Posted by Colin Rose on August 16, 2009
Those chiropractors certainly look like willfully ignorant charlatans but some medical doctors are also guilty of the same unwillingness to perform or abide by the results of randomized trials. For example angioplasty of coronary arteries for “treating” stable angina (chest pain caused by inadequate blood flow to the heart during exercise) has been shown in multiple randomized trials to cause more heart attacks than treating with drugs only. But these procedures are still done at great expense to our medical system. As an example of unwillingness to perform randomized trials, consider “bariatric” surgery. Even our Minister of Health and Social Services, Yves Bolduc, a neurosurgeon, believes various forms of gastric surgery is a cure for obesity but there has never been a single randomized, sham-operated controlled study showing surgery is any better than treatment for junk-food addiction alone without the operation. Bariatric surgeons refuse to do a randomized trial and are not compelled to. And yet $billions are being spent on these operations. Like the chiropractors, if you ask these doctors why they are ignoring or not doing randomized trials they will answer that they know what is right for the patient, no need to do trials.
MY FAITH IN SWEET SCIENCE IS DOUBLE-BLIND
SCHWARCZ
The Gazette
16 Aug 2009
“Awhite crystalline substance is known to be either glucose or fructose. How would you identify it?” That’s been a standard question asked on organic chemistry exams for over a hundred years. Glucose and fructose are both simple sugars with exactly…
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Posted in bariatric surgery, coronary artery disease, ethics, obesity, professionalism, randomized trial, surgery | Tagged: chiropractor, rct | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Colin Rose on June 3, 2009
Dr Nicholas Christou, a bariatric surgeon, claims that obese people are dying for lack of bariatric surgery. Do you ask a barber if you need a haircut? There is not a single randomized, sham-operated, controlled trial proving that gastric bypass or banding has saved even one life. Morbidly obese people are not dying from lack of bariatric surgery but from junk food addiction . Before the discovery of drugs for reducing stomach acid, many thousands of gastric bypasses were done to treat peptic ulcer disease but they were never associated with major weight loss. But now stomach surgery is touted to be the cure for obesity. If “diet and exercise” don’t work then why do patients after bariatric surgery still have to “stay on their diets”? Quite likely, bariatric surgery “works” only because patients are convinced that they must control their addiction or suffer abdominal pain. Eventually they discover they can eat as before and, if they haven’t mastered their addiction, regain the weight. Before we spend many billions of dollars on this unproven “treatment” a controlled trial is essential.
Obese dying awaiting operations
SHARON KIRKEY CANWEST NEWS SERVICE
The Gazette
03 Jun 2009
Patients in Canada are dying while waiting their turn for obesity surgery, according to new research that says wait times for bariatric surgery are the longest of any surgically treated condition in the country. In 2007, 6,783 patients were waiting…
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Posted in addiction, bariatric surgery, diabetes, Type 2, diet, obesity | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Colin Rose on February 17, 2009
There is no mention of the biggest weight loss scam, bariatric surgery. Unlike diet scams, surgery can kill. There has never, ever been a sham-operated controlled trial of bariatric surgery. Until there is, all bariatric surgery should be prohibited.
Weight-loss programs scamming Canadians: Journal
SHARON KIRKEY CANWEST NEWS SERVICE
The Gazette
17 Feb 2009
Scams and programs that promise fast and easy fat loss are swindling Canadians desperate to lose weight, Canada’s top medical journal says. The Canadian Medical Association Jour nal, in an editorial published this week, says most commercial…
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Posted in bariatric surgery, diet, obesity, surgery | Leave a Comment »
