Category: Science and Medicine

The Crack Heard Round the World

In January, Melbourne chiropractor Ian Rossborough uploaded a video to YouTube of himself treating a 4-day-old premature infant. The video, one of many that can be found on his “Chiropractic Excellence” channel, is for educational purposes only, intended to teach the world about the miraculous benefits of chiropractic care for a wide variety of conditions. Although the cynical among us may proclaim...

/ May 6, 2016

Is there a naturopathic standard of care?

Public outcry over the death of Ezekiel Stephan, the 19-month-old Alberta toddler who died of bacterial meningitis in 2012, continues to grow following last’s weeks court decision, which found both of his parents guilty of failing to provide the necessaries of life. David and Collet Stephan failed to seek appropriate medical care for their obviously-ill child, instead relying on a variety of...

/ May 5, 2016

Separating Fact from Fiction in the Not-So-Normal Newborn Nursery: Chiropractic and Brachial Plexus Injury

Thanks to a hot tip from a follower on Twitter, I’ve once again found myself neck deep in chiropractic propaganda involving the care of a pediatric patient. The case as presented involves, among numerous specious assumptions, claims of successfully treating an infant’s paralyzed arm using chiropractic philosophy and spinal adjustment techniques. As I will explain in detail, this “miracle” is just another...

/ April 22, 2016

The Brown M&M’s of Science-Based Medicine

Medicine is constantly changing, and like most health professionals, I am required to maintain my competency to practice. I doubt pharmacists are unique in being inundated with offers of continuing medical/pharmacy education. Some courses are free, some cost hundreds of dollars, and it can be difficult to distinguish the high-quality programs from the biased or low-quality education that furthers a agenda, rather...

/ April 21, 2016

Science-Based Satire: Hiring a Doula for Dental Procedures

Suzy Flanders had always dreamed of having a natural tooth extraction without pain medications, sedation, or local anesthesia, just like in the Bible or on an episode of Keeping Up With Kardashians. “When the day finally came on April 1st 2011, and my dentist recommended the removal of an impacted third molar, I almost couldn’t believe it,” Flanders explained. “After reading everything...

/ April 8, 2016

April Fool Cannot Surpass SCAM

It’s April Fools’ day in the US of A. One of the internet traditions is to come up with a story that is weird or unlikely, but not so weird or unlikely that it is not believable, in order to fool people that the story is real. I gave it the old SBM try, I really did, but I couldn’t do it....

/ April 1, 2016

Audio Therapy for Postoperative Pediatric Pain: Randomized Controlled Nonsense

In January of 2015, a study on “the effect of audio therapy to treat postoperative pain in children” performed at Lurie Children’s Hospital and published in Pediatric Surgery International made the media rounds. It was the typical story where numerous news outlets further exaggerated already exaggerated claims made in a university press release, in this case Northwestern University in Chicago. Some of...

/ March 25, 2016

More drugs, more supplements, and potentially more problems

Early in my career I was fortunate to be offered a role as a hospital pharmacist, working on an inpatient ward along with physicians, nurses, and a number of other health professionals. My responsibilities included conducting a detailed medication review with each newly admitted patient. We would sit together, often with family members, going through what was sometimes a literal garbage bag...

/ March 24, 2016

Why Antibiotic Use Scares Me

Editor’s note: Today we present a guest post from fourth-year medical student Joshua Horton, about the looming problem of antibiotic resistance. Welcome! I read a study recently that alarmed me: acute bronchitis is a condition that rarely requires antibiotics, but three quarters of patients presenting with this condition receive a prescription for antibiotics. Even more worrisome, this statistic has not changed in...

/ March 20, 2016

Oregon Health & Science University SCAM Day

I was looking over a recent class catalog from my alma mater, University of Oregon. I see the Astronomy Department is having a day devoted to astrology, inviting astrologers to talk about their profession. And the Chemistry department is having alchemists give an overview on how to change base metals into gold. And, to green our energy, the Physics Department, where I...

/ March 18, 2016