Denialism

Category: Medicine

  • Morgellons—cranks in search of a disease

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    MarkH
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    I’m trying to understand “morgellons syndrome”. Based on Morgellons Research Foundation reports, there are a lot of people out there who believe they have this so-called disease. But what is it? I decided to dig deeper on the research end of things. I went to the MRF website, and to MedLine, looking for something, anything,…

  • Flu update

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    MarkH
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    Continuing my series from WhiteCoat Underground, here is the latest influenza update. While still widespread, numbers are finally starting to drop. I’m ready to drop myself. It’s been a terrible season—the worst I’ve ever seen. This is probably due, at least in part, to this year’s flu vaccine missing some unanticipated strains. For those of…

  • Disclaimers and such

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    MarkH
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    Last updated 09 October 2008 When writing on medical topics, a few issues are important to address directly, conveniently laid out by the Health on the Net Foundation. Medical authority and complementarity, or, “I’m not your doctor” We don’t give advice here. Our posts represent our own opinions, thoughts, etc. and no one else’s. Neither…

  • What Happened?

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    MarkH
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    Hello? (tap tap) Hello? (tap) Is this thing on? OK. I think it’s working. Wow. I mean, wow. Someone seems to have accidentally dropped the keys to denialism blog on my desk, so now I’m in ur blogz, messing with ur words and stuff. That’s really the only logical explanation. I mean, how else could…

  • The post in which I continue to attack the damn libertarians

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    MarkH
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    Also pissing me off this week is the continuing nonsense from Cato’s anti-universal health care club which is suggesting that increasing health care coverage will lead to an increased number of deaths because of increasing medical errors. Sack notes that “at least twice as many Americans are estimated to die each year from medical errors…

  • The post in which I pick a fight with Jake

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    MarkH
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    Has anyone noticed how my sciblings are really ornery at the moment? We’ve got PZ bringing out the angry stick over Wilkins’ criticism of Dawkins. Physioprof is getting ready to pop Greg Laden in the nose over this thread (and I tend to agree it needs a rewrite). And then Shelley broke my heart by…

  • Trauma

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    MarkH
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    I’ve almost come to the end of the core 8 weeks of my surgery rotation (4 more weeks follow in electives) and am currently working on the trauma service for another couple days before taking exams. I don’t have a great deal to say, the hours stay long, the medicine remains interesting etc. I’m enjoying…

  • Science-based medicine – The good and the bad on a good new blog

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    MarkH
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    I must say I’ve loved much of the writing at the new blog Science-Based Medicine. These guys are fighting the good fight and presenting very sophisticated aspects of evaluating the medical literature in a very accessible way. In particular I’d like to point out David Gorski’s critique of NCCAM and the directly-relevant articles from Kimball…

  • A month into surgery – back to the books

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    MarkH
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    I’ve just completed my first month of my surgical rotation and still find almost every day fascinating. I just finished a 4-week rotation in the hepatobiliary service (liver, biliary and pancreatic surgeries mostly) and now go on to thoracic for 2 weeks, and then trauma for 2 weeks to complete the core requirement. I’ll also…

  • Surgeons have cool tools

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    MarkH
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    Surely no one can be pissed at me for pointing out that surgeons have some of the coolest tools, so I think I’ll describe a few of them that I’ve seen used a great deal in general surgery. The one most frequently in use is referred to simply as “the Bovie” and it is used…