palmd
Posts by this author
April 26, 2009
With all the news abuzz about swine flu, it's important to remember a few things. Influenza can be very, very dangerous, but it's still just a virus, and one that we know quite well. There have been a number of flu pandemics in the last century, the most famous (and most deadly) being the "Spanish…
April 26, 2009
So far, it looks like the US Gov't is on top of this one. If you're interested in following along with the story, I strongly suggest following the Effect Measure blog. The writers know their stuff, and so far, government websites aren't all that much health.
Some basics:
As you remember, the flu…
April 25, 2009
My latest "on location" PalCast is up and ready for your listening pleasure.
April 25, 2009
I used to teach at a hospital downtown. While on rounds, I'd often ask my residents and students where they were born, and get answers such as, "Alabama", "Kerala, India", "Damascus, Syria". Inevitably, they'd ask me where I was born, and I'd point to the floor and say, "Right here".
"You mean…
April 24, 2009
The other day, I wrote about the fake health experts at the Huffington Post. Prominent among them is "Dr" Patricia Fitzgerald. Now, we already talked about how writing a health piece in a major media outlet and using the title of "Dr" can be deceptive; the reader is likely to assume you are a…
April 24, 2009
So, this whole animal rights extremism thing isn't really my thing---I'm not a researcher, and I think the ARA's like ALF and PeTA are all fucking nuts. Still, they're bad, bad nuts, so I have to care. Out in California, they've been threatening researchers and committing senseless acts of…
April 23, 2009
I'm no expert on interrogation. From what I've read, most of these experts find torture to be a modality with minimal utility, but I'm sure there are those who want to keep it around. My personal opinion is that it is horridly immoral, and rather difficult to justify. The "ticking bomb" scenario…
April 23, 2009
It's no secret that I think the Huffington Post is an teeming den execrable pseudoscientific snakes. Still, when it comes to fanning the vaccination manufatroversy, they are really off the deep end. Take the latest piece of dreck on Jenny McCarthy, GoD (Google Doctorate). It's written by the…
April 23, 2009
Orac isn't known for his sound bites. He tends to write pieces which, in the blogosphere, might be considered rather long, and for good reason---he has a lot to say, and he says it well. But sometimes there is a gem of insolence that is so apt, it must be reshared:
But what really makes this…
April 22, 2009
Yes, that's right, the Huffington Post, that broadsheet of blarney, that tabloid of medical trumpery has done it. Not content to risk our mental health by lending legitimacy to all kinds of pseudoscientific charlatans, they just let Jim Carrey write a piece on vaccines and autism. Yes, the…
April 22, 2009
Just when you think the Huffington Post can't get any more inane and idiotic, just when you think your synapses might be starting to heal, they come out with another post that simply makes your ears bleed.
Sure, HuffPo regularly comes down on the side of superstition, for example in the vaccine…
April 22, 2009
As anyone who has been following the naturopathy thread knows, this blog often covers controversial topics. To help elucidate the problems, there is often vigorous debate, which I rarely censor.
I bring this up because of this blogs recent HONcode certification. As I told you, HON is…
April 21, 2009
Overheard from the 210th annual emergency meeting of the Society for Evidence-Free Healing.
Chair: The meeting will come to order.
Some Dude: Seconded.
Chair: Um, I'm the Chair. I don't need a "second".
Some Other Dude: That sounds like an oppressive application of the dominant paradigm.
Chair…
April 20, 2009
A colleague of mine asked a great question: if you have one question to ask a booster of so-called alternative medicine in a public forum, what should it be? I'll give you my answer below the fold, then open the thread to see what you think.
My answer: "Can you please give specific examples of…
April 19, 2009
My regular readers know that I hold the Huffington Post in the lowest possible regard when it comes to its medical writing. HuffPo offers a daily platform for the worst pseudo-science and infectious disease promotion. Apparently that was getting to hard, because now I think their down to phoning…
April 18, 2009
I've never done this before, but the previous threads are getting rather messy and I'm closing them down. Feel free to use this thread for your ongoing discussion. A few thoughts first.
Obviously some of the rhetoric is heated, which is fine. But if you're going to throw around invective, don't…
April 16, 2009
Science is hard. It often requires us to put aside our beliefs and preconceptions to more accurately understand how the world works. But it is not in any way unimaginative. To paraphrase a wildly brilliant guy, every time a scientist formulates a hypothesis, she must imagine a different world.…
April 16, 2009
As of this evening, I will be displaying the HONcode certification badge on the left sidebar of this blog. I was able to achieve this certification on my original wordpress blog, and then at denialism blog. The HONcode serves a specific, limited purpose, and some of you might be interested in…
April 15, 2009
OK, OK, so the U.S. isn't a democracy per se but really a representative democracy, with a federalist set up. Still, most of us understand the basic idea of a democratic, federalist republic, right? The ultimate power resides with the citizens, who vote for representatives who, well, represent…
April 15, 2009
First, I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the naturopaty primary care challenge. It was far more successful than I could have hoped. A number of naturopaths and their supporters responded, most of them quite rationally. It takes guts to walk into the fire.
It also takes fanaticism…
April 14, 2009
So naturopaths want to be licensed to practice "primary care". I've come down pretty hard on this idea, but one of my colleagues is asking me to reconsider for some pretty good reasons.
If we license them as PCPs, then they must be held to the same standards as MDs, meaning they must provide…
April 13, 2009
Yesterday I issued a challenge to naturopathic physicians to justify why they should be considered competent primary care physicians. The best and most comprehensive answer received so far is the one from "Mona". Here is my analysis.
Her response, while not entirely "wrong", shows a frightening…
April 13, 2009
One of the common themes in biology and medicine is the feeling that somehow there must be more. Creationist cults simply know that life must be more than matter, and mind-body dualists (which includes most alternative medicine advocates) are certain that humans are more than an "ugly bag of…
April 12, 2009
Yes, we all know that Jon Stewart is a genius, but you have to watch this one to fully appreciate what a genius he really is.
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
M - Th 11p / 10c
Baracknophobia - Obey
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes
Economic Crisis
Political Humor
April 12, 2009
The PalCast is, obviously, a little behind. Due to real-life problems, it's been tough to find the 90 minutes of solitude and quiet necessary to crank out a decent podcast. However, I do have one in the hopper for this week...hopefully it will be out by tomorrow or so.
Thanks for your patience…
April 11, 2009
Yesterday's piece about naturopathy lead to a nice conversation, but I realized we're missing something. We don't actually have a naturopath to defend the profession.
You see, if, for example, you are curious what your primary care physician might recommend to you, you can go to the American…
April 10, 2009
I'm a primary care physician. What I, other internists, pediatricians, and family medicine docs do is prevent and treat common diseases. When we get to diseases that require more specialized care, we refer to our specialist colleagues. There is a movement afoot to broaden the role of naturopaths…
April 8, 2009
I'm not real interested in blogging about politics. It's just not my thing. But the recent increase in absurd and frankly scary rhetoric from the right is giving me the shpilkes. It's not just the tea-baggers (heh heh...I said "tea bagger"), but I might as well say something about their lame-ass…
April 8, 2009
I'm not one for long posts on religion, but with the Jewish festival of Pesach (Passover) upon us and Easter rapidly approaching, there are a few things worth noting.
Spring festivals have probably been going on since people began planting crops. Easter (and the Passover from which it descended)…