Sometimes, we read an article about health, medicine and/or patient safety that’s utterly fascinating but too long to summarize fairly in a blog post. So here’s a shout out to a few recent stories you might want to look up.
“Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us,” by Steven Brill. Time magazine’s exhaustive examination of how the medical industrial complex inflates the cost of health-care treatment and how reform efforts don’t begin to address the problem. Link here.
“The Cancer Tests You Need-And Those You Don’t,” in Consumer Reports. An examination of how the medical/health communities exaggerate the benefits of certain cancer screenings and minimize the harms Link here. (subscription required to access the full content).
“Alternative Medicines,” from the staff of The Scientist magazine. Experts discuss evidence or the lack of it for a variety of nontraditional treatments that some practitioners and facilities use for “integrated therapy,” which relies on both conventional and alternative treatments. Link here.