Mark Hanna • Apr 19, 2017 •
New Zealand has several layers of regulation to protect us against misleading health claims. Sometimes they all fail. My struggle against quackery over the last few years has given me some familiarity with the ways we’re protected against it, and with their shortcomings. Misleading people about their healthcare options is something that is clearly unethical. To quote the alt text … Read More
Guest Work • Dec 05, 2016 •
Matthew Haines, University of Huddersfield A recent BMJ Case Report outlined the story of a 59-year-old woman who went to A&E after experiencing pain when urinating and abdominal pain. Her symptoms were consistent with urinary tract infection (UTI, commonly referred to by some as cystitis) for which she was prescribed antibiotics and painkillers. During her visit … Read More
Lynley Hargreaves • Nov 25, 2015 •
Two people have heart attacks. Who gets back to work sooner? The one who thinks their illness will be short, even if their symptoms were worse, according to research in the rapidly expanding area of patient illness perception. But the main reason for this, explains new Royal Society of New Zealand Fellow and Mason Durie Medal recipient, Professor … Read More
John Pickering • Feb 18, 2013 •
Winston Peters is employing classic diversion techniques in order to avoid answering questions as to why he hasn’t sacked Mr Prosser – in this case it is an attack on the associate Ministry of Health about funding of traditional Māori healing (rongoā Māori) through Whanau Ora (apparently $1.9M worth). He claims that there is no measure of … Continue reading » … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Apr 22, 2011 •
Dr Shaun Holt is no stranger to controversy, having last year laid into the Chiropractors. Now he, along with a number of other researchers, have written a letter to the New Zealand Medical Journal saying: Practicing homeopathy or endorsing it by referring patients is not consistent with the ethical or regulatory requirements of practising medicine [...] Related posts: … Read More
Darcy Cowan • Oct 14, 2010 •
To shamelessly butcher a great H2G2 quote: Biology is complicated. Really complicated. You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly complicated it is. I mean you may think it’s complicated to do the morning crossword, but that’s just peanuts to biology. This may seem trivially obvious, I mean we don’t compare things to brain surgery [...] … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Feb 28, 2010 •
Yes, I know it is almost impossible to fathom such depravity, but some pharmaceutical advertisers make unsubstantiated claims in medical journals! (/SARCASM OFF) Such is the conclusion of Ben Goldacre of the Guardian, writing on the Bad Science Blog. Goldacre is writing about a recent research article in the Netherlands Journal of Medicine “Are claims of [...] Related posts: … Read More