… goes to Skip Lockwood, head of a prostate cancer advocacy group called Zero. When the US Preventive Services Task Force recommended against routine screening of men with the PSA blood test, Lockwood said the PSTF’s advice “condemns tens of thousands of men to die this year and every year going forward…” Prostate cancer kills….
Continue ReadingStatistics
Science 1, Common Sense 0
Common sense says that putting stents into blocked arteries in the brain should help prevent strokes, just like propping open heart arteries cuts heart attacks. But Medicare asked for a scientific study before it started paying for widespread use of the brain stents. So doctors tested stents versus medical therapy in high-risk patients. After one….
Continue ReadingHospital Safety: Hazards to Patients Spelled Out in Pictures
Check out this graphic display of some of the statistics of hospital hazards. Infections, malpractice, errors due to poor record keeping, medication errors, mistakes due to sleep deprivation of trainee doctors: It’s all displayed here, courtesy of a group called Medical Billing and Coding Certification.
Continue ReadingDoes a Drug Really Work? Why Numbers, Not Testimonials, Matter
Testimonials from satisfied customers sell products. Every marketer knows that. But testimonials from patients are the wrong way to decide if a drug deserves an endorsement worth billions in sales from the Food and Drug Administration. Why? Because, as a Virginia cancer doctor explains in a new article, the testimonials from happy cancer patients mask….
Continue ReadingThe Coming Cancer Epidemic from Overuse of CT Scans
The medical community is waking up to an enormous problem with radiation – mainly X-rays and CT scans – used to diagnose disease and injury. Patients are getting too much radiation, and the excess itself causes injuries, many years down the road, in a big uptick in the risk of cancer. Even a “routine” CT….
Continue ReadingNew “Physician Compare” Website Doesn’t Impress
Patient safety advocates like me have long dreamed of cracking open for the public the vast trove of data the government collects on doctors, so patients could figure out who gets the best outcomes and guide their doctor choices accordingly. Medicare was supposed to start down that path with its new “Physician Compare” website, but….
Continue ReadingOrganization reviews health care report cards so you don’t have to
Tired of reading doctor report cards and not knowing which ones to believe? Now there’s an organization that reviews the plethora of health care report cards available online in order to provide you with clear choices about the sites that really do provide accurate and useful information. The Informed Patient Institute provides detailed analysis of….
Continue ReadingCT Scan Screening for Lung Cancer: Saving Lives at a Big Pricetag, and Who Should Pay?
The news about a major government study that found 20 percent fewer deaths in a group of heavy smokers who got annual CT scan screening for lung cancer has a few more statistics that are sobering for the rest of us who pay the price as a society for this screening. The study enrolled 50,000….
Continue ReadingBreast Cancer’s Scary but Fake Numbers
As we near the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it’s time to speak the truth about how the cancer advocacy industry overly hypes and scares the American public about this disease. The much bandied number “one in eight” gives a good window into this. When I tuned in CBS 60 Minutes the other night,….
Continue ReadingGetting the Best Health Care: Statisticians Are Our Friends
Today’s news has two reminders of why statisticians are our friends and allies when it comes to getting the right health care and avoiding dangerous and over-hyped treatments. The headlines: * Hormone replacement therapy after menopause not only increases the risk of getting breast cancer, but also makes the cancer more deadly. Details here. *….
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