All too often the most powerful illusions seduce us through truthful whisperings. Let’s start with an obvious truth: Living a long and happy life after a cancer diagnosis is better than living a short miserable one…(Read the rest and view comments at Critical Decisions)
This weekend, I had the pleasure of being a guest on Peoples Pharmacy, a great public radio show that hails out of Durham NC. We had a far ranging, rapidly shifting conversation about lots of things. Check it out if you are interested. The show even gave me a chance to learn a new skill. …
Who doesn’t want to get smarter? The Brain Gym Company claims to have found a number of ways people can attain all these goals. But their wacky mixture of pseudo-science and balderdash is more a function of bamboozlement through jargon than of any real proof that the program works.
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You may have heard this week about a new study, led by my friend and colleague Pete Cram, which revealed astonishing variation in prices for hip replacement surgery. Staggering, actually—ranging from a bit over $10,000 to over $125,000. I have blogged a bit about hospital prices, and doctor fees, even a recent post on orthopedic…
Paul Kostick’s DNA was under attack and his fate was sealed. Forces beyond his control were hacking large pieces of genetic material off the ends of his chromosomes. Should his doctor tell him how long he has to live?
A new study asks Orthopedic surgeons to guess the price of the devices they implant – “the amount your institution currently pays the vendor for the implant.” Despite a lenient grading system, in which the researchers counted as correct any guess within 20% of the actual price, surgeons estimated costs correctly only 1 in 5…
Before patients can become savvy consumers of healthcare, they need information about their healthcare choices. Too often, such information is nearly impossible to get, especially when it requires doctors to give patients useful statistics about things like treatment side effects. Since publishing Critical Decisions this fall, I have received a number of emails from readers who…