palmd
Posts by this author
June 18, 2009
When I look at my daughter, what do I see? There is so much in every glance. Usually, she's moving too fast to pin down, running at me yelling, "Daddy!!!" I don't know how anyone even looks at their kids without tearing up, even a little. There is of course a narcissistic joy in having someone…
June 17, 2009
I'd like to direct your attention toward an excellent discussion of today's news about the cold "remedy" Zicam. Dr. Novella and the commenters have hit on all the major points; I can't improve on it.
I would, however, like to give you a personal look at anosmia, or the absence of a sense of smell…
June 16, 2009
The last month has been pretty busy at the office, with lots of H1N1 influenza. I've been quite lucky, but the last couple of days I've had some pretty close exposures. The other day I gave a nebulizer treatment to a patient with wheezing who turned out to have the flu (I was not wearing a mask…
June 15, 2009
It's just disgusting. Autism spectrum disorders are an important health problem (although not the "epidemic" claimed by some). While real scientists and clinicians (and parents) are looking for causes and treatments based on evidence, fake experts are pulling "answers" out of their backsides. …
June 13, 2009
People in my profession are at increased risk for acquiring certain diseases: tuberculosis, HIV, hepatitis B and C, and some others. We vaccinate against the ones we can (primarily hepatitis B) and exercise universal precautions, which involves careful attention to bodily fluids and other…
June 12, 2009
We already know the hate-filled bag of right-wing goatfuckery, Rush Limbaugh, wants the head of state of the USA to "fail". There was a lot of argument from idiots about what that meant. The excuses were flying: "fail" meant his "socialist agenda", not his goal of saving the US from this…
June 11, 2009
I know, I know, I don't usually do politics, but Rush is really chapping my ass right about now. His comments are always outrageously hate-filled diatribes, and he's getting harder to ignore every day. What's worse, his followers eagerly suckle at the teat intolerance, finding solace in his…
June 11, 2009
"Whosoever saves a single life, saves an entire universe"
In Memoriam Stephen T. Johns, Righteous Among Nations
June 10, 2009
The Huffington Post put up a good piece about vaccination. It's by Dr. Harvey Karp, and he does an especially nice job looking at some of the "scary numbers" used by the infectious disease promoters.
He's also getting swamped with wackaloon comments, so if you don't mind giving HuffPo your…
June 9, 2009
One of the concepts we often discuss around here is "what is disease?" As we've seen in the discussion of Lyme disease and so-called Morgellons syndrome, this is not always an easy question to answer. Knowing what states are disease states does not always yield a black-or-white answer. The first…
June 8, 2009
To wear the mantle of Galileo, it is not enough to be persecuted:
you must also be right.
---Robert Park
As a physician, it's hard for me to support the absurd media fashion of presenting two, equal sides to every issue. In politics, perhaps, many debates have two…
June 7, 2009
A "fan" on twitter sent me the crushing news that all I believed about the science of Lyme disease is wrong. Unlike many fans, he cited a source, a well-known New England publication. The New England Journal of Medicine? Nope. The Darien (CT) Times.
According to the headline, "surveys refute…
June 5, 2009
I woke up early this morning. Rather than run out the door to the office, I showered, started some coffee, walked upstairs, and sat down on the bed next to my daughter. She turned, grunted, and said, "Too early!" I sat for a while and watched her drift in and out of sleep.
"Daddy, it's too…
June 4, 2009
One of Oprah's favorite resources for women's health is Dr. Christiane Northrup, a gynecologist with bizarre ideas about health and disease. On the air, she has disputed the connection between HPV and cervical cancer, an uncontroversial scientific fact. Her un-belief in an important scientific…
June 3, 2009
We've been hearing a lot about the new H1N1 ("swine") flu which is moving quickly around the globe. It's reasonably likely to be declared "pandemic" in the next few days. Here on the ground, it's almost like having a second flu season. Normally by this time of year, seasonal flu is sporadic to…
June 2, 2009
I've written a number of times about Oprah's support for absurd medical claims, and Dr. David Gorski does a great job detailing the history of Oprah's ability to elevate quacks from obscurity to stardom. Given her latest debacle of taking Jenny McCarthy into her fold, I though I'd explore her…
June 1, 2009
I don't even know how to write about this. I drives me toward silence, which is the wrong direction. Sheril Kirshenbaum at The Intersection says it better than I ever could. She reaches out with her own personal tale of sexual assault. Imagine her story, but millions of times over---women,…
June 1, 2009
To all of my friends, colleagues, fans, and detractors, I have been buried in email and real life duties, so if I haven't responded to your veryimportantemail, I'm really sorry.
That is all.
May 31, 2009
One of the hardest things about practicing medicine is being compassionate and dispassionate at the same time; acknowledging a person's pain, but standing aside enough to view the problem with a degree of objectivity. This is one of the easiest mis-steps to make in medicine, and is the root of the…
May 31, 2009
A Kansas doctor who performs abortions was murdered today at his church. I'll leave it to others to discuss the long history of this doctor's part in the abortion debate; what I want to show you today is the transparent lies told by the murderous group Operation Rescue.
"We are shocked at this…
May 31, 2009
Around midnight, my wife and I heard a loud "thump" followed by screaming. We ran to our daughter's room and found her lying on the floor, crying, clearly terrified. I picked her up and held her, feeling around her legs, hips, arms, and head to see if anything seemed out of place or painful.…
May 28, 2009
My buddy Janet always makes me think, which is one of the things I like about her (that, and her cookies). Today, she wrote about a recent PLoS Biology article about the vaccine-autism debate (Orac has also covered it, of course). I especially like Janet's take on expert status and accountability…
May 28, 2009
There's a contest going on in the blogosphere, and I want in. 3 Quarks Daily is taking nominations for best social science or natural history blog post published between May 28th, 2008 and now. Go here to nominate your favorite piece, but HURRY---nominations end June 1. This year's judge is…
May 27, 2009
In case you were worried that the Huffington Post had "gone legit" with regards to medical reporting, fear no more. Barry Sears, creator of a popular diet book, has written a searingly stupid piece called We're Fighting the Wrong Epidemic. Like Gaul, it is divided into three parts: wrong…
May 27, 2009
Earlier this month I wrote about some of the people who claim to be Lyme disease experts, and specifically about an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics, and its author. The article was truly horrid, especially when presented in the context of an ethics journal. My ethicist friend weighed in…
May 25, 2009
It's now up. It's a good one. One link in particular that was discussed is here. Go and read, then go and listen.
May 24, 2009
I'm actually rather surprised that the movement to castrate autistic kids isn't more in the news. Parents of autistic kids are very good at advocacy, so where are they on this one? On the other hand, the abuse of the mentally and cognitively disabled is so ingrained in our society, that perhaps…
May 22, 2009
It would certainly seem so. Alternative autism "experts" have a long history of dehumanizing autistic kids. But the Geiers take it one step further. The father-son team is chemically castrating autistic children. And what do they have to say about this?
...the Geiers focus on issues most likely…
May 22, 2009
You don't have to be a parent to care about the welfare of children---but it does bring things into a sharp, personal light. I recently wrote about Daniel Hauser, a child likely to die of Hodgkin's disease due to his parents' cult medicine beliefs. Cases like his are aberrations---they stand out…
May 21, 2009
It's been a while since I've posted on fatherhood. There's a couple of reasons for that. My wife brought up a disturbing point---she was uncomfortable with our daughter's picture being online. The reasons she listed made me shudder and turn white. I'm not sure whether or not I agree, but for…