Here is a figure reproduced in Fortune, showing that when researchers publish articles raising questions about the harms of salt, they cite other researchers who raised similar questions. By contrast, when they definitively argue in favor of the harms, they cite other definitive colleagues. Some of this makes scientific sense. If you show a particular…
Prince died of an opioid overdose. A tragic and avoidable fate but, even more tragically, one that is becoming increasingly common in the United States. Some people who overdose live on the edge of society – homeless and with no access to good medical care. Prince, by contrast, had several mansions and a number of physicians actively…
I sometimes worry that my wife Paula won’t be able to see me grow old. Not that I expect to outlive her. She is four years my junior and has the blood pressure of a 17-year-old track star. It’s her eyesight I’m worried about, because she is at risk for a form of blindness called…
There have been many wonderful new medications in the past decade or so, drugs that finally bring hope for many people with serious illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and even some advanced cancers. But these drugs often come at a high price. Here is a snapshot of drug spending in 2014, courtesy of the…
Very interesting article in the Lancet recently, from the nudge unit in the United Kingdom. They give physicians feedback on how much they prescribed antibiotics compared to their peers, and found that such feedback reduced antibiotic prescriptions. I hope to see more of this work!
Here is a report from a study I collaborated on, led by the amazing Reshma Jagsi, a physician at the University of Michigan. It reveals just how common it is for female academic physicians to report experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace. Important but disturbing news: “This is a sobering reminder that our society has…
She drew the life-saving medication into the syringe, just 10cc of colorless fluid for the everyday low price of, gulp, several hundred dollars. Was that a new chemotherapy, specially designed for her tumor? Was it a “specialty drug,” to treat her multiple sclerosis? Nope. It was insulin, a drug that has been around for decades….
I got a really nice email the other day, from one of the provosts at my university. Here is the highlight: “During the 2015 fall semester, in the categories of Quality of Course and/or Intellectual Stimulation, your course evaluations were among the top 5% of all undergraduate instructors at Duke.” Which just leaves one question:…
Karen Scherr, an MD PhD student working with me, just published a paper showing that physicians don’t always give patients objective advice about the pros and cons of robotic surgery. Here is a news story on her work: Duke University research found that doctors are more enthusiastic about treatments that are readily available, calling into question…
And the problem is getting worse with time!