{"id":454,"date":"2010-12-10T12:53:57","date_gmt":"2010-12-10T12:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/12\/do-you-believe-what-your-doctor-tells-you.html"},"modified":"2010-12-10T12:53:57","modified_gmt":"2010-12-10T12:53:57","slug":"do-you-believe-what-your-doctor-tells-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/12\/do-you-believe-what-your-doctor-tells-you.html","title":{"rendered":"Do You Believe What Your Doctor Tells You?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

A friend of mine told a story about the way statistics can
\nbe used to “prove” anything. He was in a class, and his professor took them
\nthrough a step-by-step statistical analysis that led to the conclusion that
\neveryone should brush their teeth with sugar. <\/p>\n

A few recent articles have led me to throw up my hands when
\nit comes to medical research and empirical data. <\/p>\n

First, there was the Atlantic article that mentioned how
\nsubjective and error-ridden many medical studies really are: “Lies, Damned
\nLies, and Medical Science<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Then another Atlantic piece–“Playing Doctor: How to Spin Pharmaceutical Research<\/a>“– that describes how those medical
\nstudies get written for medical journals. Turns out that ghostwriters for the
\npharmaceutical companies often write the articles that then are “signed” by a
\ndoctor. Who wants the makers of Vioxx to tell me how great Vioxx is? <\/p>\n

Finally, the new research<\/a> that suggests pregnant women
\ndrinking alcohol–in moderation–isn’t really detrimental to the health of the
\nfetus. In fact, the article I read about this mentioned a study that suggested
\nsmoking crack had little impact<\/a> on the health of a fetus. I’m worried about
\neating goat cheese and I could be smoking crack? (Obviously there are plenty of
\nother reasons not to smoke crack, but still…)<\/p>\n

Of course, perhaps the it’s-okay-to-drink-while-pregnant study
\nwas ghostwritten by Julio-Gallo. Still, I think I’ll have a glass (yes, just one) of champagne
\non New Year’s Eve. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}