Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog

This week I submitted something for the first time to the Health Wonk Review. And it made the cut in Jaan Sidorov's hosting of it on the Disease Management Care Blog. Take a look.......

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The Dow Jones Newswire carries a story that tells us: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Novartis AG's (NVS, NOVN.VX) use of a Facebook tool on the website for cancer drug Tasigna violated regulations by presenting misleading information about......

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There may be just a few more important things to spend one's time on in the field of breast cancer. But the Wall Street Journal reports on an ugly dispute, "Charity Brawl: Nonprofits Aren't So Generous When a Name's at......

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Just two days ago I wrote about Dr. Michael Kirsch's excellent blog post "Beware Surrogate Markers." In it he wrote: "Why do some medical studies, which achieve breaking news status, often fall so short of our expectations? Physicians are cynical......

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Let me be clear that the following is a glimpse of only one story each from two different medium-sized papers. So it should not be construed as systematic overall praise for one nor an indictment of another. But the examples......

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Journalist Larry Husten, on his CardioBrief blog, describes a "new one on me" in linking to what he calls "an extraordinary document" describing cozy - indeed, invited and paid-for meeting opportunities between medical industry leaders and physicians at a heart......

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Ratings by individual health plans or by HealthGrades or by RateMDs.com or by Angie's List? (That's where I just found a roofing contractor!) Michelle Andrews reflects on the dilemma consumers face in choosing a doctor and in trying to make......

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Ivan Oransky, MD, executive editor of Reuters Health, somehow found time a few months ago to launch his first blog, Embargo Watch - with tagline: "Keeping an eye on how scientific information embargoes affect news coverage." Now, as evidence he......

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Michael Kirsch, M.D, who blogs as MD Whistleblower, offers an educational insight about surrogate markers - especially helpful if you don't know much about these. And, in his estimation, many news stories don't seem to reflect much knowledge on the......

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Medical errors, safety and quality issues are highlighted in several new health journalism efforts. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a "Who Protects the Patients?" series underway. The latest story profiles a teenager who died after being suffocated at a hospital......

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An important story, well told by the Tribune and veteran writer Judith Graham. Excerpts: "Families have reason to be alert to risks associated with diagnostic tests such as CT scans. Kids' changing bodies and brains are especially sensitive to ionizing......

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In an unusual move, a journal has actually gone in and changed a previously-stated conclusion of a previously-published paper. This follows a Reuters Health story that raised questions about the study. Today Reuters reports: "A journal editor has scrubbed a......

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We do a lot of colonoscopies in this country, looking for colon cancer. And that's a good thing. But do people realize that the only screening test for colon cancer shown by randomized controlled trials to decrease colon cancer mortality......

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Only so much to say about this story. It's about Senator David Vitter of Louisana. He says that an FDA advisory committee's vote to revoke the approval of Roche-Genentech's Avastin for treating breast cancer is "essentially government rationing." The WSJ......

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My friend Alan Cassels - who publishes the Media Doctor Canada site that does basically the same thing our HealthNewsReview.org site does - had a biting column in the Vancouver Sun this week. Excerpts: "...is there convincing proof that statins......

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