people are outraged and have even suggested that it should be considered rape to force women to undergo vaginal examination by ultrasound prior to…

  • Drug Shortages Reveal the Free Market is Failing Our Sickest Patients

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    MarkH
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    **Update, the NYT has an editorial in their Sunday edition recommending the passage of two bills in congress requiring advanced notice from drug manufacturers in event of likely shortage. Health affairs discusses the increasingly frequent shortages of critical, life-saving, generic drugs. This is a serious problem that seems mostly limited to the U.S. healthcare system,…

  • The Heartland Documents, Doubt is their Product

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    MarkH
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    Everyone is writing about desmogblog’s leak of internal documents from the Heartland Institute. But to me I think leaked documents are nothing compared to their fully public, out-in-the-open history of being openly contemptuous of science, funding cranks with advanced degrees (though not in climate) to disparage the field, and their hosting of denialpalooza. James rightly…

  • Should doctors fire patients who won't vaccinate?

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    MarkH
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    WSJ has an article about the increasing number of pediatricians who fire their patients who refuse to vaccinate: Pediatricians fed up with parents who refuse to vaccinate their children out of concern it can cause autism or other problems increasingly are “firing” such families from their practices, raising questions about a doctor’s responsibility to these…