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Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health
by Marty Makary
Published
September 17, 2024
Pages
329 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing
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$9.99
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$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 Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health, the complex landscape of modern medicine unravels to reveal the critical oversights that lead to profound consequences on patient well-being. This enlightening book delves into the gaps between medical professionals' assumptions and the realities faced by patients. By examining real-world cases and research, the author exposes these blind spots, challenging readers to reconsider the trust placed in current medical practices and inspiring a journey toward improved health systems.
Key Takeaways
Overconfidence in medical practice can result in grave errors impacting patient safety. Critical analysis of medical protocols can significantly improve healthcare outcomes. Engaging patients in decision-making fosters better health management and trust.
Detailed Description
Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong and What It Means for Our Health embarks on a compelling exploration into the unseen errors within the healthcare system. Filled with harrowing tales of misdiagnosis inappropriate treatments and systemic failures the book exposes the weak links in a system trusted by millions. Drawing from extensive research and case studies the book challenges the assumption that more advanced technology or more drugs necessarily lead to better outcomes.
It emphasizes the necessity for a balanced approach combining evidence-based medicine with patient-centered care. It underscores the importance of acknowledging the inherent uncertainties in medicine and the urgent need for a system that is adaptable and open to error rectification. Readers are encouraged to appreciate the limitations of medical intervention and the unpredictable nature of human bodies.
The book serves as a critical call to action for healthcare professionals policy-makers and patients alike urging a concerted effort towards enhancing communication transparency and accountability. It paves the way for a medical community that learns from its blind spots benefiting those it aims to heal.
Standout Features
The book bravely challenges conventional wisdom in the medical field offering a fresh perspective on the healthcare system's vulnerabilities It prompts a necessary dialogue about trust and responsibility inspiring transformative thinking Its profound analysis supported by real-life stories grips readers showcasing both the strengths and faults of current medical practices The narrative is both deeply informative and accessible making complex medical concepts understandable to all audiences By focusing on the human aspect of medicine Blind Spots not only identifies critical issues but also emphasizes empathy and collaboration as catalysts for healing It shines a light on the need for a patient-centered approach that builds genuine connections.
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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…
