In this edition of Potpourri, let’s talk about a few things that have a similar theme: common practices that have been adopted without scientific evidence which have now been proven worthless. Delayed pushing Delayed pushing or “laboring down” is when a woman is encouraged to wait to push for some time after she is completely […]
There are no free lunches in life; sorry. Everything has its pluses and minuses. There are no medicines that are completely safe, and there is no life without medicines that is completely safe. All of us weigh risks and benefits every time we make a decision: what to eat for lunch, what car to drive, […]
Here are some recent studies about the route of hysterectomy and their implications for vaginal hysterectomy. Cuff dehiscence rates A new study this month from Finland looked at cuff dehiscence rates from 13,645 hysterectomies. They found the following rates of vaginal cuff dehiscence: Vaginal hysterectomy (VH): 0.05% (n=4150) Abdominal hysterectomy (AH): 0.02% (n=5538) Laparoscopic hysterectomy […]
I get frustrated daily with the misuse of science by both scientists and non-scientists. Every good social media argument has someone claiming “science” in a gotcha moment, usually not understanding what science even is. Every medical conference I attend is smattered with folks holding their coffee cups with both hands smattering about “data” while not […]
A small pilot study of the effects of eating the placenta after birth (usually through encapsulation) was published this week. Not surprisingly, the study, published in Women and Birth, an Australian midwifery journal, found that consuming one’s placenta had no effect on maternal mood, maternal fatigue, or maternal-infant bonding, despite the bias of the authors towards […]
Vitamin D. This is exactly the sort of thing I write about regularly that drives me crazy. Physicians and patients never seem to appreciate when they are being manipulated and used by others for financial gain. This excellent new exposé in the New York Times details the conflicts of interest, behind-the-scenes payments, and denial-of-science behind […]
It, unfortunately, happens that a physician who works hard to practice evidence-based medicine sometimes appear as an outlier compared to other physicians. In Obstetrics, this is most palpable when patients present who have had care with others doctors in the current or a previous pregnancy. They, naturally, compare what I do to what the other guys did. So, I’m […]
There are a lot of things wrong with medicine today. A lot. But they aren’t the things most people typically focus on. I genuinely believe that the number one problem with our healthcare system is the people in it and how they are compelled to behave. I started down this somewhat offensive pathway here in […]
In the movie Edge of Darkness, Mel Gibson plays a cop whose daughter was murdered in front of him. During the movie, he uncovers the conspiracy that led to her murder and he discovers that one of his closest and oldest friends, Bill, a fellow cop, was in on it. In a dramatic scene in his […]
I wrote a short piece recently about the safety and efficacy of vaccines that has now been read almost half a million times. Hundreds of messages, comments, and emails later, I’ve learned that I am both the best thing since sliced bread and also a horrible human being who will rot in hell. I was […]
