The Corruption of Academic Medicine
Many doctors are genuinely puzzled why much of the general public does not trust what they say. For example, there’s the GOOP story. Gwyneth Paltrow sells lots of scientifically iffy wellness products on her website, and there’s many doctors and ‘health professionals’ frothing at the mouth trying to ‘debunk’ her theories. But, in the end, GOOP is selling millions of dollars of product. The public has voted with its money, and it chooses Gwyneth over the doctors. Why?
Many doctors blame ignorance and the media for these phenomena, but this is simply a patronizing attitude. The truth is this. Many people simply do not believe doctors any more.
But why? The answer is $$$$. Simply, the public does not trust doctors because they know that many doctors, especially those in academic medicine and the universities are on the take. A terrific study from Dr. Vinay Prasad (see http://ift.tt/2tE8ctv) illustrates the problem precisely. He reviewed 37 ‘expert’ physicians who spoke on behalf of drug companies. Not surprisingly, they were all getting significant amounts of money from Big Pharma – a median of $39,316. These were not simply run-of-the-mill doctors either.
There is a clear correlation between the number of articles they had written (or been cited) and the amount of money received. This means that these ‘experts’ are those professors and doctors at all the best universities all over the world. These are the doctors that lecture other doctors and medical students. In general, the more prominent a physician, the more money he/she is taking from industry.
And the same goes for IT research where you have to ask if it is research being funded by a specific company, who then gets to define the scope of the research. It's just that we don't tend to hold IT research houses to the same high levels of ethics as doctors.
See http://ift.tt/2v0CavB
from Danie van der Merwe - Google+ Posts http://ift.tt/2vTbptD
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Many doctors are genuinely puzzled why much of the general public does not trust what they say. For example, there’s the GOOP story. Gwyneth Paltrow sells lots of scientifically iffy wellness products on her website, and there’s many doctors and ‘health professionals’ frothing at the mouth trying to ‘debunk’ her theories. But, in the end, GOOP is selling millions of dollars of product. The public has voted with its money, and it chooses Gwyneth over the doctors. Why?
Many doctors blame ignorance and the media for these phenomena, but this is simply a patronizing attitude. The truth is this. Many people simply do not believe doctors any more.
But why? The answer is $$$$. Simply, the public does not trust doctors because they know that many doctors, especially those in academic medicine and the universities are on the take. A terrific study from Dr. Vinay Prasad (see http://ift.tt/2tE8ctv) illustrates the problem precisely. He reviewed 37 ‘expert’ physicians who spoke on behalf of drug companies. Not surprisingly, they were all getting significant amounts of money from Big Pharma – a median of $39,316. These were not simply run-of-the-mill doctors either.
There is a clear correlation between the number of articles they had written (or been cited) and the amount of money received. This means that these ‘experts’ are those professors and doctors at all the best universities all over the world. These are the doctors that lecture other doctors and medical students. In general, the more prominent a physician, the more money he/she is taking from industry.
And the same goes for IT research where you have to ask if it is research being funded by a specific company, who then gets to define the scope of the research. It's just that we don't tend to hold IT research houses to the same high levels of ethics as doctors.
See http://ift.tt/2v0CavB
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The Corruption of Academic Medicine - Diet Doctor Many doctors are genuinely puzzled why much of the general public does not trust what they say. For example, there’s the GOOP story. Gwyneth Paltrow sells lots of scientifically iffy wellness products on her website, and there’s many doctors and ‘health professionals’ frothing at the mouth trying to ‘debunk’ her theories. But, in the end,... |
from Danie van der Merwe - Google+ Posts http://ift.tt/2vTbptD
via IFTTT
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