What happened in China, and what threatens a widening swath of the world’s food supply, is a human tragedy that can’t be understood simply in terms of science. Read more
Economic recovery and healthcare reform
Many of the ideas in Clinton’s plan were too complex to be communicated efficiently and effectively. This made political positioning, always difficult, even more delicate. Read more
Ich Habe Genug on Thanksgiving
It’s Thanksgiving and I’m feeling ‘Ich habe genug’ (I have enough). I’d like to share some poetry, music, and a film while continuing the ‘death’ theme of my last blog post. First the film, Wit, starring Emma Thompson and directed by Mike Nichols. It’s the story of Vivian, a woman with ovarian cancer who spends… Read more
Death be not visible
“Death is the real inspiring genius or muse of philosophy and for this reason Socrates defined philosophy as thanatoi meletos (rehearsal for death). Indeed without death, there would hardly have been any philosophizing.” Arthur Schopenhauer Read more
The first clinical trial: Eat your vegetables
The first ‘clinical’ trial may have been 2600 years ago. According to the Book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar held Israelites in captivity in Babylon after the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC. The king selected an elite group of prisoners to serve him in the future. They were to receive the same “choice” food and… Read more
Will Obama’s health policy survive a Big Pharma challenge?
“Here’s some friendly advice to the pharmaceutical industry: don’t make the mistake of attacking the policies of our new President. Such a move is likely to backfire.” Read more
To make more money
Health is more than drugs and disease. It’s the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. We need to be able to trust them all. Read more
Selling drugs like chewing gum
“Ultimately, the only way of combating disease mongering is to value the manner of our living above the timing of our dying.” Read more
Why are US health care costs so high?
“Drugmakers, device makers, and insurers decide which products to develop based not on what patients need, but on what their marketers tell them will sell – and produce the highest profit.” Read more
The election, the common good, Starbucks, and driving safely
There’s been plenty of coverage of the Obama and McCain health plans during the presidential election campaign. I debated whether to contribute my opinion and decided against it. I think everyone is exhausted with media coverage. There’s a nice Time Magazine article this week on “The 24-Minute News Cycle.” It was reassuring to read that… Read more
Does chocolate prevent heart disease?
Stories about the health benefits of chocolate are a good way to get the attention of viewers and readers. Wouldn’t it be great if the headlines were true? Read more
EBM provider Bazian uses Scrubs to make a point
A few more things about Bazian, the company that provides the evidence-based medicine (EBM) analysis used by Behind the Headlines. (Bazian, BTW, is named after the 18th century mathematician Thomas Bayes, as in Bayesian probability.) Those who work at Bazian call themselves evidologists. “Evidology aggregates, filters and synthesizes the entire universe of research about a… Read more
Get your health news here
A health news site on the Internet that provides objective information, with no incentive to stretch the boundaries of truth. Read more
Health news and competitive journalism
If we really understood the motivation behind news stories on health and medicine, we might reasonably decide to stop reading. Read more
How the pharmas make us sick
Just in case you thought your symptoms were benign, drug companies and advertisers will be happy to set you straight. Read more
Are Americans naive about medicine?
Despite a growing dissatisfaction with the doctor/patient relationship, does our traditional respect for the medical profession leave us susceptible to disease mongering? Read more
The last well person
“A well person is a patient who has not been completely worked up.” Read more
"I" Is for Innocent: Health obsession in fiction
Private eye Kinsey Milhone gets an earful of healthism. Read more
My personal odyssey through the health culture
I was a “victim of advice” in the seventies, but I should have known better. Read more
The Health Culture: Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.
The incessant injunction to adopt “healthy lifestyles” may not be in our best interest, either as individuals or as a society. Read more