Reliable health info from the ‘medically unqualified’?

June 16, 2012September 5, 2024 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 7 Comments

“Medical websites created by medically unqualified individuals (i.e. persons who are not physicians) are unreliable and should, de facto, be considered medically unsound. Don’t you agree?”

That’s a question that the late great Dr. Tom Ferguson said he was often asked during his public talks and workshops. The pioneering physician, author and researcher studied and wrote about the empowered medical consumer starting in the 1970s – a time when most people had never even heard of such an animal.

So as one of those “medically unqualified individuals” who in 2009 launched this site about women’s heart disease, I was particularly interested in Dr. Tom’s answer to that question. Here’s what he wrote:* Continue reading “Reliable health info from the ‘medically unqualified’?” →

Why aren’t more doctors like Dr. Bernard Lown?

May 31, 2012April 24, 2025 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

The late Dr. Bernard Lown was the author of The Lost Art of Healing: Practicing Compassion in Medicine, and was a practicing cardiologist for over 62 years. He’s also the co-founder of the medical organization called International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which was awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.

Dr. Lown presented this talk at a Cambridge, Massachusetts medical conference called Avoiding Avoidable Care on April 26, 2012. The lofty goal of this unique conference was no less than the transformation of health care culture from one focused on volume and quantity to one centered on value and quality. Here’s the profoundly important message of Dr. Lown to his colleagues: Continue reading “Why aren’t more doctors like Dr. Bernard Lown?” →

Did you really need that coronary stent?

May 23, 2012September 12, 2023 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters

balloon-angioplasty A New York study has revisited the issue of stent-happy cardiologists implanting the tiny metal devices that help prop open – or revascularize – blocked coronary arteries. Essentially, this study(1) suggests that two-thirds of the justifications for this procedure in non-emergency patients were either “uncertain” or “inappropriate“. For any heart patient who has ever been told by those with the letters M.D. after their names that this type of cardiac intervention was recommended, it’s yet more troubling news. And the fact that this issue simply will not go away makes me wonder why cardiologists themselves are keeping suspiciously mum about the controversy.

When cardiologists do speak up, not surprisingly, many hasten to pre-emptively defend their interventional colleagues. An editorial that accompanied this study’s publication in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, for example, explained:

“There are certain to be patients rated as ‘inappropriate’ for which almost all competent cardiologists would recommend intervention.”

In other words, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Continue reading “Did you really need that coronary stent?” →

Former BMJ editor: “Doctors are not interested in health”

May 7, 2012September 24, 2014 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas

When Britain’s Dr. Richard Smith speaks, I like to listen. He’s a former editor of the British Medical Journal (and also, coincidentally, a former med school prof who in 2001 resigned from his University of Nottingham teaching post in protest over the school’s acceptance of a £3.8 million gift from a tobacco company). Dr. Smith now offers a cheeky yet revealing overview of what’s wrong with medicine. In fact, I feel compelled to share with you his recent BMJ article, published shortly after returning from the World Cardiology Congress in Dubai. He writes: