Tag: Martin Makary

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Pseudoscience

Thacker the hack keeps Thacking and hacking

Paul Thacker

hack: adj.: 1. Working for hire especially with mediocre professional standards (a hack journalist); 2. performed by or suited to a person who works or writes purely for the purpose of earning money; 3. characteristic of a hack 4. MEDIOCRE (e.g.) hack writing, hackneyed, trite.

Thack: adj: All of the above, but in the style of Paul Thacker. Verb (transitive): To write hack hit pieces in the style of Paul Thacker.

I know I’ve written about Paul Thacker’s attacks on young physician Dr. Allison Neitzel three times now, but he just keeps going lower and demanding more not-so-Respectful Insolence. Orac is happy to oblige.

Categories
Bad science Medicine Popular culture

A bogus statistic about medical errors rears its ugly head in STAT

Medical errors
If you believe the conventional wisdom, medical errors are the number three cause of death in the US. Let's just say that Orac does not believe this study.

The claim that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the US is one of those slasher statistics that just won’t die. This time around STAT News gave space to Michael Saks and Stephan Landsman to parrot that claim credulously in the service of selling their book.

Categories
Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Do medical errors really kill a quarter of a million people a year in the US?

Medical Errors
If you believe the latest study, medical errors are the number three cause of death in the US. Let's just say that Orac does not believe this study.

It is an unquestioned belief among believers in alternative medicine and even just among many people who do not trust conventional medicine that conventional medicine kills. Not only does exaggerating the number of people who die due to medical complications or errors fit in with the world view of people like Mike Adams and Joe […]