[from a health perspective] I find it amazing and disappointing in equal measure that in an age of vast amounts of evidence and literature, journalists are given carte blanche to sway public opinion with utter nonsense, thus undermining the efforts of Healthcare Professionals everywhere and bodies such as NICE. We wouldn't expect any of our musings to be published without prior scrutiny and peer-review, so why aren't [Health Correspondent] journalists subjected to the same processes?
LTOL (esp. Katy Heaney), with its very limited resources, should be commended for their speedy response to this ridiculous article and its dying antibodies but, as a profession, could/should we be doing more to improve the quality of health journalism? I'm all for freedom of press but when articles are blatantly wrong, they have the power to do far more harm than good. Health articles invariably incur a consequence for Lab Medicine too (usually one of increased demand for test X) so it is surely in our interests to influence the quality of such pieces. A strongly-worded letter from the ACB/College collective to the PCC & DoH could get the ball rolling towards addressing this age-old problem. Maybe.
Adrian
___________________________________________
Dr Adrian G Miller PhD FRCPath
North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust
________________________________________
From: Clinical biochemistry discussion list [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Bullock [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 20 June 2013 21:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Lab Tests Online-UK responds to DM article - Victory? NO!, just "Bury your dead . . ."
They don't make it easy, do they! - I tried to submit a comment last evening, but after doing so had to register, then tried again to submit it, but failed x2 despite being allegedly "logged in" . . .
When I tried again tonight to submit my saved comment using Stuart's link I got "We are no longer accepting comments on this article", while a variety of relevant search terms on the DM website failed to get any result whatsoever so the article has been effectively hidden. There is therefore no retraction whatsoever of the absolute b******s it contained and which LTOL has refuted comprehensively
So much for a free press in the UK - this is extraordinarily hypocritical in view of their own vehement multipage vilification today of CQC for suppressing negative news! . . .
Whose responsibility is it to take them to task with the Press regulator?
Yours very dispiritedly
David
PS: This is what I tried to submit last night
"Discounting the 'humourous' responses, there seem to be two main threads:
- patients expressing a variety of concerns regarding their care, or (unfortunately) lack of care; as a laboratory professional myself I was gratified by the comment of one patient that laboratory staff had taken note of the clinical history and overridden the GP's requested tests to undertake appropriate taests and lead to an accurate diagnosis
- patients and professionals expressing concerns over factual errors and misinformation in the published and online article
Though I always treat the Daily Mail with suspicion (many seem to be directly contradicted soon after), this took the prize for the most factual errors.
Responses have been posted online (I understand you don't accept links to them, but perhaps one might search on "laboratory tests" to find an NHS-endorsed site) but don't address all issues - I was amused by the concept of antibodies "dying" rather than being cleared from the circulation . . .
NHS lab professional"
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