Doctoring Data

Another brilliant expose of the corruption in the medical industry.  Unlike Bad Pharma, Dr. Kendrick uses humor and math to debunk the breathless claims bandied about for medical research. He teaches how to think about and evaluate the invariably miraculous claims that you hear in the media when medical studies are publicized.  For example, these two claims derive from exactly the same data:

If another 10 million people would go on statins, 50,000 lives per year would be saved.

With certain definitions, that statement is actually true.  However, so is this way of summarizing the exact same data:

If you treat 200 people with a statin for one year, 199 would see no beneficial effect at all. The one person in 200 who does benefit will live a few extra months.

Dr. Kendrick emphasizes that you cannot save lives, you can only postpone death. This sounds silly but turns out to be a key to understanding how studies can, without technically lying, miraculously inflate their claims.

The rest of the book is also a fascinating romp through the misuse of statistics by an exceptionally clear thinker. He also goes into how many things that are generally believed to be true have absolutely no evidence whatsoever to back them up, and how many “facts” are in fact just made up.

One of the most disturbing chapters is the one detailing how those who dare to contradict the Conventional Wisdom are visciously attacked, defamed, slandered, and basically led out to slaughter.  It’s clear that modern medicine is much more a cult than a scientific exercise.

If you are concerned about your health (maybe your doctor just gave you the lecture on how you need to take this medicine every day or you will die), or are interested in the corruption in the medical system, this book is very highly recommended.