Thursday, November 22, 2012

Hippocrates' Shadow

A recent study has just revealed that mammograms actually don't reduce cancer deaths:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/mammograms-lead-to-overdiagnosis-have-little-impact-on-deaths-study-1.1048226

This is, of course, bad news.  However, Dr David Newman totally called this back in 2008 in his completely underrated book, Hippocrates' Shadow.  You can buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Hippocrates-Shadow-Secrets-House-Medicine/dp/B002BWQ4U0

Now, one may think that it would be better to err on the side of caution and get mammograms anyway.  I thought that too.  However, the doc goes on to show that, between the procedure itself and the misdiagnoses, the net result of mammograms on society is actually negative.

The book is essentially a compilation of many such problems this doctor sees with the US health system.  They are truly eye-opening to an outsider.  Here is the table of contents:

Eye-catching, no?

I thought it was a great read in 2008, and the publishing of this study made me revisit and wonder: what else is this guy right about?