Denialism

Author: MarkH

  • Mike Leavitt to patients: “F*** you”

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    MarkH
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    A number of us in the blogosphere have been outraged by Bush’s Department of Health and Human Services’ desire to put the arbitrary wants of doctors before the needs of patients. At first it was just a draft proposal, but now Mike Leavitt is pushing to implement the changes. Soon, it may be legally acceptable…

  • Some days it’s harder

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    MarkH
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    I’m a little down today. I’ve told you before that I take care of my own patients in hospice. I’ve also told you about watching patients and friends lose their battles with disease. This week I had serious talks with several people about end-of-life issues (the details of which I can’t really share at the…

  • Anti-vaccination—old religion writ new

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    MarkH
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    I’m rather angry. Strike that. I’m furious. Indescribably outraged. Disgusted. The rise of the antivaccination cults is finally affecting public health. If you want details, go and read Orac, or Steve Novella, or some of my other writing. I’m too angry to deal with details today. Infectious diseases have stalked us across the millennia. Centuries…

  • The latest scummy tactic of altie med – blaming medicine for celebrity deaths.

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    MarkH
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    A fellow medical student once asked me why I thought people become hostile to science-based medicine. Certainly our own failures contribute. When we have no treatments for a disease, or if the treatments themselves may also incur significant morbidity, it is understandable that patients will become disillusioned with what doctors have to offer. However there…

  • Autism and Mitochondria

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    MarkH
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    Prometheus brings us the best article I’ve seen to date on why the new push for a mitochondrial basis for autism is total nonsense. Once I saw this push from denialists like David Kirby towards a link between mitochondria and autism I knew we were in for a world of trouble. If only because mitochondrial…

  • Bill Nelson Wins the Internet

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    MarkH
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    I agree with our buddy Ben Goldacre when he says Bill Nelson wins the internet. I can not begin to describe the hilarity of this video but first a bit of background. Bill Nelson is a quack who’s been running a Rife-machine scam. That is, for many thousands of dollars you can purchase and use…

  • Doctors aren’t preachers (or at least they shouldn’t be)

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    MarkH
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    I’ve written a number of times about how a physician must be careful not impose his or her personal beliefs on patients. Another interesting case has hit the news. The decision of the California Supreme Court hinged on interpretation of state non-discrimination law. I’m not a lawyer, but I do know a bit about medicine…

  • Seeding trials—no relation to Seed Media Group, LLC

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    MarkH
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    I’ve been having an internal debate about whether to write on this issue, not because it isn’t interesting, not because it isn’t important, but because it’s getting so much coverage and I’m not sure how much I can add to the conversation. But it so infuriated me that I must blog. Science-based medicine relies on…

  • How we know what we know

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    MarkH
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    Over the last few decades, the nature of medical knowledge has changed significantly. Before the revolution in evidence-based medicine, clinical medicine was practiced as more of an art (in the “artisan” sense). Individuals were treated empirically with a strong knowledge of medical biology, and the guidance of “The Giants”, or particularly skilled and respected practitioners.…

  • Helpful hints for Creationist Cults

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    MarkH
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    Answers Research Journal, the teleologic, Apologetic, unscientific screed put out by Answers in Genesis has so far done nothing resembling science. But I now have an idea for them, although I’m not sure if it’s been proposed. So far, their “research” has taken the form of trying to find “facts” to fit their conclusions that…