- Tonsillectomies are increasing. This article calls them “unnecessary”. In fact, cutting off part of the immune system is likely to be harmful.
- Doubts about Johns Hopkins genetics research (via Robb Wolf)
- The bad record of heart surgery. “Angioplasty can save the lives of heart-attack patients. But for patients with stable coronary disease, who comprise a large share of angioplasty patients? It has not been shown to extend life expectancy by a day . . . and it’s done a million times a year in this country [America].” American health care is like a bad dream.
- Why aren’t birth control pills available without a prescription? “The current arrangement forces women to go to the doctor at least once a year . . . That demand may suit doctors’ paternalist instincts and financial interests, but it doesn’t serve patients’ needs.”
- Cancer: the importance of what surrounds a cell (its “microenvironment”).
Thanks to Nandalal and Bryan Castañeda.