Archives: June 2008
Fri Jun 27, 2008
We Will Do DVD's and Group Sessions
While I wind down my medical practice, I am thinking about how to improve my bariatric pratice. I will make some DVDs and introduce group sessions. I will start with a group of women, once a week. The first meeting will be organizational, assigning homework assignments. In the second session, we will go over homework results.
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Sun Jun 22, 2008
Why Mass Media Won't Do The Phen-pro Story
The period of 1997-1998 when I was on TV and radio shows was one of the most bizarre of my life. I could not figure out why the newsmedia would not report the phen-pro story as it actually was. I kept thinking I was not being persuasive enough, or my credentials/evidence weren't strong enough. I kept hoping the reporters would tell me why they were distorting the story. (They never said.) It would have been comfortable to think they were all stupid, or that there was a conspiracy of the editors, but no rational person could credit such a hypothesis.
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Wed Jun 11, 2008
The Four Phases of My Doctor-life
I have been shutting down my general practice. After August 15, I will practice bariatrics only. Thinking back on my 25 years as a general internist, I recognize four phases.
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Sun Jun 01, 2008
How To Read Health Claims
People often ask me about dietary supplements & treatments claiming to cause weight loss. 99% of the time the claims are bunko and the people ought to know it. But they don't. Why don't they? The fundamental reason is the turn, over recent years, of Americans toward antirationalism. (Read "The Age of American Unreason" by Susan Jacoby) The claims of mystics and theologians are accorded respect; conclusions of scientists from evidence are suspect. The old canard about MMR vaccine and autism, long laid to rest, resurfaced as the cover story of "Time" magazine. The "conflict" between evolution and intelligent design got its own radio show ("Speaking of Faith" on NPR). The rest of the advanced world has moved on, into the sunlight, while the U.S. has receded into the dark.
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