"If your patients rely on the mainstream media for medical advice, they may well think that cancer has been cured many times over, and have other inflated views about the benefits of new treatments and tests.
AND they probably would be shocked to learn about the potential downsides of many medical interventions, let alone costs.
That’s the conclusion of a comprehensive analysis of almost 2000 medical news items published in the US by print, online and television outlets between 2006 and 2013.
It was undertaken by the media watchdog Health News Review, and recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine (5 May, 2014). Most stories were judged unsatisfactory in how they covered the costs, benefits, harms and quality of the evidence supporting the new treatment or test, and how it was compared to alternatives.
“Drugs, medical devices, and other interventions were usually portrayed positively; potential harms were minimised and costs were ignored,” wrote the founder of Health News Review, Gary Schwitzer."
Melissa Sweet, Medical Observer, 24th Jun 2014
