Self Publishing Titans
Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health
by Marty Makary M.D.
Published
September 17, 2024
Pages
288 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing
Available Formats & Prices
View on AmazonKindle
$9.99
Hardcover
$20.49
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$0.00
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About This Book
From Johns Hopkins medical expert Dr. Marty Makary, the New York Times- bestselling author of The Price We Pa y - an eye-opening look at the medical groupthink that has led to public harm, and what you need to know about your health. More Americans have peanut allergies today than at any point in history.
Why? In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a strict recommendation that parents avoid giving their children peanut products until they're three years old. Getting the science perfectly backward, triggering intolerance with lack of early exposure, the US now leads the world in peanut allergies-and this misinformation is still rearing its head today.
How could the experts have gotten it so wrong? Dr. Marty Makary asks, Could it be that many modern-day health crises have been caused by the hubris of the medical establishment?
Experts said for decades that opioids were not addictive, igniting the opioid crisis. They refused menopausal women hormone replacement therapy, causing unnecessary suffering. They demonized natural fat in foods, driving Americans to processed carbohydrates as obesity rates soared.
They told citizens that there are no downsides to antibiotics and prescribed them liberally, causing a drug-resistant bacteria crisis. When modern medicine issues recommendations based on good scientific studies, it shines. Conversely, when modern medicine is interpreted through the harsh lens of opinion and edict, it can mold beliefs that harm patients and stunt research for decades.
In Blind Spots , Dr. Makary explores the latest research on critical topics ranging from the microbiome to childbirth to nutrition and longevity and more, revealing the biggest blind spots of modern medicine and tackling the most urgent yet unsung issues in our $4.5 trillion health care ecosystem. The path to medical mishaps can be absurd, entertaining, and jaw-dropping-but the truth is essential to our health.
Introduction
In a world where healthcare is evolving but still fallible, "Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health" offers a probing examination into the unintended errors that pervade medical practice. Through compelling stories and expert insights, this book unveils the hidden pitfalls and systemic flaws that can compromise patient care. It empowers readers not only to recognize these vulnerabilities but to advocate for more informed and safer healthcare interactions.
As medical mishaps profoundly affect our wellbeing, this illuminating work serves as a vital tool for patients and professionals seeking to avoid potential harm.
Key Takeaways
Understanding medical errors can lead to more informed healthcare decisions. Advocating for transparency in healthcare practices improves patient safety. Recognizing systemic flaws in medicine empowers proactive healthcare engagement.
Detailed Description
Blind Spots" offers a critical analysis of the unseen errors within modern medicine. It explores how systemic flaws and human biases contribute to misjudgments impacting patient health. By delving into real-life scenarios the book illuminates the complex nature of errors that often remain hidden.
\nThe exploration of medical mistakes highlights the fragile balance between scientific innovation and the human element. The book reveals how communication gaps oversight and misinterpretation can have profound consequences. It urges both professionals and patients to remain vigilant and informed.
\nWith a blend of narrative and expert commentary the book dissects the layers of decision-making in healthcare. It underscores the necessity for improved protocols and transparency emphasizing the role of patients in navigating their medical journeys. \nReaders are encouraged to bridge the gap between medical expertise and personal insight.
By understanding the origins of errors they can better advocate for their health. The message resonates with anyone vested in attaining safer and more effective healthcare outcomes. \nThe book serves as both consciousness-raiser and practical guide.
It challenges assumptions about infallibility within the healthcare system providing readers with tools and strategies to anticipate and rectify potential missteps in medical care.
Standout Features
Blind Spots" excels with its combination of storytelling and expert insights creating a relatable and educational narrative that demystifies complex medical issues This book empowers readers to discern and address healthcare pitfalls through practical advice offering strategies for effective patient advocacy and engagement in medical decision-making The author’s unique perspective as a seasoned healthcare professional lends authenticity and authority transforming "Blind Spots" into an indispensable resource for navigating today\'s medical landscape.
Book Details
1639735313
978-1639735310
6.45 x 0.95 x 9.5 inches
2.31 pounds
Specifications
Rating
Based on 7 ratings
Customer Reviews
Important health information at your fingertips
Crisp, clear and concisely written, Marty Makary's book offers a wealth of information about specific and relevant health topics, while also providing a lens through which to more critically challenge the scientific trends and assumptions around us. His engaging and accessible style introduces the reader to significant amounts of current scientific research. You'll be glad to read it, and you'll want copies to share with our friends.
What doctors think they know might harm you.
The Blind Spot highlights the dangers of groupthink in medical research and practice. Once a consensus is formed, those who attempt to counter it are met with derision and blacklisting. I know this from firsthand experience, since I got blacklisted from conferences for calling out the workplace wellness industry, which as coincidence would have it was enabled by a lower-level employee of Dr. Makary’s own institution. Remember when your employer used to hire a “vendor” to line you up to take your blood and tell you and your employer all the undiagnosed diseases you had? The data quite clearly showed zero value in this but a combination of groupthink, profitability and payoffs to benefits consultants kept it going long past its Sell By date. Now imagine this groupthink thing playing out in the medical field as a whole. Accurate data is developed by independent, underfunded iconoclasts contradicting the consensus, a consensus feeding many careers. As Upton Sinclair said: “You can’t convince someone of something whose salary depends on believing the opposite.” So the medical establishment suppresses this dissent, blacklists the dissenters, and cuts off their research funding. The Blind Spot provides numerous examples of this. Example: antibiotics are not “harmless,” and are probably prescribed maybe twice as often as they should be, especially for children. Children given multiple antibiotics as babies and toddlers end up with adverse effects that don’t show up until years latger. Example: hormone replacement therapy got a bad rap due to one study way back in 2002 and is only now getting its mojo back as a quality-of-life improvement that also significantly reduces common health risks. Example: many people still don’t eat eggs because some researchers were bribed almost a half-century ago by the sugar lobby to demonize fat-and-cholesterol. It’s taken decades to undo that lie, largely because dissenters were suppressed. (My own nutrition course was taught by one of those perps, and it took me decades to get over it.) Even today, sugary products advertise “Contains No Cholesterol.” Example: most deadly ovarian cancers don’t originate in the ovaries. They originate in the fallopian tubes. This is well-established. But women are still subjected to invasive surgeries that don’t address this root cause. My only complaint about Blind Spot is that all the things that could have been in there that aren’t. For instance, few people know that most cavities (including my own, as it turned out) can be treated painlessly for $40 or less with a couple of drops of silver diamine fluoride. It’s been around for years, but for obvious reasons dentists don’t tell you about it. Perhaps Dr. Makary is saving nuggets like this one for a sequel…
